Did you know that a quarter of people with two garages have so much in them, they can’t even park a car? In our daily lives, it can be easy to accumulate material goods that we struggle to store. So how do you keep your house neat and tidy? Luckily, it is easier than you may think. Read on as we give our six tips for maintaining a neat home.
1. Replenish Your Stock
If you run out of cleaning equipment and fluids, the job has to be put off. If you keep forgetting to pick up that item when you go to the store, it gets left for a long time. Therefore, staying on top of your inventory makes daily home cleaning and tidying tasks much easier.
Start by creating a list of all the items you will use for daily and monthly cleaning. Take a trip to the store and buy them all in one go. If you have the storage space at home, you may be able to buy in bulk.
Next to your supplies, keep a small noticeboard. Whenever you are getting low on an item, add it to the board. You can buy this next time you are at the store and keep your inventory consistent.
2. Start as You Mean to Go On
Keeping the home tidy should start from the minute you wake up. This puts you in the right frame of mind for a day of cleanliness.
Start by making your bed. If you don’t already do this, you will be surprised at how much tidier it makes the room look. Follow it by taking away any items you had in the night, such as glasses of water and eye masks.
As you go downstairs or to the kitchen to make breakfast, tidy as you go. Children may have already been pulling out toys and leaving clothing around if you have them. Pick them up and drop items in their place as you pass.
When you get to the kitchen, tidy once again. Place items into a dishwasher or rinse them off while the coffee brews, and before you make any breakfast. As you cook, be sure to do home cleaning as you go, leaving less to do once you are finished.
3. Constantly De-Clutter
When you clean, take a look at what you are actually cleaning. Is that item serving a purpose or providing joy, or is it just there to be cleaned? If you find many items serve no purpose at all, then it is time to declutter.
Set aside a section of the house for items that can be donated. This could be in the garage or basement. Clear out all the unwanted gifts and unused items, then take them away at the end of the week.
Another tactic for a successful household organization is to employ a one in, one out policy. When something comes into the home, something else has to go. For example, when one new pair of shoes arrives, another gets sent to the thrift shop.
4. Give Everything a Place
It can be hard to have a place for everything. Bills that arrive, the odd bit of stationary, takeaway food leaflets, and other items all linger and often don’t have a place to be. They just accumulate and spill over into the rest of the home.
When everything has a place, this does not happen. Make sure that even the most inconsequential of items have a place to reside. This may involve investing in some extra storage, but the payoff will be worth it.
5. Gamify Cleaning
When you gamify a process, you turn it into a fun, competitive activity. This takes the element of work away from it, making it enjoyable. If you can do this with the home cleaning, you will find the process becomes a whole lot easier.
One idea is to get a counter. If someone leaves an item or mess around, they get a tally on it. At the end of the week, the person with the least marks gets a gift or reward.
Another idea is to create an easter egg hunt. You and a partner both have a room to clean. The other person has a minute before they begin to hide three tape markers in spots around the other person’s room.
As you clean, your objective is to find the tape and clean the area around it. When you have both finished, anyone who has not found the tape has not cleaned enough and loses the game.
6. Take Your Time
The last thing you want is for your cleaning to be stressful. You need to go easier on yourself, and part of that is done through taking time. Don’t rush, or you will just do a half job and anger yourself.
When you are into a cleaning routine, time how long tasks take. This makes them easier to fit into the weekly schedule. If you find a bathroom clean takes a full hour and you have that amount between finishing work and picking the children up, then fit it in.
Also, try to accept that you are never going to be 100% neat and clean. There will be times when towels get left on the floor, and socks are lying by the bedside table. Clean as you go and don’t worry about the constant mess, as it is a byproduct of living.
Planning a Neat Home
Implement these tips for a neat home along with a cleaning schedule. Designate tasks to others in the house and begin to enforce clean as you go policies.
If you need help with keeping the house in check, then Rescue My Time Cleaning should be your first stop. We offer cleaning and laundry service in the Atlanta area. Contact us to discuss your requirements and let us get your house in top condition!
