A cleanly tidy apartment is the key to a strong family. It’s nice to invite friends to such an apartment. In addition, when all things are in their places, all thoughts in the head are also sorted into shelves. Coming back to a clean, tidy apartment after a hard day at work is a true pleasure. Only when everything is in its place can you find peace and comfort.
Cleaning an apartment is not a pleasant task, but no one wants to live in dirt either. There are rules that can make this procedure easier:
- Notice the dust. Nobody knows where it comes from, but its appearance is inevitable. To combat dust, a vacuum cleaner was invented, but without wet cleaning you cannot completely get rid of it. Only after the dust has been removed can things be moved to continue cleaning. It is known that dust, particles of which contain a large number of bacteria is harmful to human health. That is why it is recommended to ventilate the apartment twice a day for at least 10 minutes. When cleaning, it is important not to forget to remove dust that collects on any surface, even vertical, for example, on wallpaper. The corners of the ceiling should also be periodically fanned to prevent cobwebs from appearing.
- When putting the apartment in order before guests arrive, you should: This is the first thing that catches your eye as soon as you cross the threshold of the apartment. That is why cleaning should start from the floor. If you have carpet runners, you should clean them thoroughly, then sweep the floor and start washing it with a damp cloth. The room where the largest accumulation of dirt is located is the hallway and living room. However, do not forget that in places under the bed, closet, and chest of drawers you should also go with a damp cloth.
How less area apartments, the more often you take out the trash. The thing is that a trash can in a small apartment is quite easy to notice, and the smell it emits negatively affects the functioning of the liver.- Don't hoard unnecessary things. After you have tidied up the living room and hallway, move on to the objects that surround you. After all, order contains rational use home space. When there is chaos and disorder in the house, you can find many things that we forgot existed because we rarely use them. You may not be able to throw them away right away. To do this, you should place things in a separate box. This is a simple test to see if you really don't need this item: ask yourself how long ago you used it? If an item has not been in demand for a month or more, it can be safely placed in a box. Then seal it with tape and write the date. Place the box on the balcony, garage, or mezzanine. If after a whole year you don’t need any of the things, then you can safely throw away the box.
- Keep things you use frequently on hand. Have you ever noticed that you find yourself pulling out items you need from the depths of cabinets, top shelves and other hard-to-reach places? At a time when completely unnecessary things are at hand. If this is indeed the case, you should change the set of objects around you. Since in-demand items should be in a visible place and available upon request. As soon as you change the order of things, you will notice that the mess in the apartment appears much less often due to the absence of unnecessary items cluttering the space.
- The apartment has been cleaned, the trash has been sorted out, and we are getting closer to perfect order. Now you should hide unnecessary items from the eyes of the guests. Your apartment is visited from time to time by a variety of people: neighbors, repairmen, colleagues or friends. Each person understands order in his own way, but order, according to the rules of good manners, is to hide personal life from prying eyes. Based on this fact, distribute things so that guests who arrive unexpectedly do not feel awkward. The rules are: personal items out of sight. This could be money, documents, bedding or even underwear. Put personal items in the chest of drawers, for example: glasses, watches, bracelets and similar small items. When changing clothes, put dirty clothes in the hamper and put things in the closet.
Cleanliness in the kitchen. A good housewife is immediately noticeable by looking at the state of the kitchen, which should be well-groomed and clean. This is where guests gather over a cup of tea and have the most intimate conversations. Here are a few rules that will help you quickly tidy up your kitchen: do not keep dirty dishes in the sink, but wash them immediately after eating. Keep the refrigerator clean, both inside and outside. Thanks to large sizes, it is he who attracts the main attention of guests. Periodically check the expiration date of products and get rid of expired or unfit for food. Wipe the handles of cabinets and objects frequently household appliances. It is advisable to ventilate the room once a day to ensure that the kitchen smells fresh and clean.- Don't forget about the bathroom. Just like the entire apartment, the bathroom should shine with frequency. Mirrors, tiles and plumbing items must be clean and free of smudges. The room should have a pleasant smell, the floor should be clean, and the towels should be fresh.
- Bedroom. This is a sacred place for the owners of the apartment. To feel comfortable, it’s not enough to put all the items on shelves or change the bed linen. Small debris, magazines or books should not collect on the dressing table. The room must be ventilated. The mirrors are clean, and the shelves are without traces of cosmetics.
- Photos in perfect order. To make it easier for you to navigate during general cleaning, take a photo of the order that satisfies you. This will remind you, if necessary, of some undone things.
In addition to cleanliness and freshness, it is very important to keep the technical condition of home appliances under control. . Computers, TVs, remote controls, sockets- everything must work efficiently, sockets must fit tightly to the wall to avoid problems with electricity.
In order to speed up, you should adhere to the following recommendations:
Cinderella's secrets
These tips will help make your apartment more comfortable:
How to keep your home tidy
Tips for the laziest:
- Don't be afraid of daily cleaning. The illusion that it takes a long time is misleading. Clean the apartment "at random". For example, while you are waiting for the kettle to boil, you will have enough time to wipe the stove and rinse the mugs.
- During a telephone conversation, put your clothes away. And suddenly, unexpectedly for yourself, you will see that most of The housework is completed, with only 15-20 minutes spent. Turn on an interesting educational program on TV and put the little things lying on horizontal surfaces in their places. Get into the healthy habit of cleaning up casually, this will always help maintain order and will be your little secret.
- By adhering to these simple rules, you will no longer have questions about how to keep your home clean and tidy, because having developed these useful habits for yourself, you will have a clean and well-kept apartment.
Frequency of tidying up
Working women resort to large-scale cleaning about a couple of times a month. This is all due to their constant workload at work, as well as fatigue, which tends to accumulate and turns into depression. What to do in this case?
Organize your tasks. The reluctance to clean comes from a state of fatigue when the body turns on defense mechanisms to avoid overload. Sorting a lot of things to do in your head for the weekend, you often give up because of their huge number. In order not to despair and complete your tasks without loss, keep a notebook and enter lists of important things into it, focusing on priorities. Do the most important things first, less important ones the next day. By checking a box after completing a task, you can evaluate your strength to determine your ability to complete the amount of work.
Attention, TODAY only!
But in the modern world this stereotype is no longer relevant. Many women do not want to do household chores and hire a cleaner. But there are also people whose financial situation does not allow them to do this, or they simply do not want to let a stranger into the house.
Many people always have unpleasant feelings and associations with the word cleaning - routine, fatigue and hard thankless work. But in fact, with the help of tips for cleaning the house, you can not only improve, but also make the cleaning process easier, and it is very important to change your internal attitude towards the process itself.
Very often, the lack of motivation to maintain cleanliness causes a negative attitude towards cleaning. In most cases, only one person cleans the apartment, but all family members create chaos. In addition, no matter how much time a person spends cleaning, the next day will also need to be cleaned. Disorder, unlike order, is created on its own.
First you need to figure out how to properly clean and organize, what cleaning rules exist, how to make the process faster, more enjoyable and easier.
It is difficult to achieve cleanliness in a house with more than three people living in it. Constant use of the bathroom, toilet and kitchen, especially if there are small children, leads to daily pollution of the house. But you can make your life easier if you clean not once a month, but clean regularly, and teach all family members to clean up after themselves. It will become much easier to achieve cleanliness and comfort in your home.
It is no less effective to clean in places where cleaning has recently been carried out. For example, if you recently cleaned up the kitchen, washed the tiles, stove and sink, cleaning will take much less time.
Exist different kinds cleaning – urgent, forced and quick cleaning.
Urgent cleaning
This type of cleaning does not provide an opportunity for a small and insignificant mess to grow into a rather serious problem. For example, after you cooked dinner, the stove became a little dirty greasy spots, they are not yet noticeable at all. If these contaminants are removed immediately, the stove will be clean. But if you leave the stove without cleaning, after three days this will lead to a multi-layer burnt crust, which will already require a lot of time, effort and cleaning products.
Thanks to urgent cleaning, you can immediately get rid of the dirt, but if this is not done, the dirt will accumulate and cause a huge mess. It’s better to clean right away; in the end, you will reduce the time it takes to clean the apartment when spring cleaning.
It is not necessary to clean up every day, you can make a plan, assign certain days for cleaning the sink, stove, cleaning the bathroom and toilet. With regular cleaning, the apartment will become clean and comfortable.
10 rules for effective cleaning (Irina Sokovykh)
Forced cleaning
Forced cleaning is done after a long neglect of order and cleanliness. A striking example of this is that the refrigerator needs to be washed once a month, and defrosted once every six months, and not when a huge amount of dirt and ice has accumulated in it, which it hardly freezes. Forced cleaning can be avoided if routine house cleaning work is done regularly.
In some cases, neglect of cleaning leads to the fact that things and property deteriorate. Old and ingrained dirt is not always washed off.
Cleaning the house
Quick cleaning is done daily, things are put in their places. In the morning, you need to clean the bedroom, make the bed, put books on the shelves, if you find any object on your way, you need to put it in a place specially designated for it. Place dirty laundry in a basket and take dishes to the sink. You should also ventilate the room daily. These procedures will take quite a bit of time, and the house will immediately become cleaner, and your mood will also improve.
There are various simple tips, which can be used to facilitate homework. To make household work easier and keep your apartment tidy and clean, you need to be able to properly organize cleaning. Eat different variants for cleaning the house. In most cases, it is necessary to carry out basic cleaning once a week, during the week to carry out intermediate, dry and wet cleaning, and once a month to do general cleaning.
Another cleaning option is cleaning a specific area every day, or general cleaning of the apartment once a week. To do this, you need to divide the apartment into zones, and clean one zone during the day; this will take about 15 minutes. This method is effective in combating clutter in the apartment.
Every thing and object in the apartment should have its own place. After using any item, all family members must put it back in its place.
All family members need to be involved in cleaning the apartment, because if only one person is always cleaning, the rest leave the mess, dirt and garbage, knowing that it will be cleaned anyway. Maintaining and maintaining order should be the responsibility of each family member.
Children should be involved in cleaning from childhood, starting with simple tasks, and gradually increasing the level of the child’s work. At the same time, do not forget that the child needs to be motivated and encouraged. By the way, encouragement is a great way to make cleaning an interesting activity not only for children, but also for adults.
All family members should clean, but you also need to take into account everyone’s busy schedule and free time.
The child must keep his room in order, put away his toys, and wash the dishes after eating. If there are pets, the child can not only look after them, but also walk them. This will help develop neatness, cleanliness, hard work and a sense of responsibility in the child. If a child is taught to do homework as a child, over time it will become a habit.
An important factor when cleaning is a person’s mood, his attitude. To feel better and more energetic, you can turn on music, so things will move faster.
Another important tip– emotional mood during cleaning. Energetic music is best for this; things will go much faster. Also helpful in cleaning the apartment are household appliances and various chemicals and devices.
Also, there is no need to scribble, because everyone knows the phrase that it is clean not where they clean, but where they don’t litter. This statement is absolutely accurate.
Principles of Cleanliness
- after you have done something, put it in its place. Woke up in the morning - make the bed, milk has escaped and dirty the stove - immediately wipe off the dirt, ate - wash the dishes, etc.;
- you need to find time and wipe the dust every day, this takes no more than ten minutes, but after wiping the dust, the apartment will look more well-groomed. You can place a small trash basket on your work or desk;
- to keep floors cleaner long time, it is necessary to wash the floor near it daily front door, in the hallway, as well as in the kitchen. From these places, dirt spreads throughout the apartment.
Keeping your home clean doesn't require much effort. To do this, just fold the bed, quickly wipe the toilet with a brush, and wash the sink and bathroom with detergent. After eating, wash dishes and wipe down the table, sink and stove. Also, do not forget to put things in their places and take out the trash from the house. The main condition is to do this every day. And of course, we must not forget about general cleaning as the apartment gets dirty.
You also need to remember to regularly maintain order, this means that clothes need to be immediately hung on a hanger, and not piled up extraneous things on the table. Books should be stored on shelves, clothes in the closet, and dishes in the kitchen. You should not be sorry to throw away unnecessary things that create chaos.
By following these tips, you can easily learn how to keep your house clean and tidy.
The dining room is more than a room where people just eat: here people communicate, exchange news. It doesn’t matter if you can allocate a full-fledged room for it or have dinner at a small table in the kitchen - there should be order in this area. Often in the dining room they work at a computer, do their homework - they use it as a full-fledged workplace. Therefore, meals become more like a quick snack in the company of a laptop or TV.
When you start cleaning in this area, write down a list of things you do here: school lessons, office work, needlework. Allocate a box for each activity: put extra things in them and put them out of sight - let nothing distract you while eating.
“You will have to look at rooms not just as a place for furniture, but as an outward manifestation of emotional and spiritual life. For each room, choose at least three symbol words that describe the atmosphere you want to create there.
Many are interested in the question of how to maintain cleanliness and order in the apartment when there is not enough time, effort and desire for cleaning. Even with regular general cleaning after two days, there is no trace of the order. In this article, we offer recommendations on how to learn how to maintain order at home.
1. Clean for ten to twenty minutes every day in places where dust and debris accumulate the most (for example, in the hallway);
2. Systematicity is the main factor in maintaining cleanliness and order at home. Here it is important to complete the list of daily and weekly tasks in a timely manner, and never skip them! Then cleaning will become a habit and will not become a burden. It has been established that a habit is formed in 21 days. For some it will take more time, but the main thing is not to deviate from your plans, complete the planned tasks on time and complete them. Then you will form a useful habit, and your home will be clean, comfortable and cozy;
3. Every thing has its own place. Things need to be put back in their place immediately. And this applies not only to clothes. We put the read book back on the shelf, put the used laptop on the table or in the closet, put the writing instruments in an organizer or drawer, and so on. In other words, we put it where we got it. Even in a hurry, follow these simple rules, and then order will reign at home;
4. After the end of the season, go through your clothes, shoes and other things. Anything you haven't worn or used for over a year can be donated. We safely take broken, damaged and unusable items to the trash heap. We get rid of everything unnecessary and do not store junk;
5. Do not clutter the apartment with a lot of furniture, high cabinets, souvenirs and small objects. They accumulate a lot of dust, so you will have to clean them more often and for longer. In addition, a large number of small trinkets clutter the apartment and make the housing tasteless;
6. Designers recommend using spot or diffuse light and completely abandoning chandeliers. Desk lamp, floor lamps, sconces and other lamps are easier to wipe than a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. In addition, they will make the room brighter, warmer, more comfortable and homely;
7. Ventilate your apartment regularly. But do not keep the windows and balcony open all the time, as a lot of dirt and dust from the street will get inside, which will complicate cleaning;
8. Involve and teach household members to clean and organize. Let them immediately clean up after themselves. Also, divide housework responsibilities. Come up with a reward for yourself and your family, and the cleaning itself can be turned into an exciting quest or game. Then cleaning will become easier and more fun. How to teach children to order and clean, read.
How to properly organize cleaning
For general or major cleaning, prioritize and make a list of what needs to be done first. Distribute tasks over several days; you don’t have to complete everything at once. By the way, experts advise cleaning a room a day. For example, clean the living room today, clean the kitchen tomorrow, and so on.
During the cleaning process, everything you need should already be at hand: detergent, rags, etc. Prepare these things in advance to avoid distractions such as your smartphone or TV. After all, it’s already difficult for many of us.
You need to clean from top to bottom. First, wipe the dust from cabinets and hailstones, then from tables and window sills, and only then wash the floor. This will avoid double work, because dust will not fall on the clean floor.
For wet cleaning and washing floors, it is more convenient to use a washing vacuum cleaner rather than a broom and rag. By the way, be sure to moisten the broom in cool water, otherwise it will only spread the dust, turning it into a dust ball. As a result, it will again settle on pieces of furniture. To clean the bathroom, be sure to use disinfectants that kill harmful bacteria and germs.
Cleaning schedule
Experts advise dividing cases by season. Make a schedule of what needs to be done quarterly, what every month, what every week, and what daily. Once every three to four months we wash the curtains and curtains, and windows, disassemble the closets and sort through things, get rid of unnecessary things, wash the ceilings and baseboards. To provide an incentive, such cleaning can be timed to coincide with a holiday or date, for example, New Year, Easter, and so on.
A little less often, once every five to six months, it is recommended to clean pillows, blankets and mattresses, wash the oven and beat out carpets. Don't forget to rinse hard to reach places behind the refrigerator, cabinet, stove and so on. Divide tasks into several days and complete throughout the week.
The list of things to do each month includes washing the doors and tiled walls, refrigerator and microwave oven, kitchen set and hoods. This also includes careful processing of pots, pans, etc. kitchen utensils. We also clean rugs in the hallway, bathroom and toilet. But, if animals live in the house, it is recommended to clean it every week.
Every week I wash mirrors and bathroom fixtures, refrigerator and microwave doors, and hatches. washing machine. We thoroughly wash the floors, including under and behind the furniture. Twice a week we lightly mop the floors and vacuum the carpets. If there are children and animals, we do this every other day.
Every day we devote 15-20 minutes to cleaning. Here we wash the dishes and put things in the closet or send them to the laundry, ventilate the apartment and sweep, rinse kitchen table, sink and work surface in the kitchen. Every two or three days I wash the shower or bath and wipe the dust in the house. This schedule will help keep perfect cleanliness in the kitchen, bathrooms and rooms.
Where to store things to keep things in order
Store things in baskets or drawers. They will save the situation when you need to fold and put away things in a short time. In such baskets it is convenient to store children's toys, clothes, dirty linen. It is important that they are somehow combined to make up uniform style. You can choose products of different shapes, but the same color.
You don't have to use classic hooks to store things in the bathroom. Today, coil batteries are popular, where they can functionally dry clothes and towels. Place or hang plastic or wicker baskets in the bathroom. And you can hang compact drawers on hooks. Functionally store in drawers and baskets household chemicals, cosmetical tools or towels.
Such storage looks aesthetically pleasing and orderly. Be sure to use a place under the sink where you can hide the same drawers or baskets. Such a bathroom always looks tidy and clean. And neatly hung or laid out snow-white towels will add freshness and style to the room.
We hang clothes in the closet or lay them out on shelves, and put underwear in dresser drawers. We store shoes in boxes or containers, which we put on the bottom shelf in the closet or on the mezzanine. If you don't have much space in your apartment, use the space under your bed. But the boxes should not be visible! For seasonal shoes that you wear regularly, use shelves and racks in the hallway. Wash and dry your pair after every wear!
Although strict Soviet housewives assured their daughters that disorder in the house was solely a consequence of laziness and personal disorganization, psychologists long ago debunked this myth: people are divided into several types, and different types Individuals organize the space around them differently.
CLEANITY AS A HABIT
There are those for whom structure and maintaining order come easily; they are uncomfortable in a mess, and cleaning is an important part of their character.
There are those who are more comfortable in order, but among their personality traits there is no ability to adhere to routine operations - it is more difficult for such people to maintain order, so in their house the disorder most often gains a critical mass (everyone has their own mass), after which cleaning is carried out, but the result takes a long time does not hold, and the circle repeats.
There are also those who, in principle, are not able to maintain cleanliness in the space around them and do not worry about this at all.
However, if you still don’t like clutter, but you’re not a clean person by nature, you can try to deceive your character and instill habits in yourself, say activists of the Fly Lady movement. Just 10 habits will allow you to painlessly maintain order in your home.
Habit #1: Always make your bed
It was not for nothing that my mother always demanded that the bed be put in order before school - nothing adds to the feeling of a mess like crumpled linen on an unmade bed. Making your bed is a matter of 10 seconds, it is the simplest and easiest habit of all!
Habit #2: Clean soap smudges from the walls of the shower or bathtub after every shower.
If you take a shower, rinse the walls with water to remove soap smudges and wipe them with a special roller for shower cabins. It takes 5 seconds and keeps the bathroom fresh - a very useful habit that would be nice to instill in all family members.
Habit #3: Clean your bathroom sink every night
If you brushed your teeth, tidy up the sink so that soap smudges and traces of toothpaste do not harden on it. The easiest way is to keep the tile cleaner and sponge right in the bathroom so that you can quickly apply it, rinse it off, and leave the bathroom in the bathroom. in perfect order. The whole procedure takes 30 seconds at most.
Habit #4: Leave the kitchen clean in the evening
Activists of the Fly Lady community claim that cleanliness in an apartment begins with a clean kitchen. Like, the kitchen becomes dirty first, and this is where you need to start the war against clutter. The procedure for Fly Lady is as follows:
- wash the dishes or load them into dishwasher(never leave dirty dishes overnight - cleanliness rule)
- Apply the cleaner onto the sink in a thick layer and leave it to work.
- wipe all surfaces with a damp sponge
- rinse the cleaning agent from the surface of the sink, wipe it dry
- take out a fresh kitchen towel, put it in the wash
With proper skill and consistency, the entire procedure takes from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the volume of dirty dishes.
Habit #5: Wash dishes while preparing food
All people are divided into two groups - someone cooks and multiplies dirty utensils around them, someone washes everything during the cooking process. Clean ones are of the latter kind. The “used - washed” rule allows you to stifle the mess at the inception stage.
Habit #6: “evening rounds”
All the same Fly Lady activists advise making a habit of nightly “five minutes of cleanliness” - before going to bed, you need to walk around the apartment and sort out fresh rubble. Send scattered things back to their place, put away magazines and CDs, park children's toys. Just 5 minutes every evening will help keep your home clean. the right level until the next general cleaning.
Habit #7: Don’t keep clothes outside of closets
Dirty clothes go in the wash, wearable clothes go back in the closet. This rule allows you to wean yourself and your loved ones from creating mountains of clothes on chairs and armchairs, which fit so harmoniously into the general atmosphere of a mess. This routine takes about 5 seconds of time - just control yourself during the process of unmasking and send the things you are removing not to the chair, but where they should be.
Habit #8: Ventilate the room
One of the unpleasant properties of barrack apartments is the musty smell. The apartment may be relatively tidy, but this smell will give away a slob faster than scattered things. Make it a rule to ventilate your apartment every day for 10-15 minutes, this is good for your health and for maintaining a general feeling of cleanliness.
Habit #9: Dust off particularly dusty surfaces every day.
Every home has surfaces that attract dust faster than others - plasma panels, monitors, glass (including mirrors), etc. A special antistatic rag + 2-3 minutes a day to get around all the “dusty” places and brushing away what has accumulated during the day will allow you to maintain a general feeling of cleanliness for a long time.
Habit #10: Involve everyone in your household to maintain order and invest money in buying equipment that makes life easier
There is no need to suddenly become a cleaner, it is harmful to the psyche, Fly Lady claims. Sometimes you really just don’t have the strength to sort out a fresh rubble or brush off the dust - no big deal, it’ll wait until tomorrow. The main thing is to make the steps described above a habit, for which it is enough to force yourself to follow the routine for three weeks.
After 21 days, evening rounds and wiping down the bathroom sink will become second nature, activists say.
And one more thing: you shouldn’t try to repeat the feat of Hercules and clean the Augean stables on your own; you should try to instill habits of cleanliness in everyone at home (although what exactly is the feat of Hercules - cleaning or instilling such habits in your husband and children is, of course, a question).
Buying good household appliances that reduce the time and effort required to maintain cleanliness is not a waste of money. For example, investing in a good steam cleaner (an appliance that cleans different surfaces hot steam) will help you cut down the hours of time you would otherwise spend scrubbing tiles, fixtures, etc.
We don't live in the 19th century, and it would be stupid not to take advantage of everything that is designed to make our lives easier.
And so that you don’t stop working on your habits and laziness doesn’t take over, FLY LADY advises making something like a cleaning schedule, where you list the main routine and frequency of various manipulations. It is enough to stick to this schedule for a month to get used to the new routine.
