A Cleaning Routine That Finally Works! : Simplify Your Life Series 2016

As with my quest for keeping organised in my life, I have also been striving for as easy a life as possible on the cleaning front.  Whilst I naturally navigate to being a tidy person I confess that I am not a natural when it comes to house cleaning.

Don't get me wrong we do not live in filth, but we clearly live in our home.  There are often cups left in bedrooms, washing drying in the spare room, ironing piling up, etc.  Over the years I have come to realise that cleaning is basically a never ending task - you will always need to clean and there are two methods of cleaning house I have used:

Do it all in a oner

As the name suggests this is where you either designate pretty much a whole day of your week to cleaning house or wait until the mood takes you and blitz, blitz, blitz!  I've practiced this type of cleaning a lot over the years and it has never yielded very satisfying results.  There is a brief moment of euphoria when you finally achieve the whole house being clean, but it doesn't last for long and the sheer physical effort of completing it means that you let the dirt and mess pile up again as you're too tired to deal again so soon.

Little and Often

This is my current approach and one I highly recommend you try as well.  I've come to terms with the fact there will always be something that needs to be cleaned, but I do not sweat about it.  Instead I have started to do a significant cleaning activity on a daily basis.  This way it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes a day, so no danger of getting cleaning fatigue, and the house is generally always visitor ready.  As well as the daily clean I will also try and do at least one "deep clean" or "zone clean" a week, such as cleaning windows, washing skirting boards, washing dog beds, etc.

What I really like about this method is that you can easily adapt what you do and when to best suit your house size and schedule.  In a typical week I will try and do the following:

• Day one - Dust the whole house.  Starting at the top and working my way down, I work as quickly as I can (may as well burn some calories as you go).
• Day Two - Kitchen cleaning - wipe down all surfaces and appliances.  Wipe out the fridge and remove any out of date food.
• Day Three - Vacuum the whole house working from top to bottom.  Feel the burn!
• Day Four - Mop any floors that are not carpet and wash floor matts.
• Day Five - Clean bathroom - scrub the tub, sink and toilet.  
• Day Six - Zone clean

The trick to making this routine last has been to let it be flexible and fit in with the rest of my life.  I find that the house now maintains a general good level of cleanliness that means when people knock on the door I don't fly into a mad panic about the state of the place and instead can relax in their company.

That said I am open to other ideas as well, so let me know what works for you and your family on the cleaning front.