It made sound like an excuse, but I just don't have the time to clean my house from top to bottom every week. Between work, volunteering, and have a life outside of the house, I don't always have the time to mop the floors or wipe down the shower grout. But that doesn't mean my house always looks messy or disorganized. To keep things looking clean I use a few tricks every day. It only takes a few minutes and these little steps make a big difference.
Make the bed
Growing up, I never got in the habit of making my bed. It wasn't until I'd been out on my own for a few years before I finally came to terms with a simple fact: My bed is the most prominent thing in the bedroom. When it is unmade, the the entire room look messy. Now I get up in the morning and spend two minutes making my bed and my house automatically looks cleaner.
Polish the chrome
A few years ago I had a friend stopping by on short notice. I didn't have time to clean but I didn't want to let him in the door with my house looking like I hadn't done a thing to it in two weeks (I hadn't.) So I quickly ran a cleaning wipe over my kitchen and bathroom. It took about a minute to wipe off the water stains on the faucet and handles. Once the chrome was shined, it looked like I had just spent hours cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom.
Hide dirty dishes
For a couple of years, I lived in a rental house that didn't have a dishwasher. There were always dishes piled in my sink and my kitchen always looked dirty. Once I moved to a new place, I got in the habit of rinsing off the dish and tossing it in the dishwasher. While I rarely have time to do any other cleaning in my kitchen, it really doesn't matter. As long as the dirty dishes aren't in plain sight, my kitchen looks clean.
Put a catch all box in the living room
If you're anything like me, your living room is a magnet for stuff you really don't know what to do with. Over the course of a day, my living room gets littered with dog toys, shoes, knitting needles, and anything else you can imagine. Since I don't have the time to put everything back in its place every night, I put a nice wicker basket under the coffee table. Now before I head to bed, I toss everything in the basket. Once a week, I take the basket through the house and put everything away.
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