Whether it’s lack of time or lack of motivation on these dark, cold days, there’s no denying the Cosy Home house isn’t always as squeaky clean as it might be.
We’re not quite at the stage of subscribing to author Quentin Crisp’s famous attitude – “There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn’t get any worse.” The advent of unexpected guests, though, has been known to send us scurrying around the house, frantically kicking things under chairs, plumping up cushions and wiping old toothpaste off sinks.
We’re only human, after all – so while it’s a good idea to set aside at day or so a month for a proper deep clean, in the meantime, here’s our guide to winging it!
1. Little and often
Doing a tiny bit of housework every day will help stop the whole thing descending into messy chaos. Keep a microfibre cloth over the shower rail, and when you’ve finished having a shower run the cloth over the walls and taps to stop soap scum building up. That way, you’ll never have to scrub it.
Vacuum only the high-traffic areas of the carpet regularly – these tend to be the paths that people walk from room to room, plus the areas that are most in use such as in the TV room. Bedrooms, dining rooms and the edges of the floors can be done less regularly.
Invest in a cordless handheld vacuum cleaner, and mount it on the wall somewhere handy – it’s much quicker and easier to whip out to deal with an isolated spot of mud or squashed biscuit rather than getting out the fullsize vacuum cleaner. Also, the handheld vac is much easier for doing stairs!
Leave major cleaning jobs for when you’ve got more time. Image: Pixabay
2. Daily cheats
Make the bathroom look like it’s just been cleaned. Shake the bath mat out so it looks freshly laundered, run your trusty microfibre cloth over the sink and fold the towels.
Surfaces that catch the light such as polished tables or shiny worktops need regular wiping or dusting. Everything else…weeeelll, not so regular will do.
Dust on lampshades really shows as well, so give them a quick flick over once a week as well.
For fabric lampshades, keep an old pair of tights tied to your vacuum cleaner hose. When you’ve got the vacuum out to do the carpet, stretch the tights over the end of the hose and vacuum the lampshades on a low setting.
Some Febreze fabric freshener sprayed onto curtains and cushions will make the house smell clean and fresh – even if it’s not!
Leave dirty dishes to soak while you’re having dinner, and they’ll be much easier to clean. Image: Pixabay
3. Make life easy
We’re all about doing less! Ornaments and home accessories can make dusting a nightmare. Go through your belongings and see if there’s anything you can live without – a shelf with only two or three items on it is much easier to clean.
Accessories such as dried or artificial flowers can be real dust traps as well, so decide how much you like them! Invest in some big storage baskets and boxes – anything you don’t need on a daily basis can be kept out of sight, and you won’t keep having to clean around it.
Encourage family and guests to leave their shoes in the hallway to help stop dirt getting tracked through the house. Clean as you go – put pans and dishes in the sink and run hot soapy water over them as soon as you’ve dished up dinner, then they can be soaking while you’re eating.
We can’t promise you’ll learn to love housework, but at least your house will look like you do!
Images courtesy of Pixabay
