7 Daily Habits to Keep Your Home Always Tidy

Who doesn’t love a shortcut?

We’ve discovered 7 simple and quick household tasks to do every day that make keeping a clean house not feel like such a huge and overwhelming job.

You’re going to love these easy tips.

7 Daily Habits to Keep Your House Clean

1. Cook clever

It is worth rethinking how you are cooking dinner each night. While most of us cook then deal with the mess later, you can save yourself a lot of work by cleaning as you go.

While dinner is in the oven or on the stovetop, do a quick scan of the benchtops and put away ingredients or even start washing items you know you don’t need anymore.

This trick certainly makes the after dinner clean up less of a hassle, especially when all you want to do after dinner is curl up on the lounge and relax.

2. Schedule a room clean each day

Stick with us, here. Rather than doing one big clean of the whole house, split it up over 7 days. Focusing on one room at a time will help you to accomplish a little bit at a time, instead of tackling one big task on cleaning day.

In each room, concentrate on spraying and wiping down surfaces, straightening up and putting everything away. Schedule the bathroom and kitchen cleaning on days when you know you have more time – these areas need a little more love.

Try this routine next week (adapt to suit your place) and see how you go.

• Monday - living room and dining

• Tuesday - kitchen

• Wednesday - bedrooms

• Thursday - bedrooms and any other living areas

• Friday - laundry and foyer/hallways

• Saturday - bathroom

• Sunday - day off!

3. Wash once a day

In a busy household, aim to put a load of washing on first thing in the morning to get it out on the line or into the dryer before you leave the house. This will help you keep on top of dirty laundry.

Empty basket? Go hunting for dirty clothes that may be hiding under beds or in corners, or wash bed sheets that you may have been planning to do on the weekend anyway.

Don’t wash for the sake of washing obviously, but dirty, overflowing clothing piles in the laundry can definitely be avoided with this handy tip!

4. Shoes at the door

Doing this on a daily basis can make a huge difference. Have the family take their shoes off at the door (a shoe rack in the foyer or by the door is a great idea) and pop on a pair of slippers or socks.

You’ll be amazed at how much less dirt and grime gets tracked inside with this tip. It’ll make your regular carpet, tile or hardwood floor cleaning much less of a chore when you get around to it.

5. Spray the shower down

Shower scum build-up is tough to remove. Giving it a spray and wipe down each day after a shower or bath (keep equipment in the shower ready to go) means you won’t have to scrub it on cleaning day – you may not have to clean it at all!

We recommend getting everyone in the family on board (older kids, too). With minimal effort, you’ll have a squeaky-clean shower screen every day of the week.

6. Do a nightly pick up

Some articles we researched called it a ‘power pick up’. Spend 10-15 minutes each night before bed doing a sweep (look around) of the house, picking up items, giving visibly grimy areas a wipe down and putting any dirty clothes in the laundry.

I personally do my ‘power pick up’ during the ad breaks – it’s an efficient and easy way to be on top of the day ahead.

And it’s always nice waking up to a clean house!

7. Tidy as you go

Your place usually looks untidy because of belongings not being put away. Keeping on top of tidying is simple. Here are some tips.

• Look around before you leave a room and take anything with you that doesn’t belong in that room. Things left lying around can add up, and only make cleaning up the entire house more daunting.

• Wipe up mess as it happens

• Good storage is essential. Make the most of hidden storage options like ottomans, under the bed storage and all of your cupboards and drawers. Good storage systems will make it easy to do quick pick-ups as you go.