Here are 10 unique tips to help simplify your house cleaning:
Tip #1 – Make the Beds First
If you start your cleaning by making the bed first, it gives you the psychological boost you need to do the rest of your cleaning. A bed is usually the most noticeable visual focal point in a bedroom. When you see it nice and neat, you will suddenly gain more positive inspiration and you will want to see the areas around it nice and neat as well. And make each family member make their own bed. It will help give each of them a more positive outlook for the day (even if they gripe while doing it), and will take some of the cleaning burden off of you.
Tip #2 – Create a Place for Everything
A great way to reduce your cleaning projects is to help your family avoid messing things up in the first place. Think about the clutter in your home which you seem to constantly struggle with. Consider each item or group of items. Who put those items there? Is there a place you have created where that item belongs? If not, create one, and tell your family. Does each person in your family know where that place is? If they still don’t put an item in its place, try moving the “place” to the location where the item usually ends up anyway. Example: If paperwork seems to pile up on a dresser, rather than on the desk where it belongs, instead of fighting it, consider putting a stylish in-box on the dresser to at least keep the papers neat. Then, maybe you can empty the in-box and take the papers to the desk once a week when it’s time to deal with them. Even if you don’t like that idea, it’s the concept that’s important. Create a place for everything.
Tip #3 – Clean Places When You Use Them
Sometimes it’s hard to set aside time to go to a certain part of the house and clean it. One great solution is to simply clean that area when you are there using it anyway. Example: The shower. Try keeping some cleanser and a scrubber or squeegee in the same place where you have your shampoos etc. When you take a shower, start by doing a little cleaning first with the cleanser and scrubber while you are getting ready to take your shower. You’ll be surprised at how much easier it seems. And when you’re finished cleaning, you can just keep on going with taking your shower or bath. This also saves the trouble of changing in and out of cleaning clothes and getting your clothes dirty while you’re doing the cleaning. Even if you’re not comfortable with this, try at a time or two. Who knows, you might like it.
Tip #4 – Empty Your Garage to Zero
When you’re facing a garage packed full of clutter it is hard to get the motivation to take the first step toward organizing it. For one thing, if there is hardly any space left in the garage, it’s hard to figure out how to move things from one place to another in the garage to get it sorted out. One of the simplest solutions is to start by removing 100% of everything from your garage and putting it all out in your driveway or other large area nearby (empty your garage to zero). Of course you want to make sure its a good weather day and not raining when you do this. This technique may sound overwhelming at first, but it provides incredible motivation when you can now look at a totally empty garage to start with. It’s like having a clean empty canvas when you are about to start a painting. At this point you want to grab a broom and sweep all of the dust and dirt out of the garage. Better yet, a leaf blower will do the job even quicker.
The next step is to sort everything in the driveway into different logical piles. Place all of the lawn tools together in one pile, and all of the painting supplies together in another pile. Place all of the plumbing supplies together, and pile up all of the electrical supplies in another spot. Keep going like this, putting everything into piles according to their purpose. As you begin, be sure to make a big pile for any items that need to be trashed. For any items that need to be moved from the garage to another location, make a different pile for each other location and put all the items there that need to go to that location. The last time I cleaned my garage I had a lot of items that needed to move to an outdoor shed instead so I made a pile of everything that needed to go to the shed.
Next, take the trash pile and put it in your trash cans or take it to the dump. After that, take any piles that need to go to other locations and get them to those locations. If the piles are big, use a wheelbarrow or cart. Now you will be left only with items that need to go back into the garage, and you will already have them sorted into logical order by type. At this point you simply move these items back into the garage, but place them in a neat organized fashion as you go. When you move the painting supplies back into the garage, for example, you can set up a special area for them and organize it. If you want to go to a nearby store and buy some big plastic boxes and other containers for the items, this is a good time to take a break and do that. Also now is a great time to put up any hooks, hangers or racks which you may want to use to organize things. Before you know it, you will have everything back in the garage, nice and organized, and there will probably even be some space to spare. Don’t worry about perfection. Move fast and get it done quickly.
Tip #5 – One Small Step for Cleaning
A big problem for a lot of people is that when you look around at all the cleaning that needs to be done, it’s mentally overwhelming so you just freeze up and don’t even start. To overcome this, you just need to divide and conquer. Divide the mess into smaller chunks and you will be able to conquer it more easily. For example, if you’re struggling to just get started on cleaning a bedroom, try focusing just on the top of the dresser and get that cleaned and organized. If you can’t seem to get started on the bathroom, try just focusing on cleaning the sink for now. The next day, pick another small area to tackle. As you build momentum and get un-stuck, you can gradually take on larger areas. Divide and conquer.
Tip #6 – Aim to Do a Bad Job
Many times cleaning can drag out forever because we try to make things too perfect. To overcome this and speed things up, make it your aim to do a bad job. Of course, I say this facetiously. The point is, don’t try to be perfect, keep moving and get it done quickly. Finishing a cleaning job while leaving a few loose ends is a lot better than never getting started because you’re afraid it wont be perfect.
Tip #7 – Make a Trash Round
Taking out trash seems to eat up lots of time, especially when you have small trashcans in your bedrooms, bathrooms, office, kitchen, etc. To minimize your trash hauling time, try making one round to gather all of the trash in a single trip throughout the house, one day before the garbage truck comes for it’s pickup. Carry a big trash bag with you throughout the house, and one-by-one, empty each of the small trashcans into the big bag you are carrying as you go from room to room. It helps to make it even smoother if you have put a trashcan liner in each of the small trash cans previously. Plastic grocery bags work great for these. Put several empty grocery bags in the bottom of each trashcan also so it’s easy to replace the liner each time. Using trashcan liners like this, you can simply grab the bag out of each trashcan and put it into your bigger bag, rather than having to turn a trashcan upside down and dump it. While you make your rounds, also be sure to keep your eyes open for any loose trashable items around the house which you can grab along the way.
Tip #8 – A Boiled Pot Easily Washes
It’s a real pain when you cook something in a pot and it leaves food stuck to the bottom. Most people tend to leave it sitting around because they dread the hassle and wasted time scrubbing and scrubbing. The next time that happens to you, try this. Fill the pot with about 1 inch of water, put it back on the stove and turn on the heat. Let it boil a little for a minute or two while you are cleaning other things. For extra sticky food, try scraping it a little bit with a plastic spatula while it’s boiling. Then, when you empty the pot and clean it with lukewarm water you will find that the sticky food comes off very easily. Obviously you want to be careful with this technique so you don’t scald yourself when you’re working with the boiling water.
Tip #9 – Trash All Paperwork Daily
This isn’t to say that you should just throw all of your paperwork into the trash. But if you’re struggling with a lot of paperwork clutter in your house, invest in a scanner. Anytime you bring mail or other paperwork into the house, put it all in one place. Then, set aside a few minutes at the end of each day to sort the paperwork. For each piece of paperwork, ask yourself if it will really be a big deal to throw it out. If not, trash it. Instead, if it’s something which you need to do, and you can handle it in less than two minutes, go ahead and spend that time and get it handled right now. Then trash it. On the other hand, if the paper is something you will need to refer to later or something which will take a longer time to do, run it through your scanner to save a digital copy on your computer, and notate it on your to-do list for later. Then trash it. When you’re all done, you have zero paperwork. You will love the new freedom without all of the clutter.
Tip #10 – Invite People Over When Your House Needs Cleaning
One of the toughest parts of cleaning is just getting up the energy to do it. Nothing boosts your cleaning energy like inviting people over. When guests are scheduled to arrive on a certain day, you (and your family) suddenly feel the pressure of getting ready for them, and it gets the whole family moving and cleaning the house. It can be exhausting for the moment, and a little nerve-wracking when you can’t get everything done like you wanted to. But you’ll have a fun time with your guests, and afterwards you can keep admiring your nice, new, clean home (at least until you mess it up again).
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