How to achieve perfect cleanliness in the apartment. Organize your home once and for all: how to get rid of chronic clutter, organize space and start a new life

In 1999, American Marla Seeley. The name can be translated into Russian as “fluttering housewives”, and this is the whole essence of the method: putting things in order can bring joy and ease. To do this, you need to get rid of many hours of exhausting general cleaning on weekends and divide all household chores into small daily steps.

Basic tricks

• A flylady's day begins with a morning ritual and ends with an evening routine. Immediately after getting up, you need to put yourself in order, put on make-up, dress beautifully, but practically - so that it is convenient to put things in order. “Flying housewives” always wear shoes at home so that there is no temptation to throw them off like slippers and fall on the sofa ahead of time. The ritual also includes tasks like “water the flowers”, “unload the dishwasher and washing machine”, “drink a glass of water”, “read affirmations”, “clean the kitchen sink to a shine”.

• Speaking of the sink. This is the cornerstone of the flylady system, a kind of symbol of purity and order. As conceived by Marla Seeley, daily cleaning of the sink helps to make cleaning automatic and keep the hostess motivated.
• The house or apartment is divided into zones. As a rule, a zone is one room or a kitchen. Small spaces like the hallway, bathroom and toilet can be combined into a common area.
• Putting things in order should be given 15 minutes a day. Moreover, during the week you work only in one zone and methodically put in order, for example, the kitchen or living room. The next week, move on to the next zone and so on in a circle.
• The house has many so-called hotspots, or hot spots. These are places that literally accumulate a mess. The back of a chair with clothes always piled on it, a sofa on which books, toys or T-shirts were thrown, a shelf in the hallway, where a mountain of pieces of paper, checks and all sorts of little things taken from pockets grows. First you need to write down all the hotspots that are in your house. And every day to give them time - several times for five minutes.
• Once a week, on the weekends, a short (no longer than an hour) general cleaning is carried out, which the “flying housewives” call the “blessing of the house”. During it, you only need to brush off the dust, vacuum and wash the floor. Because if you have taken the previous steps of the flylady system responsibly, all things are already in their places and order reigns at home.
• Zonal cleaning, "blessing the house" and "extinguishing" hot spots are carried out on a timer. This is necessary so as not to hang on some site and not spend half a day there instead of 15 minutes.
• In the flylady system, special attention is paid to, or, as it is called here, littering. To do this, Marla recommends the “boogie-woogie 27” technique: you need to run around the whole house in 15 minutes and collect 27 things to throw away. This should be done at least once every 1-1.5 months. Also, the "flying housewives" adhere to the principle "Bring new - throw away the old!".
• To keep all household and personal affairs in order, write down routine tasks and hotspots, plan menus and follow a cleaning schedule, you need to start a diary. Or, as the flylady calls it, "the audit trail."
• In flylady communities, for example, on the official website of Marla Scilly or in the Russian-language group on Vkontakte, they regularly post cleaning tips and so-called flyspots - additional tasks for the day.

2. Magic cleaning

The method was invented by the Japanese writer Marie Kondo. At first, she published several children's books, but Marie's magical cleaning brought worldwide popularity and the title of an expert in putting things in order. The philosophy of putting things in order according to Marie Kondo is that the house should be filled with things that bring joy. This system not only teaches you to put things in order, but also allows you to become a minimalist, develop awareness and a reasonable attitude towards things.

Basic tricks

• All the things that you have in your house are divided into five categories: clothes, books, documents, sentimental things (gifts, souvenirs) and komono (everything else). Items from the same category are stored together rather than scattered throughout the house. Each of them has its own clearly defined and unchanging place.
• Once every 1.5–2 months, decluttering should be carried out. Because if the house is littered with things, and the shelves and drawers are full, cleaning turns into Sisyphean labor - no matter how hard you try, in a couple of hours there will be a mess again.
• Decluttering is carried out not by room, but by category. You need to start with clothes: collect all the things that are in the house, dump them on the floor in one room, select only the most necessary, and throw the rest away. Then move on to books, documents, and so on.
• To understand which thing to keep and which to get rid of, Marie Kondo suggests taking the object in your hands and listening to yourself: do you feel a “spark of joy”? If yes, that is, the thing is useful to you and brings - you leave it. If not, throw it out without regret. No "maybe someday come in handy." Since this thing has been gathering dust in the closet for a long time or brings back difficult memories, you need to say goodbye to it. Marie Kondo believes that better later buy new than keep old for years. And she is also against the idea of ​​giving unnecessary things to friends and acquaintances - because in this way we simply dump our rubbish on other people's shoulders.
• How . This is probably the most famous part of the technique, its calling card. Firstly, boxes or shelves cannot be filled to capacity - all things must be visible. Secondly, Marie promotes “vertical folding” in every possible way. That is, clothes are stored not in piles, as we are used to, but in rectangles or rolls. They need to be "put" on a shelf or in a chest of drawers vertically - so that not a single thing is hidden from our view. In addition, thanks to this technique, it is possible to maintain order in the cabinets: things do not spread, do not get confused and do not turn into a huge lump.

• Clothes that wrinkle easily or take up a lot of space should be hung on hangers. This must be done in the following order: first outerwear, then dresses, jackets, trousers, skirts and blouses.
• In addition, according to Marie Kondo, it is imperative to wear beautiful and neat clothes at home - so that you will not be ashamed if guests suddenly come. Marie also offers to create your own “place of power” in the room - a comfortable corner with your favorite things that will energize you.

3. Anonymous lazybones

In 1982, American Sandra Felton was unable to find her master's thesis at home. After that, she realized that complete bedlam reigns in her home and something needs to be done. As a result, Sandra came up with a system HOW TO Organize for the Messie Person, which she called Messies Anonymous or "Anonymous lazybones." At the heart of the technique, as in the previous two cases, is getting rid of trash and "the art of small steps."

Basic tricks

The whole family should be involved in cleaning. Let everyone do what he can, so the mess will be tamed much faster and more efficiently. In addition, the family approach develops a sense of responsibility among households: since they all live and litter together, it means that they need to clean up together.

• Every thing has its place. Used - immediately put in place, and nothing else.
• Sandra Felton recommends cleaning according to the Mount Vermont method - it is named so thanks to the employees of the hotel of the same name. It will take three to restore order. carton boxes approximately 30 × 45 cm in size. Items that are thrown away are sent to the first box, those that need to be given or sold to the second, those that can be left to the third. Cleaning starts from front door and move along the walls, systematically collecting scattered and misplaced items in boxes. No need to try to clean the whole apartment at once - work a little, as much as you see fit. If you are done with cleaning for today, leave the boxes near the wall and go about your business. You can spread out things from the third box in your free time, and throw out those that are in the first two without hesitation. Rubbish cannot be organized - it can only be thrown away.
• For those who have not cleaned for a long time and completely run the house, anonymous lazy people offer to try the Vesuvius Method. Here, too, you will have to stock up on several boxes or packages - for each category of things. Sign them - for example, "toys", "clothes", "throw away", and without hesitation put the objects scattered around the apartment there. Once they're all in boxes, get rid of the ones you don't need. The rest of the things will be easy to put into place, because you have already divided them into categories.
• Use the 30 second rule. If some task takes no more than half a minute (wash the plate, wipe the table), do not put it off until later. Do it and forget.
• Anonymous lazybones also have morning rituals - they are very similar to the "routines" of the flylady. Put yourself in order after waking up, make the bed, ventilate the room, collect scattered things and so on. You can add whatever you want to this list.

4. Sparkling house

This is the German system. Casablitzblanca cleaning, based on the principles already familiar to us: each thing has its place, and you need to move towards cleanliness in small steps. And there are many unexpected "zoological" metaphors in it.

Basic tricks

• The first rule of the sparkling house is to destroy the evidence. That is, put things back in place immediately after using them.
• Start the day with a “mini-routine”: ventilate the room, make the bed, put things in their places, water the flowers.
• Designate a “room of the day” each morning and clean it up for 15 to 30 minutes. Work in another room the next day.
• Additional daily tasks like dusting are called "sheep". They need to be “caught” regularly so that by the end of the week a whole “herd” has not accumulated.
• This system is also not without decluttering. Every day you need to catch "ducks" - that is, do small tasks that will help rid the house of unnecessary things. For example, disassemble one shelf in a closet.
• Children are also encouraged to join in the cleaning. Simple children's tasks are called "worms". From the age of three, kids can easily collect toys, lay out their clothes after washing or wipe the dust.
• Make lists. Cleaning plan for the day, shopping list, menu for the week.

5. Home to live

It's more of a space organization system, but it also helps keep order. The technique was created by Lu Wei, a Chinese blogger and interior designer. In her book, she talks about the proper design of a home, the arrangement of furniture and zoning of space, the secrets of proper storage of things. Most of all, Lu Wei's advice will be useful to those who buy an apartment or are going to make repairs.

Basic tricks

• The storage area should occupy 12-40% of the total living area. The smaller the house or apartment, the more space you need to allocate for storage.
• Built-in pantry is better than separate cabinets.
• If you want things to be in order, buy the same rectangular containers made of transparent plastic. Each sign - so that there is no temptation to put things in the wrong place.
• Use the 80:20 principle. Only 80% of things are in plain sight, the rest are stored so that they are not visible. By the way, this idea is contrary to the principles of Marie Kondo.
• Memorabilia - gifts, souvenirs, postcards - must be put in the so-called time capsules. That is, send them in plastic containers, one for each year.
• Use all available space for storage, do not leave empty space under the ceiling.

What method do you like? Share in the comments.

Many are interested in the question of how to maintain cleanliness and order in the apartment when there is not enough time, effort and desire for cleaning. Even with regular general cleaning after two days, there is no trace of the order. In this article, we offer recommendations on how to learn how to maintain order at home.

1. Clean for ten to twenty minutes every day in places where dust and debris accumulate the most (for example, in the hallway);

2. Consistency is the main factor in keeping the house clean and tidy. Here it is important to complete the list of daily and weekly tasks in a timely manner, in no case do not miss it! Then cleaning will become a habit and will not become a burden. It has been found that a habit takes 21 days to form. For some, this will take more time, but, most importantly, do not deviate from what was planned, complete the planned tasks on time and bring them to the end. Then you will form a useful habit, and the house will be clean, comfortable and cozy;

3. For each thing - its place. Items must be put away immediately. And this applies not only to clothes. We put the read book back on the shelf, put the used laptop on the table or in the closet, put the writing instruments in the organizer or drawer, and so on. In other words, where we took it, we put it there. Even in a hurry, observe these simple rules and then order will reign at home;

4. After the end of the season, sort out clothes, shoes and other things. Something that you haven't worn or used for more than a year can be safely given away. Broken, damaged and unusable things are boldly carried to the trash. We get rid of everything superfluous and do not store trash;

5. Do not clutter up the apartment with a lot of furniture, tall cabinets, souvenirs and small items. They accumulate a lot of dust, so you will have to clean more often and longer. In addition, a large number of small trinkets litter the apartment and make housing tasteless;

6. Designers recommend using spot or diffused light and completely abandoning chandeliers. Table lamps, floor lamps, sconces and other lamps are easier to clean than a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. In addition, they will make the room brighter, warmer, more comfortable and homely;

7. Ventilate your apartment regularly. But do not keep the windows and the balcony constantly open, as a lot of dirt and dust from the street will get inside, which will complicate cleaning;

8. Involve and teach household members to clean and order. Have them clean up after themselves. Also, divide household chores. Come up with a reward for yourself and your family, and the cleaning itself can be turned into an exciting quest or game. Then it will be easier and more fun to clean up. How to teach children to order and clean, read.

How to organize cleaning

For general or major cleaning, prioritize and make a list of what needs to be done first. Distribute tasks over several days, it is not necessary to do everything at once. By the way, experts advise cleaning a room a day. For example, clean the living room today, clean the kitchen tomorrow, and so on.

During the cleaning process, everything you need should already be at hand: detergent, rags, etc. Prepare these things ahead of time so you don't get distracted by distractions like your smartphone or TV. After all, for many of us it is already difficult.

You have to go from top to bottom. First, wipe the dust from the cabinets and hailstones, then from the windowsill tables, and only then wash the floor. This will avoid double work, because dust will not fall on a clean floor.

For wet cleaning and mopping, it is more convenient to use a washing vacuum cleaner, rather than a broom and a rag. By the way, be sure to moisten the broom in cool water, otherwise it will only spread the dust, turning it into a dusty ball. As a result, she will again settle on pieces of furniture. To clean your bathroom, be sure to use disinfectants that kill harmful bacteria and germs.

cleaning schedule

Experts advise dividing cases by season. Make a schedule of what needs to be done quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily. Once every three or four months we wash curtains and curtains, and windows, dismantle cabinets and sort through things, get rid of unnecessary things, wash ceilings and baseboards. To be an incentive, such cleaning can be timed to coincide with a holiday or date, for example, New Year, Easter, and so on.

A little less often, once every five to six months, it is recommended to clean pillows, blankets and mattresses, wash the oven and beat out carpets. Do not forget to wash hard-to-reach places behind the refrigerator, cabinet, stove and so on. Divide tasks into several days and complete throughout the week.

The list of things to do each month includes washing the doors and tiled walls, refrigerator and microwave oven, kitchen set and extracts. Careful processing of pots, pans and other kitchen utensils is also added here. We also clean rugs in the hallway, bathroom and toilet. But, if there are animals in the house, cleaning is recommended to be done every week.

Every week I wash mirrors and plumbing, the door of the refrigerator and microwave oven, the sunroof washing machine. Thoroughly wash floors, including under and behind furniture. Twice a week we do light wet cleaning floors and vacuum carpets. In the presence of children and animals, we do this every other day.

Every day we devote 15-20 minutes to cleaning. Here we wash the dishes and put things in the closet or send them to the laundry, ventilate the apartment and sweep, rinse kitchen table, sink and work surface in the kitchen. Every two or three days I wash the shower or bath and wipe the dust in the house. Such a schedule will help maintain perfect cleanliness in the kitchen, bathrooms and rooms.

Where to store things to keep things in order

Store things in baskets or drawers. They will save the situation when you need to fold and put away things in a short time. In such baskets it is convenient to store children's toys, clothes, dirty linen. It is important that they are somehow combined in order to make up a single style. You can choose products different shapes but one color.

To store things in the bathroom, it is not necessary to use classic hooks. Today, coil batteries are popular, where it is functional to dry clothes and towels. Arrange or hang plastic or wicker baskets in the bathroom. And on the hooks you can hang compact drawers. Functionally store in drawers and baskets household chemicals, cosmetics or towels.

Such storage looks aesthetically pleasing and orderly. Be sure to use the place under the sink where you can hide the same drawers or baskets. This bathroom always looks tidy and clean. And neatly hung or laid out snow-white towels will give freshness and style to the room.

We hang clothes in a closet or lay them out on shelves, put underwear in chest of drawers. We store shoes in boxes or containers, which we put on the bottom shelf in the closet or on the mezzanine. If you have little space in the apartment, use the space under the bed. But the boxes should not be visible! For seasonal shoes that you wear regularly, use the shelves and racks in the hallway. Wash and dry your pair after every wear!

Although strict Soviet housewives assured their daughters that the mess in the house is solely the result of laziness and personal lack of concentration, psychologists have long debunked this myth: people are divided into several types, and different types Individuals organize the space around them differently.

CLEANING AS A HABIT

There are those for whom structure and keeping order are easy, they are uncomfortable in a mess, and cleanliness is an important part of their character.

There are those who are more comfortable in order, but among the personality traits there is no ability to adhere to routine operations - it is more difficult for such people to maintain order, therefore, in their house, disorder most often gains a critical mass (each has its own mass), after which cleaning is carried out, but the result takes a long time does not hold, and the circle repeats.

There are also those who, in principle, are not able to maintain cleanliness in the space around them and do not worry about this at all.

However, if you still don’t like the mess, but you are not naturally clean, you can try to deceive your character and instill habits in yourself, say the activists of the Fly Lady movement. Only 10 habits will allow you to painlessly maintain order in the house.

Habit #1: Always make your bed

It was not in vain that my mother always demanded to put the bed in order before school - nothing adds to the feeling of a mess like crumpled linen on an unmade bed does. Making the bed is a matter of 10 seconds, this is the easiest and most easy habit of all!

Habit number 2: clean soap smudges from the walls of the shower or bathtub after each shower

Took a shower - rinse the walls with water to remove soap smudges, and wipe them with a special roller for showers. It takes 5 seconds and keeps the bathroom fresh - a very healthy habit that would be good to instill in all family members.

Habit #3: Wipe down the bathroom sink every night

I brushed my teeth - tidy up the sink so that soap smudges and traces of toothpaste do not freeze on it. It's easiest to keep your tile cleaner and sponge right in your bathroom so you can quickly apply it, rinse it off, and leave your bathroom looking its best. The whole procedure takes 30 seconds at most.

Habit number 4: leave the kitchen clean in the evening

Fly Lady community activists claim that cleanliness in an apartment starts with a clean kitchen. Like, the kitchen gets dirty in the first place, and you need to start a war on clutter right here. The procedure for Fly Lady is as follows:

• wash dishes or load them into dishwasher(never leave dirty dishes overnight - the rule of cleanliness)
• apply the cleaner on the sink in a thick layer, leave to act
• wipe all surfaces with a damp sponge
• Rinse the cleaning agent from the surface of the sink, wipe it dry
• get fresh kitchen towel, used send to the laundry

With proper skill and consistency, the whole procedure takes from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the volume of dirty dishes.

Habit #5: Wash dishes while cooking

All people are divided into two groups - someone cooks and multiplies dirty utensils around him, someone washes everything in the process of cooking. Chistyuli - from the second. The rule "used - washed" allows you to choke the mess at the stage of inception.

Habit #6: "Evening rounds"

All the same Fly Lady activists advise you to make it a habit to spend every evening “five minutes of cleanliness” - before you go to bed, you need to go around the apartment and sort out fresh rubble. Send scattered things to their place, fold magazines and CDs, park children's toys. Just 5 minutes every evening will help keep your house clean until the next general cleaning.

Habit number 7: do not produce clothes outside the closets

Dirty - in the wash, wearable - back in the closet. This rule allows you to wean yourself and loved ones to produce mountains of clothes on chairs and armchairs that fit so harmoniously into the overall atmosphere of the mess. This routine takes about 5 seconds of time - just in the process of exposing yourself, control yourself and send the things being filmed not to the chair, but to the right place.

Habit number 8: ventilate the room

One of the unpleasant properties of bardach apartments is a musty smell. The apartment can be relatively tidy, but this smell will betray the slut faster than scattered things. Make it a rule to ventilate the apartment every day for 10-15 minutes, this is good for health and to maintain an overall feeling of cleanliness.

Habit #9: Dusting extremely dusty surfaces every day

Every home has surfaces that attract dust faster than others - plasma panels, monitors, glass (including a mirror), etc. Special rag with antistatic impregnation + 2-3 minutes a day to get around all the "dusty" places and brushing off accumulated during the day will allow you to maintain the overall feeling of cleanliness for a long time.

Habit #10: Involve everyone in the household to keep things organized and invest in technology that makes life easier

No need to suddenly become clean, it's bad for the psyche, say Fly Lady. Sometimes you really just don’t have the strength to sort out a fresh blockage or brush off the dust - it’s not scary, it will wait until tomorrow. The main thing is to make the above steps your habit, for which it is enough to force yourself to follow the routine for three weeks.

After 21 days, making evening rounds and wiping down the bathroom sink will become second nature, activists say.

And one more thing: one should not try to repeat the feat of Hercules and clean the Augean stables alone, one should try to instill the habits of cleanliness in all households (although what exactly is the feat of Hercules - cleaning or instilling such habits in husband and children - this, of course, is a question).

Buying good household appliances, which reduces the time and effort to maintain cleanliness - this is not throwing money away. For example, investing in a good steam cleaner (a device that cleans various surfaces with hot steam) will help you cut down on hours of time you would otherwise spend scrubbing tiles, plumbing, etc.

We do not live in the 19th century, and it is foolish not to use everything that is designed to make our lives easier.

And so that work on your habits does not stop, and laziness does not take over, FLY LADY advises you to make something like a cleaning schedule, where you list the main routine and the frequency of various manipulations for yourself. It is enough to stick to this schedule for a month to get used to the new routine.

It is important to understand that not a single area in the house is designed to store trash and extra things. It's hard to believe: it seems that you can arrange a warehouse in a closet, on a balcony, in a bedside table or a separate closet. But actually it is not. Each room or room, whether it's a garage, a utility room, a mezzanine or a barn, has a direct purpose, which is not to store junk there. Our tips will help you put things in order not only at home, but also in other rooms, as well as in the corners where you are used to putting everything you don’t need.

Can you make sure that only things that you use remain in your apartment? The main problem associated with putting things in order in houses is that we store things that we don’t need: it’s a pity, it’s expensive, it’s new, there’s nowhere to put it, it will suddenly come in handy. All these “safe words” are agitating you to live in housing that is littered with unnecessary items. Bought an expensive leather jacket but don't wear it because it doesn't suit you? Sell, donate, give away or throw away. According to space optimizers, people sell unnecessary things at flea markets or Avito so successfully that they earn decent amounts. Your task is to take every thing that is at home and decide whether you will use it in the near future or not. If not, discard.

Imagine that the house needs a general cleaning. Here you are armed with a damp cloth or cloth in order to get rid of dust and dirt that appears on bedside tables, tables, surfaces of refrigerators, microwave ovens and coffee tables. What will your eye fall on? All these surfaces are littered with figurines, vases, magazines, small household items, magnets and other gizmos. As a result, instead of promptly wiping everything around, you either start to disassemble the trash, or put the rag in the far corner. Your task is to optimize the space so that dust from all surfaces can be removed in a matter of minutes. This does not mean that absolutely everything must be removed from open surfaces. It is important to eliminate all unnecessary.

The trouble is that a tablet, charger, laptop, lipstick, watch or book can end up every time in unexpected places. How so? And it’s very simple: they don’t have a single place. It is this cycle of things in apartments that requires putting things in order again and again. What do you end up doing? You just move things from place to place. And then back. This can be stopped once and for all. For every item in the house, find the only possible place. Then the house will be in perfect order, and the necessary things will no longer be lost.

Tip 4: Organize storage according to the arm's length rule

Thinking about how to arrange things in the bedroom, personal account, in the kitchen or living room, use the arm's length rule. All the things that you use when washing over the sink should be located so close that you can reach them. The same goes for working at the table, cooking, applying makeup. Thus, you can not only save time, but also quickly return the item to its rightful place: immediately and without effort.

Tip 5: Keep items of the same category in a specific place

Do not allow a situation where cosmetics or apartment cleaning products are stored in different places. Why is it so important? First, by putting items with the same functionality in a certain place, you can assess what you are missing. Imagine that some girl has makeup products in the bedroom, in the bathroom, in her purse and in the hallway at the same time. She lives in the illusion that tonal means or shadows have ended and that “just a little” in general. Buy a convenient box for storing cosmetics, put all the funds there and immediately understand whether you need to buy something extra or if you have a supply for a year ahead.

The same applies to all other items: wires and chargers / books / combs and other categories should have a single place. Special storage boxes will help solve the problem. You can find these in online stores for every taste and color. Moreover, they are designed specifically for storing things of specific categories.

Yes, this rule is difficult to follow when the supermarket has promotions for an annual supply of shampoo and blocks toilet paper. It's hard to avoid the temptation to save money, but it's because of it that you don't have a place to store all your things. Instead of large blocks of something, buy one package and use the rest of the space for other items. The same goes for products: bags of potatoes, large stocks sunflower oil, meat, fish. You don't need large amounts of food unless there is a special place for them. Try to live by this rule, then your rooms will be perfectly clean.

Beautiful gift boxes, Zara bags, wrapping paper are unnecessary things. You should also immediately pull tights, cups, and household appliances out of the boxes. If you need the information on the packaging, take a picture of it and say goodbye to the cardboard that looks like an untidy apartment and takes up extra space. And as for household appliances, remember: packaging is not needed. Return the device or request warranty repair It is possible in the presence of a sales receipt, and only. You don't even have to show the cash register.

Imagine that you decide to dismantle one of the rooms, for example, the kitchen. Here you find, one by one, objects that have a place in other locations. Here you come across a screwdriver, and you carry it to the toolbox, then you find a package of pills and immediately go to the first aid kit. Such trips from room to room will not allow you to clean up quickly. You will instantly get tired and abandon the “clutter”. To save time, take a "relocation box" in which you put everything that does not belong in the kitchen. So you quickly clear the room of migrant things by putting them in a box. And now you have to smash them in their places in one go.

Remember how many instructions, labels, tools you have that you plan to use on your “rainy days”. That will break washing machine how to be without instructions? I need a drill, where can I get it? It's simple: you can find instructions on the Internet, and ask a neighbor for a drill. Those things that you do not need on a daily basis do not belong in your home. If you collect everything “in case of war”, you will not see order.

Many, in response to advice regarding putting things in order, will say that children are to blame for everything. They don't put things back in their place, they bring dirt into the rooms, they throw toys around, or they don't wash the dishes after them. In fact, children only copy your behavior. If your house is not sparkling clean right now, it means that you have run it a little: you don’t put things in their places, you don’t always make your bed, or maybe you don’t love it at all. Children absorb everything and will not litter in an apartment where no one does this.

Every woman dreams of putting things in order in the apartment so that it lasts for a long time, and at the same time it is easy to maintain cleanliness without much effort. How to deal with the constant mess, and scattered things growing like a snowball? Why is it always clean and tidy for someone, and someone tries and puts things in order in the apartment every day, but for some reason it is imperceptible? In this article, the site "Mom can do anything!" will consider all the secrets and basic ways to maintain cleanliness for a long time.

A few tips to keep your apartment clean and tidy

• Do the cleaning in batches.

If there is no time to restore order or general cleaning in the whole apartment at once, do it gradually. Break the action into several parts. For example, choose a day to remove and wash all the curtains. Clean the windows the next day. Then take care of putting things in order in the closets, etc.

• Get rid of unnecessary items and things.

On shelves and chests of drawers, things are usually piled up and lying around that do not fit in the closet, and there is no place for them. To prevent this from happening, free all cabinets and chests of drawers from the accumulated rubbish that you have not used for a long time. First of all, throw away all broken items and old clothes. What is still in good condition, but for some reason does not suit you, give it to your friends or put it up for sale. Thus, space will be freed up for those things that you use constantly, and they will not be scattered throughout the apartment.

• We get rid of landfills in the apartment.

Many in the apartment have such places where dumps of things periodically appear. Observe and identify them. To eliminate such places, think about where else it is possible to remove these things that accumulate by themselves. For example, a mountain of T-shirts, sweaters and home clothes constantly grows on a chair or ironing board. Allocate additional space on a hanger in the closet or a separate shelf where it is convenient to put away these things and also quickly get them.

• Avoid a large number open shelves and small items.

Think about what takes you the most time when putting things in order in the apartment? Surely this is wiping dust from many shelves and moving objects from place to place that are located on them. Dust settles on open surfaces very quickly and needs to be wiped almost every day. So, if you don't want to spend a lot of time cleaning, try not to put a lot of figurines or photo frames on the shelves. In general, when choosing and buying furniture for an apartment, it is better to immediately give preference, closed cabinets light shades, without an abundance of glass and mirror shelves. Thus, you will be able to save as much time as possible on cleaning and rubbing the shelves.

• Don't forget about modern means and cleaning supplies.

Go shopping and pick your convenient devices for cleanliness. Now there are many options for brushes, mops and rags from special material that make cleaning a real pleasure. Because it is possible to quickly and easily clean the entire apartment with them.

For example, to maintain cleanliness in hard-to-reach places mops are ideal, with a long swivel handle and a brush. Most dust tends to accumulate on air conditioners and tall cabinets. And with modern devices, you can very quickly and easily clean any surface, even dropped ceilings and dirty Wall panels which cannot be reached by hand.

Order in the nursery

In order for the garbage not to accumulate, and the apartment was always clean, you just need to try not to litter the rooms, and clean up in a timely manner. But this is not always possible if you have children. Many experienced mothers have long been thoroughly and thoughtfully approaching this issue. Because cleaning up scattered toys or things after children is like trying to clear snow blockages during a snowfall.

In order for children to be able to quickly tidy up their room at your first request, the room should have a convenient storage system.

• Boxes or plastic containers for toys should be located at floor level so that the child can easily reach them.
• Sign the boxes for their intended purpose, for the designer, for cars, for soft toys, etc. For children who can't read yet, stick pictures with clues about the contents of the boxes.
• It is very good to have several large free-use baskets in the nursery in case of emergency. For example, if guests are coming soon and you urgently need to put things in order, or if in the evening there is no strength to put all the toys in their places. You quickly throw all the toys that are lying around into the basket and the room is clean again.

Thus, you will save yourself from the constant putting things in order in the nursery and teach children to be independent.

Order in the kitchen

In the kitchen, as a rule, a lot of greasy plaque accumulates very quickly on all surfaces. To make it easier to keep clean every day, get comfortable sponges and by special means, quickly corroding fat. But as everyone knows chemicals highly toxic and harmful to the human body. Therefore, if you or your household are prone to allergies, it is better to choose less aggressive products. Also, in order to completely abandon their use, melamine sponges have long been on sale, which, without any means, quickly clean all greasy surfaces, erasing dirt like an eraser. They are great for cleansing. gas stove, furniture and even glass from deep pollution.

And to quickly clean the microwave or the inner door of the oven from stubborn fat, use ordinary table vinegar. Treat contaminated surfaces with a washcloth soaked in vinegar and wash off greasy deposits after 10-15 minutes.

Maintaining order in the bathroom

Owners of small apartments, and, accordingly, a small bathroom know firsthand how difficult it is to fit all the necessary accessories in it. Especially if the family is large and for everyone you need to fit his hygiene items. Shampoos, towels, washcloths, bath toys, bath foam, shaving accessories, etc. It is unlikely that all this will fit on a small shelf. Of course, it's great if you have a small cabinet in the bathroom where most of these items fit.

• Put additional shelves on the bath itself, for shampoos and washcloths, for some of them it is not even necessary to drill the wall, they are mounted on suction cups.
• If there is not enough space at all, hang additional hooks that are attached to the wall on an adhesive basis. Hang a transparent plastic handbag or cosmetic bag on them, putting the essentials there.
• hang on inside door pockets for small items. They are easy to find in any store or sew yourself. It is best if they are made of transparent plastic or mesh material.

Keeping the bathroom clean is a must. Wipe down the sink and faucets several times a week to help remove rust and grime from surfaces. Otherwise, they so strongly eat into the surface that it is quite problematic to clean everything afterwards.

By the way, the most famous natural remedy in the fight against rust is citric acid. Sprinkle lemon granules on the contaminated surface and leave for 5-10 minutes. After that, plaque and rust are washed quite well from tiles, sinks and bathrooms.

Order in the toilet

Maintaining order in the bathroom is not difficult, because it usually occupies the smallest area in the entire apartment. But at the same time, cleanliness must be maintained there regularly.

• To quickly wipe the rim or toilet lid, place a large package freely available wet wipes. Just make sure that the household does not throw napkins into the toilet, otherwise it will quickly clog.
• Instead of your regular air freshener, get helium scented toilet blocks that easily attach to the rim of the toilet. They eliminate bad smell and create a foam that cleans the toilet from dirt.
• If any flavorings are not acceptable to you due to strong odors or allergies, make your own scented bombs. Take a few drops essential oil, half a glass baking soda, 3 tablespoons citric acid and dilute it all with water until a homogeneous consistency is obtained. Then spread the resulting mixture into molds and leave to dry for 5-6 hours. Such natural flavors can not only eliminate unpleasant odors, but also clean the toilet bowl from germs and dirt.

As you know, cleanliness is the key to health. This is especially important if there are children in the apartment. Therefore, maintaining cleanliness and timely disposal of accumulated dust and dirt is very important for all of us. And of course, it is always nice if putting things in order in the apartment is not difficult and does not take much time. We hope our tips will help you for faster and easier cleaning!