How to Maintain Cleanliness in Your Apartment: Tips from the Pros

Deep cleaning is not the most pleasant task, especially when it requires spending long-awaited weekends on it. However, if you maintain cleanliness in your home regularly, cleaning won't take much time or energy. We tell you how often to pay attention to various corners of your apartment to keep it clean all the time.

Kitchen Counter

To maintain order in the kitchen, you should wipe the countertop with a damp cloth and soapy solution after each cooking session — this will take literally just two minutes. Once every 1-2 weeks, use cleaning products.

Areas to focus on: corners with walls, zone near the sink, places where household appliances and dishes are located.

How to clean: use eco-friendly creamy cleaning products. They are safe for children and do not leave a scent.

Refrigerator

Store different types of food in airtight plastic containers to prevent odors from mixing. Once a week, wipe shelves with a soft sponge soaked in soapy water. Once a month, do a deep clean: turn off the refrigerator from the power supply and remove all food. Occasionally, you need to clean the condenser of dust using a vacuum cleaner with a fine nozzle.

Areas to focus on: distant walls, all corners and recesses.

How to clean: use baking soda dissolved in warm water. You should not clean the refrigerator with aggressive cleaning agents, as they may damage rubber gaskets or get into food.

Microwave Oven

The easiest way is to use the steam cleaning mode. If you don’t have one, do it manually: mix 0.5 cup of water and 0.5 cup of vinegar in a heat-resistant dish and bring it to boil. After that, you just need to wipe the microwave with a damp cloth.

How often to clean: once every one or two weeks.

Bed Linen

Sleeping on freshly washed bed linen is much more restful. To avoid overwhelming it with chemical scent from laundry detergent, choose the most neutral one for bed linen and set your washing machine to double rinse.

Store sheets with scented sachets — for example, lavender scent helps calm and relax.

How often to clean: once a week.

Rug

You can vacuum the rug every day, but it's much more effective to do regular steam cleaning. As an alternative, you can hire a professional rug cleaning service at home, but it's more cost-effective to buy a steam cleaner.

Just make sure your rug can be washed (for example, handmade wool rugs shouldn't be washed). Also, don't overdo it with water to prevent the rug from mildewing due to excessive moisture.

How often to clean: once a month, more frequently if you have pets.

Bathroom

To make the toilet shine, apply a stain remover around the rim and let it sit for five to ten minutes, then clean with a brush.

It is equally important to clean the toilet tank and flush button — this area has the most microbes. To avoid doing it by hand, spray cleaning product from a dispenser. Then go over it with a damp cloth.

How often to clean: after every use, thoroughly once a week.

You shouldn't clean the bathtub with harsh sponges or scrubbers to avoid damaging the enamel. Eco-friendly cleaning products in paste and gel form are suitable. There is a special range of products for acrylic bathtubs (after cleaning with aggressive agents, the tub may yellow).

How often to clean the bathtub? Once a week.

What about towels? If you have problematic skin, it's better to use paper wipes to avoid changing face towels every day. Towels for hands are easier to change — every three days.

How to Easily Maintain Cleanliness in Your Home? + 5 Tips from Marie Kondo

Let tidiness become your lifestyle — then you won't have to force yourself to clean. Easily get rid of unnecessary things. If an item doesn't bring you joy, it means you no longer need it. Clean not a specific room but a category: for example, start with all window sills, then the wardrobes. This will speed up the process. Don't put it off until later: it's easier to do small cleanups regularly than wait for enough trash to accumulate. Use vertical storage systems, and you'll always have order in your wardrobes.