We are all busy, and few of us like cleaning, but its one of those things that just needs to be done, Here is a list of my top tips for staying on top of house work and keeping your home tidy, without having to spend hours every day cleaning.
1. Declutter
Yes you guessed it, the best way to a tidier and easier to clean home is to declutter. Get rid of all the stuff in your home that you dont use or need any more (there is often much more in your home that you dont use than you realize, let it all go). When you have less stuff its easier to get to surfaces, its easier to dust, vacuum and pack items away. Everything you have in your home needs cleaning and maintenance so the less you have the less there is to clean and keep organised. Who wants to clean items they dont use any way?
2. Everything should have a dedicated home and everyone in your house should know where that is
When you have less stuff and everything has a designated home, its easier to keep things tidy and ordered, think where and how you use items and try keep like items together close to where you use them, Make sure everyone knows the system of organisation, so they can keep the order when tidying up after themselves
3. Embrace the philosophy of little and often
If you let the little jobs pile up they collectively become big jobs, so do little jobs every day to stay on top of the mess, for instance these are the non negotiable jobs that get done every single day in our house:
Everyone makes their bed when they get up and pack their Pj's away or put them in the wash, so when we leave for school bedrooms are clean
The dishwasher gets loaded after breakfast, switched on and the kitchen counter gets a quick wipe down
A load of washing goes on every day or second day depending on the season
In the afternoon the dishwasher gets unloaded (everyone in my house has designated days for unloading the dishwasher)
After dinner the dishwasher gets loaded and kitchen counters are wiped down
When you finish using an item whether its a mug, shoes, toys etc it gets put away / loaded into the dishwasher etc, its takes two minutes, but if you leave all those jobs you then have to sped a lot more time tidying up
Fold and pack washing away every 2-3 days
4. Everyone should clean up after themselves and contribute
Kids should clean away toys when they done, everyone is responsible for rinsing the bath/ sink if the make a mess, put dishes away etc, you know the saying many hands make for light work, this may take some repetitive reminding and rewarding with kids (and husbands), but its so worth getting everyone into the habit of picking up after themselves
5. Do a deep clean one a week
All the tips above will ensure your house stays tidy, but once a week its going to need a good clean, including changing bedding, dusting, vacuuming and mopping, this normally takes about 2- 2.5 hours.
When I am really busy or just dont feel like I can be bothered, I break these jobs down over 2- 3 consecutive days for example: Day 1 - change the bedding and tidy the bedrooms, Day 2 - clean the bathrooms and dust the whole house, Day 3 Clean the kitchen and vacuum the whole house, mop floors.
If you would like to downloading my weekly cleaning schedule head over to the freebie section of my website https://www.simplifyandsort.com/freebies