What thing, no matter how small, really improved how clean or tidy you manage to keep your house?

[Cotherstone]

With hindsight our old house was not clean at all - it was old and run down and I hated cleaning as it never made a dent to the overall picture. We’ve recently been lucky to move into a new, and newer, place which the previous owners kept immaculate, so I’ve been trying to really up my game.

The main things I’ve learnt are:

A decent stick hoover means you actually can whip it around every few days, or even every day in certain areas, and my word that makes a difference to everything else!

The dining table is obviously the tempting place to dump everything but keeping it clear with some flowers (even fake ones) and a fruit bowl on it makes me feel so much better

Trying to stop seeing cleaning as “wasted time” - I’m starting to understand that 15 minutes running the cloth and hoover round the kitchen after dinner isn’t wasted, and while I don’t have to love doing it, it genuinely pays off with an improved state of mind because the kitchen looks nice in the morning

For the first time as an adult I finally have a house that’s not perfect, but definitely in a state where I’m not going to panic if someone drops in unannounced.

Anyone else have one or two things that seem to have made a real difference?

I got an Aircraft brand City+ floor cleaner (Aldi middle aisle, but sold elsewhere as well - the City+ is the slightly smaller version, for eg., flats, and there's a normal size one for bigger places). It's amazingly easy to use and light, and really cleans well. I actually like cleaning the floor! I have Amtico LVT but good for any hard floor.

I then also bought their PowerScrub for cleaning the bathroom.

Also e-cloths special Stainless Steel cloth set - I got at John Lewis but available elsewhere, really helped for the kitchen sink etc., better than knock-off ones.

tidy as you go put things back in their correct place laundry at least every other day hoover every other day . This way nothing builds up. You can keep on top of everything. Probably do need to do a de clutter though. Also storage baskets and more storage baskets everything then looks so much neater
so larder cupboard ones fridge one under sink cones cleaning basket bathroom storage basket one for jewellery one for hair bits one for make up one for body lotions one for perfumes one for medicines one for random stuff the list is endless !!!!

• declutter often
• invest in good storage
• 15 minutes in the morning each day
• one proper clean a week
• everyone helps, no excuses

actually , just getting the Amtico over a sort of oyster coloured carpet made a huge difference too. Carpet is such a pain with foot marks in the end, tracks worn through, and so hard to really clean.

my Neato robot hoover also makes a difference - good for long hair as the brush etc is very easy to take out to clean, and it goes on rugs and floor, and you can set no-go zones. D-shaped to help awkward spaces.

Moving to a bigger house helped us a lot. Suddenly we had sufficient storage, e.g. a cupboard under the stairs for the cleaning equipment, a cloakroom for the coats and shoes and bags (we have 3DC, there are lots of coats and shoes and bags), a utility room with storage for recycling, DIY stuff, vases and clothes dryers, a big cupboard in the spare room for all the seasonal stuff like Christmas decorations, suitcases, and camping equipment.

Having a place for everything makes it easier to keep everything in its place. So e.g. we have a sideboard in the hallway with a drawer for wallets, keys, glasses, masks, suncream etc. All the stuff you remove from pockets and bags when you arrive home. A woman I follow on Instagram has a wall mounted magazine rack that she puts new paperwork into that needs dealing with so it's not constantly on surfaces. When we bought our house we put a ton of storage in the playroom, we have a wall of bookshelves and a wall of cupboards, we then filled it all despite having a clear out (initially the removers put about 70 boxes in the playroom 😱) but have regular updates as the DC grow out of things, it's their room so it's more messy than the rest of the house (currently a tidalwave of lego on the floor) but it's possible to hide everything when we need to. Same in our sitting room, we started with a mishmash of bookshelves that weren't quite sufficient and looked messy but last year planned some proper storage using the Vitsœ modular storage system and now it all looks much calmer.

@SandysMam I do this -10 minutes music blaring and I run round like a crazy woman then I keep asking Alexa for another ten minutes 😀

Cleaning the bathroom whilst the kids are in the bath

But it really helps having a brand new house tbh

the robots, floor cleaners, etc also in amazon sales often, much cheaper than normal.

Also, a very small thing. An airtight lock'n'lock cereal box thing to pour my laundry detergent powder into, so that I can keep it under the sink. I used to leave it in the box, but it always hardened into big lumps that took a lot of thumping to break up and pour out, and bits of detergent powder always used to fly everywhere. Much tidier now that I can just use a scoop, as it stays as powder!

Agree with previous posters that decluttering is the key. Liberating to the mind in fact!

I try to live by the mantra that I won't go to up to bed until everything downstairs is done (cups in the dishwasher, cushions tidy on the sofa etc) so that when you come down in the morning downstairs is already straight. And the same in the morning. I don't come down until beds are made, clothes tidied away etc. If you do it religiously it just becomes habit and the house stays pretty tidy on the whole.

Bins in every room. No excuse for littering.

Every evening I tidy the living room, plump up the cushion, re fold the throws, clear out any cups/glasses, remove any discarded clothing. Ditto the kitchen.

it’s when one days mess starts covering the day before’s mess that things get out of hand.

We are short on space and I have a DH who keeps buying crap we don’t need that takes up space - may get rid of him! Lol. adequate storage for everything - everything must have a place, rather than getting moved to A to B to C.

a weekly cleaner helps massively as keeps us on track. I actually clean more and deeper with having a cleaner as I’m not bogged down in the day to day stuff.

also have a eufy which is amazing. We’ve spent this weekend decluttering which is massively helpful.

I’ve committed to myself (and told DH he needs to do the same) to take an over over the week to sort crap out. It gets overwhelming when life happens and it’s easier to try and put things off or work around them. I like someone’s suggestion of 15 mins a day.

I did get the tom method app, but that’s a touch too organised for me. I do try and do a load each day, my issue is I’ll be on calls and won’t realise my soggy washing has been sat in there all day - so basically it’s the same load washed three times..,

Don't get a dog. Or a cat. Or anything hairy.

I’ll be honest, we’re not there yet. Our home is old and shabby and truthfully, quite grimy in places. But I’m working on it, and it’s so much better than it used to be. A couple of things that helped:

• be your future self’s best friend. Put the breakfast things away straight after you’ve used them, replace the loo roll as soon as you finish it, put clean sheets on the bed straight after you strip it. Basically don’t make a mess and leave it for future you to clean up.
• Unf*ck Your Habitat was really helpful on learning how not to get stuck in a shame cycle around cleaning, and just get on and do what you can manage. Something is better than nothing, every time.
• have less stuff. Less to tidy, less to clean, less to lose.

Trying not to fill the sides with 'stuff'. Throwing rubbish away straight away. Like junk mail or pieces of paper we don't need not actual rubbish iyswim. Decluttering often. Doing something each day

When you move from one room to another try to make one thing better - so pick something up that needs to go elsewhere, or put something away, or whatever. I have a terrible tendency to become blind to stuff instead of dealing with it and this has helped me.

Also - having a routine of always cleaning up the kitchen each evening so that I start the day with it relatively neat and all washing up done. I didn't used to and it would build up and get on top of me - now that doesn't happen any more and it's improved my life hugely.

All the above. but also having the right tool for the cleaning job to hand. Tools that do the job perfectly, and feel nice to use and are easy to clean/maintain/repair. Cleaning solutions that smell ‘clean’ are also a must.

Put stuff away-shoes and coats in the hall cupboard.
Limit ornaments ( I hate dusting so these are a no no!)
Wash up as you go along when cooking
Eufy robovac!

I have a basket in the airing cupboard for clothing to go to charity or be passed on. The kids know that if they put something on and it's too small they put it straight in there not back in the wardrobe. As soons as its full bag it up and off to the clothing banl, charity shop etc. Stops their wardrobes and drawers getting clogged up.

We have 2 bathrooms and a downstairs loo, bathroom cleaning stuff kept in all 3 so I clean as I go.

I'm sure there are more but I can't think right now.

But it really helps having a brand new house tbh

I agree, how clean the previous owners kept this place has inspired me to try and keep it like this!

Just a pity their decor choice isn’t quite up to scratch!

I agree that putting the effort in to getting the kitchen clean and tidy before bed does an enormous amount for your mood the next day. And as a PP said, the dishwasher we now have has changed everything - time to clean instead of just washing up

A robovac. Unfortunately it broke and hasn’t been replaced yet.

I don’t think of housework as a chore, I think of it as exercise and that helps.

Get a cleaner.

Be your future friend. Don’t leave jobs to do later.

No one is going to come along and fix things for you. Make things happen for yourself!

This is obviously a philosophy for everyone in the household make sure you aren’t just dealing with other peoples mess.

Children from about age 3 can have basic responsibility for their own mess, rubbish into bins, clothes into the washing basket etc. Then build on what you expect of them as they get older.

Decluttering.
Washing up always done after dinner .
I.do.the same as someone else upthread - tiny jobs while kettle boils.

The most important thing is getting everyone - even kids - on board.