We all have been there. Life is so busy that you just have to focus on the tasks at hand, which sometimes means the housework suffers. There is no rule that says you have to spend hours cleaning your home each week. In fact, by spending just a few minutes each day, your house will stay clean and organized.
But how do you know what you should do and how long it should take? If you set up three simple routines to follow every day you will keep your house clean enough. That way, it is tidy in-between your bigger cleanings.
Helpful cleaning tips:
- 15 Habits of People Who Have a Clean Home
- How the One Touch Rule Keeps Clutter Away
- A Realistic Cleaning Schedule Working Parents Can Stick To
1. Morning routine
This should be the simplest routine. We are busy getting ready for school and/or work, so we don’t have extra time to really focus on cleaning.
Have each person in the family make his or her bed. Each person should pick up his or her bedroom, including putting toys and books away and dirty clothes into the hamper. The bedrooms are instantly picked up – and it is not falling onto the shoulders of just one person!
Then, load the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher, or, if you do not have one, place them into the sink. Make sure you rinse them off before setting them into the sink (to avoid that stuck on food). Then, wipe down the counters. Now – your kitchen is tidy!
Finally, if you have time, toss a load of clothes into the washing machine. Then, head out to start your day. Even if you don’t put those into the dryer until you get home, they should still say fresh enough and not need to be laundered again.
There you’ve got it! A few simple things you can do each morning to start your day off right and have a clean home!
2. Evening cleaning frenzy
This can be fun and even a game for your younger kids. Set the time for a specified time, be it 10, 20 or even 30 minutes. Tell everyone to run around the house and pick up all of their items and put them away and try to “beat the clock.” When the timer goes off, you can all then continue with your regular evening rituals – as you are done. You might not get it all taken care of, but I am sure you will get a lot done!
You can easily change this up as you want to. For instance, one night, you can focus on just one room and try to get it picked up, dusted and even vacuumed (or swept) in that 30 minute time frame. Another evening, you might all take on a toilet and wipe it down. The ideas are endless!
3. Nightly kitchen and family room pickup
Each evening, before we go to bed, we make sure the dishes are done and counters are clean. That means if there is school work on the table, it is completed and put back into the backpack before bed. The bills and mail are put where they belong. The counters are always completely cleared off and wiped down.
The kids all make sure that their clothes, blankets, etc are all picked up and put away. They may not actually be in their rooms, but they are at least in the basket at the bottom of our steps, to be taken up later and put away. The entire main living area of hour home is always picked up before we go to sleep each night.
Why is that important? When you wake to a clean house, it really can make you start your day off on the right foot and make it feel much less overwhelming.
My house is always picked up, as these are the routines I follow. It doesn’t mean it is perfect and that is fine by me. It is clean enough on a daily basis and gets me through until I do a more thorough weekly cleaning.