5 Tips for Everyday Cleaning

While I joke about it with friends, and even dressed up as a ‘50s housewife last October to further illustrate the point, I am definitely not a domestic diva. Let’s face it, running a business from home with three kids and a husband who works unpredictable shift work is challenging. Just to get everyone out the door with shoes on some days is a task (my four-year-old loves surprising me with the discovery of no shoes when we get to school to drop off her siblings!)

I don’t meal plan (I should) and don’t have a cleaning schedule for what gets done each day (I should) so I keep the house from looking like a tornado hit it by staying on top of cleaning with easy everyday cleaning tips. Read on for my tested and triumphant tips.

1. Clean your sink every night. This is an old tip I learned from a website called flylady.net and while I fail miserably at most of her other tips, this one is brilliant. A dirty sink is gross, and no matter how clean your kitchen is, having a sparkling clean sink is what makes your kitchen clean. Load the dishwasher at night (I set the timer to have it run in the middle of the night) and then spray and wipe down your sink before you go to bed. It’s awesome to wake up to a clean sink each day.

2. Your microwave can get gross quickly, and just like your oven a spill can bake/cook on and be harder to remove the longer it sits. If you see a mess, clean it up (that’s the same advice I give to my kids, though they rarely listen).

3. Your bathroom mirror should show you your beautiful reflection, not how poorly your 9-year-old brushed his teeth. This is something (along with the bathroom sink) that seems to be a magnet for toothpaste. Take a moment daily to give both the sink and mirror a wipe down (and then cringe when your 9-year-old sprays it with toothpaste the next morning).

4. Look at things in your house with “new eyes”. The handles on your fridge door, for example. I know, I’ll give you a minute to catch your breath now that you’ve realized how grimy they are. Now, prepare yourself, and go take a look at your light switches. It’s OK, I’m right there with you mom. This is another one of those daily tasks that will make a huge difference if you let it slide. My fridge is white and so the handles can get downright disgusting when the kids continually come in from playing in the yard to grab a quick snack. A nightly wipe down does wonders.

5. Finally, your kitchen counters and table should always be wiped clean throughout the day. This, perhaps, is more of a tip for my husband who considers cleaning up after a meal to be removing items from the counter and table but leaving the crumbs, food, and whatever else behind! Take 30 seconds to wipe down and sanitize your counters after meal preparation and carry on with your day.

I love when being a domestic diva is made easy.