If you lead a busy lifestyle, you know the drill. You start off the week with a mostly clean and tidy house (depending on how many chores you achieved over the weekend).
By midweek, though, you realise that you haven’t put away your dry-cleaning and haven’t folded your laundry.
There’s a growing stack of mail in the hallway, a used gym bag by the door, a pile of fresh laundry on the bed, dirty dishes in the sink (and clean ones in the dishwasher that didn’t just finish its cycle).
Making your bed first thing in the morning will kick-start your productivity levels. Photo: Whiting Architects
To top it off, your vanity looks as if a bomb went off in the beauty aisle at Myer.
By Friday, the house is a full-blown disaster zone – that is, until you rest from your week, and tackle the massive (and much-needed) tidying up job.
Then, the cycle starts all over again.
Make a point at night to clear off countertops and put away every product that was used to get ready in the morning. Photo: Casey Dunn
Do yourself a favour, and adopt these clever daily cleaning tricks so you never have to spend precious weekend hours tidying up.
Bedroom
In the morning:
- Make the bed as soon as you get up. Making the bed first thing in the morning will kick-start your productivity levels and make it that much harder to crawl back into bed.
- Wipe your bedside table each morning. Keep wipes in your bedside table, and give your bedside table a quick wipe when picking up your phone in the morning. That’s one less chore to tackle on the weekend.
- Edit your closet as you go. Keep a hamper or bag in your closet where you can throw items of clothing that don’t work anymore as you’re getting ready in the morning. Sort through it once a month, and toss, donate, or sell.
At night:
- Immediately rehang items you wore. Don’t just throw clothes on a chair if they can be worn once more before laundry day – hang them. Keep dry clean-ready items in a separate section of your closet.
- Have a dedicated hamper for every person in your home. One hamper is not enough. Have a laundry basket for each person in your house, plus an extra one for linens. If you’re feeling extra organised, use hampers that have two baskets in each so you can separate whites in advance.
- Start a wash cycle as soon as you get home. If you have enough laundry, start a wash cycle first thing in the evenings so you have time to dry and fold. Don’t ever let unfolded laundry make it into your bedroom. Keep a folding area near your washer/dryer, and be ruthless about folding/ironing as soon as the drying cycle is done.
Bathroom
In the morning:
- Spray your shower with cleaner after each shower. Give your shower a quick clean daily by spraying it with cleaner, quickly wiping surfaces, and letting it rinse out.
- Hang towels on bars and robes on hooks. Your towels need to properly air-dry in order to be able to reuse them two to three times. Make sure they are properly hung to dry. If you’re a bathrobe person, a dedicated hook for it in the bathroom will make your space feel a little more like a hotel room.
- Keep a laundry hamper in your bathroom for towels. Your bathroom is not a hotel; don’t leave towels on the floor or in the tub. If they’ve gone past their three-day use, quickly throw them in the hamper.
At night:
- Clear your countertops of clutter. We get it, mornings get busy. Make a point at night to clear out and put away every product that was used to get ready in the morning.
- Clean your toilet during your nighttime routine. The time you need to brush your teeth and wash your face is probably the exact time you need to let an average toilet cleaner product work before giving it a quick scrub. Use a wipe to quickly clean the seat. Doing this every other day will keep your toilet neat in between deep cleans.
- Wipe down countertops after getting ready for bedtime. Once your nighttime beauty routine is done, give your bathroom countertops a quick wipe. Keep a stash of cleaning products in your vanity to make this process seamless.
Kitchen
In the morning:
- Empty the dishwasher while you brew your coffee. It should be ready for your breakfast dishes so they don’t pile up in the sink and sit there all day.
- When you notice a spill, clean it right away. It’s easier to notice tiny spills in broad daylight, so inspect your countertops and floors in the morning. While it’s easy to tell yourself “Oh, I’ll just take care of that when I clean this weekend”, actually getting it done will get you into the habit of cleaning as you go.
- Swap out your dish towel. It turns out that dish towels should be changed more often than we think, so get into the habit of swapping them out in the morning and tossing the old ones into the laundry basket.
At night:
- There are two types of cooks in this world: those who clean as they cook and those who don’t. Learn to be the former by starting with your prep work and cleaning that before you start cooking. Once your meal is ready, quickly rinse utensils before sitting down to eat. It will make it much easier to clean up after a meal.
- Fill and start the dishwasher at night. Don’t leave it until the morning, no matter how tempting it is to go lay down in front of Game of Thrones. Do it during commercials if you must, but get it done.
- Wipe countertops and cooking surfaces. Wipe down your counters and stove each night before you go to bed. Get into the habit of wiping the microwave after each use. You’ll love waking up to a spotless kitchen.
Living
In the morning:
- Keep baskets in every room. Once a day, do a quick walk-through of each space. Fill up your basket with accumulated clutter, and leave it by the door. Put each item back in its place first thing when you get home.
At night:
- Wipe down your coffee table and side tables during commercial breaks. While watching your favourite show, there’s bound to be a moment when you have to endure the inevitable commercial break. Take the time to quickly wipe down your living room tables.
- Fluff your pillows after each use. Get into the habit of fluffing your pillows when you turn the TV off. You wouldn’t leave your TV on all night, so why would you leave your pillows deflated?
Hallway
In the morning:
- Keep your bag, keys, and coat in the same spot. Make it easy to get out the door in the morning by having everything you need organised in the same spot.
- Take out the trash and recycling when you leave the house. You can alternate days between the two, but getting into this habit will prevent from having garbage pile up at home.
At night:
- Keep a mail sorter in the entryway. Drop your mail in when you get in your house, and empty your tray once a week when paying bills. Unless you’re waiting for something urgent, most mail can wait a few days. That way you’ll keep everything in one spot and address it in bulk. Store paperwork immediately – or even better: Go paperless and scan everything.
- Immediately launder and store workout gear. Don’t leave your gym bag to linger. Sort the dirty clothes, and store away the rest.
– article from domain.com.au