Keeping A Clean Home
We have 3 little boys who contribute quite a mess to our home. Sticky fingerprints on doorknobs, tomato sauce on kitchen cabinets, and Skittle stains on the couch. I remember the first time I noticed the dirty handprints beneath the bathroom light switch and along the stairway wall. Sweet little hands that were jumping to reach the switch or using the wall to balance as they carefully walked down the stairs. These kind of messes immediately make me smile. I’m grateful that tiny children live in my home. You can find a basketball in every room of our house, magnets cover the refrigerator, and the playroom is hardly ever tidy.
I’ve learned to embrace the mess that toys bring. But to be honest, the mess still creates a little anxiety in my mind and that’s why I’ve committed to keep a clean home. Not a tidy one, a clean one. There’s something about a clean home and the process of keeping a clean home that brings me joy. Because while there might be legos under my feet, the tomato sauce is no longer covering the handle of the utensil drawer and that’s a big win in a house with tiny children.
If you walk into my home on any given day, you’ll probably see school papers on the kitchen counter, couch pillows on the floor, and toys literally everywhere. We do in fact live here. It’s unrealistic that our home will remain tidy. But it’s my desire that the shelves have been dusted, the floors have been mopped, and the couch cushions have been washed. So while there may be toys and papers on every surface, when guests arrive, we can quickly put things away (or throw them in a closet) and enjoy that our home is both tidy and clean. Of course there are weeks that flash by at 90 mph and my home and schedule are in complete disorder, but having a system in place helps me to quickly set the reset button at the beginning of the following week. Cleaning our homes often feels unattainable because we look at the mess and have no idea where to start. It can be overwhelming. My hope is that as I share my systems, you’ll feel equipped in your endeavor of keeping a clean home.
I desire to keep a clean home for 3 main reasons. First, it brings me joy. I love the instant gratification of seeing the fruits of my labor. Second, I want my children to see the effort that it takes to keep a clean home. Our homes are expensive, and we should manage our investment responsibly. I also want my children to know how to clean a home. Third, I want to create a home where guests feel refreshed. My hope is that our home will be a haven.
My Go-To Cleaning Supplies
Alright now that you know my heart behind keeping a clean home, you might be wondering my systems for doing so. Your first step is to assess your cleaning supplies. Do you have everything you need in order to keep a clean home? Are there products that you should toss? Take inventory of your cleaning supplies! I have simplified the cleaning products that I keep in my home for two reasons. First, I always have what I need, and I know what products to use for different messes. Second, it’s easy to restock when products get low. Below you’ll find lists of products I use in different spaces of our home.
For the Bathroom
For the Kitchen
Everything Else
Lint Roller
*I am regularly updating the products listed!
Cleaning Caddies
I have created two caddies full of cleaning supplies: my general cleaning caddy and my bathroom cleaning caddy. The general cleaning caddy is the one I carry throughout the house to clean things like baseboards, furniture, and windows. The bathroom cleaning caddy holds products specifically used to clean our bathrooms, including toilet cleaner and tile cleaner. Below is a list of the items that I keep in each caddy.
My General Cleaning Caddy
Hydrogen Peroxide (in a Grove Co. Spray Bottle)
All Purpose Cleaner (in Grove Co. Spray Bottle)
Wood Cleaner (in Grove Co. Spray Bottle)
Glass Cleaner (in Grove Co. Spray Bottle)
Disinfecting Wipes
Lint Roller
Cleaning Cards
Micro Fiber Cloths
Paper Towels
My Bathroom Cleaning Caddy
Toilet Cleaner
Tub & Tile Spray
Grout & Tile Brush
Scrub Brush
Paper Towels
My Cleaning Cards
Now that we’ve chatted through cleaning products, it’s time to tell you all about my magical cleaning cards. I learned about the Cleaning Card System from the blog A Bowl Full of Lemons. You might want to click on over and read that blog post first to get all the details on the system!
Before we chat about how I use my cleaning cards, I want to remind you that keeping a clean home looks different in every season of life. Maybe you have a newborn baby. Maybe you have a toddler and a newborn. Maybe your children are all in grade school. Maybe you’re an empty nester. We’re all in different seasons of life. Keeping a clean home will look different for each of us because we are each dealing with different messes and different schedules.
With that in mind, these cleaning cards can be used in so many ways, In our home, they are considered my “deep cleaning cards” and I can typically complete 1-3 cards a week, depending on our schedule. My goal is to complete each card 4-6 times per year. Tasks such as wiping down countertops, vacuuming, scrubbing toilets, etc. happen on a daily and weekly basis because children are messy. However many tasks on my cleaning cards such as cleaning baseboards, washing curtains, and dusting ceiling fans only happen every few weeks (or months!).
While I’ve attempted using my cleaning cards in a monthly rotation, I’m in a season of life where each week looks different. I truly love this season, but my capacity for cleaning is low. Rather than rotating through my cleaning cards in a specific order, I simply choose a card to complete based off the messes I see. The main reason my cleaning cards are so valuable and magical is that they give me specific tasks to complete. I know that if I grab the cleaning card for the kitchen and complete all tasks on that cleaning card, my kitchen will be clean from top to bottom. It’s so easy to get distracted while cleaning. My cards keep me focused!
I used the cleaning cards posted on the A Bowl Full of Lemons blog post to create my own set of cleaning cards. When creating yours, first consider all of the rooms for your home. Once you have a cleaning card for each room/space, then consider the cleaning tasks that need to be done in that specific area. Here’s a look at my personal cleaning cards:
You’ll notice my cleaning cards are written in different colors. My goal is to complete one color per week. I’ve grouped spaces in our home based of proximity to one another and difficulty of cleaning. If I’m cleaning one bathroom, I might as well continue on and clean another. If I’m cleaning the dining room, I’ll also clean the connected sitting room so that the whole area is clean. Cleaning cards are a practical way to manage the mess in our home.
So whether you’re off to refresh your cleaning supplies or write your own set of cleaning cards, I hope you feel inspired to keep a clean home and have learned some practical ways to do so. Happy cleaning!