7 daily home habits that will change your life for the better

I can’t say that I absorbed the habits with the mother’s milk, thanks to which it will be clean in the house. But I can boast that I taught myself to follow some rules and eventually brought them to automaticity, and this allows you to maintain order by spending a minimum of effort on cleaning. I think it will be right to share my secrets with everyone who wants to make putting things in order easier and faster.

1. Do not leave dirty dishes at night

The surest way to not do anything is to put it off for later. It doesn’t matter whether tomorrow or Monday, the result will always be the same. From my youth until my very adulthood, I daily confirmed this postulate, dragging myself away from washing dishes. Only one circumstance could make me take up the washcloth and the Fairy - the lack of clean pots and plates combined with severe hunger. However, this rarely happened (thanks to the food service and sandwiches), so most of the time in the sink there was something that resembled Mount Fuji.

Once I had to live in the country for two weeks, where there was only one frying pan, one saucepan, one deep plate and one glass from the kitchen utensils. There were no cafes and restaurants where you could have a bite to eat during bouts of laziness. Whether you like it or not, you had to wash the dishes, and in the evening - so as not to attract gray long-tailed guests to the house. Despite the fact that, according to psychologists, the habit is developed in 21 days, in my case it was enough for 14 - and now, before I go to bed, I must rinse the dishes that I used during the day. This is really convenient, because the work takes only 5 minutes.

2. Make the bed while breakfast is being prepared

An unmade bed always creates a feeling of chaos in the bedroom. There were times when I liked to while away the weekend in the company of pillows and blankets, at the same time dragging stocks of food, magazines, cosmetics and other things that fit in other rooms onto the bed. Laziness did not allow them to be returned, so most of the good went straight into the clutches of a bedside monster.

Then I began to live not alone, and the remnants of conscience did not allow me to turn someone else's apartment into a kind of cave of Neanderthals. Had to make a bed every morning. As it turned out, this is very convenient to do while breakfast is warming up, since the time spent on putting the bedroom in order and on the microwave is approximately the same. This habit has remained with me now.

3. Put things in place immediately

To make the owners of the house feel comfortable, all things must be laid out in their places. So the dwelling does not turn into a flea market, where portraits of grandmother are lying on the table mixed with books, socks, felt-tip pens, and archaeological excavations can be carried out on an armchair or sofa.

However, for a thing to have its place, it needs to be created. I used nice baskets from Ikea for this purpose (you can buy the same anywhere - both in the household goods store and on Chinese trading floors).

4. Do a mini-cleaning

Among the habits due to which the house will be clean, there is daily cleaning. Once it seemed to me that this was a thankless task, but after the appearance of cats in the house, everything changed.Whether I wanted it or not, I had to take up a vacuum cleaner and a rag regularly, otherwise sofas, tables, window sills and other surfaces were covered with an even layer of red hair.

Since the cats were not my personal ones, but the neighbors, and they stayed with me for only a month and a half, while their owner was taking courses in another city, I could then return to my old way of life - vacuum up on weekends and "generalize" the apartment every three months. However, it was not easy - during the time that cats spent with me, I was so used to cleanliness that now daily mini-cleaning is included in the list of obligatory tasks. I must say that not so much time is spent on it - about 15 minutes. But the result is stunning - the apartment always shines with cleanliness and freshness.

5. Put the kitchen in order while cooking

Speaking of cleaning, it would be unfair not to mention the kitchen. This room needs regular restoring more than others, for two reasons:

• because the products are stored here;
• because splashes of oil or juice, spilled flour or spices are constant companions of the culinary process.

At first I tried to set aside separate days in order to clean the kitchen, but then I realized that it was easier to do this while cooking:

• Selecting the ingredients for a particular dish, view the expiration date of everything that is in the refrigerator and cabinets.
• Immediately remove all wet or greasy marks left on the countertop.
• Sweep and mop the floor, as well as wipe the table immediately after eating or after working with food.
• Wash all small and not very utensils and return to their designated place immediately.
• Wipe the stove or oven after each meal.

Following these rules, I achieved perfect cleanliness in the kitchen, while I do not have to spend extra time on cleaning.

6. Hang clothes in the closet

It is unlikely that anyone will be able to feel comfortable looking at the jeans and T-shirts that hung the backs of chairs. Although, I must admit, in my youth I did not pay attention to such nuances. However, with age, a desire for pedantry appeared, and this had a positive effect on the condition of the apartment. And all that was needed was to hang clothes in a closet instead of throwing them anywhere.

7. Plan household chores in the evening

It is much easier to distribute your time if you know what tasks you will have to perform on a particular day. Also, planning allows you not to clog the memory with unnecessary details and be sure that you will not forget about something important. And the temptation to sit on the Internet instead of washing dishes or wiping the dust on the windowsills becomes weaker.

A to-do list can be entered into a notebook or posted on the refrigerator door. Another placement option is a special board on which they write with chalk or erasable pencils. Personally, I prefer the third option - it is beautiful and creates an interesting emphasis in the interior.

If uninvited guests come to me, I don’t have to blush and try to eliminate the mess in a matter of seconds. It’s always clean and comfortable in my house - it will be exactly the same with you when these seven rules become a daily habit.