Let’s be honest to ourselves. We all go through such days when we don’t want to do anything. We feel like relaxing and let the cleanliness take some rest. And wish someone can clean this up. But if we start to feel like this more often then what will be the result? – A messy house. Especially, when you have young kids, it is little bit challenging to have a clean house and keep it neat and tidy.

But I believe the little things make a big difference when it comes to keeping your house clean. What to do so that you don’t have that chaos in the first place. Also, if we incorporate these habits in our kids then they will learn the importance of cleanliness from the very beginning.

 

• Start from your bed: I don’t know about you but I do not like my bed left like that once I am up. So I follow a simple rule, making my bed immediately after I wake up. To me a made bed is much more inviting to get into at the end of the day when I am very tired and just want to relax.

• Leave your shoes at the door: In India, we have a practice of leaving our shoes at the door; whether it is somebody else house or ours, we do not take our shoes inside. Keep a show rack at the entrance. If you take off your shoes by the entrance, you won’t need to clean the floors as often.

• Don’t postpone too much: This is the most common habit of postponing the time to clean up the mess. If we make a habit of finishing up tasks before it gets out of our control then there will never be a list of to-do’s and we will be having extra time in hand.

• Put things back where they come from: In factories there is a saying there is a place of everything and everything has a place. Follow the same notion at home too. Make a habit of putting things away at their respective places. Follow a simple rule, put away one item back before you bring out one new item.

 

 

• Do an inventory check: Most of the times we don’t even know how much extra stuff we have been accumulating. Discard what is not needed.

Lets come to kitchen now,

• Wipe down surfaces after every use: After you cook, brush your teeth, whatever you do; wipe down the surface you just used. Make it a habit to do a quick swipe of the area to keep it looking neat and clean. This includes sink too. It takes only a few seconds to wipe down the area you just used, and it stays clean and disinfected, ready to be used again.

• Be multi-tasking: As your food is cooking, start wiping down counters, rinsing prep tools, and putting ingredients away. Say for example, when you are cooking, and all the chopping part is done and as you are almost done, start loading the dish washer and wiping. This way by that time you are finishing up with cooking, the cleaning part is also done.

Last but not the least your giving area: This is the place we use the most so obviously it needs regular cleaning.

• Tidy the living area before dinner: Make it a family activity to clean up the living area before you all sit to enjoy your dinner.  Give your kids practice helping out in the house and, afterward, reward them with a nice meal.:)

I do not get into any real deep cleaning on regular basis, but if I do these things it helps keep my home organized, tidy, and clutter free.