How Often to Clean Your House to Keep It Clean

There are typically two ways to clean your house: a little bit at a time, cleaning as you go or binge cleanings, spending a day or two cleaning everything from top to bottom.  The frequency of cleaning depends on the person or family living in the home, the size of the home and the pets that reside in the home.  If you live alone in a small apartment with your beloved goldfish, your cleaning needs are going to be significantly different than a family of 5 living in a 3ooo square foot home with three dogs and two cats.  Regardless of the number of people or animals living in your home there are some steps you can take to keep your home clean.

First and foremost, keep up on weekly maintenance.  Build cleaning into part of your weekly routine.  You probably already have a list of items you have to take care of regularly such as laundry and grocery shopping.  Add a few key cleaning items to your weekly to-do list such as dusting, dishes, mopping the floors and tackling the bathrooms to keep up with your house cleaning.

How to Clean Your House Faster

You might be surprised at how long it takes you to clean your house.  The keys to cleaning your house faster are simple and effective.  If you want to cut down on the time you spend cleaning and increase the time you have for other things, use these tips:

1. Maintenance

Maintaining your home will save you hours in time and effort.  If you clean as you go and perform routine cleaning weekly and monthly, you can cut down on your total cleaning time substantially.  While maintaining a cleaning schedule is easier said than done, it’s well worth the time saved in the long run.

2. Divide and conquer

If you have a family or roommate that help contribute to the mess, make sure that they also help contribute to the cleanup.  Teach children early on to pick up after themselves and make sure everyone in the household has assigned chores.  Trading for chores you prefer can also make the work more enjoyable.  If you enjoy laundry and your spouse prefers vacuuming, you can each take your preferred chore, as long as both parties feel that the division of labor is equitable.  When you divide and delegate the work, the house cleaning will go much more quickly.

3. Make a list

To do lists and assigned timetables can make cleaning much easier.  It allows you to see at a glance what needs to get done and when and execute that list.  A list helps keep you and your loved ones accountable, which means the work is more likely to get done.

4. Buy the right tools for the job

You shouldn’t have a room full of cleaning products.  Carefully research what works best on the different surfaces and flooring of your home and purchase the appropriate products.  Don’t bog yourself down with unnecessary cleaners that you have to haul from room to room.  When you purchase the best products for the job and minimize the numbers of items you have, you can make your cleaning more efficient and less time consuming.

5. Establish a system

Clean systematically, room by room.  This will help keep you from getting distracted and wasting time going back and forth unnecessarily.  This will get easier with practice but the more you clean the better you will get at it.  As you are cleaning a room, think about how you might be more efficient and try to cut down the length of time it takes you to clean.  Make every movement count.

6. Clean with music on and the TV off

Turn on some upbeat music to keep you moving and motivated.  Music can also help keep you in a good mood despite the chores at hand.  Conversely, turn the TV off as it can become a distraction and you may find yourself wandering over to the couch and sitting down.

7. Declutter before you clean

Organizing and deep cleaning are actually two separate tasks.  Make sure that you do a round of picking up and putting things away so that you can deep clean each room without having clutter in the way, slowing you down.

How Clean Is Your House?

Is your house as clean as you would like it?  How many hours a week do you spend trying to keep your house clean?  Do you feel weighed down by cleaning upkeep?  Call Two Ladies and a Bucket if you feel like your house is never clean or you simply don’t want to spend your free time cleaning.  We can get you started on the right foot with a one-time deep cleaning or maintain a regular schedule to lessen your load.