What's Your Cleaning Mantra?

How many times have you wished that the house cleaned itself? I keep wishing this many many times in a day. And I am sure, many other women also think that way. 

To give you a premise, I am not someone who wants everything to be perfectly clean always. But then things need to be decently clean. Windows without major streaks, furniture without dust, a dry and neat bathroom and definitely a clean kitchen is what I aim for most of the times. Over the years I realized it is not very easy but then it is not very difficult to maintain as well. A few things here and there and we have a beautiful home.

There might be many blogs on this topic and I too have learnt a lot from different blogs out there; but here I have mentioned a few tips that have helped me in my day to day life.

Start in the Night

Yes you read it right. I do not start it in the day but in the night. I start by clearing all my dishes and stacking them in the sink. Then I proceed to wipe down my stove and my kitchen counter. Following this I do the dishes. Finally I wipe down my dining table. On the way to my bedroom, I straighten out any light mess that is left in the living room and head over to a good night's sleep. Doing this part in the night, helps me wake up to a clean home and hence having a nice start to my day.

Make your Bed

After getting up and being lazy for sometime, it's time to make the bed. I always make the bed within an hour of waking up and everyday it amazes me how a small task like making the bed almost instantly gives the room a clean feel.

Clean as you Cook

I have seen many people make a mess in the kitchen while cooking. I wont lie, I was one of them. I would peel the vegetables and leave the peels and seeds there. I would gather all my spices and leave them on the counter. I would clear up everything once I was done cooking. All this lead to a lot of clutter and chaos in the kitchen. Slowly I learnt that the best way to do all this is to Clean as I cook. Now what do I do differently? I first peel all my vegetables, clear the peels and then start cutting them. I use the spices and immediately keep them back. And sometimes if time permits, I even was all the dishes I used while cooking. And then I stand back and admire my clean kitchen. :P

Dust if you Must

I do not dust my furniture every single day. I dust only when I find dust on something. It might not be a very good habit but then it saves me a lot of time. The same goes with vacuuming. I am at a stage where I do not need to vacuum every single day. I generally vacuum once or twice a week and it keeps my house clean.

Keep things where they belong

This was something that was instilled in me by my father when I was very young. It's actually very simple to follow. If you need something, take it from its place and use it. To ensure that you find it again when you need it, just keep it back at the same place the moment you are done using it. This solves two purposes: One, the very obvious one, you find it where it is supposed to be the next time you need it. Two, you save some time when you are cleaning. How? You have one less thing to keep back in place. It is a win-win.

Set up a routine

I generally keep half a day aside to clean up the house every week. I dust, vacuum, mop and clean my balcony and toilets. Since I do it regularly, it helps me in keeping everything clean and also not spending a lot of time cleaning just one part of the house.

Deep Clean

Deep cleaning is an important step in keeping the house clean. I indulge in a deep cleaning session once every fortnight. And I deep clean alternatively. If this time I deep clean the toilet and kitchen, the next time I clean my windows, mirrors and the other heavy duty stuff. I feel deep cleaning in itself is a huge topic and I will definitely talk about it in one of my upcoming blogs.

 I hope you enjoyed reading my few tips. Like I said, they are not all original but they have definitely helped me a lot over the years. Hope they help you too!