Rewarding Your Home With Perpetual Shine

It’s one thing to give your house a thorough deep cleaning every few months or so. Keeping it camera-ready all year round, however, is a whole different ball game. If you think this is an unattainable goal, think again. There are several tricks you can perform to keep the space looking its best day in and day out. Here are a few of our favorite hacks for keeping your home consistently clean.

Make the beds

Begin each day by tidying up the bedroom, beginning with the bed itself. Wrinkled and displaced sheets make the room look messy, no matter how tidy the other surfaces might be.

It’s not necessary to give the bed perfect “hospital corners” each time. Just make sure the sheets and blankets are pulled up and tucked down at the pillows, with a relatively equal amount of fabric on each side. Repeat the process with every bedroom in the house, or encourage older children to do the same.

Be a neat cook

By this, we don’t mean keeping the work space pristine throughout the entire process. That’s a feat that would elude even the tidiest of homemakers. After you’ve finished with meal preparations, though, rinse all utensils and prep dishes and load them in the dishwasher before wiping the kitchen counters down with a clean, damp cloth.

Make laundry a daily habit

Even if you have a hamper, dirty laundry has a habit of expanding overnight. If you do at least one load of laundry per day, you’ll be able to stay on top of the situation much more easily than if you let it slide.

Depending on your schedule, you can start a load first thing in the morning, then transfer it to the dryer when you get home from work. Some washers are equipped with delayed start cycles, so you can program the load to start just as you’re arriving home. The best thing about modern laundry equipment is its ability to make the chore largely hands-off. Folding and putting away are its most time-consuming aspects.

Wipe down all sinks and faucets

A single day of sink traffic can leave behind food particles and residue in kitchen sinks, not to mention the bits of hair and toothpaste that appear on bathroom vanities. At the end of each day, give the whole area a quick swipe with a damp microfiber cloth or disinfectant wipe.

Keep all large surfaces clear

Getting rid of clutter works wonders when it comes to maintaining an overall neat appearance. Make sure to deal with mail as soon as it comes in, sorting bills and recycling any unwanted catalogs and flyers. Don’t be tempted to leave keys or winter gear on the counters or center island of your kitchen. When large, flat surfaces are kept clear, they’ll automatically make the space look cleaner and brighter.

Set a designated day to vacuum

It can be all too easy to “forget” to clean the floors when you have a busy schedule. To avoid falling into this trap, make the chore a part of your weekly routine. The more often you vacuum, the less often you’ll have to resort to extreme carpet cleaning measures.

Make your home a designated “shoe-free” zone

Households all around the world have adopted this practice. Removing your shoes at the door will help to keep soil, road debris, leaves, and even dangerous toxins from entering your living space. If you frequently entertain guests, keep a bin of inexpensive flip-flops or other slip-on shoes near the entrance. Not everyone is comfortable walking around someone else’s house in their stocking feet, and some might even have legitimate medical reasons for not doing so.

It doesn’t take magic to maintain a home. All it takes is a few extra minutes per day and the desire to witness beauty every time you walk through the door.

About The Author: My name is Ruby Caldwell and I’m all about glamorous places. Of course, as a busy mother of three and corporate world professional, there isn’t always a lot of time for glamour. That’s why I do everything I can to make my home look and feel as glamorous as possible. After all, it’s where I end up spending most of my time these days!

Photos by The Honest Company on Unsplash & The Creative Exchange on Unsplash