Have you thought about a cleaning chart? What I find is the hardest part about keeping a home clean with multiple people is for everyone to do “their part”! In my household of two teenage sons, a 5 year old daughter, a husband and a cat, it always seems like no one wants to take responsibility for cleaning up! I’m sure this is true with college roommates, and anyone else who has to share a living space with other people. Take a look at our home organization ideas on Pinterest here!

How a Cleaning Chart may Keep Your Household Sane

A cleaning chart or roster can be an essential ingredient of a happy household. If you’ve ever lived in a share house, and been forced to put up with a filthy housemate, then you’ve already had a taste of the types of problems that cleaning rosters are intended to solve. They can be great for homes where there are lots of people and lots of cleaning tasks to do, and they also work well for busy people or anyone else who wants to make keeping the house clean a little bit easier. In its simplest form, a cleaning roster is a high level schedule of regular household cleaning tasks.

How To Make Your Cleaning Chart

Start by making a master list of all the cleaning chores that need to be done.  You may want to brainstorm the list first, and then go over the house considering each room to see what you might have missed.

The next step involves organizing these tasks into those that must be done daily, a couple of times per week, weekly, monthly, seasonally, and yearly.  To get you started, here are some examples of tasks that might be in these categories:

Cleaning Chart Daily:

Dishes, cleaning floors and other surfaces, and putting away paperwork;

Cleaning Chart Every few days:

Laundry (depending on how many people are in your household), mopping, and vacuuming;

Weekly:

Vacuuming (if your house doesn’t accumulate much dust), dusting, and general cleaning in areas that don’t get much use;

Monthly:

Ceiling fans and light fixtures, walls, windows, air vents, and deep vacuuming in nooks and crannies;

Cleaning Chart Seasonally:

Outdoor areas, HVAC units, windows, and appliances;

Yearly:

Spring cleaning, and other deep out-of-the-way cleaning that you only do once a year, such as attics and basements.

Note: Don’t just copy the cleaning roster above!  Well, actually you can if you want… but you’ll find it much more beneficial to design one of your own that is tailored to the needs of your household.

Designate Tasks

Next, decide how many people are available to do which cleaning tasks.  Create a rotation so that nobody has to do one particular job every time.  Make sure you take into account what each person can and can’t do.  Some things might be impossible or dangerous for little kids, and you should be careful about assigning too many tasks to family members who work long hours.  Try to get everyone involved in cleaning and remember that kids who do some housework tend to have higher levels of responsibility, maturity, and self-esteem.

Molly Maid has some great cleaning charts for kids, adults, and more, here.

Create Your Chart

The best way to create your cleaning roster is using the computer.  In fact, you can download roster templates from various websites that allow you to shortcut the process a little.  Or, almost equally as easily, you can make your own using a simple program like Microsoft Excel.  Start by recording each of your family member’s work or school schedule, and then start assigning tasks to the available time accordingly.  It might be a good idea to choose times of the day for certain tasks.  For example, general tidying up is a daily task that works well just before bed.

If it’s the first time, you may also want to allow for some flexibility; pay attention to what works well and what doesn’t, and then be prepared to go back and make some changes later.

Need help in creating a cleaning chart? Spending for Less has some great ideas!

Cleaning Chart for the Entire Family:

Perhaps the biggest challenge is getting everyone to follow the cleaning roster!  In order to overcome this difficulty, you may want to post it in a place where it will be easily seen, like the refrigerator.  Also, if you find that it’s tough to get the kids to do their work then it’s worth considering creating a rewards system.  For example, if all of the tasks are completed by the end of the week, then they get a prize or treat. This sort of technique can be quite motivational; you’ll find that rewarding them for doing their cleaning works much better than punishing them for NOT doing it.

If you’re battling against a super messy house and you haven’t tried a cleaning roster before then give it a shot. If you get it right, then it can generate great results.

This article was written on behalf of Housework Heroes. Get in touch to learn about their cleaning franchise opportunities, or if you want some further reading, then take a look at their article on eco cleaning tips.

For more home cleaning tips on Stagetecture, click here.

Even though you’ve grown up and accepted that the only way your house is going to stay clean is if you stay on the ball, there’s no denying that it’s still a pretty big chore (or several). And while you may even learn to find some therapeutic value in cleaning, still you have to squeeze it in when you’d rather be relaxing or doing something more fun. Luckily, it doesn’t have to take you all day to clean the house. So pump up the jams, grab your cleaning cloth, and follow these shortcuts to truncate your time spent keeping up your house.

Image via: Charles Luck Stone Center

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1. Wax on, wax off.

One rag soaked in cleaning solution, one clean and dry. Grab one with each hand and get to work, Miyagi-style. Or you can follow the lead of a hotel maid and opt for the spray-and-wipe method of cleaning, by which you simply spray with one hand and wipe with the other. The only real problem with these methods is that they don’t allow for a rinsing phases, so over time your surfaces could suffer from some buildup. But if you do a deep clean, say, every third or fourth cleaning, this is a great way to shave some time off your regular routine.

2. All-in-one solvents.

If you have to switch solvents and rags for every surface in your home it’s going to take you a lot longer to get the job done. Instead, opt for a multi-purpose cleaner that works on windows, countertops, tubs, tile, appliances, and everything in between. You might still have to switch to something else for the wood in your home (so as not to dry it out with harsh chemicals), but that’s better than having five or six solvents for each room in your house.

Image via: Hugh Jefferson Randolph Architects

3. Vacuum attachments.

After you dust and sweep you’ll still have to pick up the extra, so why not get the whole job done the first time around with a vacuum setup that comes complete with multiple attachments? This way all you have to do is pop them on and off as needed and you can work your way from one end of the room to the other, sucking up every speck of dust and dander and every cobweb along your route.

4. Swiffer.

This handy tool is a godsend for homes with hard flooring. Instead of pushing an unwieldy broom that leaves particles behind, using a vacuum that can’t get into tight spaces, or crawling around on your hands and knees with a rag, pick up a lightweight, versatile Swiffer Sweeper and some dry and wet cloths to make cleaning every floor a cinch.

Image via: DEKORA Staging Inc

5. Robots.

While it’s still a little too soon to hire your own Rosie the Robot, you can at least benefit from the current robotics revolution by using a product like the Roomba to help you clean. Simply turn it on and set it loose in your home and it will travel around the room, picking up dust bunnies from under your couch and coffee table, and anywhere else it can reach. Of course, if you’re this desperate to avoid cleaning you could simply hire a maid or engage a specialty service like EP cleaners. But you might just want to spare yourself the expense and see how the robot works out.

For more cleaning & maintenance tips on Stagetecture, click here.

Chances are that there are places inside your home you have never cleaned. No matter if you’ve lived in a home for a decade, chances are that there are nooks and crannies that haven’t been untouched in years. This is permissible only due to the fact that the area might be hard to reach. However, what if we don’t want to deal with it in the first place? Yet, there is also the chance that that we just simply forget about these nooks and crannies when we clean and then move on to other areas of the house without even thinking about it. Here are 5 of the dirtiest places in your home that you forget to clean.

Image via: Exquisite Kitchen Design

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1. Trash Cans

Have you looked inside your trashcan lately? Most of us take out the trash one a week. If we have a large family this can be a bi-weekly chore. However, most of us don’t even think twice about cleaning out the actual trashcan. All those germs and food particles from the things we throw out have probably found their way to the bottom or side of our trashcans. It is important to clean out our waste bins at least twice a month to eliminate odors and germs.

2. Light Switches

When was the last time you wiped down and de-sanitized the light switches in your home? Here’s a better question: if you have a lot of people in your household, how many people are switching on and off the light switches during the course of a day? Our light switches become like safe harbors for germs that are literally carried around the house. It is important to clean your light switches at least once a week.

Image via: Exquisite Kitchen Design

3. Behind Artwork & Picture Frames

We don’t often think about what could be lurking behind our picture and art frames. Perhaps this is why when we move out of our homes there is a very clear demarcation as to where our picture frames were. Whether you are looking for Ottawa house cleaning or Vancouver house cleaning, always make sure that the people cleaning your home do a quick clean or dusting behind the picture frames.

4. Doorknobs

Just like your light switches, our doorknobs can also be covered in germs from daily use. It is funny that the things in our homes that we operate the most are the things that most often get left unclean. Our doorknobs are an obvious place that we should clean, but we often forget to. If you have sanitizer wipes you could go around to all the doorknobs in the house for a quick wipe down.

Image via: Sterling Publishing

5. Houseplants

Lastly, if we have houseplants and you find yourself sneezing it might be because you’ve never cleaned the dust off of them. Just like anything that is still or stationary in the house, your houseplants can accumulate dust. So when you go to water them every week, just make sure to do a light dusting. Your plants will be happier and your home will be that much cleaner.

For more cleaning & maintenance tips on Stagetecture, click here.

When the birds return to sing their morning songs and the tulips start breaking free from their winter rest, thoughts turn to spring cleaning. Now is the best time to open the windows, knock the winter dust out of rugs and make your home as clean as possible. Spring cleaning once entailed spending weeks scrubbing every corner of the house, but you can make it fast and easy with these clever tips.

Image via: LKID

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Work from the Top Down

It’s important to vacuum the floors, but you don’t want to dirty them after you vacuum. When dusting and polishing, always start at the top and work your way down. That way, the dust you knock off the ceiling and the small spider webs you evict from upper corners will be cleaned up when you vacuum.

Decide on a System

You have two basic cleaning systems to follow when you’re trying to work through the whole house. You can go one room at a time and complete all tasks in that room, or you can work through the entire house focusing on one task at a time. With this method, you would get your window cleaning supplies and scrub all the windows the same day. The next day, you might dust all the rooms. The following day may be when you move methodically through the home to sweep and mop the hard floors.

Think of the Little Things

You clean the big things throughout the year, but spring is the time to focus on the little areas. This is when you will clean the tracks of your sliding patio door, polish wood trim and even check the walls to see if they need scrubbing. These surfaces are overlooked throughout the year, so pay a little extra attention to them now to make the entire house sparkle and shine.

Image via: Kelly Baron

Fresh Carpet and Upholstery

Your carpets take a beating throughout the year, and this is the perfect time to give them a good cleaning. Start by picking up large items, then vacuum the rug thoroughly to remove dust, dirt and pet hair. Finally, have the carpet steam cleaned to ensure that it is truly clean.

Move Items

When you are cleaning the home, remember to move items. Slide the couch over to vacuum under it. Pull the refrigerator out to clean behind it and vacuum off the coils. Take area rugs out to mop and polish the floor below them. When you move items, you can rest assured that dirt hiding in a corner will be found and eliminated.

The warmer weather brings the chance to spend more time outside, and it’s also the time to open the windows and give the house a good cleaning. These tips will make the chore a little more organised, and the reminders will help you clean even the areas that are normally neglected. Use this guide to make your spring cleaning more effective and faster.

Kelly Barnes is a busy mother of three who enjoys how fresh the home is after a good cleaning. She relies heavily on her Robomaid to help her with the vacuuming and make her cleaning chores easier.

For more home cleaning tips on Stagetecture, click here.

When you have a house, it probably never feels like the housework is never done. Oh, but when you have a big house, the feeling starts to turn into a very real and potentially overwhelming situation. Seemingly, once you get one room the way that you want it then it’s time to work on another one. This can lead to a never ending cycle. Luckily, there are some tips that you can apply that will make cleaning and maintaining your house a lot easier.

Image via: Digs Digs

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It’s basically all about developing a “house cleaning system” and we have five ways to help you do just that below:

Schedule it out.

Time goes by really fast, so when it comes to cleaning a big house, you don’t really want to “wing it”. It’s best if you have a schedule set up somewhere with designated days for each room. For instance, if Sunday is the day that you plan to vacuum, then perhaps make Wednesday the day that you clean your bathrooms and so on. Also, make sure that there is one more than one person doing the house chores; that way, no one will feel overcome by all that needs to be done.

Put everything in its proper place.

When you get home from a long day at work and the kids get home from sometimes an equally as long day at school, there can be a real temptation to leave shoes, coats and bags (and sometimes even mail) at the front door while telling yourself “I’ll get to it later.” Before you realize it, “later” is not a few minutes but a couple of days and now you have piles of things in the hallway or on the kitchen counter. To avoid this, make sure that everyone in the house knows to put those things up as soon as they get home. It makes keep the house in order much easier in the long run.

Do a few things daily.

It’s best if people make up their bed as soon as they get out of it in the morning. It’s a good idea to wash dishes (or put them into the dishwasher) daily; that way, there won’t be a pile up of them in the sink. It’s also smart to wipe down bathroom mirrors and the sink and to make sure that people clean out the bathtub right after the shower on a daily basis as well. Oh, and when it comes to pulling out things like toys, video games and magazines, you might want to have a couple of ottomans around the house so that those items can go into their “hidden storage compartments” once people are done using them.

Clean up the mess right after you make it.

The kitchen is probably the one room in the house where spills happen the most consistently; but if you have kids, things dropping, breaking and dripping are pretty much par for the course. You might have days when you’ll want to look to see just how much the maid service cost would run you, but you would save yourself the extra expense by simply making sure to clean up messes immediately after they happen.

Image via: Homedit

Play “look and toss” with your refrigerator.

There’s a pretty good chance that every time that you go into your fridge, there is something that has expired or spoiled. Make it a point to look for those kinds of items each time that you open the door and also make sure to designate “official throw out day” for the evening before the trash man comes. That will keep you from having to spend an entire Saturday or Sunday (or two) cleaning out your refrigerator. Happy cleaning!

For more home ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Coming home to a dirty kitchen can be a depressing sight after a long day at work. Tidying up the kitchen can be a draining experience, but with some simple cleaning tips, your worktops can get that glorious shine with half the effort.

6 of the Best Kitchen Cleaning Tips you Can Find

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1. The Blender

Have you ever tried to wash your blender by hand? With dried on soup or smoothie, this can become an odyssey, no matter how many times you soak it and attack it with a scrubbing brush. There is one easy way you can have a sparklingly clean blender, and it involves moving fast: as soon as you’ve enjoyed your nice winter-warming soup or fruity smoothie, fill your blender with water and a little drop of dish soap, and then turn it on for 20 seconds. Rinse it out with clean water and hey presto! A clean blender in less than 30 seconds.

2. Microwave

It’s amazing how many spillages occur in a microwave. Over time, the walls can get caked in unhygienic grime. When it comes to cleaning these off, you need some serious upper body strength, unless you follow this quick tip. Place a wad of wet paper towels inside your microwave and bake them on high for three to five minutes. The steam will soften the grime, making it easier for you to wipe it away. For extra economy, use the wet paper towels to clean the microwave’s interior.

3. Coffee Pot

A mug of coffee in the morning can be a lifesaver. However, with our daily use, it can start developing a brown stain. All you need is some ice, salt, and a lemon. Fill the coffee jug one quarter full of ice, and then squeeze half a lemon and two tablespoons of salt. After only 2 minutes of stirring your mixture, the pot will be clean. All that’s left to do is give it a quick rinse.

4. A Burnt Pot

Baked on burnt food is an absolute nightmare to get off. Not only will your scrubbing damage the bottom, but it’s unlikely that the residue will come away with muscle power alone. Instead, boil some water in your pot with some rhubarb stalks, and after two to three minutes, take away from the heat and allow to cool. The stains should be gone, but you may have to finish off some particularly bad burns with some extra scrubbing. If your tumultuous cooker caused this accident in the first place, prevention is paramount, so check out a reputable oven retailer like Range Cookers.

5. Coffee Cup

So now that you’ve dealt with your coffee pot, it’s time to tackle those brown coffee stains on your mugs. This is simple: scrub them with vinegar and salt in equal parts. Your coffee cups should be beautifully white again.

6. Cleaning the Dishes

For those days when your plates have been left on the side and nasty food residue has built up on the surface, use a lemon on your dishes. All you have to do is cut a lemon in half and rub the juicy bit against the plate. After this, it should be a cinch to clean off those dishes.

This article was contributed by Lloyd, a freelance blogger and writer, on behalf of Range Cookers.

For more kitchen & bath ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Not many people like the daunting task of tackling what seems to be the endless cleaning of our homes. Between laundry, dishes, and dusting it seems impossible to ever catch up! However, there are some ways to organize your home and lifestyle which can help you get the cleaning done much faster – giving you more time to enjoy the fun things in life. Cleaning is a fact of life for every home and spending all day to tackle your houselhold chores shouldn’t be a dreaded part of your day. Here are cleaning tips that you can use from www.hygienedepot.co.uk and will help make your home an enjoyable place to live again.

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Tackle one room per day:

One of the biggest pitfalls that trip us up when cleaning our homes is overwhelming ourselves by trying to get it all done at once. When we feel overwhelmed, we are more likely to toss up our hands in failure and give up.  The best way to beat this scenario is to write a chore chart. Yes, it may sound silly for an adult to have their own chore chart, but it will work! By allotting a half an hour or hour each day to a single room in your home, you will end the week with a home that has been cleaned top to bottom.  Make Monday your kitchen day where you tackle the stove, countertops, and grimy sink; make Tuesday your TV room day where you tackle the dusting, vacuuming, and storage of toys.  By the end of the week the kitchen may start looking grimy again, but don’t worry Monday’s chores will only be a couple days away, so take a break and enjoy the weekend.

Baskets:

Baskets can go a long way in helping to organize your home and speed up cleaning time. Start with a pretty wicker basket in each room of your home. At the end of every day, toss the clutter of each room into its allotted basket, making for a quick clean up. Then try to take one or two baskets per week and sort them, putting away each item in its proper place. By doing this, you are clearing your rooms of the clutter in a quick manner every day, and then doing a more in depth organizing on a weekly basis.

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Involve everyone:

Forget about doing your kids bedrooms or your husband’s office.  Why should one family member have to tackle it all? Giving up control can sometimes be difficult, but allowing your children the responsibility of cleaning their own rooms, and putting away their own laundry and toys, gives you more time and gives them a feeling of responsibly and autonomy .

When all else fails and you find yourself overwhelmed by all those incessant chores, consider hiring a local student. There are plenty of young teenagers who would love to come and vacuum your house while giving you a much-needed break and allowing them to earn some pocket money.

For more home cleaning tips on Stagetecture, click here.

With the summer winding down your house is probably ready for another “spring cleaning”. Regardless of where you live, back to school madness is just weeks away and you may need a Maid Service Fairfax, VA or your own local cleaning service to ensure your home is ready! Here are some easy tips to ensure back to school is an enjoyable time for your kids and you, and not a nightmare ready to happen.

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Sort through summer clutter: 

Depending on where you live the fall months may be cooler, while here in Florida it is still crazy hot! Regardless, you will need to help your kids go through their summer clothes to make room for school clothes. Also sort through summer toys, summer vacation memorabilia and arts and crafts to make room for future homework and school related projects. Create a desk and working environment that will help your kid’s transition back in the routine.

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Conduct a thorough cleaning:  

Throughout the summer we tend to be more relaxed with cleaning. The kids are always running through the house, neighbors are stopping by for summer barbecues and cleaning can fall by the wayside! Before starting the school year, tackle a part of your home each week to help you once the school begins. Bathrooms, bedrooms, playrooms and main living spaces should be targeted. You will be surprised how much dirt can build up over a summer of relaxing!

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Back to school time shouldn’t create a huge break in you and your family’s routine. In fact if you get a head start on cleaning now, you will be able to focus on more important things… like all of those school lists of back to school supplies you will need!

For more back to school ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Nobody really relishes the tasks associated with keeping a household clean and making sure that everything functions properly, but we all like coming home to a space that is sparklingly free of clutter and debris, and being able to turn on lights and faucets without the worry that they won’t work. So it is in your best interest to engage in regular maintenance and frequent cleaning. But if you are busy with the demands of a job and family, as most adults are, you might have trouble fitting these tasks into your daily life. So here are just a few tips and tricks to help you manage your time when it comes to cleaning and maintaining your home.

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Set a schedule.

You probably have a schedule to help you manage meetings and deadlines for work as well as keep track of all the kids’ events and activities. But this could account for the majority of your time on a day-to-day basis. Although you might like to think that any space that isn’t already full should become leisure time, the truth is that you already fill the white space with everything from errands to activities like cooking, bathing, and sleeping. So squeezing in chores may seem impossible. But if you pencil in the time for them regularly you’ll find that you get them done and they go a lot faster. Consider putting in one or two cleaning job each week (such as bathrooms, dusting, or vacuuming) and then schedule in maintenance tasks (like cleaning the gutters or replacing batteries in smoke alarms) throughout the calendar year.

Economize.

When you’ve got buckets full of cleaning solvents it’s no wonder your chores take you longer. By switching to an all-in-one product that works equally well on counters, sinks, toilets, mirrors, and more you can save yourself some time during the actual cleaning process.

Delegate.

Who says that one person should be solely responsible for cleaning and maintaining the home? Unless you live alone there are other people creating messes. So think about setting a revolving list of chores so that each inhabitant can do their share of cleaning (since they certainly make their share of messes). If you have standards for how things should be cleaned, be sure to train your spouse, kids, or roommates rather than just getting irked when they do it “wrong”.

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Prioritize.

You can’t clean the whole house every day, no matter how much you’d like to keep your space spotless. This means you’re going to have to set priorities for cleaning. Some rooms will need more frequent cleaning due to the fact that they tend to get messy faster (kitchen, bathrooms, etc.) so these may take priority. And since the kitchen is used for food preparation it is imperative that it remains clean and sanitized, making it more important than, say, a cluttered bedroom.

Clean as you go.

Rather than letting things get to the point where you have to devote an hour-long window in your schedule to cleaning (and time it via http://stopwatch.onlineclock.net), you might want to clean as you go. This means wiping up spills as they happen rather than leaving them to get crusty and hard on countertops. This mentality will save you tons of time when you get down to the task of deep-cleaning.

For more home organization ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

As fall approaches do you have any summer items that you still need to take care of? I showed you how to start your home maintenance checklist before the fall arrives to save you money.  How about those items that started at the top of your list, but somehow are still there?

Unclutterer has an article about finishing up those last summer to do items… you know you have a few still lingering…

For those in the northern hemisphere, just 28 days of summer linger on the calendar. Before the cool days of fall and winter set in, now is the time to finish up warm-weather uncluttering projects that remain on your to-do list.

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  Your garage.

  If you haven’t already cleared the clutter from your garage this season, now is a great time to take advantage of the access you have to your driveway. Pull everything out of your garage and sort it into piles: Keep, Purge, Other. Clean your garage (starting at the top of the room and working your way down), make any necessary repairs and/or add organizing systems, and then return only the “Keep” pile items to the space. Donate, recycle, and/or trash the items from the “Purge” pile, and return the items in the “Other” pile to their owners or the places they belong in your home.

Your car.

Similar to the process used on your garage, do the same with your car. Don’t forget small areas like the glove box and the console.

• Trash cans and litter boxes.

  Now is the perfect time to haul your trash cans and litter boxes to your local self-service car wash and give all of them a deep cleaning. Set them in the bright sun for a few minutes to dry before hauling them back to your place, stink free.

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  Your chimney.

  Before the rush of callers pour in to your local chimney sweep, give him a call and schedule an appointment now. This way, you won’t have to wait to start up your fireplace on the first cool night of the season.

Whatever tasks remain on your summer to-do list, schedule and take on those tasks now before the weather keeps you from doing them.

For more summer ideas on Stagetecture, click here.