Cleaning as you go

If everyone lived in a perfect world each person in the house would pick up the mess right when they made it. With some training this can be done. When everything is picked up the day you actually use to clean your home means deep regular cleaning can be done.

How do you teach everyone in your home to clean up the mess they make? This is a process and will not occur over night. If you get the whole family involved in cleaning your home then they begin to gain an understanding of why it takes so long to clean. If you must pick up messes first and then do deep cleaning you probably never can finish the job. You are worn out before you start.

When you have a child clean up each mess they make and they don't do it the natural consequence is less time to play. When they do clean up each mess and you notice that it took them less time to clean their room than usual make sure you have them identify why it went faster. Take notice and reinforce the positive behavior.

Another natural consequence is when a child wants to stay up past their bedtime remind them that they must get up at 7 am and not complain. The natural consequence is being tired yet you empowered them by allowing them to make their own decision. Eventually they will decide that they would rather get sleep then wake up tired the next day.

When it comes to teaching an adult to clean up after themselves this brings a whole new set of problems. The more they are set in their ways the more work it takes to help them learn that picking up after themselves makes house cleaning easier. The only way I know to get an adult to understand is by making them participate in regular cleaning of the home.

In an equal world the woman works just like the man and usually even more. They should clean house just like you do. Eventually they will realize how much time it takes just to do normal cleaning of bathrooms, etc. Give them a job and do not accept the excuse but you do it so better than I do and it takes you less time. They will try this but in time they will realize that if they clean up their own mess you may be less likely to ask them to help do all the deep cleaning chores.

This empowers them to decide it is better to do a little than a lot. If you have a family that participates in the whole cleaning process then be grateful as you have a clean house that takes less time out of your life to clean. Here are some tools that can make cleaning easier as well.