When you are busy, it can seem impossible to figure out how to maintain a clean house. Every time you turn around there are more dishes in the sink, more laundry to be washed, and dust piling up in places you don’t notice until you sit down.
Despite all of the challenges of making time to clean your home when things are so busy you feel like you’re running from one appointment to the next, when you maintain a clean house amidst a busy schedule it provides significant benefits to your mental clarity and overall wellness, not to mention your physical health.
How to maintain a clean house
So, how can you legitimately maintain a clean home when you are incredibly busy? Below are some tips for maintaining a clean home:
Tip #1: Set realistic goals
The first thing is to set realistic goals. Maintaining a clean home doesn’t mean you have to deep clean everything, wash all your windows, and take a toothbrush to your baseboards. When you are busy, this can seem completely far-fetched.
Instead, you need to set goals for what a clean house means in terms of practicality and time. This will look slightly different for different people and different spaces.
For example:
If you have several children who are constantly going to and from things like baseball practice, soccer practice, and other athletic events, you might decide that sweeping up every bit of mud that gets tracked in through the garage door is not a realistic goal because more mud will appear every single day.
But what you can do is set aside a designated area where shoes and equipment can be left, to try and control the mud and then focus instead on a realistic goal of keeping dishes out of the sink and vacuuming your rugs every week.
Let’s look at a different example:
If you don’t have children but have several pets, you might not have to contend with a lot of dirt or picking up toys, but you will have to worry about pet hair, in which case a simple vacuum, sweep, and mop routine can be your priority in addition to things like keeping the sink clean and not letting dishes pile up on the counters.
Prioritizing cleaning tasks based on impact and necessity
As you can see in the examples above, maintaining a clean house will look slightly different for everyone based on what factors are most important.
Figure out for yourself what things stress you out the most.
- Is it most stressful when you have unfolded laundry sitting in a basket? If so , prioritize folding laundry and making sure that nothing ever sits for too long.
- Is it most stressful for you when you walk around barefoot, and your feet constantly pick up dirt? If so, prioritize a regular sweep and vacuum routine. Focus on the most heavily trafficked areas rather than the entire house.
Tip: If you have a formal dining room, a living room, and an office where you don’t go a lot, you don’t have to make that part of your regular cleaning tasks because chances are it’s not going to accumulate a lot of dust and debris from foot traffic. Even in the rooms you use, consider what your regular foot traffic pattern is and focus on vacuuming or dusting those areas.
Developing a Cleaning Schedule
When developing your schedule, you’ll be able to maintain a clean house if you divide your list of prioritized items based on a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule.
Identifying small, manageable tasks
Figuring out how to maintain a clean home schedule starts with daily tasks. Daily tasks include things like doing your dishes or wiping down surfaces to prevent buildup. This should be in high-use areas like the kitchen and bathroom.
Tip: Every time you do dishes, take your sponge and quickly wipe down the counters. Every time you wash your hands in the bathroom, grab a wipe or a paper towel and wipe down the counter.
With your small and manageable tasks you can fit them in when you are showering, when you are making food, or when you are on your way out the door like collecting trash and putting it in the trash can. These are things that shouldn’t disrupt your schedule and don’t add a burden to your to-do list.
Outlining weekly tasks
Knowing how to maintain a clean house also comes down to distributing prioritized tasks on a weekly basis. key weekly items should include laundry and vacuuming. Depending on the size of your household it might include running the dishwasher and then emptying it. Weekly tasks can be things that you do every week around the same time frame. But they can also be things that you fit into your schedule as you have time.
Tip: If you work from home or you are home in the evenings, move your vacuum from one room to the next, and start with the room you’re in and then leave it in the next room so that when you have another 5 minutes, you can head into that room and quickly vacuum as well.
Picking monthly tasks
Then you have to pick your monthly tasks. These are the less frequent things like deep cleaning your stove top or windows. If you have windows that face the road they might get a lot of build up from rain or road salt and you can clean them once every few months when you have a free afternoon. This doesn’t add significantly to your schedule but it can make a lasting impact on spacing out your deep cleaning requirements.
Time-Saving Cleaning Techniques
What are some tips for maintaining a clean home in the fastest amount of time possible?
Time-saving tools
Consider investing in time-saving tools. Robotic vacuums can map your home and vacuum without you having to do anything, saving you a lot of time. Multipurpose cleaners can be used throughout your home, so you don’t have to continually go back to your pantry and switch the product you are using.
Shortcuts
Find shortcuts like those mentioned above, such as wiping down your bathroom sink when you wash your hands or keeping a toilet cleaner right on top of the tank so you can easily clean the bowl.
Hiring Professional Help
If you are still struggling to maintain a clean house, consider hiring professional cleaning services in Dallas. Cleaning services can be a great adjunct investment. You can do simple daily tasks and then allow a cleaning service to come in and do the weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly tasks for you.
When you hire a professional cleaning service you can choose how frequently you want them to come in and assist. If you need reliable help on a regular basis you can have someone come every two weeks or every week. But if, instead, you simply need someone for deep cleaning, you can have them come every month.
Maintaining Motivation
Maintaining motivation to keep your house clean can be overwhelming when you are very busy, but if you establish personal rewards for meeting your cleaning goals, you’ll find it much more likely that each goal will be met.
This can be something as simple as saying you can’t have dessert until you wash all the dishes or you get to relax with your favorite book after you do weekly laundry or vacuuming.
Summing Up
Overall, there are several key strategies you can use like time-saving shortcuts, developing a schedule, and hiring professionals in order to maintain a clean house. No matter how busy your schedule is, you can find an approach that fits your personal lifestyle and home environment.
