If you adopt these routines on a daily basis, it is easy to have a comfortable and tidy house without making a big effort.
Time is money. And more so every day. We see how household chores pile up while we have to work, in some cases devote ourselves to parenting, maintain a certain social life, see the family and, of course, have some time for ourselves. If we put off cleaning the house from one day to the next, we may find that the house is eventually dirty and untidy and we have to spend many hours to get it looking as good as new.
Instead of going on a cleaning binge, which is hardly worth repeating, we recommend ten tips to keep your home in good condition. If you get into these routines, it is easy to have a comfortable and tidy home without making a big effort. With this series of habits, moreover, your home will stay tidy for longer.
1. Make your bed every day
When you enter a room, all eyes are drawn to the bed. If we see the bed unmade, we will have the impression that the whole room is untidy. The habit of making the bed in the morning will give a much cleaner image of your room.
In addition, it is a matter that directly affects rest and well-being because the sensation of getting into a made bed at bedtime is much more pleasant than if the sheets and duvet are jumbled on the mattress without order or order. Even more so if the sheets are clean, for which it is advisable to wash them once a week.
2. Ventilate
While you make the bed in your room, you can leave the windows open to ventilate it daily. For the rest of the rooms the windows can be left open during the shower or breakfast. Ten minutes is enough, but it is essential to renew the air in your home every day.
Keep in mind that the house can get dusty when you open the windows. This is why it is important to do it first thing in the morning and at the same time as cleaning, never afterwards.
3. Check your mail daily
When you come home from work, it is not ideal to leave mail on the table or hallway furniture per secula seculorum. The papers pile up and you can’t tell the dust from the chaff. The best thing to do is to go through them on the spot and throw what you are not interested in into the dustbin and file important items such as invoices and notices.
4. Don’t leave your shoes in the way
When you get home it’s a pleasure to take off the shoes you’ve worn on the street and put on your slippers or duvet socks. In this case, leaving your shoes in the middle of the entrance hall, living room or bedroom does not give a sense of order and cleanliness. There are many options for keeping shoes in one place, such as a shoe cabinet.
When you take your shoes off as soon as you get home, you also bring in less dirt from outside. It is famous to say ‘It’s not the cleaner who cleans, but the one who dirties the least’.
5. Sweep, mop or dust
To avoid cleaning marathons, the ideal is to keep dust, fluff and so on off the floor. Sweeping, mopping or vacuuming is a must. The best tool for cleaning the floors in the house is in fact the hoover, especially if you have children or pets at home. As it absorbs the dirt, you don’t have to pass it over as regularly as if you sweep it up with a cloth or broom.
If you cook, you are aware that this is the most easily soiled area of the house. Therefore, after cooking, you can pass the broom over it and, in this way, get rid of the most visible dirt. If you see that it is in very bad condition, the best thing to do is to mop the floor afterwards.
6. Put things away after use
An obvious rule of thumb is to put away what you have used. It’s a quick and easy thing to do and can save a lot of aggravation later on. The same goes for when you take off your clothes and they pile up on the armchair in your room until they become a mountain. It is much better to throw the clothes that need to go in the washing machine into the laundry bin at that moment and keep the pieces of clothing that you can wear again in the wardrobe.
7. Empty the dishwasher in the morning and wash up after every meal.
If you empty the dishwasher for five minutes in the morning, it is much more convenient for later when you have to do lunch or dinner and you have to fill it again.
On the other hand, the most practical thing to do is to wash the dishes that you can’t put in the dishwasher after every meal so that food doesn’t get stuck in the dishwasher, so that you don’t get mountains in the sink and so that the bad smell doesn’t linger.
8. Clean the fridge weekly
You don’t need to do a thorough cleaning of the fridge, but when you take a look to see what food is missing you can remove any products that are out of date and quickly wipe down any spills or other dirt on the shelves and drawers.
9. From top to bottom
The best way to speed up cleaning is to clean from top to bottom. This is useful for dusting, tidying shelves and cupboards or if the house has more than one floor. You start at the top, where you are most tired, and work your way down when you have less energy left. This way we also avoid dusting several times.
10. Dry the bathroom after showering
Limescale drips and residues leave a dirty impression in the bathroom. Nothing could be easier than to take a microfibre cloth and wipe the shower, glass and washbasin in no time at all. You won’t need to clean the bathroom as often if you take care of this.