Bree here, from Home Zone Furniture.
Between daily upkeep and infrequent seasonal cleanouts, there are weekly chores around the house that make a huge difference in your home’s appearance. Whether you take one day out of the week to fulfill these duties or tackle them throughout the week, these tasks are a must!
Dusting
Before anything else, I always dust from top to bottom. Dusting is a tedious task but will protect the surface of your furniture and dramatically improve the air quality in your home. Aside from the hard-to-reach ledges, windowsills and furniture, don’t forget to give the most obvious items a good dusting. Take the time to wipe down glass, windows and mirrors to remove hand and paw prints. Don’t forget to clean the inside and outside of your microwave, stove, oven and kitchen sink, too!
Bedding
It’s ideal to wash your bedding once a week. While your sheets and pillowcases may look clean, they accumulate oil, sweat and dead skin cells with time and use. To extend the life of your sheets, you should rotate your sheets with other sets. I suggest washing your sheets in warm water to dissolve the dirt and washing your blankets in cold water so they don’t shrink. Along with bedding, it’s important to tend to your sofa as well. If you have a sofa with a slipcover, you can remove it and throw it in the wash for a totally refreshed couch. Otherwise, flipping the sofa cushions and fluffing the pillows will do!
Floors
Start by picking up any small rugs off the ground and doing a clean sweep. Next, pick up any larger debris (paper clips, toys, etc.) from area rugs or carpeted spaces by hand and then vacuum. Make the extra effort to move your furniture around and vacuum underneath — you never know what might be lurking! Vacuum in an overlapping pattern for a particularly attractive result. Take your smaller area rugs outside and shake them or beat them with a broom. The last step is to mop hard surface floors to pick up the extra dirt and make them shine. My advice for cleaning floors is to pay extra attention to the entryway, backdoor area and kitchen. I find this is where my home collects the most dirt.
Bathroom
A daily wipe-down of the bathroom is useful, but once a week the bathroom needs to be deep cleaned. Remove any bathmats and used towels and throw them in the laundry. Clean the inside and outside of the toilet, disinfect the sink and surrounding pedestal and scrub the shower and/or bath. In bathrooms that aren’t well ventilated, it’s important to find, treat and remove any mold. Pay particular attention to bathroom hardware. A shiny sink faucet or bathroom showerhead can make a world of difference.
Throw out
Once a week, take throwing out the trash a step further. Not only should you take out the main trash and empty all of the smaller bins throughout the house, but dissolve those smaller piles that tend to accumulate. Sort through your saved mail and do yet another audit, especially if it’s sitting right on your desk. File away paid bills, write down the date and time of upcoming events and throw away anything else you can. Another thing that keeps my house feeling clean is to have a well-kept fridge. Go through your refrigerator and pantry and throw away all items that are expired.
Happy cleaning,
Bree