It can be very annoying to live in an untidy house. Especially a disorderly one with a stained and dusty floor. However, what’s even more annoying is the prospect of cleaning it. If you’re someone who works on a day job and has to come home to a house with a dirty floor, you’d definitely be annoyed by the entire feeling of it.
Think about it. You’ve gone through a long day at work. Phone calls, meetings with the boss, presentations, conversing with coworkers, emails, the whole lot. It’s such an energy drain and, when you get home, all you want to do is relax and recover. But then there’s this dirty floor that needs cleaning. It can definitely get quite tiring.
But wait! It doesn’t have to be. Read on and find some handy tips and tricks to clean and maintain a spotless floor!
How to Clean Floors
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Vacuum the floor at least once a week
According to a recent survey, it has been discovered that at least 32% of Americans wait at least a week before they clean their house floor. This is understandable and a testament to the fact that people who work day jobs run most American households.
This brings us to our first tip. Make it a habit of taking your trusty and faithful Vacuum Cleaner out for a stroll around the house at least once a week. It needs to do its job, after all! Brownie points if you do it on a mid-week workday.
If you’re a parent, you can even outsource this task to your kids and incentivize the process. Hey, it helps to learn early. They’ll go on to have cleaner houses in their lives too. Just make sure you teach them how to operate it responsibly.
Yes, it might seem a bit daunting of a task to live-in couples or bachelors. But once you get to the thick of it, then it might feel not as hard. You’ll find that it barely takes half an hour of your time. Treat yourself to some Television and Ice Cream once you’re done and you’ll feel better too. Clean the floor, Netflix, AND chill. What more could you need?
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Have a No Footwear Policy in the house
Now here’s a handy tip that will make even the first tip an easier task. Have a no footwear policy implemented in your house. Most of the dust and stains on the floor come from footwear, especially shoes.
This is because most of us have the habit of tying shoelaces inside the house while seated, which makes things more comfortable. We also tend to have the habit of walking all the way in with our footwear when we come home from work because all we can think of is hitting the couch or the bathroom.
Well,l know you can’t just tell people to stand and take off their footwear at the door so a simple solution would be to arrange for some seating near the main entrance so that someone trying to take off their shoes can have a seat and take it off comfortably without hopping around.
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Have doormats outside every doorway
Make sure there are doormats outside every doorway in the house, especially the bathrooms and the main door. Make it a point to remind people coming out of doorways to brush their feet against the doormats.
People who come home from a rainy day, or head straight for the bathroom after coming from outside may leave behind a trail of floor marks in their wake. This can get incredibly annoying to deal with especially if the stains, marks, and spots left behind by dirty or wet visitors are allowed to dry.
A healthy doormat habit will go a long way toward ensuring that your house floor stays clean throughout the week. Make sure you and your fellow household members start following doormat rules as practice on a daily basis to keep the floor healthy as well.
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Kitchen/Dining Room Habits
Some of the most problematic rooms to clean can be the kitchen or dining room. While eating, we often tend to ignore all the food crumbs and drops of drinks we’re spilling on the floor. This can cause problems if we want to clean the floor later on.
A better approach would be to ensure that everyone cleans up after their meal/snack and picks up whatever crumbs they leave behind. Bonuses include healthier table manners in addition to the respect of people whose houses we visit and demonstrate these clean habits.
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Tools for the Job
Different homes have different kinds of floors and different kinds of floors require different types of tools and approaches to clean. What would work on a wooden floor wouldn’t work on one covered in ceramic tiles. It definitely wouldn’t work on a carpeted floor.
Well, don’t start frowning now. It’s not as big of a problem as you think and floor cleaning isn’t Rocket Science. While most of it takes common sense to understand how we need to clean different floors, we also happen to live in the age of the internet. Look up tutorials on how to clean different kinds of floors, whatever your house has.
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Have a Deep Cleaning Service Done Once Every Two Months
Many companies offer professional deep-clean services out there. There’s no harm in shelling out the occasional buck or two and getting it done. Living in a clean home is worth it after all.
Most Deep Clean services do a thorough job of cleaning the entire house. You’d be hard-pressed to spot a single stain anywhere once they get done so that’s not a problem and your money isn’t going to waste. You’ll be able to identify whether or not the service is up to standard using the power of the internet.
Try getting it done once every two-three months. If you feel adventurous enough, there are tutorials out there for doing something like this yourself and you could set up a Deep-Cleaning schedule on your own if you want to.
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Have Area Rugs or Non-Slip mats cover the floor
Cover the floor with an area rug or a non-slip mat. Not everywhere but in places where you think people are more likely to drop or spill something precarious on the floor. This makes it easier to deal with the mess made out of the dropped or spilled item. All you need to do is pick up the rug or mat and get it washed.
Alternatively, you could also have your entire floor covered with a carpet. This isn’t necessarily a solution but having a carpet on the floor would mean you have to clean the carpet and not the floor which isn’t as laborious a task as cleaning the floor is. For starters, carpets are more comfortable to sit and walk around on.
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Plan your maid’s timings
If you have a maid visiting and doing all the cleaning work, make sure you plan out her timings in such a way that her services are most effective. For instance, have her clean the house once in the morning when everyone is about to leave and later in the evening before everyone comes back.
This basically ensures that after the maid is done cleaning the house, it won’t be getting all that dirty again for a while at the very least and if it does, you’ll be in a position to clean it right away as it happens.
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Follow a systematic process
If you’re going to be taking the time out to clean your house floor on your own, make sure you follow a systematic process. Start with sweeping the entire house with a broom. While doing this, make sure you carry a dustpan and a container you’re likely to dispose of to get rid of all the dry dust bit by bit.
Once you’re done with sweeping, vacuum the house to ensure that any dust or dry waste that got left out is disposed of as well. This is part of the dusting process and it is imperative that you do this before moving on to the mopping. It can be quite a pain to deal with stray hair or dry waste that has become stranded in a wet mop.
After sweeping and vacuuming, you can now move on to the mopping. Take out a clean bucket and fill it with water. Dilute the water with whatever floor-cleaning liquid you like to use and get to work. While mopping, make sure you’re doing it tile by tile.
Final words
Well, that’s all there is to it for now. Floor cleaning may be considered a chore but if you get into the habit of it, it’s not that hard or annoying to do. And a clean floor is worth it at the end of the day. It makes you feel that much more comfortable in your own home and all the merrier as a person too!
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