Simple Summer Household Cleaning Tips & Tricks

Simple Summer Household Cleaning Tips & Tricks was originally published on: http://www.coronationcleaning.ca

Summer is a great time of the year. Except when it comes to house cleaning; summer can be such disaster to your home you may well consider moving. Kids are home from school, and daily activities bring most of the outdoors, indoors. Once you consider all the family time and fun summer activities, there is barely time left even to consider cleaning. Don't call the moving company yet; it's not that bad. With these eight simple tricks from Coronation Cleaning, summer cleaning will be a piece of cake.

Make New Rules

When you have kids home for summer break, you are either a permanent member of the disaster relief squad or kids actually help to keep the mess to a minimum. Summer rules can contribute to keeping structure and a clean house. Possibilities include cleaning up after an activity before starting a new one, washing hands after playing with the pets or outside and removing shoes before entering the house. If everybody pitches in, keeping the house clean will be much easier.

Keep it Simple

The smallest things can make the biggest messes, so focus your cleaning tasks on the little things. Making the bed each morning can give a clean look to the entire room, even when there is a mess on the floor. When it comes time to cleaning, doing too much at a time can be exhausting so break up the tasks into smaller chunks. Once you have done a few small chores, the task is not as daunting, and you feel a sense of accomplishment.

Have Priorities

Everybody has pet peeves, and cleaning is no different. We all have that one type of mess that drives us nuts. It can be laundry piles or fingerprint smudges but whatever it is, handle it first. Getting rid of the nuisance that bugs you the most, will make you feel better. If cleaning time is limited, then always get rid of the one thing that causes you the most stress and everything else can wait.

Major Messes

If time is limited, certain key areas should get attention over others. Priorities should include the messes that will attract bugs like crumbs or messes that can be dangerous, such as spills. If there is one mess that is particularly eye-catching, see to that first and foremost. By handling the larger messes first, you avoid a large cleaning catastrophe later on.

Get Out

The more time you and the kids spend outside, the less mess can be created inside. Summer weather gives you the perfect excuse to be outdoors, especially when it comes to eating. Enjoy meals outside and using disposable dishware, you save on cleaning and kitchen mess. Organize activities in the yard or trips to the local pool, parks or library. Getting out means getting more relax time because there will be less to clean.

Top to Bottom

Although the floors probably grab your attention quicker, it is actually more efficient to clean the top of each room and work down. This makes perfect sense because if you start with the floors and then start wiping and dusting, debris will end up on your clean floors. Now you have to clean the floors twice when you could have started with counters and tables first.

Clutter Control

There is no stopping clutter; it is a part of everyday life. The more people you have in your house, the more clutter there will be. Out of season items can be stored away in garages or sheds. If you walk through the house picking up clutter, the next day will be like a clean slate. This small task makes a big difference because the house will look clean without having to actually dust, wipe or clean.

Have the Kids Help

Most kids are looking for extra responsibilities, so dish out age-appropriate chores to them. You can make a chore chart to help them remember and to stay organized and offering incentives is always a guaranteed way to get kids on board. Give out gold stars for each chore completed, and a certain number of stars get s a treat. This makes the cleaning activities more fun and helps to teach children about responsibility and helping out. Make it a true family activity and add your name to the star chart too!