Clean By Design

The first step to understanding if your home needs cleaning or organizing is to know the definition of these two words, CLUTTER and DIRTY. Clutter is a collection of things lying about in an untidy mass, a space that is crowded. Dirty is a state where things are covered or marked with an unclean substance.

Now that we have differentiated the two, it is important to know that although you may have both, one has to be done before the other can be tackled. To get to the real “nitty gritty” of dirt and or grime all clutter must be removed.

Get Rid Of The Clutter

A cluttered house looks and feels dirty. If you have many figurines piled up on your dresser, even if the area is cleaned, the room will still the feel crowded. Even make up that is stacked up on the bathroom counter is still a sore eye because the area is crowded. The first step to a clean house is to rid it of the clutter. That means toss newspapers, magazines and junk mail, don’t let it build up. Find or create spaces for things and put them away.

Discard- Getting rid of items are one of the hardest thing for us to do, this is because so many things that we have we have a connection to; however, we can’t allow them to get in the way of cleanliness. Get boxes and label them; keep, trash, give away, donation and or consignment. Once you have done this never look back.

1. Clear a surface. Find at least one cluttered surface, like a coffee table or dresser top, and completely clear it of all clutter, swiftly dumping any trash.

2. Toss old magazines. Go through your home and gather any old magazines or newspapers you've already flipped through.

3. Pick through a junk drawer. Whatever you can't identify or will never use should gets tossed.

5. Toss anything expired. Go through your fridge and medicine cabinet, gathering anything perishable that has expired. A good day to do this is on garbage day, so you those things will go out with the trash.

6. Dump junk mail. Quickly go through your pile of mail and dump anything that is clearly junk mail.

7. Put things away. Put things up in their proper spaces or create spaces for them.

Get Rid Of The Dirt

Why do we clean our homes? Our parents taught us or we just think it looks better? Well the truth is a clean home is a healthy home. Your home should be a healthy place for your family to dwell in; surely we would not want anyone to come down with anything right? If your home is dirty, it can attract mice, ants and all kind of rodents you never planned for. You can have more serious issues such as mold which are all very unhealthy to have in your home.

Your home should be cleaned at least once a week, to ensure it a healthy living space. Here is an easy checklist.

1. Kitchen- Clean, sanitize and deodorize surfaces

2. Bathrooms- Clean, disinfect, sanitize and deodorize surfaces, scrub showers and toilet.

3. Bedrooms- Change linens, dust and clean surfaces (vacuum or mop)

4. All other living areas- Clean, dust and clean surfaces (vacuum or mop).

Remember when you relieve your home of clutter; you make room to clean your home, so first things first. Besides relieving your home of cutter, you will find out you have more space than you thought.