12 Habits that People with Clean Houses Always Do

It may seem impossible to keep your house cleaner for longer than a day, or maybe even an hour. At least I know that’s how I’ve felt sometimes. Putting a schedule together that divides every day up into chores may work great, but it eventually dies out and the house falls into disarray again. Instead of having highs and lows of a clean house, try developing these 12 habits to always have a clean house!

• Right when you wake up, make your bed. You may be tired, but make your bed. Not only does this make your bedroom look cleaner already, but it also gets you in a positive, proactive mindset.
• No matter how tired you are when you get home, do NOT just throw your clothes in a pile somewhere! Your clothes all probably have a place, so make sure they get there right away. Put jackets in the closet, shoes in the shoe rack, scarves on the coat rack, etc. Keeping your house clean is the best way to clean it.
• Empty the dishwasher after it’s done. Don’t fall into the trap of letting the dishes sit in the dishwasher. If you do, that means the dirty dishes will sit in the sink until they’re piled up and stinky. Make sure the dishwasher is always emptied as soon as possible and that no one in the family has the habit of just setting dishes in the sink.
• If you have ten bottles of cleaning spray, then maybe it’s time to get rid of the extras. While it may be convenient to have loads of extra products around your house, it quickly adds to the clutter. Keep one or two back up things at the most, and then get rid of the rest.
• Whenever there’s a spill or mess, clean it up right away. Don’t tell yourself, “Oh, I’ll get to that later.” Because you probably won’t. And even if you do, the mess is going to be sticky, caked on, and 100X harder to clean than if it was fresh.
• Whether it’s homework assignments, work projects, mail, or something else, make sure your papers all have a home. If not, they’ll probably end up all over the kitchen table and counter. If you don’t already have one, buy a paper organizer that you and your whole family can use so that the papers all go in one spot.

• If possible, (and really try to make this possible) do a load of laundry every morning. Not only will this keep the laundry basket empty, but your clothes will be getting cleaned while you do your daily routine. Then, when you’re done, you just have to pull the clothes out without having to impatiently wait!
• Organize, organize, organize. That’s one of the best ways to keep your house clean. Have a place for everything so that it doesn’t just get tossed to the ground. Use baskets, bins, tubs, etc. and make sure everyone in the family knows where things belong. Create labels to help make sure everyone knows where things belong.

• It may seem like overkill, but it’s actually a great idea to clean your fridge every day, and really cleaning it deeply at least once a month. Light cleaning includes throwing away expired foods and sauces, wiping up stains, cleaning off food peelings, etc. To deep clean, you should take everything out of the fridge and really scrub the whole interior.
• While it may be tempting to procrastinate some cleaning chores, don’t! Houses usually get messy, not from huge problems, but small things adding up over time. So if you just got a package, get rid of the box and wrapping. Did you just do a craft project? Put all the scraps together and put them away.

Along with that, make sure things get put away when you’re done with them! Don’t leave scissors on the table, tape on the counter, the address book out, etc. If you’ve finished up with something, then put it back right away.

• Also make sure to clean the kitchen as you cook. Don’t just wait until the end when everything is a huge mess and you just give up. No, clean the cutting board while the water boils, wash the knives while the veggies are in the steamer. You can actually find a lot of time to clean things up while you’re cooking if you just look for it.