How to keep your home clean and tidy

The fast pace of modern life often leads to chaos not only in our daily routine, but also in our work, affairs and, of course, homes. Due to lack of time, energy, lack of concentration and disorganization, people are faced with systematic chaos in their lives. But, as the famous proverb says, clean is not where they clean, but where they don’t litter.

To get rid of chaos you need to start with your own home. If you accustom yourself to cleanliness gradually, the discipline of order will fit tightly into the rhythm of life, and over time everything will become immaculately tidy everywhere and in everything.

However, keeping an apartment or house clean every day is not as easy as it seems at first glance. The housewife must follow some rules and also know the secrets of successful, fast and high-quality cleaning.

Today, many video instructions have been published on the Internet, telling about simple ways to keep your nest perfectly clean. The best recommendations and tips are selected in our article with photos.

How can you keep your home clean?

Cleanliness and order in the house is not only a sign of the neatness and pedantry of the owners, but also the basis of a healthy lifestyle. Each missed cleaning can lead to the proliferation of bacteria or fungi that are dangerous to humans. For example, a bathroom without proper care will become a habitat for mold; dust is a strong allergen and an excellent environment for the proliferation of harmful microorganisms. Unwashed dishes in the kitchen, crumbs on the table - a “feast” for cockroaches. Spiders with webs may not be as scary, but they are ugly to look at.

In order not to bring your home to such a state, it is recommended to “generalize” it from time to time. First of all, start removing garbage and putting things in their places. After this, you can begin wet cleaning and washing surfaces.

Advice : pay attention to the details of the interior. Lamps, chandeliers, figurines, flowers, blinds, curtains must be fresh and washed.

If you don’t have enough time and you are busy at work from morning to night, you can contact a special cleaning company. However, not everyone likes the presence of strangers in the house. Therefore, this method is suitable only if you know the workers or have been using the services of housekeepers for money for a long time.

Keeping your home clean requires desire, time and patience. You will also need a mop, vacuum cleaner, rags, sponges, detergents and cleaners to help. To fix minor “accidents” (such as a torn tablecloth or a fallen picture), stock up on thread, needles and tools. You should not ignore time-tested folk cleaning remedies. Therefore, along with purchased detergents, you should prepare soda, peroxide, alcohol and vinegar.

Order in the nursery

To ensure that garbage does not accumulate and the apartment is always clean, you just need to try not to clutter the rooms and put things in order in a timely manner.
But this is not always possible if you have children. Many experienced mothers have been approaching this issue thoroughly and thoughtfully for a long time. Because cleaning up scattered toys or things after children is like trying to clear snow debris during a snowfall. In order for children to quickly tidy up their room at your first request, the room must have a convenient storage system.

Boxes or plastic containers for toys should be located at floor level so that the child can easily reach them.
Label the boxes according to their intended purpose: for construction sets, for cars, for soft toys, etc. For children who cannot yet read, paste pictures with clues about the contents of the boxes.
It is very good to have several large free-use baskets in the nursery in case of emergency. For example, if guests are coming soon and you urgently need to put things in order, or if in the evening you don’t have the energy to put all the toys in their places. You quickly throw all the lying around toys into the basket and the room is clean again.

This way, you will save yourself from constantly putting things in order in the nursery and teach your children to be independent.

What cleaning tools should you have?

For daily or regular high-quality cleaning, the apartment must have everything necessary for this process. First of all, household chemicals. Such preparations do an excellent job of removing dirt, dust, grease, and stains. This is a lifesaver for any housewife.

Each type of cleaning requires its own products, gels or sprays.

To combat dust on wooden furniture, it is better to purchase a polish that can easily remove dirt and also leaves a protective anti-dust layer.

The window cleaner should be an alcohol solution, and for convenience it is better to use sprays. The choice in stores of this product is very wide, not only in terms of price criteria, but also in terms of brand.

The range of detergents and cleaning products for the kitchen is incredibly huge. Choose according to your preference: gels, sprays, liquids, powders. In addition to the excellent cleansing effect, the compositions have a “bonus” - aroma. The kitchen will not only be perfectly clean, but also smell nice.

Solutions are used to clean floors. They cope well with pollution, especially street pollution. The products provide not only cleanliness, but also additional disinfection. This is even more important if children live in the house.

For flooring, you can also pick up a good cleaning product in the store or make a solution at home. For example, wine stains can be quickly removed with vinegar or alcohol, and greasy stains can be dealt with with laundry soap or dishwashing gel.

Advice : don’t forget about brushes, sponges, napkins and newspapers, which will be useful in your arsenal of devices for putting things in order.

Urgent cleaning

This type of cleaning does not allow small and insignificant messes to develop into a rather serious problem. For example, after you cooked dinner, the stove became a little dirty with greasy stains; they are not yet noticeable at all. If these contaminants are removed immediately, the stove will be clean. But if you leave the stove without cleaning, after three days it will lead to a multi-layered burnt crust, which will require a lot of time, effort and cleaning products.

Thanks to urgent cleaning, you can get rid of the dirt immediately, but if you don’t, the dirt will accumulate and cause a huge mess. It’s better to clean right away; as a result, you will reduce the time it takes to clean the apartment during general cleaning.

You don’t have to clean things up every day; you can make a plan, assign certain days for cleaning the sink, stove, bathroom and toilet. With regular cleaning, the apartment will become clean and comfortable.

General house cleaning

10 rules for effective cleaning (Irina Sokovykh)

What detergents should be

In order for the cleanliness of the house to please the owners for a long time, it is necessary to clean properly. And to properly restore order, you need to select suitable detergents and cleaning agents. Listed below are the most popular and necessary room cleaning products.

So, home remedies are available for the following purposes:

Bathroom (for cleaning pipes, tiles, acrylic and ceramic surfaces), also sprays for mirrors and glass.
Wet cleaning (floor detergents, for example, “Mr. Proper”, and cleaning powders for carpets. “Vanish” or “Kärcher” are suitable. For dust – “Pronto” polish).
“Sif” cream works well for stains on the kitchen surface, and “Fairy” liquid cleaner works well for greasy dishes.
Spray “Unicum”, or similar ones, will help in cleaning and cleaning upholstered furniture.
Liquid “Rhythmix” will cope with stains and dust on a TV or computer. Aerosol cans with the product are popular among housewives.

If you are allergic or generally do not use store-bought chemicals, you can easily prepare them yourself at home.

A universal solution for many types of stains, dirt, as well as dust and germs, is made from ordinary laundry soap and soda. Dissolve 50 g of baking soda in 100 ml of hot water. Grate 25 g of soap and add to the mixture. Stir until a light foam forms and the components are completely dissolved. Use a sponge or microfiber cloth to remove dirt or dust.

Habit of cleanliness at home

In order to maintain cleanliness, you must constantly adhere to several rules and develop habits.

House cleanliness habits:

Make it a rule for yourself to set aside 1 hour every day before going to bed to put things in their place. That is, under no circumstances should you put off washing the dishes until tomorrow; you should definitely wash them today.
You don't have to store a whole bunch of things and collect dishes to turn on the dishwasher. Several forks and plates can be washed by hand, on your own.
Performing simple manipulations that require approximately 30 minutes a day allows you to constantly keep your home clean. Thus, wet cleaning once a week will be enough to keep the apartment clean and tidy at all times.
It is necessary to keep all things in their places. Your main task is to find these places and sort things. Try to make them accessible.

Cleaning

How rarely to clean (what and how to do so that you have to tidy up less often)

To make the cleaning process move faster, you must follow the following rules:

Divide the apartment into several conditional zones. It is better to clean from top to bottom. That is, initially the chandeliers and ceilings are washed, and then the rooms are cleaned. Dust and dirt are wiped off tables and other pieces of furniture. Next, they begin to wash the floors and clean the carpets.
You can resort to one more trick. Create a cleaning calendar. Since areas in the apartment become dirty in different ways, it is worth cleaning them depending on the location in the room. For example, carpeted surfaces should be cleaned once every two months. Wash floors every week. Vacuum and dust 2-3 times in seven days.
Keep detergents and cleaning products handy in your cabinet. How long the cleanliness will remain depends on the selection of the right cleaning products and devices.
There is only one way to accustom yourself to order and cleanliness in the house. Things put in their places in a timely manner, washed dishes and washed clothes will make the process of regularly putting things in order easier. All you have to do is use a vacuum cleaner and brush off a layer of dust.
Once a month, take the time to clean and wash cabinets, glass, tiles, and doors. On the day of the main cleaning, you will not be distracted by these small but very significant things.

Now you know how to keep your apartment clean and tidy so that it is always a pleasure to be in.

In conclusion, it must be said that cleaning can be not only quick and easy, but also enjoyable. To maintain a good mood while tidying up, open the windows for ventilation and turn on cheerful music. Singing along and dancing, you will see that the whole process will go positively and unnoticed, but the result (a clean house) will delight you for a long time.

How to keep the hallway clean and tidy

This is where dirt accumulates most often. It is necessary to carefully choose the color of the flooring. It is not recommended to use light-colored laminate flooring. This material will have to be washed constantly.

If you want to maintain order, then you should choose the right furniture. A special shoe box would be an excellent solution. This purchase will create a neat look in the hallway.

Shoe storage box in the hallway

If the area of the room allows, then it is necessary to install a special closet designed for storing outerwear. Such an item should be spacious so that each family member has his own place.

If it is not possible to install a closet, then you can decorate the hallway with a stylish hanger. At the moment, stylish options are offered that allow you to bring order to your home.

Clothes hanger in the interior of the corridor

The floor in the hallway should be washed daily and the furniture should also be wiped down. Try to immediately put things in their place, which will help organize your life. This approach will significantly save time spent on cleaning.

Cinderella's secrets

These tips will help make your apartment more comfortable:

Before putting things in order, write a list of work for the day and complete it gradually.
To create ideal cleanliness and comfort, all horizontal surfaces in the house must be clean and have a minimum of items.
It is better to clean up while listening to rhythmic music; you will be surprised how much more interesting the cleaning process will be. But don't turn on the movie, as it will be very distracting.
Each item should have a place that can be found quickly if needed. This saves a lot of time.
Don't forget about the shelves in the closet or in the nightstand under the TV; this is a useful place to put away magazines, CDs or remote controls for household appliances.
The attack of laziness that overtook you in the process of putting things in order can be overcome by inviting guests to the evening, in which case you will have to put things in order, despite your reluctance.
Get rid of the habit of hanging clothes on doors, chairs, and other furniture. By accustoming yourself to order, the time it takes to establish it is significantly reduced.
Place scented candles in the corners of the rooms; they will rid the room of unpleasant odors and create a cozy atmosphere.

Where should you start your daily cleaning?

For many modern women, cleaning an apartment is a forced and unpleasant procedure that takes up almost all of their free time from work. However, no one wants to live in a dirty and foul-smelling apartment, even if it is rented.

Dusting

In any case, it will not be possible to avoid the formation of dust on interior items and in hard-to-reach places, since it can enter the home through open windows and doors along with the air flow. In addition, dust masses settle on the surface of clothes and shoes in which a person goes outside every day, and subsequently spread throughout the apartment. Dust accumulates a huge amount of bacteria, which can lead to deterioration in the health of all household members.

To prevent this, it is necessary to wipe all surfaces of shelves, furniture and equipment with a damp cloth daily or at least once every 3 days. And in order to wipe dust from hard-to-reach places, walk over them with a brush wrapped in gauze cloth, previously moistened with water.

Mopping floors

You should always start washing the floors last, since foreign debris, crumbs and dust from interior items can fall onto the newly washed surface, and the procedure will have to be repeated again.

Depending on the composition of the floor covering, experienced housewives use special products to wipe it, which can be purchased at almost any hardware store.

Attention! Before using various chemical solutions, you must carefully read the instructions for use and correctly follow the proportions indicated therein. In addition, before contacting the product, be sure to wear rubber gloves.

Disposal of garbage waste

The accumulation of garbage waste can lead to an unpleasant odor in the apartment. To prevent this, it is necessary to promptly get rid of leftover food and various rubbish. Don't wait until your trash bag or waste bin is full and empty it every day.

If an unpleasant odor is still present, it can be eliminated by using an open window or special air fresheners. You can also use incense sticks or candles for this.

Organizing your wardrobe

It is important to maintain order in closets or dressing rooms. After all, if it is not maintained, things will certainly be scattered chaotically throughout the apartment, which will bring discomfort to all household members.

To avoid clutter in your closets, you should allocate specific places for different categories of things. Hangers and special storage boxes will help with this.

In addition, you need to periodically rearrange and sort your wardrobe depending on the season. For example, in winter, you can place warm clothes on shelves within easy reach, and put the light ones upstairs. This measure will allow you to maintain order in your closets and train yourself not to clutter them with unnecessary clothes.