Your home should be a refuge from the outside world and all its problems. It should be a sanctuary and a temple of rest and relaxation. Had a rough day at work? Your boss held you back for a promotion? The train home was crowded and the person you sat next to had a serious personal hygiene problem? Stood in a puddle half way home and had to squelch your way back feeling dejected and miserable? Your home should be a place where you can leave all that at the door, relax and unwind and generally enjoy being you. Of course, it can only do this if it is clean, tidy, fragrant and well maintained. Your home should allow you to express yourself and it should be the most restful space in the world for you. There’s nothing more likely to ruin your day than coming back from work after a stressful day to a floor streaked with dirt and littered with unwashed socks, surfaces caked in dust, a sink full of washing up and a home that looks on the whole like a bomb has hit it.
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[ctt template=”4″ link=”ad32Y” via=”yes” ]When your home stays clean, it allows you to express yourself and home should be the most restful space in the world for you.[/ctt]
Break The Cycle: Making Sure Your Home Stays Clean And Tidy
In any household, the fight to maintain tidiness, cleanliness and order can feel like a never ending battle. It can feel like a never ending cycle in which you’re forever chasing your tail trying to maintain a high standard of cleanliness and tidiness while wear, tear and stains rack up faster than you can keep track of. Here we’ll look at some ways in which you can ensure that your home, once clean, stays clean. Some of them will involve big and expensive changes, while others can be implemented on even a very limited budget. Whether you’re in the mood for total renovation or simply a few subtle tweaks here and there, the following will ensure that your home stays cleaner for longer, giving you a whole lot more time to relax and unwind in the company of the people who mean the most to you in the whole world…
Rethink your countertops
They say that the kitchen is a place where memories are made, and while that’s absolutely true, it’s also a place where mess is made. There’s nothing more tedious than slaving over a hot stove to make a delicious and nutritious meal for your family, only to be lumbered with the greasy aftermath, not just stacked in the sink (where hopefully an obliging family member will wash it) but smeared on your countertops. If your countertop is prone to chips, scratches, marks and stains that conspire to prevent it from ever looking truly clean, you would likely benefit from a durable quartz countertop. Not only is quartz virtually indestructible, unlike it’s cousins granite and marble, it’s non porous as it’s treated with a polymer resin which prevents it from accumulating stains and wipes clean every time.
Wage war on clutter
Even if you’re diligent with dusting, victorious with vacuuming and perfect at polishing, your home will never look or feel tidy, peaceful and serene until it is purged of that most common of enemies… Clutter. Clutter is like any other household pest. It works its way into your home slowly and assiduously, and you don’t even notice it, even when it’s taking up every available inch of surface space and encroaching on your floor. We tend to think of hoarding as a psychological disorder that only a few unfortunates are cursed with, but the truth is it’s a natural human instinct that we all share as much as many of us would like to deny it. Our instinct to acquire and accumulate stuff is primal but not inescapable.
Over time we acquire a host of things for which we can find little or limited use and after a while it simply ends up occupying space. We might see clutter as (quite literally) part of the furniture, but many of us are unaware of the psychological toll it takes. It can impede concentration, provoke stress and prevent the house from feeling like home. Go through your home and don’t be afraid to be ruthless. Rid your home of clutter and you’ll find that it looks bigger, airier, more spacious and cleaner.
Don’t keep all your cleaning products in one spot
It’s more than likely that you keep all of your cleaning products under the sink. Thus, when you notice a stain, streak or smear somewhere where there shouldn’t be but we don’t have the time to trek down to the kitchen sink and return to wipe it out, it gets added to the aggregate housework later on in the week. It’s far easier if you’re able to wipe out that smirking stain right there and then. Thus, it’s a good idea to keep cleaning products in satellite locations all over the home so that you’re always able to tackle infractions on your home’s cleanliness quickly and easily. After a few weeks of this, you’ll find that you don’t have to deep clean your home nearly as often.
Embrace rugs
Rugs are great. They can help to tie a room together and add a splash of color, texture and dimension to your living space. But while rugs are most at home on hardwood floors, there’s absolutely no reason why they can’t be used in carpeted rooms. In fact, a rug in a carpeted room can hugely reduce the amount of time and effort that goes into cleaning your carpet. Instead, simply take out the rug, hang it, beat it and replace it. It takes a few minutes, while deep cleaning your carpet can take far longer.
And finally… Don’t fight the war on dirt alone
Needless to say, unless you live alone, there’s no way it’s your responsibility to maintain the home alone. Your partner and your kids should also be pulling their weight and each member of the household should have specific responsibilities. This will massively reduce the stress that can come with maintaining the household single handedly and ensure that you come home to a clean and tidy house when you’ve had to work late.
This is a contributed post.
Materials
- durable quartz countertop
- [amazon_textlink asin='B017NMBPIS' text='living room rug' template='ProductLink' store='neededintheho-20′ marketplace='US' link_id='03f9eae2-708d-11e8-b337-83e8668d16b0′]
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These are such great suggestions! After our last move, I discovered the beauty of having cleaning products on each level of the house! That really is a brilliant suggestion. It makes it so much easier to clean without feeling like it’s a hassle. 🙂 Pinning!
Thank you, Jennifer!