How I keep my house clean-ish

A reader recently emailed:

It seems like you still fit in gym visits and walks, and of course you've outsourced your lawn mowing - a huge win! But I'm wondering how you keep your house clean, or clean enough, I should say. I'm finding it tough to fit in even spot cleaning at times, and it feels like there must be a simple way to get cleaning efforts into my weeks, but I can't quite identify them. Would love to know how you keep your home cleanish with your busy schedule!

I love how you phrase that: clean-ish. That's what describes my house most of the time. It's not ever white-glove ready, but it's reasonably and functionally clean.

I think letting go of perfectionism when it comes to house-cleaning is actually helpful for most stages of life. I mean, if we wanted our homes to be perfectly clean all the time, even underneath the furniture and on top of the picture frames, we could clean all day, every day!

But that is not a very good use of a life, in my opinion, so I prefer to settle for a clean-ish home.

Also: since my life has no routine right now (my work shifts are different every week), I do not have a regular cleaning day. 🙂

Here's how I make it work.

1. I lean slightly minimalist

Emphasis is on "slightly" here, because a true minimalist would faint at the amount of possessions I have.

But in general, I don't keep a wild amount of possessions around. This makes it much easier to clean and tidy my house.

For example, if you own 52 shirts, you could end up with a pile of 52 dirty shirts. If you only own ten shirts, though, you're never going to have a dirty laundry pile with more than ten shirts (nine, probably, because you need to be wearing one!)

Same goes for dishes; they can only pile up so high if you own a limited number.

Also, it's easier to clean/wipe/dust areas that aren't full of stuff.

2. I focus on tasks that pile up

When I am very busy, I prioritize jobs that would get progressively bigger if left undone. Laundry and dishes are two such tasks.

I also count something like organizing/cleaning out the fridge, because if you don't get moldy food out right away, the problem grows!

On the other hand, it takes the same amount of time to vacuum four weeks of dust off your mantel as it does to vacuum one week of dust. No biggie to let that slide for a bit if you need to.

3. I try to tidy as I go

Some of keeping your home clean and tidy is about how you move through it.

For example, I typically:

• put dirty dishes in the dishwasher right away
• put dirty clothes in the laundry basket when I get undressed,
• recycle empty containers right away
• sort mail when it comes in (most gets recycled)
• wipe up messes when I spill things

And when I come home, I try to put things in their spots; keys go in the key bowl, lunch box in the kitchen for unpacking, workout clothes in the hamper, backpack hung on a hook, and so on.

These habits help me keep things decently neat even if I have no time to do a dedicated cleaning session.

4. I own three vacuums

This seems a little crazy, I know! But hear me out.

When I moved here, I had no vacuums, so I bought an inexpensive little vacuum to get me by.

(Mine seems to be discontinued, but this Kenmore one is sorta similar.)

Then, since my nice vacuum was at my other house, I bought one just like it on eBay.

However, I noticed I missed having a robot vacuum (also left at the other house), so I bought one for myself.

(Here's why I like having a robot vacuum.)

About once a week, on a day off, I run the robot vacuum. This takes a little bit of work, because I have to move all the curtains/chairs/other stuff out of the way so it can thoroughly clean my floors. It's definitely less work than regular vacuuming, though, and it does a great job of getting cat hair cleaned up.

I use the inexpensive little vacuum when I have a minute to do a touch-up, like the bathroom floor, the kitchen, and under the dining table. It's also great for a quick run to get up any stray cat litter bits.

The big vacuum is the one I use the least; I mostly get that one out when I want to use the dusting attachment, when I vacuum my car, or when I need to vacuum my living room rug (all the floors here are hard surfaces; no carpet.)

For quick cleaning, I do highly recommend having one of those inexpensive vacuums around! And the robot vacuum is an overall time-saver as well.

5. I fit small jobs "in the cracks"

In my imaginary ideal world, it seems like it would be nice to have a set weekly time when you clean the entire house. That appeals to my routine-loving self.

But my life is not routine right now, and honestly, it hasn't been ever since I started nursing school in the fall of 2023!

So, I have made peace with here-and-there cleaning. Got five minutes? You can wipe down the bathroom sink. You could fold a single load of laundry. You could wipe down one shelf in the fridge.

A tiny bit of cleaning is better than none, and tiny bits do add up.

6. I do bigger cleaning jobs on an occasional basis

Growing up, we always cleaned the house thoroughly once a week.

Currently, I...don't. Ha. I don't do a whole bathroom clean each week. I also don't wash my floors very often. And I don't dust every week either.

Ideally, it would be lovely to do those things weekly, but I settle for "occasional" instead, and interestingly, nothing terrible has befallen us as a result.

Busy readers, what tips would you add to mine?

P.S. If you have kids, I recommend giving them responsibilities. You do not need to do this all yourself. My kids were responsible for their own spaces and their own laundry from a young age (I think Zoe started doing her own laundry when she was maybe six years old!), and I also gave them chores for shared spaces (like the kitchen and bathroom).

I also think significant others should be sharing the load (the two Patreon posts I have this week are sorta adjacent to this, and I 100% did not even plan it that way!)