Last week I posted on Instagram about how the main way I keep my house tidy is to clean as I go. Today I’ll tell you a little more about what that looks like on a day-to-day basis along with a few other simple ways I keep my house clean/neat.
o Clean as You Go. This may look differently for different people. For me though, it looks like this: I wipe down the table after we eat, rinse my plate off and put it in the sink/dishwasher (my husband typically does the dishes), and I wipe down the counters/stove after meals. Clothes go in the hamper immediately after they are removed from my body. I put things away when I’m finished using them. <--- The key to this last bit is that EVERYTHING MUST HAVE A PLACE! When I buy something new, I make sure that I have a place for it to go in mind before purchasing. I’m also a big fan of putting things near where they are most used. For example, I exercise in our living room, so I keep my dumbbells lined up underneath our TV stand. I also read my Bible in our living room, so there is a tray with notebooks, Bibles, pens, etc. on one of the shelves on our TV stand. Our laundry room is connected to our kitchen, so I keep a hanging hamper on the doorknob of the laundry room for dishtowels and cloth napkins. You get the idea!
o Nightly cleanup. There are exceptions to every rule, right? Well, sometimes I don’t clean everything as I go. But I also work from home, and I don’t function well when surrounded by chaos, so we make a point to do a basic clean up before bed each night. That essentially entails cleaning up the living/dining room and the kitchen before bed each night. Laptops go back in the office, all dishes go in the sink/dishwasher, food goes in the pantry or refrigerator, shoes go in closets, blankets go in baskets, remotes go back in their spots (Apple TV remote goes in a side table drawer and universal remote sits on the arm of the couch), etc. I also make sure countertops are wiped down at this point too. All of this generally takes no more than 5 minutes, and it makes my mornings feel that much more chill!
o Have Less Stuff. It’s much easier to wipe down a counter or tabletop that isn’t covered in appliances, décor, etc. It’s easier to vacuum/sweep when you aren’t maneuvering around five million pieces of furniture. Less dust collectors= less time dusting. It takes less time to clean up when you have fewer things to put away. I plan on writing a lot about the benefits of owning less stuff as time goes on, so I’ll keep it simple for this post.
o Keep Cleaning Products Simple. I don’t use a ton of cleaning products. For the daily simple cleaning tasks, I typically use disposable cleaning wipes (see picture above). They come in multiple brands, and if you’re concerned about environmental waste, some of them are compostable. If I’m cleaning bathrooms or something that I do on a less than daily basis, then I often just use an all purpose cleaner with microfiber cleaning cloths. For mirrors I just use a glass cleaner with microfiber cleaning cloths. My favorite cleaning “trick” though? We use a daily shower spray (we use Method brand, but other companies make it as well). Basically you just spritz it all over your shower when you’re finished bathing and that’s it! I only need to clean the tub/shower about once every few months beyond that.
o Additional Tips. We have four different types of flooring in our house—wood in the main living areas/hallway, carpet in the bedrooms, one type of tile in the bathrooms, and another tile in the entry/kitchen/laundry. I use a vacuum on ALL of them. Our vacuum is fairly new, very lightweight, and is made to use on both carpet and hard surfaces (there’s a button to switch from carpet to hard surface). So although we have a broom, and I do occasionally use it, I mostly just vacuum and call it a day. If I’m being honest, we mop our floors very rarely. We get away with this by taking off dirty shoes at the door before tracking mud and whatnot all over the house (we DO wear shoes in our house, but we just check to make sure that they aren’t dirty before coming inside). We also clean up spills immediately before they set in.
o But…KIDS ?!?! No, we don’t have children yet. But most of this still applies if you do in fact have kids. I know this because I occasionally babysit friends’ kids at my home and my 3-year-old niece lived with us for two weeks this past summer (and I might have about a decade of training/experience in behavior management with kiddos ;) ). So how have I kept things tidy when kids are around? 1) I limit the number of toys out at a time; 2) children put toys away when they are finished playing with them; 3) I have children help me with household tasks; 4) the only place children consume food is at the table; 5) I have children assist in clean up whenever applicable if they spill/make a mess. I realize that to some people these rules may seem unrealistic or overly-strict, and that’s fine. I’m not telling you how to parent; I’m just telling you how I keep my house clean, even when kids are around. There’s rarely one way to do things, and you have to figure out what works best for you!
If you take anything away from this post, it should be this: keep it simple! I don’t try to keep my house spotless; I just try to keep it manageable. And if I’m being honest, having less stuff is really the main key to success here. I should also add that I was a super messy kid, so all of these things are HABITS that I’ve developed over time. If I can do it, so can you! I’d love to hear how you keep your house clean/tidy (especially if you have kiddos); let me know in the comments below!