Easy Cleaning Philosophy: Never Get Dirty, Always Stay Clean

Never get dirty, always stay clean; it’s a rather easy cleaning philosophy, but one which most people don’t seem to grasp, even though it works remarkably well. If you never let things get dirty–or at the very least not too dirty– then they will always stay clean–or be a heck of a lot easier to keep clean.

I was forcibly reminded that not everyone follows this easy going cleaning philosophy just recently when I came home from vacation to find my house dirtier than it ever gets. Two of my boys were house-sitting and it was quite apparent they didn’t clean anything while I was gone. Now before you come away with the notion I’m a constantly cleaning, obsessive-compulsive type person with a cleaning rag at the ready 24/7 ala Monk, TV’s favorite O/C detective, let me assure you this is not the case. You see, I rarely set out to clean anything, because most things in the house are rarely dirty. My house is usually clean because I never allow it to get dirty.

Yeah right! How do you manage that??? Let me show you.

Keeping floors clean

While I wouldn’t advise you to eat off my floors, they usually are relatively clean, which is saying something at our place out in the boonies. We have one critical rule in this house which cuts dirt down immeasurably, and consequently the time to clean it. It’s so easy, I can’t imagine why others wouldn’t implement it immediately upon hearing of it. Just take your outside shoes off at the door. There, that’s it. If you leave muddy, grubby, dirty shoes on the welcome mat by the front door, back door, side door–every door if you know what’s good for you!– then all that dirt stays right there and isn’t tracked all over the house where it is infinitely harder to clean. After all, it’s not too difficult to clean that which isn’t dirty, now is it?

To add icing on the cake, this practice also keeps wood floors from wear and tear. Kids and even my dear hubby often get pebbles, stones, gravel and other abrasive matter stuck to their shoes, so keeping those things from ever meeting with my floors keeps them looking nice as well as clean. Frankly put, my floors don’t need all that exfoliating action, thank-you-ever-so-much!

Pet hair

There is one member of the family–Calisto the kitty– who won’t cooperate in maintaining a clean house. We must forgive her, however, for not keeping her fur to herself. She can’t help it any better than we can help shedding our own dead skin cells. It’s just infinitely more noticeable when kitty or Fido sheds. There are ways to minimize this type of cleaning, too.

Calisto is Tommy’s stress relief after a long day of work, so she has to sit beside him on the couch while he reads the paper or watches TV. Oh, but what a pain to clean that hair off every day! Well, with my never-get-dirty-always-stay-clean philosophy, I rarely have to clean it. I place blankets on the couch where kitty Calisto sits. That way the couch stays relatively fur-free. When her blanket gets dirty or too furry for comfort, I just replace the furry blanket with a clean one and I wash the furry one.

Don’t know about you, but I would rather spend time doing just about anything else than cleaning, so my never-let it-get-dirty-always-stay-clean cleaning philosophy works great. You ought to try it!

Photo Credit:

Monk cleaning

Wood floors

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Glory Lennon would rather spend time doing anything else than cleaning–you know like being in the garden– so her never-let it-get-dirty-always-stay-clean cleaning philosophy works for her.