House Cleaning 101

I am always very flattered when someone asks me how I keep our house clean with two boys (and multiple friends) running around every day. I think the simple answer is: I stick to a pretty strict cleaning schedule.

I realize this will not work for every person. In fact, most people have their own cleaning system/schedule that works best for them. But for the few people who are struggling to figure out how to "get everything done" I am hoping you can take away something from this post that will help you. And for those of you who have a weekly cleaning service... well... this probably won't apply to you, so feel free to go on to your next favorite blog. :)

I'm going to break down this topic into two posts. Today, I am going to share with you what I do on a daily basis to help keep on top of things. These are not earth-shattering ideas, but I think if you actually do them every day, it really helps. 

The next post will be a more detailed "schedule" of when I do deep cleaning things like toliets, showers/baths, dusting, etc.

If you can take a few minutes each day to fit in the 4 tasks listed below, I promise you that keeping a clean house will not seem so overwhelming.

1. I wash, dry & fold a load of laundry every. single. day. This may sound crazy, but trust me, if you do a load every day, you won't have an overwhelming mound of laundry staring you down at the end of the week. And with the new High Efficiency washers & dryers, you don't have to run a huge load to save on water/energy. The machine will adapt to how much you put into it. Of course if you don't have multiple children, or two sets of sweaty gym clothes, you may be able to cut down on the frequency of laundry.
And don't forget to dry and fold the load each day. Nothing worse than moldy-smelling or wadded up, wrinkled clothes that were left in the machines for days.

2. I "Swiffer" the floors every. single. day. Even without a pet in the house anymore, the floors are always in need of a little pick-me-up. I have the cordless Swiffer Sweeper Vac where you can use it with a dry cloth, and then switch it to a wet cloth. It's by no means deep cleaning, but it only takes a few minutes and a lot of the dust/hair/Play-doh/dirt gets picked up on a daily basis.






3. I keep the following items under both bathroom sinks:

Yes, that really is a picture of underneath my bathroom sink.

• Roll of paper towels
• Bottle of Windex
• Container of Clorox wipes

I learned this trick from Sarah over at Clover Lane. The convenience of having these items under the sink at all times allows me to do a quick wipe-down of counters, sinks,  and toilets (I do have two boys remember - and one is starting to potty train - e.g. frequent pee-pee to wipe away) whenever it's needed. I go into both bathrooms on a daily basis and tidy them up whenever needed (usually every other day, sometimes every day depending on the boys).



4. I clean the kitchen every evening after dinner, and every morning after breakfast. This may sound repetative, but I like to wake up to a clean kitchen, so every evening I make sure all the dishes are done, table, countertops and stovetop are clean, and any spills/food is cleaned up off the floors. Then I do it all over again after breakfast. Again, probably takes about 5 minutes, but makes a world of difference. My favorite kitchen cleaner is Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day in Lemon Verbena scent. It smells great, and doesn't use harsh chemicals but really works well on grease & grime. I buy the large refill container and refill my spray bottle, which makes it very economical.



* One last thing...I also make my bed every day. This isn't really house-cleaning per say, but it really does make you feel better to have a nicely made bed when you walk into your bedroom. Thanks Mom for instilling that habit in me! :)

All told, if you do these things every day, it will take a total of maybe 30 minutes. So instead of sitting down to check Facebook or turning on the TV when you get a few free minutes, throw in a load of laundry first, or Swiffer/sweep the floors real quick. It only takes a couple minutes and then you can go on about your business.

Okay, that's it for today. Are you feeling motivated to go clean something??

Up next: Deep cleaning! When I change my sheets, how often I clean the showers & tubs, what products I use, and much more.