You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t want to live in a consistently clean home. However, because of work, family obligations and various other time constraints, finding the bandwidth to clean can prove challenging. 
As a result, many people put housecleaning on the backburner for extended periods and avoid stepping up to the plate until their living spaces have become unmanageably filthy. Fortunately, keeping your home consistently clean doesn’t have to be a drain on your time or energy. Putting the following pointers to good use will help you keep your living space nice and clean without sacrificing large amounts of leisure time.
Don’t Allow Chores to Pile Up
The longer you put certain chores on the back burner, the more difficult they’ll be to undertake. For example, washing dishes may be cumbersome, but this task will only become more arduous if you allow dirty dishes to pile up. Conversely, washing dishes after every meal may eat up a little time, but it ultimately stands to save you a tremendous amount of hassle down the road. By the same token, giving your tub a quick scrub-down every week may strike you as a bothersome chore, but it’s a lot easier than cleaning a tub that’s been encased in mold and mildew. In addition, instead of fretting over how to clean windows, simply look up the right manner in which to undertake this task and get scrubbing. When it comes to keeping a clean home, procrastination can be your greatest enemy.
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Stay on Top of Laundry
Laundry is among the most common chores people put on the backburner. Like the previously discussed tasks, laundry has a tendency to become more intimidating the longer it’s allowed to pile up. In other words, the more laundry you have, the less enthused you’ll be by the prospect of doing it. Even the biggest procrastinator would agree that doing a single load of laundry is easier than tackling multiple loads. With this in mind, make an effort to wash at least one load of laundry per day. If there are multiple people in your household, this should not be a difficult quota to meet.
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Split Responsibilities Evenly
There’s no reason you should be the only member of your household who takes tidiness seriously. Even if family members or roommates aren’t bothered by messes, they should be expected to play an active role in any cleaning efforts. Having other people tackle various chores can be a boon to your free time and make keeping a clean home feel considerably less daunting.
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The way in which chores are divided varies from household to household, and there’s no definitive “right way” to split cleaning responsibilities. In some households, for example, each member is given chores that are theirs and no one else’s, whereas other households prefer to rotate chores to ensure that no one is stuck with tasks they don’t like long-term. When putting together a chore wheel for your household, make a point of taking each person’s strengths and preferences into account. Additionally, consult with any family members or roommates to determine which types of chores they’d prefer to be assigned.
Actively De-Clutter
The average household is a hotbed for clutter. From junk mail to children’s toys to old books and magazines, most homes contain more clutter than their occupants know what to do with. Since clutter is the natural enemy of cleanliness, it’s in your best interest to nip it in the bud. This means putting things away as soon as you’re done using them and encouraging other members of your household to do the same. It also entails dealing with junk mail on a daily basis instead of tossing it off to the side. The more junk mail piles up, the more difficult it will ultimately be to deal with. A good shredder can prove tremendously helpful in this endeavor.
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Consistently finding the time to clean your home is liable to seem like an uphill battle. Between going to work, tending to meal preparations and honoring family obligations, most of us are completely spent by the end of the day. Fortunately, keeping a clean home doesn’t have to be an arduous undertaking. A little bit of follow-through and dedication can go a long way when it comes to maintaining a perpetually tidy residence.
