You know the type. It doesn't matter if you're at their home for an event or just dropping by for an unannounced visit — their homes are always impeccably clean (and seemingly effortlessly). What do they know that you don't? We share three secrets of the impeccably clean.
1. It's easier to keep it clean continuously, than try to clean something that's gone off the rails.
What sounds more overwhelming: giving your countertops a quick swipe after just cooking a meal, or trying to clean a kitchen that hasn't been cleaned for a week's worth of cooked meals? In the moment — the lazy, tempting moment — it might feel like no big deal to leave the dishes/dirt/pile for tomorrow. Too many until-laters, though, and you find yourself with a house that feels too stressful to tackle. But doing the small things throughout the day and week — putting things back when you're done with them, cleaning up as you go — takes up less time overall and feels much more manageable. Doing this — plus keeping to a regular cleaning schedule — will leave you with a company-ready, clean home that you can enjoy more often. 2. They know more stuff means more to clean.
In the very literal sense, more stuff in your home means more things to clean. More things cluttering your kitchen countertops means more things collecting dust and greasy kitchen grime. The more knickknacks on your tabletops, the more things you've got to move just to swipe. Even the more furniture you have means the more shoving, pushing, and moving out of the way you've got to do to get a thorough cleaning job done. You don't have to live in an empty home to keep it flawlessly clean all the time, but if you're having trouble keeping a specific room or a certain area clean regularly, you might want to examine what you can live without, and whether there's anything you can remove to make cleaning regularly easier.
What sounds more overwhelming: giving your countertops a quick swipe after just cooking a meal, or trying to clean a kitchen that hasn't been cleaned for a week's worth of cooked meals? In the moment — the lazy, tempting moment — it might feel like no big deal to leave the dishes/dirt/pile for tomorrow. Too many until-laters, though, and you find yourself with a house that feels too stressful to tackle. But doing the small things throughout the day and week — putting things back when you're done with them, cleaning up as you go — takes up less time overall and feels much more manageable. Doing this — plus keeping to a regular cleaning schedule — will leave you with a company-ready, clean home that you can enjoy more often. 2. They know more stuff means more to clean.
In the very literal sense, more stuff in your home means more things to clean. More things cluttering your kitchen countertops means more things collecting dust and greasy kitchen grime. The more knickknacks on your tabletops, the more things you've got to move just to swipe. Even the more furniture you have means the more shoving, pushing, and moving out of the way you've got to do to get a thorough cleaning job done. You don't have to live in an empty home to keep it flawlessly clean all the time, but if you're having trouble keeping a specific room or a certain area clean regularly, you might want to examine what you can live without, and whether there's anything you can remove to make cleaning regularly easier.
3. They know how to fake it better than you do.
They know that even the best of us have weeks (sometimes months) where it's difficult to deep-clean everything, every time. But folks who have homes that always seem clean pull off the appearance of cleanliness sometimes by simply knowing the best places to give their limited time and energy to so the whole home feels cleaner (even if not every square inch has recently been scrubbed).
They know that even the best of us have weeks (sometimes months) where it's difficult to deep-clean everything, every time. But folks who have homes that always seem clean pull off the appearance of cleanliness sometimes by simply knowing the best places to give their limited time and energy to so the whole home feels cleaner (even if not every square inch has recently been scrubbed).
This article originally appeared on ApartmentTherapy.com. It is reprinted here with permission.