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Teach me how to have a clean house!
I never learned how to clean growing up. Our house could have easily been on the show "Clean House" or even the "Messiest Home in the Country" episode! I'm not joking or exaggerating either, we ate in the living room because the table was covered in junk, we had paths through all the clutter. When we did "clean" a few times of year for holidays or birthdays, it was throwing all the junk from the main floor onto the stairway and closing the door.
DH grew up in a nice clean house, but he hates cleaning so he won't just do it on his own.
Now that I have a baby (7 months old), I want more than ever to have a clean house! My house is better than how I grew up, but I still end up with clutter everywhere and unswept floors. I work full-time too.
It's embarrassing and I always want at least a week's notice before anybody comes over so I can get it cleaned up.
Please teach me how to maintain a clean house!
Re: Teach me how to have a clean house!
I second this! Flylady is a lifesaver - it definitely helps you manage your household with easy, do-able tasks daily I love it. There are some general tips on their site, some cleaning lists and a few easy everyday tasks, once you master these you jump into the weekly zones. Each week, you focus on a different zone, and in that zone work on a different task (like if the zone is kitchen, maybe Monday you clean all your small appliances, Tuesday you reorganize your pantry etc). It's all very doable with a FT job and family. They're big on working on your task but not becoming a slave. Setting a timer to do a task for 15 minutes and when the time is up the time is up, be happy with what you accomplished and don't stress if you didn't get it all - you'll get there.
A word of warning, I signed up for their emails and at first was getting way too many per day (they have some little stories and Q&A's etc.) so I changed to the light version of their emails. This way I get 1 email a day, with a link to the daily 'flight plan' (cleaning task).
Whoa! Your house growing up probably looked like my inlaws. We literally nominated them for the show clean house lol.
My DH has a problem keeping things really clean because of the way that he grew up and I know its a hard task to break. So with him, we tend to do "Tasks" that way it is getting things clean one thing at a time. Maybe you need to discipline yourself to "tasks" this same way.
I think the reason his family never cleaned is because it always felt overwhelming. I mean, they never even have cleaned their toliet (I know, gross)!! If you break it down by room, it might take that overwhelming feeling away- and enlist the help of DH!
I'm not perfect at keeping a clean house, but I've gotten much better about it over the years. I try to keep my house in a condition that I wouldn't mind random visitors popping in unannounced.
The only thing I can really recommend is to keep every room in the house clean, always. As soon as a small amount of clutter starts, then everything goes downhill really fast. If you constantly keep all rooms clean, you won't any messes. Most the time, I'm able to keep my house this way, but every now and then I fall off the bandwagon. For me, it takes a lot of self discipline.
Check out pinterest.com and do a search for cleaning and organizing tips. There are so many great ideas out there and you can control the amount of data you receive.
Beware though - pinning is addicting!
I would start with the clutter. For me it is the easiest, and most fun to tackle since I hate scrubbing. I would go through all your clutter and divide into piles of trash, keep, and donate. Throw away right away your trash. Donate that same day that pile. The keep pile is a little harder because you have to find "homes" for all the things. If the item doesn't have a place to "live and call home" then it doesn't belong in your home. Home for the item can be in cabinets, drawers, closets etc but it is the place where you always put the item back after it has been used.
As far as unswept floors, I would worry too much about them. You practically have to do you floors twice a day for them to be "clean". Just sweep the floors once per week. I do floors on Saturday and put it in both mine and DH's Google Calendar.
Other cleaning tricks: Clear the table and do dishes right away after dinner. When you get something out, always put it back when you are done. It takes 2 seconds and you don't build up the clutter.
Other methods: Do one thing a day or one room a day. I tried this, and it didn't work for me, but it works for a lot of people. I just clean when something drives me nuts enough to do so, but that works for me because I am easily driven nuts by dirt and clutter.
Check out organizing books from the library. They are cute and fun, but then again I like organizing. And they have lots of great ideas.
I run a housecleaning business, and I can tell you, the easiest houses for me to clean are those that are clutter-free. If you can manage to keep your house clutter free, that's half the battle.
Wash dishes daily and put them away. Do laundry once or twice a week, fold it, and put it away. Have a designated spot for mail/papers, and deal with it regularly. I separate my mail in a little standing file bin thingie into bills, things to be filed, miscalaneous, and charitable documents (we donate to charities via mail).
Put shoes and coats and clothes in their place every evening. Dirty laundry in the hamper, coats on coat hooks or racks or coat closet, and shoes by the exit door or in the closet. Keep a bulk of your makeup and toiletries in bathroom drawers and cabinets so that the vanity is easy to clean weekly.
Donate or sell excess dishes, glasses, silverware, pots and pans, and other kitchenware. Go through all your clothes, drawers, and most everything once a year and get rid of stuff you don't use.
If you keep your home organized in this fashion, cleaning will be much much easier. I charge a lot more to clean cluttered homes that I do to clean organized, minimalist homes.
I run a housecleaning business, and I can tell you, the easiest houses for me to clean are those that are clutter-free. If you can manage to keep your house clutter free, that's half the battle.
Wash dishes daily and put them away. Do laundry once or twice a week, fold it, and put it away. Have a designated spot for mail/papers, and deal with it regularly. I separate my mail in a little standing file bin thingie into bills, things to be filed, miscalaneous, and charitable documents (we donate to charities via mail).Get a filing cabinet.
Put shoes and coats and clothes in their place every evening. Dirty laundry in the hamper, coats on coat hooks or racks or coat closet, and shoes by the exit door or in the closet. Keep a bulk of your makeup and toiletries in bathroom drawers and cabinets so that the vanity is easy to clean weekly.
Donate or sell excess dishes, glasses, silverware, pots and pans, and other kitchenware. Go through all your clothes, drawers, and most everything once a year and get rid of stuff you don't use.
If you keep your home organized in this fashion, cleaning will be much much easier. I charge a lot more to clean cluttered homes that I do to clean organized, minimalist homes.
The best method is prevention... Ie do not bring in unnecessary clutter.
Don't subscribe to newspapers or magazines, or if you do toss them when done. with junk mail, ads etc, toss it as soon as you get it. Open your bills and pay them immediately, don't be temped to leave it laying. Don't keep things for the sake of keeping them. (Growing up my parents kept every butter bowl, cool whip bowl and every hard plastic fast food cup, kept every random trinket from fairs and festivals- ie the brochures and samples and giveaways). Rent movies or books rather than feeling the need to won every DVD you watch or book you read.
If its broke, throw it away. If it doesn't fit, donate it to charity. If your child no longer uses it, have a yard sale or give it to a friend.
Have a place for everything. We are lucky to live in a large home but even in our first home we tried to have a specific place for everything that did not involve a pile or stack. Then if we couldn't find a "place" for it, we evaluated whether we truly needed it or if we could get rid of something else to have room for it. Even now in our spacious home we try to stick to the rule that "if you bring something into the home something else must leave". Which means if I buy new clothes then we make a trip to goodwill.
My husband and I both came from similar homes and now maintain a spotless home.
Don't be tempted to go out and buy a lot of "organization" totes and supplies. Being organized is a way of life, not something that you can buy.
Also... Don't let your family push you back into the cluttered lifestyle. My husband and I do very well financially and are blessed beyond measure in many ways... Including financially, and we have most everything we'd need or want... but both our parents still constantly bring us things they "find" for us... Such as random comforters and bath towels that are on clearance (and don't really go with anything), clothes that aren't quite our size or style, old furniture and electronics someone else wanted to "get rid of".
Im sure this sounds harsh or unappreciative to those who have never been in that position but I just can't go back to living that way. I can remember my parents getting disproportionalye angry when someone came over unannounced or when out of town relatives announced they would be coming to visit, or if a friend and i hatched a plan to spend the night... I realize these things are aggravating and an inconvenience to prepare for, but looking back I realize its because it always meant this crazy tailspin of cleaning and cleaning and cleaning.
there is hope, if I can do it, you can do it!