Strategies for Keeping a Cleaner Home
Our best tip for keeping a clean house is to not let anyone eat, or bathe, or lounge or basically live in the home. Ha! For those of us actually living in the home, there are some tips to help yourself feel on top of it.
One Room at A Time
When it comes to making your house feel clean, HouseLINE recommends a “one-room-at-a-time” approach. Otherwise, your cleaning looks like this:
Okay, so let me start in the kitchen…why are there shoes in the middle of the floor?
Okay, take those to the mudroom. Ugh, the laundry is spilling out of the laundry room. Let me just throw in a load so that can wash while I clean.. efficient, right?
Well I know my kid has his uniform in his room and that’ll need washed in this load so I’ll grab that.
Yikes… how many half-drunk bottles of Prime are in here?! Take those to the kitchen, along with this cereal bowl. Odd, because he KNOWS he’s not allowed to eat in his room…
Drop off the bottles and dishes, take the uniform to the laundry room, get that load started…
Where the heck is my coffee? My phone?!
Got it, back to the kitchen… annnnnnd it’s time to leave for the first kid’s practice and the second kid has a birthday party.
Now you’ve wandered all over the house, become irritated that everyone lives like animals, let your coffee run cold and you STILL don’t have any clean rooms. Repeat forever until you lose your mind.
When you focus on one room and fully complete that room, it’s easier to see the fruits of your labor and actually finish something. It helps eliminate the feeling of never-ending work but no visible results and it’s way less daunting to get started.
- When you find stuff that belongs in another room, set it aside or gather it in a basket and put it away afterwards.
- Set a time for 10 or 15 minutes and stay focused. You’ll be surprised how far you can make it in a room in that time without allowing yourself to be distracted. Pro Tip: Tell your kids the first one to interrupt before the timer goes off has to take over the cleaning!
- Work your way around the room, left to right, and clean everything you encounter. Backtracking and deciding what to do next waste more time than you realize.
Invest in the right supplies and equipment
Are you a “product junkie”? As in, you see the new gadget or cleaning spray and think “Oh that’s what I need to make cleaning easier! Let me get that an all the problems will be solved.” I get it, I’m pretty interested in new and exciting gadgets myself. But once you narrow it down to an effective list of supplies and equipment, you’ll save money, clean faster and have more room under the sink.
Our strategy is to stock our cleaning kits with the best cleaning supplies with the most uses. Your shower doesn’t need the special “Tub and Tile” cleaner and your windows don’t need a different spray from your mirrors. Fewer supplies with multiple uses makes a big difference. Here are a few of our favorite supplies. See our “What’s in our Cleaning Kit” series for the full breakdown!
- The right size and right thickness of rags. Would you believe we don’t even carry paper towels with us? We don’t need them! We have the perfect semi-disposable rags that don’t leave lint behind, can be thrown away if it’s too filthy, and thin enough to be able to really feel progress when scrubbing something. Some of our favorites are the Grab-a-Rag brand. They can withstand AT LEAST 50 washes and I’ve even started using them as dish rags because they dry so quickly.
- Powdered Tide. We’re not the first to become obsessed with its impressive cleaning power, but we’re definitely on the bandwagon. Just a single teaspoon of Tide per gallon of hot water makes the best all-purpose cleaner we’ve ever encountered. We use it in a spray bottle for counters, cabinets, etc. and in our mop buck for even the most sensitive floors. It’s got a fresh, clean smell with out being too chemically and it works shockingly well. Add one-third cup of bleach for extra disinfecting power.
- Shark Powered Liftaway. This vacuum must’ve been designed by an experienced house cleaner because it does just about everything. It has headlights (HEADLIGHTS!) so you can see what you’re doing, swivels and bends all over the place, and has a removable canister so your vacuum lies flat to get under furniture. The wand can be removed, as well as the nozzle and both of those have their own lights as well. The pet hair attachment is great for furniture and stairs and the cord is long enough to do most rooms from a single plug in. They aren’t the cheapest option, but far from the most-expensive. They go on sale pretty frequently at both Kohl’s and Amazon, so save up the Kohl’s cash and get yourself a new vacuum!
Get rid of most of your stuff.
Okay, I’m kidding. Mostly. Do you know why we’re all so obsessed with bins and baskets? Because we have so. much. stuff! Past generations didn’t need to organize every room like that because they didn’t have enough stuff to fill those bins in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the categorization and cute labels, but I also advocate for cutting way back. There are many methods for reducing clutter and creating a minimalist lifestyle but my approach is pretty simple. If I haven’t seen anyone in the house use it in 2-3 months, it’s on the chopping block. Then I decide how likely it is I’ll need it in the future. Don’t go throwing away the Christmas tree in July, my friends. If you’re not sure, stick it away in a closet or storage room and see if anyone notices for a while. If not, that’s your cue that you don’t need it. Try not to save for “someday… maybe…”
Of course, if you’re in Cedar Falls, Iowa or Waterloo, Iowa another option is to forego these efforts altogether and schedule a routine cleaning with HouseLINE Cleaning & Home Services. Go Get a Quote and start planning to make this investment in your home.