How Do You Keep Your Home Neat And Tidy?

“Keeping house” is something my grandmother has always excelled at. Not only does every dish, appliance and Snowbaby have a very specific place that it mustn’t be moved from, but she has a very strict dusting schedule that keeps those aforementioned Snowbabies looking their best.

Photo by Joe Wolf.

I may not have as strict of a dusting schedule, but I do have a cleaning routine that I rarely stray from, and that routine keeps my apartment neat and my taxidermied deer head dust-free. I start in the kitchen, and do the dishes before pulling out the appliances and giving the counters a good wipe-down. Once the kitchen is done, I move on to the main room of my studio, starting with dusting and organising my desk and then moving clockwise around the room until everything is dusted. Working in this methodical fashion the same way every week is sort of zen-like. In addition to my schedule, a couple of other things help me keep the apartment in a livable state:

• I try to make it enjoyable: I like putting on a little music or an episode of a show I’ve seen a million times (such as The Office) to provide a bit of background noise, but I’ve been know to mix up a little cleaning cocktail to take sips of in between tasks.
• I try to keep it realistic: As Apartment Therapy points out, expecting your home to look like a Pinterest board come to life will result in constant disappointment and stress you out unnecessarily. Though I often have to battle the urge to make it look as if no one lives in my home, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s just that — a home — and it’s OK if it looks a little lived-in.
• I don’t do everything in one day: Breaking your space down into chunks, rather than trying to marathon it, makes it a much less daunting and manageable task that you are much more likely to actually do.
• I get the good cleaning supplies: I’m all about Mrs Meyers products and — even though they cost a little more — the gardenia scented dish soap is almost make me excited about doing the dishes.

It also helps to have some sort of award system in place. I usually end a day of cleaning by cleaning myself in a nice hot bath, and that can help drag me through the less than pleasant tasks. How do you all keep your home nice and clean? Do you have a schedule? Do you have young people you can delegate to?