Has your clean tidy home been trashed during the week? Are you facing another weekend of constant cleaning? It can often feel like all we do is tidy up after others.

Maintaining a clean and pleasant living space isn’t too much to ask, right? We all want a fabulously clean tidy home, so here are seven great tips for managing your home, without feeling like you are everyone else’s maid.

Assign Chores

If you feel like you are holding the fort all on your own, maybe it’s time to get the rest of the family involved in the cleaning. The best way to do this is to assign specific tasks to people. You and your partner can divide the bigger jobs between you if you like. But it’s also good for the kids to have some responsibilities around the home.

Once they get old enough, there is no reason why kids can’t mop the floor, do their own ironing, tidy their rooms and put the laundry out to dry. Kids need to participate in creating a clean tidy home. Not only does it help lighten your load but it fosters a sense of independence and responsibility in them that will serve them well in their adult lives.

To motivate the kids to do chores, use it as the basis for their allowance… of the internet password that you change regularly, right? 🙂

Track what they have done and pay them for each item. Your house will be spotless in no time!

Have A Plan

It’s important that you have a cleaning plan and stick to it. Top hotels use this to make sure rooms are kept spotless and that nothing is missed. Divide your plan into things that need to be done once in awhile, monthly, weekend and the day to day stuff.

Once you have done a job, tick it off the list. This helps it to feel like there’s an end point to all the cleaning and tidying. When you making regular manageable progress a fabulously clean tidy home is well within your reach.

You can buy cleaning schedule sheets from Etsy to do this. Or print you own out and frame the schedule for that week. Use a wipeable pen to mark off what has been done so everyone can see what still needs doing. The things ticked off can also give kids a sense of accomplishment.

Ask For Help

While it has traditionally been the woman’s default role to keep a clean tidy home, this is not an easy thing to do when you are working or bringing up a family. Housework  takes up the majority of your time and leaves little left for cleaning and tidying. That’s why it’s so important to ask for help if you are feeling overwhelmed.

You might do this by letting your partner know that they aren’t pulling their weight. Or if you are both busy, call the professional house cleaners in for some professional help. Either way, there is no shame in asking for assistance and your house will look better for it.

Use Gadgets

There are some great gadgets around to make keeping your home clean more manageable. A robotic hoover can be set to vacuum while you are out of the house, giving you clean floors daily with no effort at all.

You can also buy self-cleaning ovens. These allow you to negate entirely, the horrid job of getting on your hands and knees and scrubbing all the burnt-on food off your cooker. Many appliances, such as my fridge, come with nano-technology that self clean the surfaces, both inside and exterior.

Even using modern cleaning products can help. Many are designed to be streak-free or leave no residue, like foam and shower sprays, making the cleaning process even easier. You’ll also find handy tips for using bi-carb and vinegar for those with chemical intolerance.

6 Minute Sweep

Another great technique for keeping a clean tidy home is the 6-minute sweep. This is when at key times in the days you look around the house for anything that is not in its correct place. You can do it once the kids have gone to school, at lunchtime, or before bed.
Set a timer on your phone and get things put back in their right positions within 6 minutes. This will help keep everything tidy and organized. You can even have a tub at the bottom of the stairs. All the items that need to go upstairs are put in there so only need one trip.

Establish Good Habits

A more long-term strategy for keeping a clean tidy home is to establish good habits in your family.

Too many mothers assume all the responsibility for tidying in the home. Unfortunately, it doesn’t even feature on their kid’s radar. It’s possible to change this by encouraging your kids, from a young age, to pack away what they are using before getting something else out.

While they are very young, you can even make it into a game. Put in some music and see how quickly they can return the toys that they had out to the storage place. You can even get some cool storage solutions like this, which make it almost as much fun to pack away than to play!

Have A Clear Out

Lastly one of the key aspects of keeping your home clean and tidy in a manageable way is to have regular clear outs. An overcrowded and cluttered home will never look nice no matter how much you clean it.

Four times a year, set aside 1 hour to go through each room and throw away anything that is unnecessary. Some people find it hard to do this as they worry that they will chuck out something important or that could be used later.

To help with the, bear in mind two things. One, the space in which you live is limited and is literally at a premium. Unless you are willing to move to a bigger property to accommodate all your junk, it’s cheaper to throw that stuff out! Then if you do need an item again, buy it new.

Secondly, ask these essential questions, if you aren’t sure whether to chuck it. Do I like it? Does it have any sentimental value? Have I used it in the last six months? If you answer no, to all these questions. You can safely throw it out or donate to charity with no regrets.

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