Another long day at work and you finally get home only to find the house is like a war zone. You have been meaning to clean it for the last few weeks but there just hasn’t been enough time and when there was, you have been too tired to even think about it. This scenario is pretty much the same for all working families and even families with at least one stay at home parent. So, how do you get around to cleaning all that built up mess and to once and for all keep it clean and organised? Well, here are 4 basic tips to will get you started and works for every area of your home.
1. The Great Purge
Yep, you read it right, the purge. Choose a day and dedicate it to one room of your home. Now go through that room and clear out anything that is old, broken or you haven’t used for about 6 months. Be ruthless and get rid of everything you don’t need or like. Throw it out, sell it or give it away, it doesn’t matter so long as all that ‘junk’ is no longer a part of your life.
Now that you have got rid of all the items you no longer need, you are left with a mixture of things that do belong in your room and other items that don’t. The items that don’t belong there, take them and put them where they do belong.
Finally you are left with a room that contains under half the ‘stuff’ it had a few hours ago. Put all those things aside for a moment and clean all the cupboards, shelves, drawers and other flat surfaces before putting everything away again.
2. The Zone
Within every home there is a natural flow from one end to the next. For instance the living areas are close to the kitchen, the bedrooms are near the bathrooms and the laundry is generally near the garage. These areas of your home are known as working zones. The same applies to each individual room.
Let’s say you have decided to clean your child’s bedroom. Try to visualize different zones within the bedroom like the bed and wardrobe are in one area, the toys in another, the study/arts and craft area in another and a quiet area for reading and maybe TV are in yet another area.
When you have visualized how you can create these new working zones within your now de-cluttered room, start sorting your left over things into groups of similar items.
3. Containers, Boxes and Trays
If you don’t have any storage items such as containers, boxes and trays, then start buying some today. Even if you get just a few from your local discount store it will make a huge difference to keeping your home clean and organized.
Select different sizes to house different items and label everything not only to help other members of your family to know where everything belongs but for you as well. Also, go for either square or rectangular containers, boxes and trays as they are easy to stack and fit neatly on shelves or in cupboards.
Start putting your items away into these containers and back into your cupboards, shelves and draws.
4. Clean, Dust and Vacuum
By now all your stuff is either thrown out, returned to another part of the house or put away. All you have left is an empty room and floor which you can now go through and tidy up with the vacuum cleaner and duster.
Congratulations, your job is done! You have just completely de-cluttered, cleaned and organized one room in your home. Give yourself a pat on the back and be proud of yourself. You are off the cleaning mark and running.
Depending on your time constraints, make a point of cleaning just one room of your home in one day. That may be one room per week or even one per month, the point is to not do it all in one go and to create and keep an organized home.
Now, are you ready to go and clean the next room on your list?
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