how to keep a clean and tidy home

Hi all, In this post, I’m going to be sharing with you 15 tips and habits on how to keep a clean and tidy home.

I’m actually not a natural lover of cleaning, but I do really love having a clean house, so it is just the habits that I’m going to share with you today that keep my house nice and clean and tidy.

15 tips and habits on how to keep a clean and tidy home

So yes, without further ado, let’s get into my tips.

Tip #1

So my first tip is to be kind to your future yourself and to tidy as you go. Don’t leave it until later, if there’s something that you can be tidying while you’re also doing something else, then definitely do it.

So for instance, if I’m cooking, I make sure that I have no dead time.

 If something is boiling or something’s in the oven, I will be washing dishes or wiping down surfaces so that I am cleaning as I go.

Even when I wash my face in the morning, I’ll wash my face with one side of the facecloth and then I will wipe over our sink with the other side of the facecloth, and even when my kids are in the bath, I will quickly wash the bathroom floor or organize the under the sink storage in that room.

Because my kids are that bit older and they can sit up on their own, it just makes sense for me to be cleaning while they’re happily playing.

And on that note, follow the five minute rule and the one touch method.

five minute rule and the one touch method

The five-minute rule is exactly as it sounds, if you see a task in front of you and it will only take five minutes to do, just do it now.

So for instance, if you have a messy junk drawer and it would actually only take five minutes to sort out, just go ahead and do it immediately.

this is a good rule to apply to life in general.

And the one touch method is something I also try to live by, and that is just putting an item away with one touch.

So for instance if you’re brushing your hair, and then you put your hairbrush down somewhere, and then it eventually gets back to where it should be, instead of doing that, just brush your hair and then put your brush back where it belongs, and the same thing goes for when you walk in the door with your coat.

Rather than chucking your coat down on the couch and then eventually putting it away or putting it on a coat, just take it off and with one touch put it away where it belongs.

Tip # 2

My next tip is one that professional cleaners use, and that is to walk into a room and clean it clockwise, and from top to bottom.

So rather than walk into a room and be overwhelmed by how messy it is, run here, there, and everywhere to try and clean it as best you can, walk into a room, choose a starting point, and then work your way around clockwise, and always clean from the highest point down to the floor.

That’s because dust will settle, so there’s no point in cleaning the floors if you still have to wipe the surfaces.

Tip # 3

And when it comes to big tasks like laundry and decluttering, I really like to break those up and do a little bit every day.

So instead of having one huge laundry day, I will just do a load every day of the week, so in the morning I’ll put on a load of laundry as part of my routine, I’ll dry it in the afternoon, and I’ll put it away every evening, and it really does feel like less of a burden than a huge laundry day at the weekend.

And while we’re talking about laundry, I also get so many questions about ironing and my ironing routine, but the truth is, I rarely ever iron, and that is because I fold clothes immediately out of the tumble dryer.

As soon as I hear that buzzer go off, I am at the tumble dryer and I am folding them, because I find when I do that, I get so many less creases in our clothes.

Tip #4

And my next tip is to read the labels on your cleaning products, and the instructions as well.

 Now, I know that sounds really simple and very obvious, but be honest, how often do you do that?

 And some cleaning products require a dwell time, which means they need to sit on your surfaces for one to five minutes to really disinfect properly, so check your cleaning products.

Tip #5

My next tip is to always be decluttering.

Rather than just doing a huge declutter once or twice a year, keep a basket in your car or in your garage where you can put items that you no longer want or need, and then if you’re passing by the charity shop, you can donate them.

This is a great way to stay on top of things, and if you ever have 10 minutes in the day, maybe you can find the time to declutter just one drawer.

If you do that often and it becomes a habit, it will really keep your house cleaner.

And once you have decluttered, have a place for everything, and have everything in its place.

And this is straight out of the Marie Kondo book, (Book HERE)which I’m a huge fan of, but tidying really is easier if everything has a place to live, so we have invested in some clever storage solutions.

We had this little shoe storage built underneath our stairs, because there was just some dead space there.

We also love to have gas lift beds, because we can store all of our seasonal clothes and toys under them, we really do try to make the most of the space that we have.

Tip #6

My next tip is a great one, and one that I’m really trying to instill in our children,

and that is don’t leave a room empty-handed, and don’t go upstairs empty-handed either.

Often there are items that need to go back to the kitchen, that need to go to the dishwasher, so for instance in the morning you’re likely to have cups upstairs that need to go back downstairs, and there are always little things on our stairs that need to return up it.

We actually invested in a little stair basket as well, so that we can just grab the stair basket and take that up with us.

Tip #7

My next tip is to work smart and to get great equipment, you’re more likely to clean if you love the products that you’re using, so recently I got a robot vacuum as well, and it’s been such a game-changer for me.

 I’ve got into the habit of when I take my children up to the bath, I’ll turn on my robot vacuum, and it can just be vacuumed away, and I feel like it’s a small win for me.

I also love my spray mop, it’s really fun to use, and it’s a really cool gadget.

I know I’ve shown you it before, but I really love having it, and I always had my favorite cleaning cloth that I knew worked really well, so I decided to buy like five or six of them so that I always have the cloth that I really like to use.

And buying new cleaning products so that you clean more is a bit like buying new gym wear so that you go to the gym more.

Tip #8

My next tip is to create cleaning routines, and if you don’t know where to start, just look at your day and see if there’s anywhere where you can carve out time that you can actually tidy and clean, and again by making it a habit, it won’t feel so heavy, and it’ll just fit into your life.

So for instance, every night when I go to bed, I put the dishwasher on, and then every morning I just empty it, and I kind of don’t even notice that I’m doing it, because it is just one of my habits.

Tip # 9

My next tip is to keep cleaning products near where you’re going to use them, and I feel like this tip is a little bit controversial because a lot of people keep all their cleaning products in one place together, and I definitely have one place where the bulk of mine are, and then if I do a big house clean, I’ll take them all with me, but I feel like by having a couple of cleaning products upstairs, like a surface spray and a glass cleaner, I’m more likely to quickly clean our mirrors, or just quickly wipe down our sink or our toilets, so for me that really works, having a few of the products near where I’m actually going to use them.

Tip # 10

My next tip is to set a timer and speed clean.

it really does work, you will be amazed at how much you can get done in just 10 or 15 minutes, so set a timer on your phone, decide to conquer one room, and you’ll be amazed how clean it is in just 15 minutes.

Tip # 11

This next tip really does work for me, and that is don’t sit down. So in the evening,

when all I want to do is crash, I make sure that all the tasks are done before I do that,

because I know as soon as I sit down on that couch, I will not be getting up and accomplishing very much at all, so I try to do it all before I sit down.

Tip # 12

Another thing that makes cleaning easier for me is that I treat it as me-time, so whenever I’m cleaning, I’m also multitasking, whether I am listening to an audiobook or a podcast, sometimes I like to call my mom and my sister and catch up with them because I can be cleaning and chatting away at the same time.

I also like to clean when I’m cooking, when the kids are in the bath as I said, or if I ever need to book a doctor’s appointment, or call the bank and I’m going to be on hold for a long time, then I like to clean while I’m making those kinds of phone calls, and I feel like when I’m cleaning, it’s like a guilt-free me time, so I can be listening to a book as I said, or music, or something that I enjoy, and also being productive at the same time.

Tip #13

My next tip is to involve the whole family in cleaning and to delegate chores. So even very small children could have a few chores, that maybe is making their bed or putting their dishes into the dishwasher, or it’s worth you and your partner agree on tasks that you tend to own or do.

 For instance, you won’t feel like you’re nagging all the time if it is your partner’s job to always put the trash out, and so on.

Tip #14

My next tip is to fold your clothes in the Marie Kondo way of folding.

I really love having this, especially for my children’s drawers.

It’s basically like making these little parcels that all face upwards so that when you open a drawer, you can see all of the items that you have. It’s very space-saving and it looks very neat and tidy, and when my children are choosing their own clothes, they really don’t mess it all up, so I really like organizing in this way.

And I also have three tasks that I do every single day, and I swear it makes our entire house feel so much cleaner.

The first one is to make your bed every single morning.

Wake up, just do it, you’ve already accomplished something and you feel good about it, but it also makes your entire bedroom look clean instantly.

The second task is to have clear counters. Don’t leave much out on your counters, we like to hide our big appliances, and try to keep them as clear as possible, because it makes the entire room look so much cleaner.

And the third thing is to have clean sinks. Now, bear with me on this one, but when a sink is messy or full of dishes, I swear it attracts so much more mess to the entire house,

so I always try to have clean sinks, and before I go to bed at night, my kitchen sink is always nice and clean.

Tip # 15

And my final tip is if you have children, discount everything that I just said, because

it is very hard to keep a clean house if you have children at home, so give yourself some grace.

If I can wake up to a clean home and I can go to bed with a clean home, then I am pretty much happy, but I’ve also come to terms with the fact that it’s going to be messy, we have very young children.

So anyway, that is all my tips for today, I hope you really enjoyed this post, and of course, I would love you guys to add your tips to the comments below.

Thank you so much as always for  your support, bye for now..