Got Clutter? 8 Tips To Keep Your House Clean

Tired of being buried under the clutter? Do you feel like the more you clean, the more mess you have? Does the thought of cleaning your home make you hyperventilate? I have some tips for you! Keeping your house clean doesn’t have to be a daily nightmare.

Tips to keep your house clean:

1. Don’t let it pile up

The longer you put off cleaning, the higher your piles will be! What was a tiny mess of clutter can quickly escalate to a mountain of junk. Don’t let this happen. The key is to pace yourself. Keep the clutter to a minimum, and tackle it before it grows out of control. I know you may not want to hear this, but cleaning a little each day helps to keep the volume manageable. Clean a little here, a little there throughout your day. The worse thing you can do is wait until the weekend, and now you’re stuck buried under an avalanche of STUFF.

2. Toss, purge, burn…whatever

Just get rid of it! Do not be a hoarder! Hanging onto a bunch of useless stuff will make your job a lot harder. Give it away, recycle it out, or simply toss what you don’t need. I know what you’re thinking, never get rid of good stuff. But believe me when I say it’s okay. Purging on a regular basis is liberating and helps you to just work with the stuff you really need. Having trouble deciding what to toss? As a rule-of-thumb, save a few things that have sentimental value and that you absolutely cannot part with. As for the rest of the stuff, light a match.

3. Everything has a place. Put it there

Now that we’ve gotten rid of everything we don’t need, it’s time to organize everything else. Easier said than done, I truly understand. But you will thank me later. Spend a day or so creating an organizational system. Add storage bins to your linen closet. Get rid of all the things that don’t belong. Make neat piles, label, stack, whatever you have to do to make your items neat. Everything has a place, put it there! If you can’t find a place for it, most likely it needs to be tossed (see #2).

4. Hide your stuff in bins, baskets and containers

Become an illusionist! Whatever can’t be easily stacked, make it disappear! Well not really, but the key is to hide the junk. Baskets are a great way to make random odds and ins look beautifully organized. Hide your mess in a wicker basket, a covered bin, or a lidded container. The baskets will make your house cozy and give it character, and now your random items will have a new home.

5. Pace the laundry

I know many people like waiting until the weekend to complete their 3,453 loads of laundry. Not I, no thanks. This doesn’t work for me because I don’t want to spend my weekend folding underwear and towels. I’d rather be out with my family and enjoying the sunshine. As a trade-off, I complete my laundry throughout the week so that it is never overwhelming. One load here, another load there. I rather do small loads often than spend my entire weekend buried under a mountain of clothes.

6. Get on a schedule

Establish a daily baseline to keep your house just “clean enough” through the week. Complete those chores before you go to bed at night. As for all the remaining deep-cleaning chores, do them weekly or monthly. For example, I clean my bathroom every day. It takes less than 5 minutes to do a quick wipe-down. But on Saturdays, I do a deeper cleaning and get the corners I missed throughout the week. Deep-cleaning is never overwhelming to me because I’ve already done most of the hard work during the week.

7. Master the art of speed-cleaning

Okay, now that you’re all organized, it gets easier from here. Daily cleaning will be less of a chore because you are simply putting everything back in it’s place. Clean fast and efficiently by whipping through the rooms, quickly grabbing items and putting them away. Once you get in a zone, you can expertly clean a room in under 5 minutes! It should take no time to wipe down your mirrors, sanitize your sink, and fly through all the clutter scattered about on your floors.

8. Delegate to your family

Get your family involved. It’s only fair. No one in the house is above sweeping, vacuuming, and putting items in their rightful place. Make it fun for the kids. Sing a clean-up song, race to see who can finish the fastest, honor your cleaning accomplishments with much-needed family time.

Happy cleaning!