Having a clean home is a great feeling but spending lots of time achieving it isn’t fun. I’ve done a lot of reading on this topic this week and the most important piece of advice I can offer is to know what good enough looks like to you. These 8 tips I’ve compiled are what gives me that level of clean.

Have a plan. I talked about time management last week, and planning is a huge part of it. If you have a plan for cleaning, it will be easier to keep up with. A regular schedule for weekly/monthly/occasional tasks will help keep you on track. If you need to ‘crisis clean’ for any reason, here is a guide to fake a clean house.

Keep cleaning supplies together and handy. Have a caddy of some sort with your cleaning supplies. It can be a bucket, a divided caddy, or even an apron with deep pockets. Keep your spray cleaner(s), dust cloths, paper towels, extra trash bags, sponges, and rubber gloves in it all the time.

Do it in a logical order. It may sound silly at first, but there is a logical order for cleaning. Think top to bottom. Dust first, then vacuum. Mop last. When you are cleaning a whole room, start in the farthest corner from the door and work your way out of the room.

Use multi-purpose solutions. You don’t need specialized tools or cleaning solutions. Either find a general-purpose spray you like or make one of your own. In particular, vinegar is an effective bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom cleaner.

Maintaining the clean. A few minutes every day of quick cleaning makes it easier in the long run. For instance, clean the stovetop every time you cook so that splatters don’t build up. If you notice a spill, wipe it up right away. When you have a few minutes to kill, do a small task like sorting mail and recycling old magazines. Wipe down the shower every day (if you have glass doors a squeegee is a must) to keep soap scum from building up.

If you have a dishwasher, use it to its full potential. There are so many things you can wash in the dishwasher that you might not have thought of. For instance: flip-flops, baseball caps, plastic toys (put small ones in a mesh bag to keep them from falling in the bottom), hairbrushes & combs, and refrigerator shelves. For most of these I wouldn’t wash them with dishes. And as far as dishes, other than knocking off the big stuff, you don’t need to pre-rinse them. Modern dishwashers and detergents are designed to work on food particles, so don’t waste time and water on them.

Find your motivational trick. Some people work better with music on, some like the background noise of the TV. Do you work better in small segments of time or do you prefer to block out an hour or two at a time? Setting a timer for 15 minutes can make it a competition to beat the clock.

You can’t clean clutter. Well, you can, but why would you want to? The less stuff you have sitting around, the easier it is to clean. Make it a habit to put things away after you use them, or at least put them back in the room where they belong.

I live in a fairly small house and having just a few things out of place can make the whole house look cluttered. My mom always told me that clutter invites clutter, and I finally understand what she meant. If you allow one pile to get out of hand it gets overwhelming to deal with and you might start a second pile. Magazines are my personal nemesis, I love subscribing to them. But if I don’t read them right away, I end up with piles around the house. I’ve implemented a two-month rule; if I have more than two of any magazines, I recycle them or give them away.

Clean Up Your Bills

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