A Clean House Is a Sign of a Broken Computer

          

         I don’t know about you, but I really hate it when I go to visit someone’s house and they offer the proverbial “Please excuse the mess in my home” and you walk in and their house is completely immaculate.  Yes, I have used that phrase before too, but when I said it, there was dog hair on the floor, fingerprints on the microwave, and a few dishes in the sink.  What I mean is you stop by on a previously unplanned, but not unannounced, visit and there is not a speck of dust or bit of clutter anywhere in sight.  Their home is picture perfect like it is the cover shoot of House Beautiful.  How do they do it?  With today’s busy schedules and demands on your time both day and night, how do you keep your home looking ready for anything that comes your way?

            One of the best tips to keeping your home looking clean and ready for visitors at a moment’s notice is to keep it clean continuously.  It is easy to just have to do a quick touchup when someone is coming over rather than only clean because someone is stopping by.  If you take 15 minutes everyday and clean to the best of your abilities in that small amount of time, things don’t pile up.  That small amount of effort can make the difference between a quick wipe down of your kitchen counters when company is coming and having to spend hours deep cleaning and deodorizing.  Make a weekly schedule, either on paper or even on an app, and follow it.  Assign different areas of the home each day in addition to the general things that must be done everyday, like making the bed.  Another thing to keep in mind is the more stuff you have cluttering an area, the more you have to clean.  All the furniture, knick-knacks, or appliances piled into a room, the more areas there are to collect dust and grime.  Simplify cleaning by streamlining the amount of stuff you have in a room.  The less there is you have to move or clean off, the easier it is to clean an area.  One of the best ways to keep your house clean is to think strategically.  If you have to lug out the vacuum to clean the carpets in one bedroom, why not vacuum them all.  Since you have to clean the bathrooms often, keep all the supplies you need to clean it in each bathroom.  If what you need to clean is all there, you’re more likely to remember to do it right then and there rather than after you have to take ten minutes finding all the things you need.  Keeping your home clean, especially when you have dogs, kids, spouses, etc. can almost seem like an insurmountable task, but if you keep a clear head and a plan in mind, you too can be one of those that annoy the rest of us.