I would add, simply, to just put things away. It's amazing how cluttered my living room can look with a couple of days of jackets, flip-flops, receipts laying around.

I usually do a pre-bedtime tidy up every night to pick up and put away anything that needs it, and that keeps my place looking presentable.

Plus when it comes time to actually CLEAN, I don't have to spend a ton of time tidying up first.

Good ideas - I also find having a compost bin outside saves me tons of garbage - between that and reycling we've cut way down on our garbage, it's great, saves money and chores.

Also - not spilling stuff to begin with is really worth it. Bottom line: slow down, simplify and you'll have a cleaner house! :)

Doing the simple things daily = tasks. Putting things off = projects. I like to keep things neat, clean and organized daily, and save the hard core, deep cleaning projects for when company is coming!

When cooking, stir slowly. My husband stirs tomato sauce in the saucepan as if he was making whipped cream by hand. Tiny red splatters everywhere. :(

I do most of these except the coffee pot, I don't have one. I keep only a small dishrack on the counter, forces you to wash and dry as you go.

I also dust everyday and close my windows if I'm not going to be home, it gets a little stuffy but really cuts down on the dirt and dust from the outside.

I cover some areas with scarves (my printer & laptop table. Also prevents dust from settling (can you tell I live in a dusty area? it's all about the dust).

Excuse me ... but don't rinse hair down the drain. You are setting yourself up for some problems.

mauishopgirl: I thumped my head and said "Duh!" when I read your scarf trick. My bedroom window must be open for air to flow through the apartment. I have many scarves. So much easier to shake out the dust or rinse the scarves than to dust! Also, I could rotate the scarves and enjoy my collection more.
You are a genius. Thank you.

Second the compost bin! I only have to take out my trash maybe once every two weeks with using mostly recycling and compost.

But with an auto-immune disease and working 60 hours a week, I really had to schedule a cleaning lady for once a month. Even with cleaning as I go, I just can't keep up :(

you should the edit part about rinsing hairs down the drain. As a girl with curly hair, I was horrified the first time I had to snake a drain.

the forgotten one here is actually making the bed.

my husband, son and I live in what is basically a one-room cottage at the beach. it's probably about 500 sq ft. and, our bedroom is open to our living room which is open to the kitchen.

so, my process is to make the beds first thing -- make our bed first, then make the daybed (which is where guests usually sleep) in the lounge if it is unmade (and the guest is not in it, of course).

it really makes the place look "put together" and people are always impressed with how "clean, neat, and relaxing" our place is -- even though we cook constantly and live with a 3 yr old.

I would add doing the dishes daily! This is a tough one for me and my boyfriend on work nights, because once we sit down, we sometimes don't make it back up except to go to bed...but we always regret it the next day when it's time to cook and all the pans are dirty.

Also, does anyone else have a hard time "cleaning as you go" while cooking? I like me food super fresh and hot, so that's not a good time, and during the week I try to cook quick meals that sautee up fast, so there's no down time for me to wash while stuff is in the pan.

Veggiemar, I have the same problem.

I have to disagree with #5 (sweep daily), and the idea that it takes "not time". When I was a stay at home wife, I swept six days a week. It took me about an hour a day. When I started going to school full time (plus commuting), I was home for about two hours a day, and an hour a day simply wasn't a reasonable commitment to maintain floors I almost never walked on. I cut down to once a week, and although it was gross sometimes, it was fine.

Since then, I've acquired a vacuum for hard floors, and I now vacuum every other day, or every third day (which takes about 20 minutes). However, if you don't have kids or pets, even this might be overkill. It just depends on your time frame and how dirty your floors get.

My bf started rinsing down the shower after every use and it made a HUGE difference. I still need to give it a good scrubbing every so often, but it's way less gross than before.

I have 4 boys under 7 so I vacuum our hard floors daily, sometimes twice a day.
As for cleaning as you go, I do a lot of this, and actually prefer meals that need to simmer for a few minutes so that I can get some of the cleaning done.
Say we're having a stirfry, even though you typically cook the meat first then the veggies, I'll take the few extra minutes and cut the veg first then the meat so I don't have so many dishes to wash. One knife and board rather than 2 of each.
I guess maybe my years of cold (or warm vs hot) meals have cured me of needing my food piping hot. I've even been known to wash a few dishes before I sit down to my food at the table.
My downfall really is the dryer. Without fail if I sit to eat or feed the baby, the dryer picks that instant to be done.

I wish I could uphold not spilling as a strategy to maintain a cleaner home. I am a clutzy human who spills and breaks nice kitchenware routinely, so in addition to cleaning up my spills/ceramic shards immediately, I have a bin for the breakage so that someday I can create the perfect mosaic masterpiece!

@alicelost, I was amazed at how much sweeping and vacuuming increased after I adopted my dog!! =) However, living in a small apartment, it's a 20 minute job that makes the whole place look better.

@veggiemar, I'm the same way. I'll wash what's in the sink while the food is cooking, but once dinner is on the table the sink can wait.

I disagree with #2. I think it is better to hang worn clothes on a hanger to 'air' them out rather than folding them.

The one truly useful thing I've ever read in a gossip magazine was a list of house rules that a "friend of the couple's" told a magazine that Reese Witherspoon told Jake Gyllenhaal he had to follow when he moved in with her. First thing on the list: take out the trash when it is 75% full.
As a top-floor apartment dweller who has quite a schlep down and out to the alley, it is tempting to just keep cramming things in the bin, but I always remind myself to evaluate my trash can with a Reese Witherspoon eye.

I never move from one level of my house to another empty-handed. Invariably, there is something that needs to be relocated, whether it's a used teacup going down to the kitchen or a stray sweater going up to the bedroom. Living in a 3-level house with steep stairs has taught me to maximize my trips between floors.

Likewise, I get a fair amount done in the morning while I'm waiting for the coffee water to boil. Rather than bolt up two flights of stairs to get ready for work, and have to run back down when the kettle whistles, I'll empty the dishwasher, clean the counters or floor, water the plants out back, etc.

@BievTea, I agree. I've always combed my hair in the shower, which catches most of the hairs that fall out; after one hair-washing I'll end up with a hairball the size of a plum. Nevertheless, there are always a few strays. I used to just let those go down the drain, until they accumulated further down the piping and caused a leak. Because the leak was in the ceiling of a rarely-used closet, we didn't catch it until the ceiling had collapsed and black mold was growing inside. We had to get the drywall replaced and toss everything inside the closet-- all because of a few hairs!

Make making the bed easier. Use a comforter and a bottom sheet and pillowcases. It's easy to fluff the comforter and pillows and making the bed is a snap.

I make my kitchen sink shiny and empty before I go to bed every night. It puts me in a good mood to start my day.

I do the same by ,the time food is cooked my kitchen sink is clean,so it saves lot of time :)

I have found that taking our shoes off near the door and storing them in a tray keeps a lot of the grit contained in one place. We also love our Roomba. It keeps the cat hair under control and forces us to pick up assorted junk that would otherwise accumulate on the floor.

do people really keep on their outdoor shoes when they go into their home? that seems disgusting to me. your children play on that floor... i live in canada and that's simply not something you do - everyone always takes off their shoes when they go into their homes. maybe it's a states thing... sounds awful either way.

cleaning out the fridge on garbage day sounds like a great idea. i'm gonna start doing that.

Yeah, being Asian, I am used to taking my shoes off at the door, and I'm sure it makes a big difference not tracking in dirt. We have also trained our dogs to sit on a towel/mat when they come in, so their paws can be cleaned.

One of our dogs has been trained to put his toys away in a bin (good way to combine training and cleaning) - now if only he could run the vacuum!

The people who lived in our house before we bought it must not have taken their shoes off. There were sand dunes underneath the carpet when we pulled it up. While it wasn't as bad as the moldy drywall I pulled out of another house, it was still pretty obnoxious, especially where liquid spills had turned the dirt into mud pies that later petrified.

re "make the beds first thing" - read recently in BusinessWeek, an advice dispensed by a NY butler - leave the bed unmade for 30 min - you wouldn't want night fluids be trapped in a bed if you made it right away

I do agree that it's better to throw the bed covers back and let the linens air out before making up the bed.

My mother's kitchen had 45 "fronts" ---cabinet and drawer fronts. Every night when she finished the dishes, she would give one "front" a good cleaning. Just one. So every 45 days or so, she had completely wiped down her kitchen cabinets. She was a pretty smart cookie.

Take out the trash daily, open the windows daily, wipe down the toilets daily. Keeps your home fresh, even if it might have some clutter.

@SunnyBlue oh I like that idea. I don't have near that many "fronts" but they do get grungy and horrible in no time flat. Gonna start tonight.

It's taken much practise but I also clean up the kitchen as I cook, even if it's putting a large bowl with soapy water in the sink to drop used utensils or mixing bowls. It's definitely faster to wash the pre-soaked items rather than facing a jumble of dried or congealed food once the meal is over. It took me a while to sort that one out, I'm afraid.