Tips & Tricks to Keep a Clean Home
I love a clean home. I’m like a little sim. The cleaner my home the higher my little green energy bar is. However, the more kids I had, the more I found myself cleaning but never enjoying a clean home.
Cleaning calms me. Cleaning helps with my anxiety. Home is where I spend most of my time, so of course, I want to spend it in a clean home.
So here are a few tips & tricks I’ve collected over the years to help me maintain a clean home:
The power of a 15 minute quick tidy - I set the timer for 15 minutes and I do a quick pick up of my area. I set things on steps that need to go upstairs, put stuff back in baskets and either load or unload the dishwasher. If the clutter is out of sight it’s out of mind. I don’t stress over what can’t get done in the 15 minutes. It’s only supposed to be a quick pickup. Occasionally I’ll set the timer for one hour to do a power hour clean. You’d be surprised at how much can get done in just one hour.
Unload the dishwasher in the morning, load throughout the day, and start the dishwasher at night - it is so easy to fall into the habit of an overflowing sink of dishes between preparing meal after meal. So we load throughout the day and keep the sink clean.
Close the main floor after dinner - I follow a youtube, Milena Ciciotti, who closes the kitchen at night. I like to close down our entire main floor. After dinner, the kids do chores and baths. During this time I clean the kitchen, dining room, and pick up the living room area. Then the kids are to head upstairs to finish their nighttime routine and have quiet time in their rooms before bed. The next morning you come downstairs to a beautiful and clean main floor.
My kids clean their rooms Saturday morning - This was a hard one for me at first because we basically let them destroy their rooms all week and then before Saturday morning cartoons, they have to clean their room and put away all of their stuff. I used to stress about them cleaning their room every day but it became more of a fight and stressful. Now the kids know what to expect and they usually have their rooms clean before breakfast.
Always make the bed. A L W A Y S !
Make sure you have the kids clean up their toys/activity, before moving on to the next one - That way you don’t get overwhelmed and they don’t get overwhelmed by the giant mess. This is in the main living space, like I mentioned earlier, their rooms are fair game.
Do a load or two of laundry a day - I am guilty of washing all the clothes in one day then letting them sick for a whole week (maybe longer) before putting them away or they end up getting mixed with the dirty clothes because they’re still in the basket. Do a load of laundry, that means wash, dry, fold, and put away. I still struggle with this but I do find it helps when done correctly.
Those are my tips & tricks! Let me know if you end up using any of these in your home. Feel free to share your tips on how you manage a clean home.
love & light,
Jalesa