Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
More often than not, people sacrifice one day every week for cleaning. While no one says you have to do everything at once, you probably do it because you don’t have a concept how to balance your personal and work life during the week, so weekends are reserved for projects like this.
However, what if we told you don’t have to waste your Saturdays anymore. By doing some cleaning for half-an-hour a day, things will seem like they are taking care of themselves. If you want to keep your home clean at all times, here are a few helpful tips:
Do Your Dishes after a Meal
Chances are, your kitchen doesn’t look great during the week. After all, no one likes doing dishes. But pilling dishes until you feel like you have enough to fill your dishwasher is not the way to go. This just makes your kitchen look unhygienic.
Instead, try doing the dishes after every meal. If you’re living alone, this shouldn’t be a problem, because you probably don’t use too much dishes to prepare a meal, let alone eat it. However, if you live with a larger family, encourage the members to help you with the dishes – even the kids.
Work With a Timer
Most items on our list don’t require too much time. As a matter of fact, you can easily do everything in 30 minutes or less. However, most of us easily get distracted by our phones, TV’s or children. That’s why you should do the work with a timer by your side.
Experienced cleaning companies like Helpling SG have used this trick for years now. Just set a timer for 10 minutes and you’ll always know how much time you have left. And even if you get distracted, you’ll easily get back on track…
Wash the Laundry Every Day
Assuming that you have both a washer and a dryer, we would advise you to do a bit of laundry every day. This will allow you to spread things out, you won’t feel overwhelmed by a ton of dirty underwear and towels and the end of the week.
And even if you take your clothes to a Laundromat, this will make things a bit easier. Although, you don’t have to take your laundry every single day, you should go at least three times a week. Moreover, before you go, try to sort your clothes so things are a lot easier to lead into washing machines.
Last But Not Least
In the end, it all comes down to your habits. Most of us don’t habitually clean our homes on a daily basis. The best way to change a bad habit is to replace it with a particularly good habit.
Just think about it, you probably spend more than 30 minutes playing games on your phone, looking at your Twitter feed or watching random YouTube videos. You can easily use this time to do some cleaning.
Fill these 30 minutes with cleaning and start building good habits. Trust us, this will definitely help you stay on top of things without feeling like its one huge chore.
I think this article was written for me.I love listening to music when cleaning and by listening I mean singing like I’m on Broadway.This is my daily cleaning routine but to be honest I end up singing and checking my playlist more than cleaning my home. So needless to say I end up cleaning the house for over 3 hours and than I rush and get everything neat and tidy before the kids get home from school.So by the time they get home I’m exhausted ! I need to try some of these good ideas like the timer suggestion.Great read!!
I am also guilty of that! And in the end it feels like all I do all day is cleaning the house.
Struggling to keep the house clean and look after my twins!! Need to set a time and day, and hopefully I’ll get some things done 🙂
The struggle is real Marene – even more real with twins I’m sure. Thankfully my kids are getting older now and it is getting easier to keep up.
You know what I found really helped me when my kids were younger? Setting aside 30 minutes each morning and doing what I’ve heard called the “dirty thirty”. It’s when you take thirty minutes and clean what you can as fast as you can, as if someone was arriving in half an hour to visit so you just get the most essential things done.
It is actually a nice way to start the day and you feel better when things are a little cleaner and tidier.
I found this article very helpfull. I really struggle with cleaning in an timely manner.
I get so annoyed with myself, because I start cleaning something and two hours later I am still busy doing the same thing!
I get distractred very easily. So many times I will be busy doing the dishes and then I think to myself ‘I have to do the laundry right now, it just can not wait until later!’ And then I start with the laundry and two hours later I continue cleaning the kitchen.
This way of doing things is very ineffective!
From now on I will start using a timer and finish a task before I start a new task.
I really like the tip about working with a timer. I think the major problem lies in time management as there never seems to be enough time!
The struggle of this is true. After get home from work both Hubby and I are so drained and then we still have so much to get done before we call it a night, I start supper whilst he helps out getting my 4 year old to bath and change up, once supper is done we eat and that to is normally at 7pm, with my sons routine we need him in bed before 8pm, so he has to to be finished with his supper before 7.30pm and then in bed at 7.45pm to start story time which sometimes can be a draining HOUR before he actually falls asleep. We have tried to clean up before bed but hasnt worked in our favour and see myself on the weekend cleaning the entire day, so rather than the rush at night i now opted to wake up a full 45minutes earlier everyday, and it actually has been so awesome to come home to a clean house, gives you a happy feeling. will always maintain in this way atleast get time to rest over the weekend.
I am a stay at home mom with three boys who are at home schooling. Even though it seems I have all day to do cleaning I find myself running out of time and not much being done. I love the timer idea and my downfall is the washing, more so ironing and putting away. I set a day aside to do washing (normally when clothes supply is getting low). I am definitely doing a little a day to ease that stress.
@adrilagrange I know the distraction too well, my thing is I will be busy doing something and think oh I need to put washing in quickly before I forget. I think a list with what needs to be done would also be a good way to focus. I do not know how working moms like @ron03 do it, hats off to you.
With daily cleaning I find it best after I sent my 2 older ones off to school and my toddler still asleep I quickly clean up before she awakes so more time for us both at night I tidy up making it easier for the morning and it’s good to wake up to a clean house before the kids come home and it starts all over again I also time myself it helps a lot
I have found that by doing something each day makes it manageable. There are days that I don’t have a domestic worker due to leave etc. I try to take a room each day and clean it. That way I don’t have to do it all in one day, and it is only for maximum an hour each day.