9waystokeephousetidyHave you ever had the clutter just get out of hand?

When you’ve finally got more than five minutes to tidy up the house and you find the cupboards are already full? Even if you do have space to put away the mess, housework can get away from you in the blink of an eye.

We’ve compiled some tips from real mums in the forum to help ease your cleaning woes.

  1. Put aside a few days (maybe free up a weekend or, if you work, take some days off) – to do a complete overhaul of all the things cluttering up your house. Go room by room with 3 boxes – keep, donate, or throw away – and then sort all the things in each room into the relevant box. Anything that you haven’t used in a year gets turfed (whether donate or throw away), and useful items are stored in an appropriate place that becomes “its place”. If the kids are old enough, they can help with this too!
  2. Hire a cleaner for a day or two to help with a big spring clean so it doesn’t all fall on your shoulders. After this, you can get away with maintaining the tidiness each day, rather than having to clean it all yourself.
  3. Only clean one room each day. On a busy day clean the smaller, quicker rooms. When you have more time, clean the bigger, messier rooms. This way you don’t get bored doing it all at once – which often turns into not doing it at all.
  4. Make sure everything goes back in “its place” as soon as you are done using it. This will help declutter benches or tables, where things usually get stored when not in their rightful place.
  5. Whenever you leave a room, take something out that doesn’t belong there. You won’t be going out of your way to tidy up, and it doesn’t take long to put it in the right place.
  6. Just throw kids’ toys and all their bits and pieces all in one big box. They’re never going to stay sorted into different places for very long.
  7. Keep baby wipes everywhere. If you find yourself in a room where the surfaces are looking dirty, having handy baby wipes will allow for quick cleaning without too much fuss.
  8. Clean up as you go – don’t leave plates on the bench after a meal, whack them straight in the dishwasher or wash them up. Also, finish the laundry in one sitting. Don’t bring in clean washing and then leave it waiting to be folded and put away – do it! Spreading the jobs out over multiple cleaning sessions makes it seem like they are so much harder to do.
  9. Cook big meals when you have time, so you can freeze the leftovers to eat virtually mess-free when you’re busy. This will save on washing up pots, pans, and utensils from cooking all over again.

 

Image credit: kzenon / 123RF Stock Photo 

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