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We all know that one person who always seems to have their home together. It’s beautiful, organized, and clean. Maybe you’ve tried to become this “clean home goddess” before. You might have set new rules for yourself, but let’s be honest, they probably only lasted a few weeks. You likely went back to your old habits because the new ones just didn’t fit into your schedule. I know that feeling, and it can be so frustrating!
Well, let’s break the cycle once and for all. In this article, you will learn tips to implement successful cleaning habits around your lifestyle to make it sustainable once and for all.
Path to a clean home
First, let me tell you a secret
A tidy, organized, and clean home is a lifestyle. It is not a once-a-week chore to put on your schedule. You need to change your mindset and think like a clean and tidy person.
Second, here are a few amazing tips
As you embark on your transformation journey, here are some practical tips to adopt:
- One-touch: every time you are about to put something down, ask yourself if this is where it belongs. If it is not, do not put it down. For example, do not put your dirty coffee mug in the sink. Rather, put it directly in the dishwasher. This simple habit will save you so much time and peace of mind. Think about the clutter you are creating if 30 things are put down in the wrong place every day. Not to mention that you will need to waste several minutes/hours to pick everything up later.
“Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder.”
Mason Cooley
- Grab something: every time you leave one room, grab something that doesn’t belong there. You will be surprised to find out how often you can find an item to grab. If you are not going upstairs, for example, you can still grab the object and place it on the stairs so that the next time you go up, it is right there to grab. Did you know they make these super cute stairs baskets? Consider getting something like this if you have many items to carry every time you go up or down.
- Welcome/Goodbye: this tip applies to everyone who is in an established part of their life. Each time you bring something new into your home, declutter by removing something old. This is important if you want to keep clutter to a minimum. This applies to everything: clothing, kids’ artwork, food, dishes, linens, etc. Consider donating or reselling the old item for the benefit of the planet or someone in need. You can keep a collapsible plastic bin like this one in your car to put donation items in. Once it’s full, it’s time for a trip to the donation center.
- Use Idle time: don’t waste precious minutes while you wait for something. For example, wipe down the counters while you are waiting for the microwave or sort the mail when you are on hold on your phone.
- Delegate: you should not be the only one in your household doing everything towards having a clean home (unless you live alone of course). Even young children can be assigned tasks that will help them. Sit down with the people you live with and align on chores assignments and responsibilities.
Third, implement 2 magic routines
STEP 1 (NIGHT TIME): It all starts the night before. You read this correctly. No more pushing everything off to later. If you want a clean home effortlessly, you need to follow these steps.
- While making dinner, it is important to pick up as you go. It will save you time after dinner. Use every idle time to do something else that is needed.
- After dinner, put all dishes in the dishwasher or hand wash them.
- Clean the countertops, and the table, and quickly vacuum the floor if it is dirty. Here is my favorite lightweight vacuum that we keep in the kitchen. I use it daily!!
- Take the trash out.
- Fold laundry if you did laundry that day.
- Lastly, before bed, start the dishwasher.
STEP 2 (MORNING TIME): New day, new beginning!
- Get up without snoozing the alarm and make your bed.
- Get dressed and put all dirty laundry in the hamper and clean laundry away where it belongs.
- Next, if you have a dishwasher, empty it. You will love being able to put all the dirty dishes away as you go (using the one-touch approach).
- Speaking of, make sure all dirty dishes are loaded in the dishwasher once breakfast is over.
- Next, throw in a load of laundry. If you are a batch laundry person spending a whole day on the weekend doing laundry, stop this now. And try sprinkling laundry throughout the week. A load of laundry a day is so quick and easy, you will LOVE IT!
STEP 3: Implement a “procrastination hour”
This is a 15, 30, or 60-minute (you choose the duration) time block where you go non-stop and do all the little things you constantly push off. Imagine how many small tasks you can knock out during an uninterrupted focus block of time. Insert this block once a day or split it. For example, do this for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night. You will be amazed! Great ideas of chores to include during this block: sort mail, take out the recycling, change a light bulb, fold laundry, pick up clutter, mop the floor, or water the plants.
Fourth and final, create and follow a deep clean routine
If you follow all the steps and recommendations above, you should be able to get by only deep cleaning each room in your house every other week. Of course, there are multiple ways to go about this. Here are some ideas for you to try and see what works best for you:
- Use a longer “procrastination hour” every day and deep clean one room per day.
- Every weekend, deep clean half of your house either all in one go or a little each weekend day.
- Remember to delegate because life is too short to spend the entire weekend cleaning!!
Here is a fantastic monthly cleaning schedule to keep you extremely organized.
In conclusion
I hope that you enjoyed this article. Can you now see how you too can be “that friend” who always has a clean home with much less effort than most people think? All you need is to master some amazing tips, implement a few new routines, and follow a schedule that works for you.
As always, feel free to comment and share some of your best tips with me.
Enjoy life
Cat xx