Spring cleaning is great, but what about keeping your house clean after that? Your house can look perfectly clean and organized, but after a few weeks, it starts regressing. However, you don’t have time to do a total deep clean every month. Here’s how to keep the clean going.
1. Create A Cleaning Schedule
The best way to ensure something gets done is to work it into your routine. Figure out which tasks should be daily, weekly, monthly or seasonal. This can vary depending on factors such as the size of your household, so it’s important to find a mix that works best for you.
Once you figure it out, work the tasks into your usual routine. Write them on a calendar so you remember the ones that occur less frequently. It doesn’t have to be a strict, set date, but giving yourself a reminder always helps.
2. Declutter
Having too much clutter in your house is a stressor that can be detrimental to your health. Also, clutter can make an otherwise clean house look messy really quickly. Having unnecessary stuff lying around makes your house feel smaller with all the space it’s taking up.
Take a day to fully declutter your home. Put things into piles for keeping, donating and throwing away. Ask an impartial friend or relative who isn’t sentimentally attached to any of your stuff. They can help you be realistic about the situation and help you get rid of things that you don’t need to hold on to anymore.
3. Don’t Forget Things Outside the Home
Cleaning the inside of your home is important, but you can’t forget about external storage like your garage, yard or shed. Garages and sheds can accumulate a lot of clutter you don’t even notice until it becomes overwhelming. A garage tends to be the place where you store everything and forget about it, so it’s important to make sure you clean that out too.
Check your garage door and other outdoor appliances such as your lawnmower and leaf blower to make sure they’re working properly. Remember to do little tasks like weeding and cleaning your gutters. Those small things can make all the difference in the world.
4. Tidy Things Up When You Leave the Room
Regular tidying can help you stay on top of things so you don’t get to a point where you have to declutter. Before you leave a room, take a look around it and see if there’s anything that’s out of place or doesn’t belong. You’d be surprised how much of a difference this makes.
5. Make a Chore Chart
If you have kids or roommates, make up a chore chart to divide out the housework. You don’t want to be stuck doing everything all the time, and it’s a good way to get everyone involved. You can also rotate chores weekly or monthly so no one gets stuck cleaning the bathroom constantly and you can do a variety of tasks.
If you’re doing a chore chart with your kids, offering stickers, snacks or other incentives is a great way to make them want to do the chores. And with roommates, you can come together and decide on a penalty if someone isn’t doing their share of the housework.
6. Start Making Good Habits
Getting into a regular tidying routine can help keep things nice. For instance, do a quick wipe-down of the bathroom sink and counter after you brush your teeth at night. Run the dishwasher after dinner or clean dishes as you’re cooking so you don’t have to deal with them all later.
Once you do little things like this long enough, it’ll become second nature, and you’ll feel strange if you don’t do them. That means things will stay cleaner because it’s part of your routine now!
Spring cleaning doesn’t have to end with spring. Follow these tips and keep your home spick and span all year round!
Anum Yoon is a personal finance blogger who is dedicated to sharing her insights on money management with others. She believes that a greener, energy-efficient lifestyle is the key to living a more fulfilling life. When she’s not typing away on her keyboard, you can find her pouring over a new recipe she found on Pinterest or at the power rack in her gym. Catch her on Twitter or sign up for her newsletter here
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