Cleaning, Healthy Living

Five New Year’s Cleaning Resolutions to Consider

2012 is almost here. Can you believe it?

I love the start of a new year. Despite the fact that I’m constantly writing the previous year’s date on all my documents, I absolutely love the idea of a fresh start, even if it is just metaphorical.

And while I know that many of you out there probably have a different idea about what you’ll want to do for your New Year’s Resolution, I think you should consider making some cleaning resolutions for 2012.

Here are five cleaning resolutions that I’ve come up with for you and your home in the upcoming year. Feel free to adopt one or all of them if you’re feeling especially ambitious.

1. Maintain the “every day” clean
I know how it is. It’s 6 p.m. on Tuesday night and you’re still stuck in traffic,
the kids are calling you and asking what’s for dinner, and you’ve been sitting
in meetings all day. The last thing you want to do when you get home is to
clean, but you’ve got to get in the habit. More everyday cleaning you do during
the week= more time to yourself on weekends and vacations. Just doing
simple things like cleaning up spills as they happen, washing out dishes right
after you eat and placing them in the dishwasher, or doing a load of laundry
every night will help you out tremendously. The reason why we dread cleaning
so much is that we think it will take up so much of our time. But if we get
into the habit of daily cleaning regiments, you can have a routinely cleaned
home without even realizing it.

2. Improve your indoor air quality
Breathing clean air in your home is so important for the health and safety of
your home and your family. One of the main ways you can improve your
indoor air quality is to make a vow to yourself to never use artificial air
fresheners because of all the harsh chemicals used to create them, which
are damaging to the environment and pollute the air inside your home.
Another great way to improve the indoor air quality in your home is to
consistently keep a vacuuming schedule and schedule an air duct cleaning
for your home’s HVAC system.

3. Clear the Clutter
Make a promise to yourself that this is the year of decluttering. As people
move in together, get married, have children, or maybe just have a shopping
habit, stuff tends to accrue around the house. But I can tell you right now that
you probably won’t notice if your daughter’s old set of teething rings is gone
or that you’ll miss the old ratty sweatshirt that you always wore in college.
Get rid of the boxes of clutter and keep what matters. You know in your heart
what should really stay and what needs to go to the Salvation Army.
To make it easier, invite a friend to come over and help you make your
decisions.

4. Make a Cleaning Schedule, and Stick to It
In addition to the everyday cleaning responsibilities, it’s a good idea
to know what kinds of things you need to be keeping up with on a weekly,
monthly, and seasonal basis. For example, some of my weekly cleaning duties
would consist of scrubbing down the bathtub, sweeping out the furniture, and
dusting areas such as the fans and windowsills. An example of monthly
cleaning duties would be scrubbing the baseboards or cleaning out the
dishwasher and washer and dryer. Seasonal cleaning would most likely consist
of things such as power washing the deck or sweeping out the fireplace.

5. Know what you can’t handle yourself–and hire someone who can.
Do yourself a favor and sit down to write out a schedule of what you do
every single day. Don’t leave anything out. Now, be realistic about your
cleaning expectations in 2012. If you work 40 hours a week and have a
long commute and children, then you’re probably not going to be able
to scrub your baseboards each week. Do as much as you can yourself,
and if you’re able, hire the professionals to do the bigger jobs.
Call Kiwi Services to schedule a carpet cleaning, tile and grout cleaning,
upholstery cleaning, or any of our other services in order to maintain a
beautiful home all year.