5 Secrets to Keeping a Clean House

I’ve always struggled making my home feel like a sanctuary and comforting place. To me, it is a place that comes with feelings of overwhelm, stress, anxiety and a never ending to do list of picking up, dishes, laundry, and other chores that just cycle day in and day out. In our old house, I found out I was expecting with our first child before we had the ability to unpack from moving. At that point the baby stuff quickly started taking over. I just could never figure out those small secrets to keeping a clean house. I promised myself that once we moved it would be so much better as we would have space to clear out and actually put things.

Except it didn’t get better. We acquired even more stuff, and still didn’t have places to put things. It is still overwhelming, with not enough time or energy for regular cleaning. It takes everything I have to catch up, and I can never keep up. I know I am not alone.

Recently I went to my mother’s house, and it occurred to me how much I love going there. You see, my mother’s house, for me, represents a place of calm and ease. It does feel like a sanctuary. Even as a kid, it felt like a place of comfort and happiness. My mother obviously knew the secrets to keeping a clean house. My parents have moved three times since I’ve graduated high school, and it doesn’t matter what the physical house is, or the location, being in my mother’s house is a clean, calming space to be.

I started to ask myself why. Why can I feel this ease in my mother’s house, but not my own. The answer was obvious: she knew how to keep her house clean and organized. But then I asked how. I try to keep my house clean and organized; in fact, I spend so much time on it I hardly have time for anything else! How can she so effortlessly keep her house looking and feeling the way it looks? What are her secrets? After some watching her and reflecting, I realized it all comes back to habits. After all, I already know habits are essential in reaching our goals. This situation is no different. As I watched, I noticed five habits that my mother has that contribute to her being able to keep up with having a clean, organized and clutter-free home.

Secret #1: Go to bed with a clean kitchen…

…which means the dishes are done. Growing up my mother held a rule: dinner was not over until the dishes were done and the kitchen was clean. Then, and only then, could us kids venture off and do our own thing. Her habit has stuck well after the kids left home; after every meal, my mom is found in the kitchen cleaning up. Because she stays on top of it, it takes her about 5 minutes.

In my own life, it is not always realistic to do them right away. However, it is realistic to go to bed with a clean kitchen. With my oldest almost 4, it’s also realistic that he can help rinse the dishes and load the dishwasher. (Check out this article to see how toddlers can help in the kitchen.) My youngest still goes to bed before 7, and as her bedtime starts to shift closer to 7 in the next coming months, it will get easier to tackle the sink directly after eating just like my mother.

Secret #2: Fold and put away laundry…

…immediately. My mom is a stickler for keeping on top of the laundry. This is one of her fundamental house rules to keep the house clean. It was never something I really appreciated, but as I watched her and thought back to my childhood, she has always dedicated time to folding the laundry the minute it comes out of the dryer. As someone who rarely gets around to putting clean clothes away, it struck me how this one simple task could make my house cleaner and tidier.

As with the dishes, it’s not necessarily realistic for me fold the laundry right away; however, folding and putting away clean clothes the same day they are cleaned is one habit I can work on. This might mean shifting my schedule so that I do one load of laundry a day, instead of doing it all on the weekends. I plan to play with this over the next coming months.

Secret #3: Everything has a home…

…which means there is a dedicated spot for all your belongings. In my house, this is not the case. Stuff just floats from one spot to another endlessly. Whereas, in my mother’s house, everything has a designated spot where it belongs. This allows her to remove the clutter from her direct sight lines and keep her house clean and tidy. Its not that she doesn’t have a lot of stuff, it’s just that the stuff she does have, has a home.

De-cluttering can also play a big part in achieving this goal. There are so many implications to having too much stuff. Every time you get rid of something from your life, you don’t have to spend any time or energy on that thing ever again. And it frees up a spot in your home for something you do need or care about.

We are still in a mist of moving/unpacking chaos, and as we continue to work through unpacking, we are making a point to touch everything we own. Our mission is to either rid it from our life by means of sale, donation, or trash, or give it a designated belonging in our home. This will be a slow process, but over time, the goal is to create a more clutter-free, peaceful place.

Secret #4: Pick up as you go…

…and put stuff away as soon as you are done with it. This is probably the core behind all these secrets to keeping a clean house. My mother, as she wanders around throughout her day, is always picking stuff up and putting it away. This is especially true when her grandchildren are staying at her house, but it’s true even if they aren’t. If she see’s something out of place, and she is headed in the direction of where it belongs, it is deep ingrained in her habits to pick it up and put it away while she is already headed in that direction. It’s an endless process, with each time only taking 5-20 seconds extra from what she was already doing. My mom is constantly telling me that 10 seconds now can save 10 minutes later. This philosophy has helped her keep her house in check and her end of the day clean up minimal.

For this I have no excuse. This is something that me and my family just have to get better at. The more we dedicate spaces for things, and the more persistent we are about using those spaces, I think with focus, over time our house will naturally start to stay a little cleaner and more organized.

Secret #5: Have a chore schedule…

…and stick to it. Growing up, on Saturday mornings, my sisters and I had our chores. It rotated on a weekly basis, with the exception of cleaning our room, and included things like dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms, and watering the plants. After our chores were done, we could go out and play.

Our family could definitely benefit from having a chore chart, and my son is old enough to start having one or two small regular chores. He is very good at bringing his plate to the counter after dinner, and helping us feed the dogs, and he really likes to help with the vacuuming (check out this vacuum that lets them play while also actually helping!). Nightly clean up and putting dirty laundry in the bin will be chore habits that will also allow him to help us keep the house clean.

These five secrets to keeping a clean house is a lot all at once. I have been working to adapt each habit one piece at a time in my own life. I’ve explained how I’m modifying how my mother does it so it makes sense for my situation, while working to achieve similar results. I encourage you to pick one of these habits and try it every day for at least two weeks to see what sort of change you see. The key to how to keep your house clean and organized is dedicating efforts to implement these habits. Over time, they can help create a home that is a clean, clutter-free, peaceful sanctuary, just like my mothers.