Joanna James
Have you recently discovered that unless you wipe your counters and furniture dust seems to magically gather at an alarming rate? Is your sink a breeding ground for dirty dishes? Is the overflowing laundry hamper behind your door giving you the stink eye (pun intended)? Read on to find out how to clean your place and keep it clean too.
Making the bed seems like an exercise in futility because, at the end of the day, you're going to crash on it again right? Wrong. Once you accomplish this task as soon as you wake up, you'll see a dramatic difference in your room. To motivate yourself, keep your bedding to a minimum; only the essentials. Get rid of all those throw pillows and top sheets that are going to end up on a pile below the bed every time you sleep. Make sure to change your sheets every week as well because cleanliness is godliness. Your reward after all this? You get to crash on a hotel-grade comfy bed every single night; no more chip crumbs and stray scrunchies!
This is more of a strategic move; instead of tackling the daunting task of washing, drying and folding an endless sea of clothes, you can easily finish small batches, each day. This way, you'll save time during the weekends plus have a clean supply of underwear all week (Those who know, know what this is about). If you work away from home you can put a load in the washer and set the timer to end around the time you come home so that you can dry it straight away. Invest in good detergent and fabric conditioner so that your clothes smell fresh and stay looking their best for a long time. Most importantly, make sure you fold and put them away daily too. Otherwise, you're back at square one.
Learn to be okay with 'clean enough'. Your brain will tell you that 'cleaning' means you must make every corner of your place spotless and gleaming and anything less than that is a practical waste of time. This is one of the biggest demotivating factors as it can overwhelm you and lead you to give up. Daily cleaning means tidying up after yourself and making sure you don't let your space clutter. You don't have to get those hard-to-clean spaces and polish all your cabinets and furniture daily; leave those for a weekly or monthly deep clean. If you still struggle with perfectionism, follow the 80/20 rule; be happy with 80% of the cleaning being done, and leave the little details to the 20% that you can catch up with when you have some time to kill.
If you live with other humans (be it family, friends or roommates) get them involved in your daily cleaning process. Getting your kiddos to help does not harm as cleaning is a good habit to learn; make your little ones pick up after themselves after playtime and if they're a little older, you can get them to help you clean up after meals and snacks too. Make sure your partners aim correctly at the laundry hamper when they toss their clothes after work and give them designated spaces for shoes, handbags and ties. If your roommate makes a habit of leaving a trail of empty chip bags and dirty plates, gently yet firmly remind them to clean up.
Put on a good TV show or play energetic music and set a timer for 15 mins. Start from the messiest place in your house and work your way from there. Nothing too deep, just general tidying up. You can even get your family to clean their rooms and help you out with chores around the house during these 15 mins. You'll find that with time, it's easier to tidy up with your family when you get into the habit. Stick with all your top cleaning priorities; this will work perfectly if you're living in an apartment in Colombo such as those offered by Cinnamon Life Apartments as the convenient space will be easy to cover in 15mins.
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A travel writer who has a pas...
