5 Tips for Cleaning the House – A Guest Post

I was approached, via email, by this company – Maids by Trade.  They offered me a post for my blog.  I have never had a guest post before so I was really hesitant to have my first post be created by a business.  We had a short email dialogue and they sent me the draft of their proposed post.  It turned out to be these great tips for cleaning the house.  I was impressed that the post didn’t read like a giant ad so here it is – enjoy!

Cleaning the House: Ideas for the Family on the Go

Everyone wants a clean house. However, there isn’t always enough time to do so when you have to take the dog for a walk, take the kids to soccer practice and make dinner after work. The good news is that there are ways that you can stay organized and keep your house from falling apart despite your busy schedule.

Make Time Everyday For Some Sort of Cleaning Project

Taking five minutes to pick up the clutter in the living room or a few minutes to do the dishes can keep small messes from spiraling out of control. In some cases, getting started is the biggest challenge when it comes to cleaning your home. Therefore, those five minutes you dedicate to a small cleaning project could provide the motivation that you need to spend an hour or two cleaning the entire kitchen, bathroom or basement area.

Don’t Feel Like Cleaning Is Only Your Responsibility

Keeping the family home clean should be a family effort. Young children may be able to keep their rooms clean, brush the animals or make sure that their shoes and coat are put away at the end of the day. Older children should be able to vacuum, wash the dishes and do other basic tasks before or after school or on weekends. You and your spouse should make a plan to alternate who makes dinner or who does the laundry during the week to ensure that the household chores are being split evenly.

Stick to a Routine

You may not be able to control how your boss feels about you or whether your child is going to be a star student. However, you it is completely up to you when you decide to vacuum the living room or wash the windows in your bedroom. Sticking to a schedule makes it more likely that you and the rest of your family will make a habit of keeping the house clean. To compel others in the house to help you, it may be a good idea to hide the television remote or withhold the WiFi password until everything is done.

Create a Reward System For Your Kids and Yourself

If your kids do the chores on the calendar or their chore chart on time and meet your standards, they should get a reward. This may be a weekly allowance or some other small treat that they will enjoy. You may also want to treat yourself with a spa day or a trip to the mall for getting through your to-do list for the week or keeping the house clean for an entire month. Even a small reward can provide that motivation that you need to get things done when you are tired or simply don’t want to see that mop or dust pan.

There is no better feeling than coming home to a clean house after a long day at work or school. By getting into a routine, asking others in the house to help with its upkeep or even hiring someone to help, it may be easier than you think to create the type of environment that you want.

Bio – This guest post created by Maids by Trade, a trusted, eco-friendly house cleaning service for over 20 years, with locations across the United States.

My thoughts:

So there’s the helpful guest post on cleaning your house.  Do you have any other tips to make house cleaning easier?  Breaking the tasks down to short, do-able parts makes it easier for me with my limited time (and want) to get cleaning done.  I’m really working on getting my kids in on the helping out part.  Some days that works and others they have no interest.  It’s all a learning curve for me.

Share your hints and tricks to a tidy life in the comments.  Also if you’re interested in having me feature your post on my blog you can contact me.  I’m happy to feature anything family friendly.  Posts along the lines of school-age kids, quick and easy cooking/cleaning/household things, blogging tips and hints, or working mom (or dad) thoughts and struggles are what I would most like to feature.  

Now, it’s time to go spend a few minutes cleaning the house!

~Jess