I like to consider myself a clean person. I have my weekly routine of tidying up, laundry and changing my bedding that helps me stay on top of everything. However recently, life has been so busy that I just haven’t had time to clean. I thought going to bed without putting my dishes in the dishwasher to get an extra five minutes of sleep would be worth it but at the end of the week, I now needed more than 5 minutes to clean the house. So starting in January, I am doing a deep clean of my house and going back to my routine to keep my home clean… Does anyone else like to do a deep clean in January?

Bathroom
I keep a small plastic bin of cleaning supplies in our hall closet next to the bathroom so I can make cleaning easy and convenient. Be sure to have a roll of paper towels, a cleaner with bleach, a multi-surface cleaner, and toilet cleaner so you have no excuses not to clean the bathroom! At night while I do a face mask or use mouthwash, I will clean the sink and countertops and I can get everything clean by the time I need to wash the mask off.

Vacuum
I used to never vacuum because it was such a pain until I bought myself this cordless vacuum. Now when I see a mess, I immediately clean it up and do a quick walk through the house while I have the vacuum out. Once a week, I will vacuum the floors and pick up pet hair on the couch and it only takes me minutes to keep the house dirt free.

Bedding and Laundry
On Saturday mornings, I bring all of the laundry to the basement and sort it by color in baskets that I keep by the washer. Since I have enough clothes that I don’t need to do laundry every week, I can pick out the clothes that I need to wash and leave the rest in the hamper for the next week. On Sunday mornings, I strip the bed and bring the sheets to the basement to get washed. Under our bed, I have a storage container of sheet sets so I can immediately make the bed with fresh sheets. After too many times of bringing sheets down to wash and then forgetting to do it until late Sunday night, now I just swap out the sheets right away. Once a month I will wash the other blankets and duvet cover.

Containing Clutter
Having a two story house is great until I need to clean and put everything away. I keep a fold up storage cube at the bottom landing of our stairs and at the top of the stairs to collect items that need to be brought up and brought down. Everytime I go up or down the stairs I can pick up something and put it back where it belongs. It takes time but then it doesn’t make cleaning so overwhelming.

Kitchen
We take the trash out on Sunday nights and go through the fridge to toss old leftovers or expired food before we bring it to the curb. We are pretty good at keeping the kitchen clean and I like to wipe down counters and load up the dishwasher while I cook dinner. I’m a big multitasker so I like to clean up while I watch tv or wait for dinner to cook.

After work I rarely have any energy so I like to do my cleaning on the weekends. I found that when I keep up with a routine, cleaning is easy and it’s easy to keep up with. One day I will have enough money for a maid, but for now I spend my Saturday mornings cleaning! I love coming home to a clean home and cleaning has always been relaxing to me. There’s just something calming about organizing a drawer or finding a better system for my linen closet.