Keeping a clean home is important for so many reasons. Of course, a clean home is lovely to look at, but aesthetics is only the beginning of why it’s important to keep up with cleaning chores. Keeping a clean home profoundly impacts your physical and mental well-being and overall quality of life. When your home is kept clean and organized life is easier. Here are some reasons why your goal should be to keep your home clean.
1. Health and Hygiene
Keeping a clean home is essential to your and your family’s health. A clean home is a healthy home. A clean home promotes a healthier environment. Regular cleaning helps remove dust, allergens, and contaminants that can negatively affect your family’s health. It is essential that your home is kept clean to avoid common virus spread, respiratory irritants, and other health risks.
Germs can live on your marble countertops for up to 48 hours. High-touch surfaces can be a conveyance for both bacteria and viruses. If one person in your family comes home from school or work and has been exposed to a contagion, that contagion can spread to the entire family if your home is not kept clean.
Keeping a clean home with regularly scheduled cleaning can reduce the risk of the spread of germs. Reducing the spread of germs is not the only health risk reduction you will enjoy by keeping your home clean. Indoor air pollution is estimated to be 1000 times higher than outdoor air pollution, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Regularly dusting can reduce indoor air pollution.
2. Preserving Your Property
Proper cleaning and maintenance can extend the life of important features in your home. For example, keeping up with cleaning glass shower doors ensures that mold and mildew don’t build up and age the doors prematurely. Regular cleaning prevents the features in your home from wearing out.
Carefully cleaning hardwood floors after hardwood floor refinishing will ensure that your floors continue to look great for years to come. Clean and well-maintained surfaces look better and last longer. Ultimately, keeping your home clean will result in cost-savings. When you must replace surfaces less because you are keeping up with cleaning you are freeing up money.
The money you save can be used for roof repairs or other necessary repairs. Taking the time to care for the surfaces in your home will extend the life of those surfaces and help you to manage your money better. A little effort can go a long way in preserving your home.
3. A Comfortable Home
A clean home is a comfortable home. When your home is clean, you feel better about being in your home. You can create a cozy, inviting environment by keeping your home clean. When your home is clean, it reduces stress, increases relaxation, and makes it easier to navigate your living spaces.
Keeping a clean home is good for your mental health. A home that is in disarray can add to your stress level. It can make it very difficult to find things. A messy home may not be a stress that you are even aware of, but it’s causing you stress. Your home should be your sanctuary. It is the place that you should be able to retreat to and feel comfortable.
Cleaning your home regularly will ensure that after a long day of dealing with life, you have a place to come home to that doesn’t add to your stress. Get the water damage repaired in the basement, then keep up with the cleaning to create a space that you are always happy to be in. Your mental health will improve.
4. Set A Schedule
One of the keys to keeping a clean home is to set a cleaning schedule. For example, you can vacuum on Wednesdays and clean the bathrooms on Mondays and Fridays. You can change the sheets on the bed on Saturday and do the laundry twice a week. Creating a cleaning schedule that works for you will ensure that you can stick with the schedule.
Breaking up cleaning tasks throughout the week will ensure that you can keep up with the workload without feeling overwhelmed. Of course, there are tasks that should be done every day. For example, you want to ensure that dishes are washed or put it into the dishwasher. You also want to ensure that you are wiping down high-touch surfaces daily, like the countertops.
Some deep cleaning tasks only must be done monthly or occasionally. For example, drain cleaning services are something you can do every six months or so. Develop a cleaning routine that includes daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. Regular cleaning keeps your home looking its best.
5. Invest in Tools
Keeping your home clean is a lot easier when you have the right tools to carry out specific tasks. Think of it this way: a kitchen and bath remodeling company is successful because they have the tools and equipment that make their job easier. The same is true of housework. If you have the right tools, the process will be easier.
You don’t have to invest a fortune to have the right tools. Simple tools like sponges, buckets, mops, and brooms are essential and very affordable. Choose cleaning agents that are low in chemicals and safe to use around kids and pets. Chemical residue is a real health risk.
You may have to make some high-dollar cleaning tool investments. For example, if you have carpeting, you will need a vacuum. A carpet shampoo machine is also an essential investment if you have carpeting in your home. It will help to make light work of spills and prevent them from becoming stains. Of course, if you have oriental rugs in your home, you can use your vacuum in between professional oriental rug cleaning.
Ultimately, you should assess your cleaning needs and make a list of the tools that are going to make the process easier. You do want to be careful when it comes to investing in specific tools. Going overboard will just add to the clutter. Give which tools you need and which tools you will use some serious consideration.
6. Top-Down Cleaning
A good rule of thumb when cleaning your home is to take a top-to-bottom approach. That means you start at the highest point and work your way down until you get to the floor. For example, get a long-handled duster and wipe away any dust or cobwebs that have made their way to the ceiling. Clean ceiling fans and light fixtures (this is a monthly activity) then walls, and surfaces, then the floor.
A top-down approach to cleaning ensures that you get every home surface clean. It also ensures that whatever you are cleaning above the floor doesn’t soil a clean floor. This organized way of cleaning can be an easy way of keeping up with the cleanliness of your home.
If you adopt this cleaning style over time, you will notice that your house stays cleaner, and those historically missed spots like door frames and corners of the room are no longer an issue. Of course, if this method doesn’t work for you, feel free to develop your own method. The goal is to keep the house clean; however, you can achieve that is fine.
7. Make it Easier
In some cases, keeping your home clean feels like you are salmon swimming upstream. For example, if your windows are seriously outdated, it can be nearly impossible to get them clean and keep them clean. Investing in new window replacements will make it a lot easier to keep your windows clean. Of course, replacement windows have unique benefits, like energy savings, adding value to your home, and creating a quieter atmosphere.
The point is sometimes no matter how good your intentions are, there are things that just can’t be cleaned, and it will make it difficult to want to clean the rest of your home. For example, if your carpet is seriously worn out, cleaning can be impossible. Investing in some home improvements can be the catalyst to a clean home.
You must know when it’s time to make some upgrades and replace things that are so worn they can’t be cleaned anymore. Every surface and covering in your home has an expected lifespan, and when it reaches the end of that lifespan, cleaning may no longer be an option to restore it. You can make life easier and your home cleaner by replacing worn-out surfaces and items in your home.
8. Know Your Limits
Cleaning your home should not feel like punishment. If there are things you really don’t want to do, hire a professional to manage that part of cleaning and upkeep. For example, if you find that all the indoor work is keeping you from managing the exterior of your home, hire a landscaper to manage your outdoor spaces.
Time management is essential when it comes to keeping a clean home. We talked about setting a schedule for cleaning, but we didn’t talk about time management and how that can affect your ability to manage tasks around the house. One of the easiest ways to free up your time is to delegate other duties to a professional. No one can do it all; get help when you need it.
Investing in professional support for the tasks you can get to will reduce the stress you feel trying to keep up with cleaning around the house. Hiring a professional is not admitting defeat but taking advantage of available support. Keeping your home clean sometimes means making a small investment to get someone to help you reach your goals.
9. Throw Away Junk
One of the best tips for keeping your house clean is to not be afraid to throw away things that no longer serve you. It is not unusual for people to hang on to clothing that doesn’t fit, sports equipment they don’t use, and a bevy of other items. There is this voice that tells you that you may need this or that someday. Don’t listen to it.
Keeping clutter to a minimum is essential in keeping your home clean. If you have old magazines that you are hanging on to because there is a recipe you wanted, rip out the recipe and chuck the magazine. If you have clothes that no longer fit, toss them. If your garage is full of things that you may need or use someday, get rid of it.
The fact is if you have something you have not used the season before including clothing and gear, you are not likely to use it the next season either. Hanging on to things just in case is taking up valuable space and making your home feel messy. Don’t be afraid to part with things you are not using. If you can donate them, great, but if you can’t, just trash them.
10. You Got This
Whether you are a clean freak or you don’t mind the mess, you can adopt habits that will help you to keep your home clean. There is a learning curve if you have let things get away from you but you can learn to keep your house clean. You just need to apply these tips and fully understand the value of a clean home.
Life is full of obstacles, but your home shouldn’t be. A clean home ensures you are preserving the value of your home and your lifestyle. Make keeping a clean home a priority and in time you will notice you are less stressed, feel more positive, and spend a lot less time shuffling around your home looking for lost items.
No one is born knowing how to clean. There is a lot to learn. Take the time to learn more cleaning tips and about the value of having a clean home. Get started now.