Cleaning for the easily overwhelmed
Five tips for keeping a clean home.
Last week, we discussed four cleaning products that I use to clean my whole house. But what if you don’t know the first thing about cleaning?
Keeping a clean home without getting too overwhelmed by each individual task is all about automating tidiness and cleanliness. It’s about finding ways to build these chores into your routine so that you don’t have to think about cleaning as a separate chore for which you need to dedicate a significant amount of time. Think of cleaning your kitchen as a part of cooking. Put the items that have accumulated on the coffee table away before turning the lights off to go to bed.
1. Clean a little every day
I think one of the reasons people get really overwhelmed by cleaning is because the multitude of tasks that need to be done within a home can pile up really quick. If you don’t stay on top of tidying and cleaning, then the task is going to feel so much bigger than it needs to be when you finally get around to it.
Cleaning a home requires daily care, but your daily chores don’t need to take much time. On a daily basis, I like to make sure that I do the following:
Tidy flat surfaces at least once at the end of the day (i.e., coffee tables, dining tables, countertops — anywhere that has a tendency to “collect” things)
Stay on top of dishes
Wipe down the countertops, backsplash, and stovetop after cooking
Put dirty clothes in the hamper right after a shower
Put items away when you’re done using them
I’ve also heard people refer to the “10 second rule” which is, if you see a task that needs to be done and it takes less than 10 seconds, do it right away. Some people also have this same rule for 60-second tasks. The length of time it takes is kind of irrelevant; we all have our own tolerance for what constitutes a short amount of time.
2. Every item should have a home
Before you make a purchase, you should consider where that item is going to live inside of your home. Having a clean and tidy home requires a bit of planning in the sense that you need to have an idea of where everything will go.
When choosing where items should live, the placement should be intuitive and simple enough that your entire household will be able to find the item and be able to put it away. It wouldn’t, for instance, make any sense to put your living room TV remote in your office desk drawer. Likewise, a frequently used item shouldn’t be so difficult to access that it makes the task of retrieving and putting it away into a hassle. This will certainly lead to the item hanging out in the open more often than not.
3. Tidy first
This “rule” feels intuitive to the point of redundancy, but it’s worth mentioning. You can’t clean a room that isn’t tidy. When things are put back where they need to go, your flat surfaces are ready to be wiped down, floors are prepared for vacuuming or mopping, and shelves can be dusted. On the flip side, trying to clean a room that hasn’t been tidied is an absolute headache.
4. Clean top to bottom
When cleaning a room, you will save yourself a lot of time by cleaning top to bottom. Start at the top to allow dust and residue to fall to the layer below, which will be cleaned next. If you were to vacuum and mop before wiping down your countertops, you’d end up with crumbs and dust on your freshly cleaned floor, leaving more work for you to do.
5. The more often you clean, the easier it will be
One thing to keep in mind when cleaning your home is that like attracts like. Dust attracts more dust, cooking grease attracts more cooking grease. So it makes logical sense that the more often you clean, the easier doing so will be. Cooking grease won’t have the chance to polymerize and get so stuck on the stovetop that you need to break out the oven cleaner to get it off; spritzing around your burners with an all-purpose spray will do the trick.
I’m not saying you need to deep clean each area of your home every second day to keep things looking nice. I think it’s all about striking a balance. You know your household, so you are aware of the intricacies of your home’s cleanliness — how often things get used, how quickly they get dirty.
I am a firm believer that cleaning should be simple and enjoyable. If you’re spending too much time just trying to stay on top of things, it’s neither simple nor enjoyable and a strategy reform may be necessary. That said, staying on top of things may help to make cleaning simpler and less headache-inducing.
Bonus: Make your home somewhere you want to be
Part of the reason I like to keep my home clean is because I really like how it looks. Sure, it’s not Architectural Digest worthy, but it’s steeped in sentimentality. I love and appreciate all of the items in my home because they mean something to me. The coffee table makes me feel lucky for having gotten it for free; the bookshelf is filled with books that we either love or one day hope to read; the solid wood end table I found for $15 at a thrift store and restored makes me feel proud for the work I put into it.
As a full-time freelancer, my home is where I spend most of my time. It’s also where my dog feels most safe, where we host friends and family, and where we gather at the end of the day to decompress and spend quality time together. It’s where we share our meals, watch our favorite TV shows, go over important plans, and play with our dog.
All in all, my space is really meaningful. And because it means so much to me, I am motivated to keep it tidy and clean, for myself and my family. If I had a home where I did not feel so much love, I probably wouldn’t have much of an interest in homemaking or housekeeping. For me, homemaking really is boiled down to love and respect. I know it sounds corny and cheesy, but it’s true.
So I mention this as a final reminder that if you’re struggling with keeping your home clean and tidy, it may not be because you lack the life skills, but the interest.