Let’s face it – cleaning a house is no-one’s favorite chore! As much as we all love our homes and are grateful for them, cleaning feels like a never-ending process that’s hot, sweaty and tiring – no matter what the commercials for fancy new products say. This makes it easy to slip into bad habits that actually make keeping a clean and hygienic home even more difficult. Here are the worst habits that are making house cleaning harder and how to break them, from our team of real estate specialists and Dallas cash house buyers.
Wearing Outdoor Shoes Indoors
In many homes, it’s customary to leave the shoes you arrive home in at the door and change into your indoor shoes or slippers once you’re in the house. It’s actually a very old custom from the days when streets and yards were very dirty and horse manure was everywhere, but it’s still a great habit today. Our streets and gardens are a lot cleaner but it’s still easy to track in soil, grass, bacteria and dirt, which means more vacuuming and sweeping for you. By leaving your “dirty” outdoor shoes by the front door or in the garage and changing into shoes you only use indoors, you help keep your home cleaner for longer.
Leaving Wet Items Bunched Up
Mold, mildew, fungus and bacteria all love a warm, wet, dark space – which means your sweaty gym clothes, bunched up shower curtain and piles of wet towels are their dream home!
Simply throwing sweaty clothes directly into the washer when you get home, straightening out and closing your shower curtain after use, and hanging up wet towels to dry are simple, easy fixes that make a huge difference. Your clothes (and hamper) will smell better, you’ll have less mold and mildew to scrub out of your bathroom, and your towels will stay fresh and clean for longer, which means you can use them for longer and do less laundry!
Letting These Dishes Pile Up
We’ve all done it – letting dirty dishes, pans, glasses and cutlery pile up in the sink until it becomes a concerningly dangerous tower that everyone hopes someone else will tackle! While no one enjoys doing dishes, these stacks become breeding grounds for bacteria and the accumulation of grease, sugar and scraps makes everything so much dirtier than it originally was. It also attracts bugs, leading to overnight infestations of ants and cockroaches.
The best solution is that everyone takes responsibility and places dirty items directly into the dishwasher after scraping off any scraps into the waste disposal, or washes their item as soon as they’re done with it in the sink. Give it a try – it makes this daily chore so much easier and so much faster, and your kitchen looks great too.
Using Far Too Much Cleaning Product
We all use far too much of a cleaning product when we’re cleaning, whether it’s scrubbing the tub, doing dishes or wiping down surfaces! Somewhere in our heads, we think it will make it all go faster – and we probably can blame ads for that. After all, the more you use, the more you’ll buy. But excessive use of cleaning products isn’t just expensive – it actually makes cleaning more difficult.
Using too much of a product leaves a residue on whatever you’re cleaning, which traps dirt, bacteria and messes. This means you have to clean more regularly, so you repeat the cycle, wasting more of your time and money. Start by reading the manufacturer guidelines and testing the product out at those levels. You can even reduce the amounts, as this often works just as well.
Not Having a Cleaning Schedule – And Doing it All Yourself
With work, family and everything else, it’s easy for cleaning to come in last place on your priorities – but there’s a good reason why we all should get more organized and stay on top of these chores. Firstly, a messy, dirty home is a stressful, anxious and even depressing space to be in. Everywhere you look, there’s more work that needs to be done – and it just becomes too overwhelming to even start. It’s just no good for your mental health. Secondly, it’s not great for your physical health. It attracts cockroaches and bugs, it makes your home vulnerable to mold and mildew that trigger respiratory conditions, and it makes it difficult to spot bigger messes like pet waste and food spills.
Instead, get organized with a cleaning schedule that everyone participates in at an age-appropriate level, from washing your dishes as you use them, packing or unpacking the dishwasher and sorting your laundry to cleaning your own rooms and bathroom and picking up toys. You can even include bigger projects like a monthly fridge clean out or organizing the garage once a year.
Your home will not only be a cleaner, more peaceful and functional space, you’ll also be sharing the load and teaching everyone useful life skills they’ll benefit from as adults!
Sell Your House to Dallas Cash House Buyers – And Pay Zero Real Estate Commission
If you want to sell your home privately to reduce risks of coming into contact with COVID-19 or to save on real estate agent fees, then our Dallas cash house buyers can help you out! At Shiny Key Properties, we buy houses for cash and have been working for many years in the Dallas and Fort Worth area. We’re passionate about professionalism and helping our community.
Here’s how our process works:
- You enter your information on our website
- We’ll contact you directly by phone to discuss an offer for your property (you can also get a free property evaluation from our website)
- You can accept or reject the offer
- You can also call us directly on 469-858-0088
Our team of real estate professionals is fully-qualified, compassionate and highly-motivated to offer you the best possible market-related price for your home you want to sell your home quickly.
At Shiny Key Properties, our trained consultants have years of experience in helping homeowners get out of foreclosure, sell your home privately or sell quickly for relocation. To find out more about our cash for houses Fort Worth service, please contact us today and speak to one of our friendly team members and sell your house in 24 hours.