How to Keep a House Clean

I focus on this first for two reasons:

1. It doesn’t do any good to spend 36 hours cleaning a house if it will be just as messy withing a day or two. In fact, that is so disheartening it will keep you from cleaning at all. So we build the habits necessary to keeping it clean before we get it clean. That way once it’s done, it will stay that way.
2. If you do the following to keep a house clean it will almost magically get cleaner each day. For example, one of the daily chores it to do a load of laundry each day. Since most families dirty less than one load every day, doing a full load each day will eventually catch you up. And since you will ignore the enviro-theists shouts to only do full loads and will do what you do have each day, you will stay caught up.

These chores won’t be enough to completely get your house clean, but they will go a long way towards it.

The Daily 5 + 1

1. Do one load of laundry; wash, dry, fold, and put up. You could start the washer at night before bed and they'd be ready for the dryer when you woke up.
2. Turn the dishwasher on before bed and put it up in the morning. Dirty Dishes do not belong on the table, counter, floor, or even sink. Hide them in the dishwasher as you dirty them (we’ll deal with non-dishwasher safe dishes in a minute).
3. Take all the trash out of the house everyday. You deserve to not live in a garbage dump. Use can liners so all you have to do is walk past a can, pause, pull out the liner and tie the top, pull the new liner from the bottom of the can (because you are storing the unused ones there), and put it in place. Then just toss the old, full one in the bigger trash can as you walk past and the bigger one in the dumpster on the way to the car in the morning.
4. Make your bed. Since the bed is the biggest piece of furniture in a bedroom and is the focal point of most bedrooms, just doing this makes the room bigger and cleaner. It also protects your sheets from dust and bugs and signals to your body that it is time to get up, not snuggle into bed.
5. Wipe down the bathroom. 10 minutes once a day and you will never have to spend hours scrubbing it again. (This wiping down doesn’t include the shower or tub, by the way. Deal with that later)
1. Push the water down the throat of the toilet with a scrub brush,
2. Apply the cleaning chemicals and scrub,
3. Wipe the door knob, light switch, counter, mirror, sink, faucet (buff with a dry rag), trash can, hamper, outside of the tub, then toilet. Toss that rag in the dirties,
4. Scrub the inside of the toilet and flush,
5. Sweep, and your done.

Take one hour a day to do all this plus general straightening up. It is called your “Daily House Blessing” or “The Thanksgiving Dance” and is how you say thanks to God for giving you your house. It is also one way to say “I love you” to your family.

If you follow the same order every day you will get faster and more accurate. This is much like a fine ballet where you train you muscles to do the work and eventually you don't even have to think about it, just do it.

+1

• Do it now.
• 30 second rule (if you can do it in under 30 seconds just do it right away)
• 1 touch rule (don't toss your coat on the back of the chair when you come into the house, then move it to the couch, then to the bed, then to the closet where it belongs. Just touch it once; put it up when you take it off).
• A place for everything and everything in its place.

These are all saying the same thing; clean up after yourself- immediately. It's easier to do it now than to wait.

    In the kitchen this means when you are done cooking, wash, dry, and put up everything you used to cook with. When you are done with a meal, anything that can’t go in the dishwasher you wash, dry, and put up. You aren’t done eating until you do.

    Just before you take a shower spray it with cleaner. Then when you get in for your shower, scrub it down first and rinse. All done.

    Look for more ways this can be applied.

How to Clean a House

Now we will discuss how to clean your house. This will be a one-time event (that may take as much as 6 months to complete) but once it is done you won’t have to do more than the daily maintenance above and a couple other chores to keep it done.

    And anyone can do it. No one is too sick, lazy, busy, scatter brained, etc. to accomplish a clean house.

    This will be summed up in one rule:

• Do not have anything in your house that does not make your life better with its presence.

Thank God for things that don't bless you any more and give them to the thrift store so they can find someone who needs it (keep a box or bag by the door to collect them and take it with you when you go out). If you keep things that don't make your life better you are denying them to someone who does need/want them.

Be sure to thank God for the service that item has done for you over the time you have had, even if that service is only to teach you what you don’t really like.

The more stuff you have the longer and harder it is to keep your house clean. That item you don't love is costing you space (and the money to pay for that space), and time. It is stealing from you.

From “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying.”

1. Do your clothes first. We don’t have as much emotional attachment to clothes so they are the easiest to build our “tidying muscles” on. Put every piece of clothing you own in one place. Be sure to check every cupboard and nook and cranny! 
   
   Sort the clothes by type; tops, bottoms, dresses, coats, undies, hats, shoes, purses, etc. 
   
   Then take each item in your hand and pay attention to how it makes you feel. You MUST touch and hold every item. If the item doesn’t “spark joy” then put it in the donate bag. If it doesn’t make you feel the way you want to look you don’t need it. 
   
   Trust me. If you are an American woman you will have plenty of clothes left after getting rid of everything that doesn’t spark joy. 
2.  Next is books. Be brutally honest here. If it is an information book the likelihood is you will google for the information and never even think of opening the book. That is just the way things are now. 
   
   If you do not read a book as soon as you get it, you likely won’t ever read it, so get rid of that to-do stack that makes you feel guilty instead of happy. 
   
   And  it is also highly likely you will never re-read any of the other books you are saving. 
   
   Yes, a few books deserve to be kept; 
   

   • those you read often, 
   • those that make your heart sing every time you look at them on the shelf. 
   • Those you really do open often to reference. 

   
   Everything else needs to be passed on to someone else. 
3. Then comes other media (CD’s, DVD’s, etc)
4. Go through each type of item (not each zone) the same way. 
   
   99% of paper can be tossed. 
   
   Pictures can be scanned into the computer (onto a free blog?). 
   
   Save keepsakes and sentimentals for last. They are the hardest.

Additional chores

    Once your house is clean, add;

1. Doing the floors each day.
2. Dusting when you notice things need it (this ranges from monthly to daily depending on your particular house).
3. Keep an eye out for fingerprints, especially anytime you happen to have a wet rag in your hand.
4. Don’t allow anything to come into your house unless it will make your life better.
5. If you do have to store something, label it so you know what is in that box, file or bag.

This is what all I am doing right now. 

Do you have any hints or helps for those of us that aren’t natural born housecleaners but want to do better?