what are some ways that i can keep a TIDY house, during the week? Any ideas would be really helpful!!?
Answers:
Well, do you live alone? If so, you should have no problem just picking up as you go. Laundry should not be much with one. If you have kids, put the little slaves to work. If you have a partner, are they doing their share? Otherwise, maybe you could afford to hire a maid to come in one day each week to assist you. Your alternative: Multi-task those chores baby!
Other answers:
Just do a little everyday, so it is not so much work during the end of the week. That is what always helps me. Or just whenever your done with anything pick it up, clean it up, or take care of it. Dont leave anything around.
Just do a little everyday, so it is not so much work during the end of the week. That is what always helps me. Or just whenever your done with anything pick it up, clean it up, or take care of it. Dont leave anything around.
a little each day ..
thats the best i can tell you .
im a total neat freak , cant stand clutter , dirty dishes , or clothes for that matter .
i just do a little every day .. then by the weekend its not that bad ...
always set yourself up to win. when I was single I learned how to make many 1 pan dishes, that way I could eat good and not spend an hour every night washing dishes. I limited the number of dishes in my home to force myself to wash them frequently. clothes are kinda the same, limit the number of clothes you have and you wont wear as many before washing. other than that just pick things up as you go, make a habit of taking something with you when you go to a different room. for example if you are headed frm teh living room to the bathroom, take that brush you left on the end table with you and put it back in the bathroom since you are headed there anyways.
Analyze WHY the house is getting untidy and deal with each element.
Mail problems? Create a big 'In' basket and store ALL of it there until you can sort it.
Shoes everywhere? Set up a shoe rack in a place near where they accumulate.
Nobody puts (fill in the blank) away? Maybe the storage point is too inconvenient/far away. Find a more logical/natural spot.
Work stuff piling up? Find a nice rolling cart to put it on, and roll out of the way to store, or roll up to work on.
Laundry pile? Every day put a load in the wash, and put yesterday's load in the dryer. Have sorting tubs nearby and fold stuff into the tubs- master bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, etc. Put away a tub or two a day.
Keep a small tote or basket of basic cleaning supplies in key locations- glass cleaner, dust cloth, whisk broom. Use this tote to clean a small but visible area every day- bookcases, bathroom, etc.
Also analyze your house and look for ways to make it more self-cleaning. Seal unfinished wood, minimize flat horizontal surfaces (even things like molding), minimize clutter (or put knick-knacks behind glass), frequently replace furnace filters, add big mats near doorways to catch as much dirt as possible, etc.
If there's one thing I hate more, it's a LONG day of scheduled cleaning which inevitably lands on what should be my day off! Here's what I do:
Each day I choose which room I want to do a "big" chore in, such as, oh, maybe mop the kitchen floor today and just pick up little stuff around the rest of the house. The next day I would dust the living room and pick up stuff around the rest of the house. The next day clean the bathtub and pick up little stuff around the rest of the house, etc. You get the picture. If you make it a habit your house will stay a lot cleaner and you won't feel so overwhelmed. Before you know it you'll start doing 2 or 3 'big' things and not even realize it.
I also keep a big, nice looking basket in each room that I can toss things into that are left laying around. Everyone knows they need to pluck their things from these baskets when they leave the room, or at least before they go to bed at night.
Oh yeah, and if you have kids make them help. My daughter is not even a year and a half and she helps put toys away. She sings 'pick up, pick up' as she's doing it. It took a few tries with me standing over her saying put this in the toy box, now put this in the toy box... but she learned quick! there's no reason why they shouldn't help. If you have a hubby or a room mate they should pitch in doing something each day too! If they don't, for one week everytime you find their stuff go put it right in the middle of their bed, it doesn't take long before they are annoyed at the prospect of having to unbury their bed before going to sleep. If they will sleep right on top of it, find some other equally annoying place..everyone has their sacred spots, right!?>?
Oh yeah, laundry.. it is worth the extra room it takes up to sort it as it's taken off and put into the laundry basket. When you get a full load of colors or whites, whatever throw it in the wash, don't let mountains pile up. I tend to do whites (because I dont' have as many of them as other clothes) and let them sit in a 'clean clothes' basket until I have another load to fold up and put away, this makes it so I'm not constantly folding laundry. But when I do fold laundry, I sit my butt on the couch and do it while I watch tv, it makes it less monotonous.
I have a housekeeper, and she's the best $50 a week investment I've ever made.
This is the best thing I have found. It's a group you can join called http://flylady.net/index.asp Its like having a free cleaning coach. They send you daily emails to help you get a routine going, and even remind you about things like taking something out for dinner in the morning. I love it! It helps you slowly organize and tidy up your home. You take small steps and clean for small amounts of time so it's easy to maintain. You focus on one or two rooms per week until your whole house slowly becomes spotless. You never have to worry about company dropping by out of blue again. I hope you like it.
www.flylady.net
She rocks.
Basically, you set up a routine; you clean before you see dirt so it is fast... if it weren't for her the health department would be knocking on my door.
Declutter. If you don't really need it, love it, use it a lot, or if you have too many of any certain thing, you can pare down and get a huge leg up on everyday mess. Clutter is a thief of time, space, money, and energy and these things overlap into complicating your housework a LOT.
For example, if you can't find something due to crowded spaces, you spend more time and energy looking for it, and may have to spend to replace it.
If you can't bear to part with things, consider making mini-collections of stuff with one collection out. The rest goes in storage, out of circulation. Easier to store, less out to be in the everyday mess, and you can rotate them in and out of use however you want. With some things put away, you may find you don't miss them as much as you thought. This makes them easier to part with if you decide you want to. Works for heirlooms, clothing, toys, videos, books, music, decor items, linens.
Another way to hold on to things is to squirrel away excessive amounts of consumables except for the product currently in use in the reasonable at hand amount. Refill smaller containers to keep out, enough to get you through a week or two? The rest can be economy sizes, multiples, sales you caught, accumulated items. When you first gather things together, you will likely have a lot of stuff that is almost empty or worn out. You can get these things gone without wasting them, just get them into use with the other stuff put away. Good for cleaners, some foods, multiples of basic items like socks, underwear, toiletries, cosmetics.
To curb clutter when shopping, the key is to choose versatile items. If you can use things different ways, you don't need other things to get a variety of things done. Single ingredients in the kitchen. Disinfectant concentrate for mixing however you want when cleaning. Clothing pieces that work a number of ways, with each other, for different occasions, etc. Kitchenware that is durable and highest quality that you can afford, goes from dw to mic to freezer to oven, serves one or ten.
If you can reduce clutter you will be so much better off. After decluttering, you can do a few other things.
If your house really needs attention, spend as much time as you can getting it up to your standards at first. Deep clean in a systematic way, shelf by shelf, cabinet by cabinet, working room to room, through the layout of your house. After a place is looking good dedicate yourself to routine maintenance. You might schedule a "cleaned" room each week to go over again (it will be much easier if things WERE bad, this is a maintenance job) until you have cycled through the whole house, don't forget transitional spaces like hallways, stairwells, entries, porches, and such.
Have a container in every room for stuff to accumulate that is out of place. This way, if something is out of place, it can be tossed there in a hurry, and then the rest of the room looks good (in emergencies). Portable so you can carry it around, putting things away. Then everyday straightening tasks becomes a matter of gathering things to that container, putting them away, and high traffic cleaning (wiping counter, sweeping or swiffering floor, spot cleaning germy areas, febreezing).
Of course include anyone in the household that is able to be recruited.
Errands can be done different ways. One way is all on one day a week, using a logical route to get all the things done. OR they can be split off into times when you are already in the area of that store, whichever way works best for you. If your kids' school is near the groc store, swing by on the way to pick them up...and you also have help getting the groceries in the house!
Laundry can be going anytime that you will be home for a while. Don't let it pile up. The easiest way to handle things, my opinion, is when a load accumulates that can be washed together, do them. You don't need to do linens, even towels as often as you probably do. Hang towels and reuse. Sheets every two weeks, blankets, etc every month or so. Table linens after use only if dirty. Get a stain stick for each collection of laundry and teach everyone how to use it. Less pretreating when washing. Buy clothing items that wash and tumble dry easily. Hang stuff back up if it isn't really dirty, even if you wore it a couple days. You can get a couple wearings out of most garments on a day when you aren't too sweaty etc.
Another case for decluttering clothing is how intimidating laundry can be. Of course you can't just wear the same thing over and over but if your laundry is a small mountain, it's easy to be a little lazy. If there is always something to wear even though there is a mountain of laundry, it is easier to let it keep piling up. However, if your clean selection is getting sparce sooner, you have to wash more often...this forces you to manage less, getting more out of it. A better way in my opinion.
Sometimes, our whole family does the 10 Minute Pickup. Everyone pitches in and picks up/cleans for 10 minutes uninterrupted. It's amazing the difference that the 10 minutes makes. We did this even when the children were young.
An alternative is the 10 item pickup--everyone picks up and put away 10 items.
The 10 Minute session might be easy to do each day--that would be enough time for you to throw in one load of laundry, someone could load the dishwasher, someone could make the beds, etc.
I've used http://www.flylady.net/. Got some good tips and organizational skills.b And it is free.