Inside: Learn five key habits of people who have a clean home so that you can use them in your space.
A clean home is always the goal… but is it always our reality?
For many of us, the answer is no. Keeping our homes clean and tidy is an ever-present challenge.
When you’re juggling work, family, friends, pets, personal obligations, and everything else that life throws your way, finding time to clean up can seem like an impossible feat.
We might squeeze in a few minutes here or there, or even dedicate a weekend to the task – and then we watch as our hard work falls back into disarray before we can blink.
But there are some people out there who do manage to keep their homes clean virtually all the time – and they seem to do it effortlessly.
How?
For the most part, their success can be attributed to the good habits they’ve built around keeping their spaces clean.
And that’s great news for you – because with a little effort and determination, you can instill positive habits into your routine to keep your home (almost) effortlessly clean, too!
Not sure what habits can help you keep your home clean? Here are five house-cleaning habits you can incorporate into your routine to make tidying up a breeze.
5 Habits of People Who Have an (Almost) Effortlessly Clean Home
Incorporate these habits of people who have a clean home to make your space one that is easier to clean and maintain. And no, it doesn’t have to mean you live alone!
Habit # 1: Have less stuff.
One of the biggest ways you can remove effort out of the cleaning process?
Keep less stuff around.
Stuff creates clutter, which creates messes. The level of effort required to clean a cluttered shelf or countertop is exponentially more than it takes to clean one that isn’t covered in stuff.
By streamlining your physical belongings, avoiding impulse buys, and generally embracing a minimalist aesthetic throughout your home, you’ll be surprised to see just how much easier it is to keep your home clean.
To make it easier to keep your home clean, take a ruthless approach to decluttering. Get rid of things that are simply taking up space, that no longer provide any value to you, that are broken, or otherwise no longer have a place in your home.
Then, keep it that way by taking a more intentional approach to purchases. Only buy the things you truly need. When possible, practice a “one in, one out” approach to keep stuff from piling up again.
Habit #2: Embrace the one-touch rule.
When you walk into your house, what do you do with your coat? Your keys? The mail?
If you put it down on the closest chair or your kitchen table to revisit later, you aren’t alone. But you’re creating extra work for yourself that some people have figured out how to avoid.
How? They’ve made the one-touch rule a habit. The idea is simple – you only want to touch an item once.
Instead of putting your coat down on your chair and eventually returning to hang it in the closet or put it on your coat rack, put it where it belongs the first time.
If you’re reading a book, don’t abandon it on the coffee table when you’re done – put it back on the shelf.
And instead of letting the mail pile up on the counter and shuffling it around when you need to use that space, open it immediately and get rid of everything that’s junk right away.
The one-touch rule is a small habit that prevents overwhelm. Dealing with it immediately keeps you from creating extra messes that you have to deal with later, making it an efficient and fairly effortless way to keep your home clean.
Encourage family members to join you in building this habit into your day.
Habit #3: Create organizational systems that work for your home.
In addition to the one-touch rule, create organizational systems that work for your home.
They don’t need to be pretty. They just need to be something you and your family members can stick with.
Simpler tends to be better. Make it so that putting items away when you’re done with them is easy.
When everything has an assigned space and everyone knows where it goes it’s less work to keep your house picked up.
And remember that habit change takes time. To get your home to a place where it’s easier to keep clean, it will take some effort from everyone in the household.
Be patient with the process and find ways to get everyone motivated to clean together. Spending just five minutes near the end of the day with all family members helping to put items back where they belong will make a big impact in your home.
Habit #4: Stick to a cleaning schedule.
Cleaning a house is no small feat. With so many tasks on the to-do list, things can get overwhelming pretty fast. And if those tasks pile up? It can feel nearly impossible.
That’s why a cleaning routine is such a great habit to make your home cleaner with less effort. By breaking down all of the things you need to do into smaller, more manageable actions and spreading them throughout your days, weeks, and months, you’ll be less overwhelmed and more capable of staying on top of your tasks.
You can find all kinds of cleaning schedule templates online, but it’s important to think about your personal situation and adjust accordingly.
There are some daily cleaning tasks that need to be done, like wiping down counters and washing dishes. But other things, like laundry, might depend on how many people you’re cleaning up after.
A family of five might do a load of laundry each day; someone living alone might get away with doing a load or two on the weekend.
Stick to a cleaning schedule and get other family members involved in helping with tasks. You’ll be surprised to see how much easier it is to keep things under control by working on simple daily habits that help keep your home clean.
Habit #5: Use effective, efficient cleaning tools.
Another way you can make it easier to keep your home clean?
Choose the right tools to get the job done.
It might not be the most exciting topic, but researching cleaning tools and supplies can save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.
Not sure what that looks like? Here are a few examples:
- If you’ve got a pet with a shedding problem, you know how difficult it can be to stay on top of the hair that accumulates everywhere. Get a vacuum that’s well-rated for pets and use it daily to prevent fur from piling up.
- Instead of trying to keep track of specialty cleaning products, find a couple of multi-purpose options to streamline the process.
- Use extendable dusters to reach high places with ease. There’s no need to drag around a chair or a ladder to clean cupboard tops, fans, and other tricky spots.
Check out this post with the ten best cleaning tools to save you time and make cleaning more fun.
Final thoughts on habits of people who have a clean home
If you want your space to be easier to maintain, work on adopting some of the habits of people who have a clean home. Focus on building just one habit at a time.
Once it sticks, you can move on to adding another one. Intentionally building these habits with your family members will make cleaning less effortful.
Customize cleaning rules so that they work well for your home and make adjustments as needed.
Hopefully, this will help you to create a space that is more relaxing and enjoyable for everyone.
Which of the habits of people who have a clean home do you plan to adopt first? Leave a comment and let me know!
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