Let’s talk cleaning house. We all battle the clutter, the dirty dishes and that daunting laundry pile in the corner. It’s never ending. Having a clean won’t make you happy necessarily but there are many studies and discussions out there that suggest a correlation between clutter/mess and depression/anxiety/overwhelm. So to make things easier, I’m sharing simple tips to maintaining a clean home.
I am a firm believer that having a neat home encourages higher productivity, a more calm mindset and a stronger feeling of accomplishment at the very least. We feel more prepared and enabled to tackle the days’ challenges if we begin with a clean space.
In our journey to lead more joyful and intentional lives I want to start small, 5 simple tips to maintaining a clean home on a daily basis. This is not about deep cleaning today. This is about keeping a regular order to your hope to avoid the overwhelm often associated with a messy house.
Laundry
Laundry is a necessary evil and the best way to win this battle is to fine tune a system that works for you and stick with it. Here is what it looks like for me.
Sunday – ALL THE LAUNDRY. By the end of the day the clothes on our backs is all that is dirty.
Monday – Gather towels/cloths and keep in washer.
Tuesday – Wash/Fold/Put up all towels – Gather all clothes laundry and take to laundry room
Wednesday – Wash at least 2 loads (this should keep you caught up). Fold and
put up after kids go to bed (while watching tv?) if the day is too hectic
Thursday – Gather towels/cloths and keep in washer.
Friday – Wash/Fold/Put up all towels – Gather all clothes laundry and take to
laundry room
Saturday – Wash/Fold/Put up 1 load of clothes
Put in a load as you go out the door for work and switch it over when you get back. Start a load as you go to bed and switch it to the dryer as you leave for work. Whatever works but finding a way to not let it pile up makes a huge difference. No one wants to be buried in laundry all weekend.
Choose an order to pick up
Designate an order to how you clean your home. I usually pick up beginning at the back of my house (bedrooms first) and move to the front of the home ending with the kitchen. Don’t move on until that entire room is complete. The kitchen and toy room are usually last on my list because they are most often used throughout the day. If I start in the kitchen that is as far as I make it by the end of the day. Talk about frustrating – cleaning all day with nothing to show for it.
Choose a specified time to close rooms
At a specified time after cleaning up I “close” certain rooms. For example, I let the kids play in their rooms in the morning. We generally will pick up after lunch and then their rooms are closed for the remainder of the day. We play in the toy room, outside or have planned activities. This ensures I will not be cleaning the same room 3 times a day.
Have a family pick up time
We all make the messes so it’s only fair that we all join in on the cleaning. Our family pick up time is generally right after dinner but before dessert. Set a timer, turn it into a game or offer incentive. Whatever works for you! Usually, if they can smell cookies baking they are a little more motivated to make it quick. If you remember from before we’ve already cleaned up bedrooms and closed them for the day so it should only be the toy room/family room needing to be picked up.
Set certain tasks that are mandatory before bed
Once the kids are in bed I have a few “mandatory tasks” that really make the next day much easier.
- Load and run the dishwasher (clean dishes are ready for me in the morning to put away)
- Do a quick scan for anything we missed during family pick up time
- Gather any laundry and take to laundry room
- Fold and put away any laundry while watching tv if designated day.
Absolutely, keeping it real here. My house is not always clean. There are plenty of days even weeks where mom life or crazy schedules sabotage my hopes for a clean home. Those weeks I spend the majority of Saturday or Sunday putting things back together to start a new week in “maintenance mode”. GENERALLY is what we are going for not always. And GENERALLY, I follow these 5 tips so maintaining a clean home is realistically possible.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and an even bigger thank you if you left a secret cleaning tip of your own in the comments below.
Have a fantastic day!!
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