Keeping your living space clean and tidy takes a lot of work, we all know that! You have to schedule a weekly clean up to ensure you’re living dust and trash free, and who knows how long it’ll take for the mess to form again. And that can frustrate homeowners up and down the land to no end.
But we’re here to offer a little bit of help; keeping your space livable doesn’t have to take a full spring cleaning! And if you’re always a little annoyed at how messy your living space can be, it’s time to make a change for the better! With just a small bit of effort here and there you can keep your environment feeling clean and help yourself feel good within it. Here are some of the easiest ways to stay up to date on the tidiness of your home (and a few other areas!).
A carpet clean every couple of months goes a long way to making your home seem brighter! (Pexels Image – CC0 Licence)
Keep Things Off the Floor
The more items that are on the floor, the worse your entire living space will look. It’s true; anything that isn’t furniture will make the room look messy and incohesive, and that can completely ruin your interior decor. So if you’ve got laundry on the floor that should be in the basket, take a second now to remove it – simple as!
Similarly, if you’ve got any wires that run the length of the floor completely uncovered, it might be time to get yourself a cable tidy and/or extension cable to prevent this from becoming a problem. An overstretched wire can be a trip hazard, and if you’ve got pets there’s a strong chance they’ll try to chew on it.
Dust Once a Week
Dust is the number one enemy of the clean home. It collects quickly, it gets everywhere, and it can build up without you even noticing. As such, it’s best to do a dust of the house once a week. Grab yourself some reliable polish, a pair of gloves, and a duster and head round from top to bottom wiping down item tops and surfaces.
Make sure you’re tackling high items first, like bookshelves and mounted TVs before you dust down anything near the floor. You’ll just be going over things twice otherwise! You may also want to take along a mini vacuum with you to get up those big swathes of dust – it’s hard to clean up a pile with just a duster in hand.
Once a week is regular enough to keep the dust mostly out of your home, but it’s also not too strenuous a schedule to keep up with. You could even tackle rooms on a weekly basis is this is still a stretch for you right now; the kitchen on week one, the bathroom week two, the bedroom week three, etc., until the loop starts off again.
Set Up Some Air Fresheners
The way your space smells is incredibly important to your overall perception. If there’s a weird and/or nasty smell in the air, you’re just not going to be comfortable being in that place! You’re going to search high and low for the source of the smell and who knows if you’ll even be able to find it?!
Because of that, it’s best to just eliminate the odour outright. Of course, if there’s a serious problem it’s best to identify the smell you’re experiencing and call the right person to come and sort it out. But if there’s just a lingering scent that won’t shift, you can use air fresheners, candles, and incense burners to improve the overall atmosphere of your space.
And don’t leave this at the house! Even in the car it’s best to use custom air fresheners to give your vehicle a lovely fresh and welcoming scent. All kinds of mud and dirt gets tracked through it day by day and you just don’t have the time to wash down the mats 24/7!
Use a ‘Spares’ Box
It’s best to have a box you can just chuck things into when you don’t know where else to put them. Call it a ‘spares’ box and keep it handy; slide it under the sofa in the living room, under the bed in the bedroom, and in a cupboard in the bathroom or kitchen. Otherwise you’ll be left rearranging your entire home trying to fit everything in and that’s just not sustainable!
Above all else, your home needs to be functional. Sure, it needs to look good and be a comfortable place to be, but the things you use on a daily basis need to be within reach. You also need to know where you’ve put them! So put miscellaneous bits and pieces into the box and come back to it later if need be. You don’t want to clump things together in irrelevant places – it’s the best way to never find anything again!
Have a Trash Can in Each Room
Having a trash can to hand at all times is invaluable in the modern home. It might make you feel a bit dirty to have one in every room, including the bedroom, but it prevents you from ever letting trash litter your space again. If you’ve got somewhere to put it, it won’t ruin the look of your home, and it’ll stop bacteria from getting everywhere!
Once again you can also take this energy to the car. Get a reusable trash bag, which can be hung off the back of seats, and keep the floor of the vehicle much tidier. Anything you eat or drink while driving can be quickly thrown away and then you can empty the bag and/or change it out whenever you find a waste disposal out and about.
Keep Wet Wipes on You at All Times
This is such a simple but effective change everyone can get on board with! If you’ve got antibacterial wet wipes on you at all times, stashed in a pocket or hand bag, you’ve always got something to clean up with. If you notice a bit of dust on a surface, get a wipe out. If you find a stain on the coffee table, pull out a wipe and instantly rub it away. It’s an easy change to make and it really doesn’t cost much.
Indeed, little packets of biodegradable antibacterial wipes are sold in stores up and down the country, so it won’t be hard to include them in your life. If you get the kind that are also safe to use on skin, it’ll be much easier to keep your own hands and face clean throughout the day as well! And when your kids suddenly appear covered in chocolate or crayons, you’ve got something to wash them down with in just a few minutes.
Your Living Space Shouldn’t Be Hard to Clean!
If you hate the way your living space seems to always look messy, you just need to pull off a few daily tricks to tidy it up! A bit of dusting down here, a nice smelling air freshener there, and a place to throw things away without needing to move much of a muscle – it all adds up.
Take some time to rearrange your space as you see fit and then rejoice in the cleanliness you see providing some much needed peace of mind. If it feels clean, you’ll feel a lot better about relaxing in it.