Thursday, June 26, 2008

Keeping a Clean House

Your house can easily get out of hand and quickly. I know this from personal experience. If I do not stay on top of my house cleaning every day it will look mesy and dirty. It will look like I have done nothing all week. And inevitably this is when you will get company. It never fails.

I have found that by just doing a few things each day you can keep your home looking clean and inviting. Now we have four people, one cat and one dog living in our small home so it is not going to look its best except right after I do my weekend clean. But by doing a little each day it doesn't look like I have done nothing for a month! :-)

Each day when I wake up I head downstairs to load laundry. And then after getting ready and getting the kids ready, I make my bed. I use a comforter and shams so this is easy. I do a quick straighten of my room and the bathroom -- just a quick one (picking up the towels, dirty clothes, etc). Then I head to the kitchen and get breakfast ready and lunch packed. While I am doing this I straighten up the kitchen. I make sure that the counters are clean, etc.

Next I head downstairs and reload the laundry and bring up a load to put away. By this time we are needing to kick in to warp nine speed. So I make sure the kids have their shoes on and all the items that they need and as they are doing this I grab the little battery operated sweeper (love it!) and do a quick sweep of the kitchen, hall and bath (if there is enough time I sweep the living room and bedrooms). Then it is out the door we go.

When I get home from work I start cooking supper. As I cook I have a sink of warm dish water and I as I cook, I wash. I also quick clean the bath cabinet (I keep a spray bottle of bleach water handy to just quick spray and wipe), and the toilet seat. I also keep a spray bottle of alcohol and water in the shower to quick spray as we get out of the shower each time we spray it on the walls and tub of the shower. (This is a cheap version of shower spray that you buy and it does just as well)

I reload the laundry a couple of times in the evening and I try to keep picking up after the kids. I make sure that the table is cleared in the kitchen as that is the first thing people see when they come into my home. I make sure the bathroom is kept clean and straight and the mirror clean.

I only do the vacuuming and general cleaning once a week and if we are gone camping or away for the weekend I don't have the time to do that so this quick clean every day really helps.

Hopefully this will help you keep your house inviting to others.

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