Our home is our personal space, our safe zone, our little haven against the insanities and perils that trouble us in our day to day life. As such, we want to keep our homes as clean as possible so we walk into a calm place at the end of the day; but let’s face it, it is really tiresome to maintain the ideal sort of cleanliness and order. Hopefully, with these tips, it makes keeping your home neat easier and less of a drag.

Create a catch-all by the front door 

The front door is one of the most crucial areas of your living space. Naturally, where you enter and exit is going to be an area you will be spending a lot of time in. If you also suffer from the habit of just throwing everything onto any surface near the front door, this tip might be most beneficial for you. A good idea would be to create an area near your front door where you can store whatever it is you need: your bag, coats, hats, keys, shoes, umbrellas, wallets, or whatever your effects may be. This can be in the form of a bowl for the smaller items you carry around placed on top of a miniature stand or table. A creative and aesthetically pleasing way to design this would be to have a hanging rack in an area near the door; this saves space as it allows you to let your imagination wild with how you hang items and utilize the design, while also adding life and vibrance with a more homey feel. Please do note that this area should not be too close to the door or right next to it, for safety and security reasons, of course. 

Think twice before buying something 

With the advent of online shopping sites like Carousell, Lazada, and Shopee, it’s no wonder that we end up buying many of the items that we think would look cute in the condo or spruce it up a little; the problem comes when we hoard and stockpile our bargain buys and sale steals in such a cramped space. Things don’t just pile up in our places; we bring them in and keep them there; I’m sure we’ve all had something we never actually used but thought, “I bought it with the money I worked hard for; it would be a shame to just throw this out.” Perhaps it would be for the best to not even reach this point, and maybe when the urge to press add to cart hits you when you spot something you fancy, ask yourself: Do I really need this? Am I going to be able to use it every day (or at least make the most of it?) Is it genuinely going to improve my life or make the daily tasks I undertake any simpler? If the answer is no to any of these questions, or especially if it applies to all of them, it might be wiser to think twice and close that tab.

Clean in increments every day 

Keeping the apartment clean every day can be such a tiresome affair. The last thing anyone would want to do is to come home to a unit that looks like a cross between a disaster zone and a pigsty. Not only does it just drain the little life you have left from braving a long day at the office and the frustration at the traffic on your way home, but it just does nothing to incentivize you to clean it all up; if anything, it might make you even less inclined to tidy up. While you might balk at the thought of having to clean the entire unit in a night a little daunting, we can apply a technique everyone uses to conquer large and formidable ordeals: breaking them down into smaller and more manageable tasks. Maybe Saturdays can be spent cleaning up your desk; a Sunday afternoon can be devoted to arranging your closet. Sweep the floor on Monday, tidy up the bathroom on Tuesday. Go with whatever you find works for you and your schedule, and this method is going to go a long way in helping you keep your apartment spick and span. 

Maintain order while cooking 

One of the lessons drilled into chefs throughout their training is to maintain a clean and neat workstation, and for good reason: having a messy kitchen can play host to a myriad of bacteria and viruses that may make a home in the unclean wares. What makes your home kitchen any different? As one of the areas that tend to get out of control rather quickly, it is always a good idea to CLAYGO or clean as you go, which keeps the area neat and sanitary for future purposes; it also has the added benefit of helping the cleaning not feel like work, but instead, a natural process in cooking. While whatever you are cooking up is on the pan, put things you’re done with in the sink and wipe down the counters. After washing the dishes and taking out the trash, you can then revel in the sight of a clean and empty sink. 

Clear horizontal surfaces 

As we place most of our items on some form of horizontal surface, it’s only natural that these areas are magnets for clutter. Whether it be a pile of books messily splayed on a table or laundry haphazardly thrown onto a chair, we can be naturally messy creatures and lose track of how cluttered our clutter actually is. To borrow from Sir Isaac Newton, an object in motion will continue to stay in motion unless acted upon by a great enough force; the same is true for an object at rest. Think of it this way: the more you leave whatever mess you have lying around in your apartment, the longer it will stay that way and probably even grow without you even noticing. The sooner you clear up tables, countertops, chairs, and even your bed, the sooner you notice how organized and orderly you can be. 

They say that there is nothing more important than a good, safe, and secure home, and keeping it spotless is one of the ways to achieve that. I hope these tips will serve you well in the space you want to call your own.