You’ve tried doing big cleans, you’ve even tried hiring a house cleaning service, but your house always seems to get away from you.

Sure, it helps to have a cleaning schedule, but wouldn’t it be nice if there were little things you could do each day to make your whole cleaning process easier?

Here, we’re giving you tips on how to keep your house clean, the smart way.

Deal with Things as They Come Through the Door

It all starts at your front door.

A lot of things come through the front door of your house or apartment that need a place to live. Mail, car keys, your purse, your kids’ bags and shoes.

It helps to establish a landing strip of sorts for all of these items to take up residence. Eliminating clutter is one of the easiest ways to make cleaning less of a pain.

For example, you should have hooks or a tray for your keys, or a hook on the wall for your purse. Shoes should have a home in the closet or a basket. Mail should have its own basket so that it doesn’t take up permanent residence on your counter.

Be Ruthless with Dishes and Laundry

You should be similarly ruthless with dishes and laundry.

No one really wants to do the dishes after a meal, especially if you cooked said meal, but avoiding the dishes creates a pileup that’s easy to keep putting off for later. It gets unsanitary pretty fast.

Be aggressive about washing dishes immediately after a meal and dealing with the dishwasher ASAP.

You should take the same approach to laundry. Everything has its own timetable for how often it should be washed. It helps to have separate hampers for each person in your house and, if possible, two separate hampers per person so you can sort the whites right away.

Put Things Away

Your mom has been saying it since you were a teenager, and she was right. You need to put things away.

For example, you should immediately rehang clothes if you plan to wear them again. Don’t put them on a chair to deal with later, because you know you won’t do it.

This also applies to making your bed first thing in the morning. It sets the tone for your productivity and cleanliness throughout the day and encourages you to put things away.

Is the dishwasher clean? Empty it right away.

Done with dishes? Put them back in the cupboard.

Done with your toothpaste or lipstick? Put it in the drawer.

Finished reading a magazine? Put it on the shelf or in the recycling bin.

All the little things add up quickly.

Figuring Out How to Keep Your House Clean

Coincidentally, these little steps on how to keep your house clean are also helpful for a cleaning service when it’s time to clean your house.

If all the little stuff is taken care of, they can focus on the big cleaning items.

If you’re considering hiring a house cleaning service, take a look at our pricing for house cleaning. If you’d like to hire us or have a question, use our contact page to get in touch.