Guest article provided by: http://confessionsofacleaninglady.com
Working from home has some great advantages. You save money on gas, your commute is measured in feet and not miles, and your pajamas have become your official work clothes. But in the realm of house cleaning, there are some cons as well as pros. Obviously, you have more time to clean, but you are also making more of a mess by being home all day, especially if your whole family is working and learning from home as well. It can get messy pretty quickly, to the point you are spending all your time on the weekends cleaning. I’m going to give you some easy steps to follow to keep your house clean while working from home so you can actually commute to someplace fun on the weekends.
Empty your dishwasher in the morning
Unless you really miss brown-bagging it and make your lunch every morning, working from home is generally going to mean more dishes to clean. I suggest getting the heavy lifting out of the way and emptying your clean dishwasher in the morning. I do this while my coffee is brewing. It never takes as long as you think and now you can load the dishes as you go throughout the day. Turn it on before bed and rinse, repeat (see what I did there?).
Keep that laundry going
One of the great things about working from home is that you probably don’t remember the last time you went to the dry cleaners and your ironing board is nowhere to be found. But unless you are going full commando in your home office, you are still going to have laundry. This may be one of the easiest chores to keep on top of while working from home. Just put the first load in the washing machine in the morning and keep switching loads all day. When a load is done in the dryer, just put it in a basket or pile it up somewhere. I like to throw all my laundry on the bed throughout the day and then fold it when I’m watching TV at night. Pro tip: By throwing it on the bed, you have to fold it before you can go to sleep and you don’t have Mt. Everest piling up in a far-off room in your house.
Pick up the clutter throughout the day
One tip I like to give my clients is to keep a basket handy throughout the day to put clutter in. When you are stretching your legs on your break, take the basket with you and throw everything in it that is not in the right place. Pens, toys, socks, cups, whatever is lying around that needs to be put away. Just fill the basket up throughout the day and you can empty it at night.
Keep cleaning products and tools in every room
With you, and perhaps your whole family at home, your bathrooms and kitchen are going to be doing double time. Keep your cleaning products under the sink for a quick and easy wipe down in all your bathrooms and kitchen. This includes sprays, paper towels and sponges so when you have a few minutes you can just grab and clean. This includes dusters in the living areas of the house.
Get everyone to pitch in
Long gone are the days where one member of the family unit goes to work and one stays home and cleans the house. Dual working and single working parents are the norm. Then the pandemic threw that paradigm on its head with everyone staying at home and making a mess. So it’s time for everyone to pitch in and clean up that mess. Having an open dialogue with the kids and the significant other is a great way to take some of the burden off the primary caregiver / cleaner. Make chore lists and throw in rewards for some fun.
If you follow these tips you will be able to reap all the rewards that come with working from home. Happy cleaning!
The Cleaning Lady has cleaned houses professionally for 20 years. Visit www.confessionsofacleaninglady.com for more house cleaning tips, product reviews, declutter ideas and funny stories about her train wreck clients.