Ever wondered how people keep their houses consistently, perfectly clean?

Here’s some valuable secrets to keeping a clean house. Before long, you’ll have sparking countertops, empty sinks, and dust-free furniture.

Set up a Cleaning System

If you don’t have a system in place, make one!

Designate certain days to specific activities, like vacuuming, laundry, and dishes. By spreading out your workload, you’re making things easier on yourself.

It’s not bad to have a single, set cleaning day, but if you’re doing everything at once, it can take hours.

Don’t make your schedule too strict, though. Give yourself some flexibility. If it’s laundry day, but you’d rather do the dishes, go right ahead!

Focus on the Simple Things

Think. What are some quick, simple tasks you can complete in under five minutes?

Tasks include making your bed, wiping down a countertop, washing your smaller cooking utensils, picking up a piece of laundry, and more. By focusing on these smaller tasks, you’ll get a lot done.

When cleaning day comes around, guess what? Your bed is made, your counters are clean, there’s only a few dishes to wash, and your laundry’s already in the basket.

Don’t Procrastinate

Another secret to keeping a clean house is to never, ever procrastinate.

It’s easy to say you’ll do things tomorrow, but if you keep putting things off, they’ll never get done.

That one piece of laundry you didn’t want to pick up will turn into an entire pile, you’ll run out of plates, bowls, and cups, and your furniture will be coated with a thick, stubborn layer of dust.

You don’t have to clean everything immediately, but the sooner you can get it done, the better.

Be Thorough

When you hate cleaning, it’s tempting to do the bare minimum—but be careful. If you don’t clean things thoroughly, there could be unintended side effects.

Barely wipe down your countertops? The bacteria that’s left behind can get you sick. It’s important to thoroughly disinfect your surfaces, especially in the kitchen. If you cut raw chicken or cookie dough on a board and forget to wash it, you could end up with salmonella!

Forgot to throw away your rotting bananas? They can make your other fruit deteriorate faster. Rarely clean your bedsheets, and never make the bed? Watch out for bed bugs.

Have Fun

Who said cleaning has to be tedious, time-consuming, and boring? Choose some music, your favorite podcast, or put on a show while you clean.

Incorporate a dance or exercise routine into your cleaning. Do lunges while you sweep, vacuum, or mop, and work your arms when you’re cleaning the dishes.

Are you learning a new language? Put on an instructive CD or video and practice your pronunciation, sentence structure, and verb conjugation.

There’s plenty of different ways to make cleaning fun. Find what works best for you!