Four simple ways to keep your home cleaner for longer after spring cleaning

9honey Living's The Wash Up: Your 30-day spring cleaning guide is a month-long series aimed at making your annual house clean easier with hacks and expert advice.

Whether you've spring cleaned your entire home, a room or just one thing (hello, window tracks), you've now got a literal clean slate to get into some good habits to keep it cleaner for longer.

There are plenty of tips and tricks that will not only keep your house looking tidy, they'll also reduce the overwhelm we all feel trying to keep it that way.

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Maintenance cleaning

One of the easiest ways to keep your home looking clean and tidy in between deeper cleans is maintenance cleaning.

Maintenance cleaning is about doing little tasks throughout the day as you use things so they stay cleaner over time.

Habit stacking is perfect for getting in the habit of maintenance cleaning as you go about your day. This is because you're building onto habits you already have like squeegeeing excess water from tiles and glass screens after taking a shower.

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Examples of maintenance cleaning using habit stacking:

- Wiping the bathroom sink counter after brushing your teeth

- Sweeping the kitchen floor after wiping the bench at night

- Putting your dishes straight into the dishwasher after eating

By maintaining a level of cleanliness and not letting things like dust, soap scum, grime and dirt build up, you'll find it easier to do a deeper clean later and the house will look and feel cleaner overall.

Use a timer

One popular cleaning hack is to set periods of time for cleaning and do whatever can be done within that timeframe.

Often the simple act of putting a time limit on something makes you do it faster and can even get you in the mood to keep going and get more done.

You can set a time limit for however long you like. The FlyLady cleaning philosophy suggests setting the timer for 15 minutes each day to tackle a particular are of the home, but if you have a spare hour you can do 15 minutes per main room or 10 minutes per room – it's up to you.

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Those with children can use the timer to make a game out of cleaning to see who can get their bedroom the tidiest in the chosen timeframe.

This method can be particularly helpful for general tidying of a room each day to keep on top of clutter.

Mindset shift

This one is an absolute game changer and will transform cleaning from a hugely overwhelming job to something that is achievable.

There is no rule that says you need to clean an entire room at once or even have the whole house clean at the same time.

So if you only have time to clean the toilet but not the whole bathroom, then just clean the toilet.

For me, this takes the bathroom from seeming like an energy-draining job to one that is possible if broken up into smaller sections. It means that the house is cleaner than it otherwise would been if I'd dismissed the whole job as too much.

Do what you can, when you can, with what you have and you will find yourself maintaining a good level of cleanliness in your home.

Make a list and a schedule

It might seem logical but how many of us actually do this? I personally have the list side of things down pat but I don't really have a clear schedule, which is something I plan to change.

A checklist suited to your own home with daily, weekly/fortnightly, monthly and six monthly lists makes it easier to remember what needs to get done when.

Of course, if things don't get done at that specific time it's OK but at least you'll know where you're at and what needs doing when you have the time and energy.

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And there's nothing better than crossing things off a list because it gives a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

A handy scheduling tip that I'm keen to set up once I've finished all my spring cleaning is to note down the date of when bigger cleaning jobs were done so that I have a general idea of when it should be done again.

For example, once I've deep cleaned my oven I'll make a note three months from now that it needs cleaning again. It doesn't need to be done on that exact date, but knowing when it's due for a clean will help me stay on top of it.

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