I really like to have a clean house, and I try to keep it clean every day. I understand the challenges of keeping a house clean, especially with children around. When my house is clean, I feel like I can function better and that I’m more productive through the day. For me it’s important to teach my kids how to clean, so I have them help me clean it on a regular basis. Here are 7 things you can do to keep your house clean every day. Watch the video below or read the post for daily habits you can do to keep your house clean and keep the clutter minimal.
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Tip #1: Make Your Bed Daily
This sounds like a simple thing to do but when you make your bed it starts the day off right and your room looks cleaner. Also, teach your kids to make their beds daily to make their rooms look cleaner.
Tip #2: Never Leave a Room Empty Handed
Anytime you leave a room, take something with you and put it away. Go by the one-touch rule, which is anytime you pick up an item don’t put it down somewhere else or take it with you from room to room. Pick it up once and take a few seconds and to put it away.
Any time I know I’m going to my kids room or downstairs, I’ll take something from the front room or kitchen and put it away. It takes a few extra seconds, but it helps to keep things clean. Another tip is to take a laundry basket and fill it up with the items that don’t belong in that room. After you put the items in basket take a few minutes to go put them away where they need to go. Check out my video of How I Speed Clean the Front Room & Kitchen.
Tip #3: When You Take It Out, Put It Away
When you come in the house and take off your jacket, don’t put it on a chair or on the ground, take 30 seconds and hang it up. Same with taking off your shoes. Take 30 seconds and put the shoes on the shoe rack rather than leaving them at the entry. Or after you change your clothes, hang them up or place them in the hamper rather than putting the clothes on the floor. By taking an extra 30 seconds to put something in its place, it will save you time from having to go back through the house and pick up items later that day or that week.
Tip #4: Deal with the Mail, School Papers and Other Paper Ever Day
When you bring in the mail, don’t put it on the counter. Take a few minutes to sort through it. Discard or shred the junk mail. If there are papers you want to keep, place them in a bin designated for those papers. And place the bills in the location where you pay the bills.
My kids bring home a lot of papers from school every day. What I’ll do is let the kids tell me about their day and show us all their papers, then I place the school papers in a designated spot. After some time, then I’ll go through the bin and throw out those papers. It’s sometimes hard to throw away kids school papers, so if you want to keep a certain paper, then place it in a special bin for your kid that you can store away. Or take a picture of the paper so you can have it for the scrapbook before throwing it away.
Tip #5: Do a Little Something Every Day
Prioritize 2-3 items that you want to get done that day and focus on those things. It could be folding a load of laundry, organizing something in a room or cleaning an area in your house. It’s helpful if you set a timer for 15-20 minutes and get as much done as you can on the task you want to complete. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish in that time frame. Only focusing on a few things a day will help you not feel so overwhelmed with trying to get too many things done in one day.
Tip #6: Wash the Dishes Daily, Unload the Dishwasher and Wipe Down the Sink
I spend a lot of time in the kitchen preparing food and cleaning up after meals. I sometimes get frustrated if there isn’t room on the counter to prepare food or if my sink isn’t easily accessible because there are dishes piled in the sink. If you wash the dishes daily, unload the dishwasher and wipe down the sink regularly, especially by the end of the day, it makes a huge difference when you wake up in the morning. It’s one less thing you have to do when you start your day.
For my family, we have one of the kids help unload the dishwasher every day. Even my 3-year-old boy is assigned a day to help out. Yes, I have to help them put some of the dishes away that are up high and they can’t reach, but they responsible to unload the dishwasher on their assigned day.
And at night each person in the family has a chore to do at dinner time which includes setting the table for dinner, picking up items off the table after dinner, washing and loading dishes, wiping down the table and sweeping the kitchen. Everyone has to get their kitchen chore done every night before we do a fun family activity together.
It’s worked well for our family because it goes faster and it becomes less work for me when everyone pitches in and helps out. At night right before bed I will do a quick overview of the kitchen where I put extra dishes in the dishwasher and make sure the counters are cleaned off. Overall it helps things to run more smoothly, especially in the morning.
Tip #7: Do a 15-Minute Pick Up Before Bed
Have the entire family do a 15-minute pick up before bed. Ask them to pick up items in the front room or in their bedroom and put them away. Get things organized clean off the counters and put the papers away. That way the next day when you get going in the morning, you’ll be ready for the day and you won’t feel so overwhelmed because things were left undone.
These are just some tips to keep your house clean and keep the clutter minimal. What are tips you have to keep your house clean?
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GREAT tips! I have two little boys and it seems like the house will never stay clean. I love the throw it away if it doesn’t have a home. I do that and it makes cleaning up easier with less stuff!! haha! Thanks for sharing these!
Yes, with little kids it’s so hard to keep the house clean. I’m glad you liked the tips!
This breakdown is very helpful. #2 is good to upkeep. Thanks for sharing this.
Wow, Very useful tips found on your blog. Thanks a lot for this beauty Enjoying article with me. I appreciate it very much!
This is a great compilation of tips on how to keep our house clean. Thanks for writing up all this.
You’re welcome. I hope it is of help to others.