by Thriving Mama

Created on: June 06, 2009

Short of cleaning your house and then leaving for a week of vacation, keeping your home clean all week long can be a daunting project. These four strategies and a kitchen timer will help you achieve this goal. With a little work every day, you will be on your way to having a presentable home at any time.

Wipe Bathroom Surfaces - Keep your bathroom(s) stocked with cleaning rags, or paper towels, and a bottle of you choice of cleaner. Choose a generally convenient daily time when you are in the bathroom to wipe down your surfaces. Usually right before a shower or at the end of the day work well. With a touch of cleaner on the cloth, start with the mirrors if needed, then to the sink and vanity. Then wipe down the edges of the tub and finally the toilet. Toss the cloth in the laundry and you're done!

Empty the kitchen Sink - In my experience, dirty dishes tend to breed and multiply if left out in the open. One dirty spoon in the sink has its friends over and then there are glasses, plates and more silverware that appear, as if invited to a fraternity party. Taking a few minutes to place dirty dishes in the dishwasher or wash them as they are used, saves you the task of facing the Mount Kilimanjaro of dirty dishes later.

Never Go To Bed Cluttered - Take five minutes, and feel free to set a timer for this task, to de-clutter around your home before you turn in for the night. Neatly stack book bags & shoes for the next morning, clear kitchen counters and living room tables of papers, mail and toys. Gather the dirty laundry that has been left around the house and put it in the laundry baskets. When a timer is set and you know that the task is only going to last five minutes, the first few times, it will seem like forever. Then you will come to realize just how much you can do in a focused five minutes.

Chores List - Last, keep a list of the chores needed to be done in a week to keep your home clean. Set a timer for the amount of time you can devote to cleaning and work on the other chores that need to be done. Choose something off of the list by looking around your house and see what needs to be done. That time can be used to vacuum or sweep a portion of your home, to give a portion of a bathroom or kitchen and more thorough scrub, to sweep and mop and entryway. Often, giving yourself incentives like, "I will clean for 20 minutes and then have dessert," or "I will clean for 10 minutes before my favorite television show starts," works as great motivation to use the small bits of time in our days more wisely.

If you can break down the project of having a clean house into smaller, more manageable tasks to take on each day, your house will stay clean all week long.

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