Tips for keeping your space cleaner longer!

Of course, this is our department and we prefer to take care of the cleaning for you, however, we understand that every home can use a little sprucing between professional cleans. And then there are those times that a hired service is just not in your household budget. We get it!

Here are a few tips that can help your place stay cleaner longer between deep cleans:

1) Keep cleaning supplies as handy as possible. 
Rather than have a centrally-located cleaning supply closet, keep relevant cleaners & supplies near the likely messes, particularly in the kitchen and bathroom. The more easily accessible a spray bottle and a rag can be, the less likely you are to have stains that won't budge or forgotten spills.

2) No shoes in the house! 
Go Asian style. Remove your
shoes at the door, and when it's appropriate, encourage guests to do that same. Obviously that won't work for a dinner party, but it will when the neighbor's kids come over to play. This will trap dirt at a common entryway and be less ongoing maintenance when you vac and mop.

3) Delegate. 
If you have roommates or able family members, there's no reason to take on the cleaning all by yourself. Put everyone in charge of their own space as well as a common area to take care of each week. For young children and teens, add an incentive they can receive when their zone is spotless.

4) Tack on to a weekly task, particularly a physical one.
Do you practice yoga every Tuesday morning? Add to your routine by following up with a quick clean of problem areas--vac the living room, wipe down all kitchen counters. It may only take an additional half an hour to tackle and it keeps you moving as a extra calorie burner. Cleaning is a great way to zone out and clear your head!

5) Baskets, bins and bags! 
These handy storage containers that you can buy at any dollar store are a great way to quickly hide mess when you need an emergency clean. Have them available in every room for those little pile ups of random whats-its.

6) Have a mail/keys/jacket station. 
If you don't have a place that your coat, your incoming mail, papers from work and your keys can go right when you enter the door.. then it's probably a safe bet that you spend a good bit of time trying to track those same items down when you need them. Not to mention they can get strewn all over the house/furniture making your place more of a wreck than it needs to be. Give yourself hooks for the removal of layers, a single place where keys can always go, and somewhere specific to place mail so that it's out of the way, but not out of mind. (Bills don't like to be forgotten!)
You entryway station could be as simple as a store-bought organizing rack, or it going be an entire piece of furniture. Some of our clients utilize their entire mudroom as an organizational haven. It makes sense to make the entryway station proportionate to the amount of traffic. If you live alone or have a smaller space, feel free to keep it simple--a coat hook and a key bowl should suffice.

Have your own tips for keeping things neat and tidy? We want to know about them!