Maintenance Tips

I decided last year that I was going to try really hard to 'maintain' my home constantly instead of 'cleaning' it occasionally - meaning minimize the frequency of large scale scrubbings by legnthing the time between them with faithful maintenance. The goal was to have a clean home all the time and free up more time that is usually absorbed by intense cleaning. Here are some helpful practices I've gathered since then:

1. Keep a washcloth on hand in the bathroom to wipe down the counter after any use that may have messed the counter. It's easier to wipe up water droplets, shaving cream, or toothpaste before it's dried. This keeps the counter presentable and you can go longer between real cleanings.
2. When finishing a shower, use the showerhead to rinse off all the walls and the curtain - never let soap or shaving cream stay after you've left the shower. Rinsing them away immediately saves having to chip them off later. Then spray all these surfaces with a mold and soap scum retardant ('no-work' shower cleaners). Again, if need be, you can go longer between real cleanings.
3. Make it a rule to get the kitchen under control before you go to sleep every night. Get the dishes at least to the sink (if not the dishwasher) and wipe down all the kitchen counters with a wet rag after every time you cook. Exposing the counters may reveal spills and messes you weren't aware of - and again, everything's easier to clean before it dries. Oh - and make sweeping part of your routine. You wouldn't believe what falls onto the ground while you cook.
4. Do laundry continually. Depending on the size of your family, it may mean every day. For just my husband and I it means twice a week. This ensures you always have clothes and the laundry doesn't suddenly grow so big it takes a day to complete.
5. Put things away. It sounds so simple, but it's probably the biggest help to maintaining a home. Everything we own has a place. For sake of convenience, we've created new places for some things. For example, we read alot. Books find there way into every space and can leave a room looking cluttered. Since it wouldn't make sense to but a book we're in the middle of back on the shelf, we've designated book bases around the house. If we're reading and are interrupted, instead of throwing the book down on the couch next to us, it goes into a book base. When I clean up, Stephan knows he can go to a book base to find any books he left in his chair. We have similar disignate spots for our lunch bags when we return home from work, our shoes, coats, and bags/purses. It's easier not to go through the hassle of putting these away in a closet because they're used so often, but having a chair, hook or corner they can be placed in is helpful and keeps clutter down. When it comes to less used items (like dirty clothes or board games) there are no excuses - they go to their home.
6. Use coasters. They save you the unsightly appearance of condensation rings and burns on the table.
7. When you cook and don't have time to actually finish the dishes before you go to sleep, fill any pots or pans that have things like tomatoe sauce or creams in them - that way the food won't dry on the pans overnight. When you return to them all you'll have to do is pour the water out and all the food will go with it. It saves tons of time when you finally get around to cleaning those dishes.
8. Here's a fun one: clean the shower in the shower. I find it only adds about 7-10 minutes to my normal shower time. If you're concerned about saving water, this may not be the best idea for you. I'd also disreccomend this if you use traditional bathroom cleaners. My cleaners are non-chemical, so I can stand in an enclosed space with their fumes and it's not harmful.
9. My husband wears contacts and we have an electric toothbrush. These two things seem to create the most water/residue rings on the bathroom countertops. We've stuck a washcloth under each of these items, and every week we change the cloth. If there's something like a bottle of face wash or a wet toothbrush that leaves puddles on your counter, consider putting a cloth under them.
10. Use baskets/buckets. You can put them anywhere, get the to match any decoration scheme, and you can throw anything into them and it will all look ok. Oh- and some have lids. A definite plus.

Here's the biggest tip though: your house is a house - a living space - not a museum. Don't strive for perfection, just tidey convenience.