Making Your Home Lovely, One Step at a Time — Part 2

In our previous post, we tackled clutter in the home.  Once the clutter has been tamed, it’s time to look at housecleaning patterns. Are you one to have a regular schedule for the scrubbing or do you instead move in when you notice things are going downhill? Although most people don’t enjoy the tasks enough to spend the time to organize their efforts, it can be worth the investment up front. Here are a few tips that will help make your housecleaning easier, faster and a bit more enjoyable.

Tools are there to help! Buckets or plastic containers with a handle are invaluable for cleaning chores.  Buy one dedicated to holding your cleaning products. Designate one container for bathrooms, a second to the kitchen and a third to the rest of the house. Include in the container brushes or cloths for each task. This will save valuable time that would have been wasted finding all of the supplies you need with each cleaning project. This also helps you to notice when you’re running low on something so it can quickly be added it to your shopping list and avoid running out of products.

Heavy duty is the way to go. Shop towels are inexpensive and available at many warehouse and hardware stores. These towels are just a bit bigger than a washcloth and are made of white terry fabric. These will take place of paper towels and you can use these for anything you need to clean. Shop towels are also wonderful for wiping up spills and cleaning grime on anything from floors to the car’s tires. These will hold up much better than paper towels and last for years. You should expect to use a lot of them, but when you run low just dump them in the washer, add some soap and bleach and they’re ready for next time.

Don’t forget to read our next post — it will help with a schedule and some incentives for cleaning.