how do you keep your house/home tidy?

Answer 1

The biggest key to keeping your home tidy is to remember this one thing: When you get something out of a drawer put it away the minute you are done with it. When you finish eating wash the dishes. In other words, when you start something, finish it, all one complete process. Don't leave things not finished.

Answer 2

I'm no Anthea Turner although my mates would prob dissagree, i belive in tidying as i go along.
My 5 year old has been taught to tidy up so rarely theres toys about etc.

I have certain days to do certain jobs, i do alot beofre i leave the house so it's tidy when i get back, usually find that if i'm in a rush i can do more (i make sure i know i've got to do it beofre i leave!!!)
Sounds very sad and like i've nothing better to do but up until 8 months ago i was a single parent with a 40 hour a week job.

I have never been ashamed to open my front door to unexpected guests lets put it that way!!!

Answer 3

Its been hard lately, because I had a baby 2 monthsago, and I have a 4 1/2 year old, and a sloppy husband, BUT, I try and pick up each night before bed, so that I can wake-up to a tidy house. Every night before bed, I do all the dishes, and dry my sink out...another great thing to wake up to...And each morning, as soon as I get out of bed, I make it...that makes a difference too. Do little simple things each day and develop a habit...thats what I am doing. My grandmother taught me all this stuff about housecleaning, and I noticed a lot of the stuff she has taught me, is the same things they teach you on flylady.net

Answer 4

Dishes are taken care of daily. Counters, stove and table are wiped down as well.

Floors are vacuumed at least twice a week.

Bills/papers are dealt with daily. Put in the bill bin, junk mail shredded and the rest thrown away or neatly stacked for whatever reason.

I dry down the sink after I use it. It looks nicer and stays clean longer.

Laundry is brought downstairs and seperated often. When there is enough of to do a load it gets down. Washed, dried and put away.

And before bed misc. stuff is picked up. Glasses brought into kitchen, dirty clothes in the hamper, throw blankets folded and put back where they were gotten from.

A squeegie in the shower has worked wonders too. I don't have to scrub down the shower as often.

I keep disinfectant wipes in the bathrooms to do a quick wipe down of the toliet whenever it needs it.

I also keep cleaning supplies (paper towels, cleaners and a couple rags) in the bathroom cabinet so I can do a quick wipe down of the mirror or sink when necessary. It's right there and it just takes a minute.

Answer 5

Clean as you go. That's very important to me. After dinner, the dishes are done; they never sit on the counter overnight. After a shower, the bathroom walls are squeegied and the sink and mirror cleaned with a paper towel every morning. The mail is sorted immediately; bills go into the bill holder, junk gets recycled or tossed, magazines go in the magazine rack. We have 2 hampers so dirty clothes are semi-sorted right away, and clean clothes are hung up or put in the closet.

A good trick is to set a timer for 15 minutes and so something you really dread doing for that 15 minutes. You'll be surprised how much you can accomplish in that time, and may even be inspired to keep working.
I also like the Fly Lady way of doing things.
http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Decluttertips.asp
http://www.flylady.net/pages/flyinglessons.asp

Answer 6

I have multiple waste baskets in my home. They are strategically placed so that if someone needs to discard something they don't have to go very far to do so. I keep like things together, for example: When I wash bedding, I fold everything up and then place the fitted & flat sheet & pillow cases inside one of the pillow cases so that the entire ensemble is toegther and not all over my linen closet. I have a place for everything. I have those plactic stackable drawers on wheels and they are great for computer supplies & office stuffs, craft supplies, beauty stuffs, shoes, ect. Have you ever cleaned out a closet only to discover 4 of something that you thought you were out of? This is why I deep clean every 3-6 months, depends on whether or not I am angry with anyone:-) I keep lists of things like tp & plastic wrap, tin foil, female items, shampoo, ect.. I do this because I like to have atleast 1 back up of certain things so I don't run out in the middle of the night. These lists let me know when I am using the last one and that I need to go shopping. I hope this has helped you.

Answer 7

I try to clean one room a day , dust every 2-3days as I use Spontex duster´s which prevent the dust from forming back on the TV , Computer , Furniture, it cut´s the dusting down by half , I put the washing machine on at night, all dirty clothes out of the way ready to put on the line or in the dryer first thing in the morning , bathroom´s cleaned at night when all the house hold have finished, less to do in the morning kitchen normal wipe down work top´s , easy as it´s all marble easy to keep clean, kitchen floor washed 2 times a day , Full clean inside and out of kitchen every 2-3 weeks , but the way I do most thing´s & still have time to spend on yahoo answers, is pick a room to work in set the clock for 15 min´s and see how much I can do in that time ,and you will be surprised just how much I get done, you try for yourself, after the 15 min´s is up have rest , then go back and do another 15min´s´, and another thing that cut´s my cleaning by half is this product I use for almost all my household cleaning. It´s a type of a natural stone cleaner cream it cleans so many things . stainless steel. silver, bronze copper gold,all most all metals cleans window´s cleans the bathroom. here is the web site . www.promonov.com click on the product ,this will take you to a list of how many things it cleans ,in your own language

Answer 8

I have set days on which I do different things such as monday do the ironing,tuesday clean upstairs and so on.Also it helps if you get you kids into a good routine and teach them early to tidy their own rooms.

Answer 9

Organization helps. Have a place for everything. Once you have used something and finished using it, put it back immediately. Don't get into the habit of putting it down just any where with good intentions of putting it back later. That's a bad habit that is hard to break. Make your bed as soon as you get up in the morning, before your morning shower even. Always hang your clothes up as you undress for bed. Put your nighty away every morning. Don't leave clothes on the bed with intentions of coming back later to put them away. Another bad habit that is hard to break. If you have children teach them these same habits while they are young. Toys go in the toy box if not being played with. If some one in the family makes a slip and leaves something out or in the way, and they are not in ear shot to tell them to put it away, then go ahead and pick it up, put it away, and tell them about it later. In other words pick up after yourself and for others. Nothing use to irritate me more then when my kids were young, when I would ask one of them to pick something up and put it away, they would whine and say "I didn't leave it there". They learned right away the pleasure of "Team Work". :)

Answer 10

Every week I like to rearrange and go through paper work and what ever else clothes and or what not and throw out whats not need....I like everything to be nice and orderly I do laundry everyday that it needs to be done...I make the bed after i wake up I wash dishes while I'm cooking and after I get done eating i make sure when I'm done with something I put it back where It's supposed to be....i like order and cleanliness....So I just put things back and keep up with everything when it needs to be done..