The beginner's guide to maintaining your home clean

Cleanliness is next to godliness, and a clean and tidy home really offers some important benefits. The most obvious one is the fact that you can invite people over without having to suffer the burning feeling of shame caused by a pair of dirty socks next to a coffee table covered in a thick layer of dust. Dreadful, right? A clean home is also a healthier home. It contains fewer allergens and harmful microorganisms, so your health is less likely to be in danger. Furthermore, tidy surroundings promote and improve productivity and focus. Finally, it gives your morale a boost, because everybody simply likes living in a clean house more than living in a dirty one.

Unfortunately, cleaning is not only useful – but it is also dead boring. There are very few people in this world who genuinely like cleaning, but we all have to do it. Now, there are certain tricks you can use to keep your home clean without putting too much effort into it. Here are the best ways to clean and maintain your home.

1. Motivate yourself​

 Motivation is the key to everything you do. If you don't feel that there is a need to keep your home clean, chances are that you won't do it. So before you do any real work, take a piece of paper and write down why it is so important to keep the house clean and organized. Put the paper somewhere visible, so you'll be able to glance at it every day at least once. It will give you the encouragement you need to adopt new habits as soon as possible.

 2. Make a schedule​

Make a cleaning schedule that organizes your chores on a weekly basis. If you spread the workload over the week instead of just doing it in one day, you won't feel the strain on your time as acutely. If you don't know how well it'll work, it's okay – you can always change it later to accommodate your lifestyle. This part is a very much personal choice because it's going to differ drastically if you live alone and if you have a spouse and three children, so make sure your schedule fits your particular needs.

 3. Pick up things regularly​

​In developed countries, such as Australia, there is little time to clean your house if you and your significant other have full-time jobs. Luckily, in cities like Sydney cleaning services are not difficult to come by, and you can outsource everything from carpet cleaning to general maintenance. Still, unless you want to pay for this kind of service once a week (instead of, say, once a month), you need to make sure you're doing your part as well. Adopting a habit of picking things up and putting them away as you go can do wonders for keeping your home tidy. Be on a lookout for the things that aren't where they're supposed to be and return them to their rightful place. You will likely have to do it two or three times a day, but the effort and time you put into it are minimal but extremely beneficial. You'll keep the surfaces free of clutter, which contributes to the overall tidiness, and also makes it much easier to clean if needed.

4. Swoop in with a mop​

​As long as your home is clutter-free, small tasks like wiping the dust or vacuuming will take next to no time. Make a point of rectifying little things as soon as you spot them. If there's a bit of dust on the coffee table in the living room, wipe it clean; it will take you a couple of seconds. A dirty hallway can be vacuumed in less than 5 minutes, and if you do it immediately, you'll stop the dirt from spreading to other parts of the house. A minute here and two minutes there can really make a difference in the long run.

 5. Do seasonal cleaning​

​Now, seasonal maintenance of your home will usually prevent the need for big works. Cleaning your fridge and changing the batteries in your smoke detectors don't really need to be done more than once a year. Make sure you're up to speed with the seasonal maintenance, like flipping the mattress in your bedroom, cleaning behind washers and dryers, and similar "big" tasks. This will keep your home in top shape, and remove the danger the piled-up micro-worlds pose for your health.

​As you see, cleaning doesn't have to be a horrible chore that takes huge amounts of your time. If you put very little effort into creating useful habits, your home will be nice and presentable, and you won't have to give up big chunks of your time in order to clean.