The most difficult part about having a home is not remembering to pay the bills and taxes or the annual maintenance but the day-to-day chore of keeping it clean. With so much dust and pollution and the chaos of everyday life, your home is bound to get dirty and unkempt if you neglect to clean it regularly. While a good wipe down often does the trick to tackle dust on tabletops and counters, a home collects grime in neglected corners like window sills and frequently used items like appliances and if it’s left for too long, it can not only be difficult to clean but also emanate strange smells and make your home seem off. But a thorough cleaning isn’t possible every day so what do you do? We are here to help. Here are some simple ideas and remedies to keep your home fresh and clean day after day with minimal effort.
Schedule weekly tasks
One of the easiest ways to tackle build up and grime in forgotten corners like for example behind the microwave and fridge, and the topmost shelves in your living space is to create a schedule to decide when you will clean these hard to reach places and stick to this plan. You can assign each member of your family a specific task so that the burden doesn’t fall on any one particular person. You can also schedule one difficult task every day. For example, on Monday, you clean the hard to reach places like behind the fridge and dresser, on Tuesday, you tackle the coffee maker and microwave, and so on. The idea is to break it down into simple weekly jobs so that you aren’t overlooking anything.
Keep your home smelling nice
Oftentimes, we only dust and clean and forget about the murky smell lurking in our homes. And no, we don’t just mean the bathroom. Your home has to smell nice to have a freshness to it. Fragrances can also help keep insects and pests at bay. There are different ways to keep your home smelling nice. The simplest way is to boil water on the stove, add orange peel and some cloves to it and let it simmer for an hour. The fragrance that will waft through your house will be invigorating as well as help keep common house pests like ants and spiders away. Another way is to dry flowers and herbs from your garden and sprinkle them with some essential oils like lavender or night jasmine and keep little sachets of these in various corners around the house.
Vacuum the upholstery and curtains
All of us only vacuum the carpets and neglect to attend to the curtains and upholstery but these fabrics also tend to gather dust and become grimy over time. It’s a good idea to run the hoover through these as well when you are cleaning the carpets.You can also use an iron to steam these from a distance after you are done vacuuming them to freshen them up. Alternatively, sprinkle some baking soda on the sofas and cushions and let it sit for a few minutes before vacuuming them. This will also freshen up your upholstery and give it a clean finish. Use a wet toothbrush to clean the nooks and crannies of the sofa by simply running it through them. You’ll be surprised to see how much hair and dust will have collected in these spaces without you having noticed a thing.
Declutter regularly
An oft-overlooked part of keeping a clean home is definitely decluttering. Most of us have way too much stuff that we need and we keep buying and bringing things into our home without having used so many things that we already own. Multiple notebooks, multiple flower vases, multiple extension cords, and multiples of almost everything, that is the situation of most homes. Over time, you will not only run out of space but all these items will gather dust while being useless and give your home a cluttered and cramped feel. Regular decluttering and getting rid of what you don’t use by choosing to donate things that are in working condition is a good way to keep your house organized. Get into the habit of putting things back in their place once you are done with them and take a few minutes at the end of the day to tidy up frequently used areas like the kitchen and living room.
