How to Clean Your Home a Little Each Day

In one week or less, a home can transform from a perfectly clean living space to a completely horrific nightmare of clutter. It's difficult to explain what causes this phenomenon, but there are several easy solutions to recover from it.

In most homes, it is natural for clutter to accumulate in a short period of time. This does not mean that the inhabitants are filthy people or that they do not care to keep a clean home. Clutter is evidence that people; busy people at that, are living in the home. The following steps should assist in maintaining a clean home within a budgeted amount of time.

Share the responsibility! If two or more people live in the same home, then each should be responsible for cleaning it unless one of them is under the age of three. Everyone should take responsibility for their own belongings and also for their messes. This is simple. If only one person in the home wears a size 13 shoe and there are two of them lying in the living room floor, it is that person's responsibility to relocate the shoes to a closet or appropriate storage space. If food that is packaged in a wrapper is opened and consumed, the wrapper should be deposited in the garbage can and not on the coffee table or on the floor.

Use the "Back and Forth" method of spot cleaning. This really works! Start at one end of the home and identify all of the things that do not belong. Pick up a few; not too many, and walk to the other end of the home. Upon passing the spot where each item belongs, deposit it neatly and continue on to the other side. Repeat this process, starting from the opposite end. With a radio positioned at a halfway point, music may be heard throughout the journey. Several things are accomplished using this method. The home slowly becomes organized. The person cleaning gets some valuable exercise and entertainment by singing and possibly dancing as they go. The entire house does not have to be cleaned each time this method is performed, but it is a useful means of managing clutter in high-traffic areas.

Once clutter has been cleared, it is a good idea to perform deeper cleaning. Scrub or mop floors, dust furniture, and vacuum carpets and rugs. As with the "Back and Forth" method of cleaning, deep cleaning does not have to be done all at once. Pick one day to clean the kitchen. Clean the bathrooms another day. Only do as much as time or energy allows.

By using these steps to keep a home in a manageable state, there will be less stress involved when a surprise visitor drops in unannounced.