Household Cleanliness and Organization

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Ideas for Keeping Your Home Clean, Organized, Healthy, and Safe

VIII.  Household Cleanliness and Organization
            In a general sense household cleanliness and organization are defined by one’s attitudes, opinions, life experience, and personality.  You may be seeking this information for any number of reasons.  The information presented here was organized with the primary goal of helping individuals or families in a variety of situations.  You may be a single mother or father with small children and need tools or shortcuts for keeping your home clean without taking up too much of your valuable time.  You may be an individual who has just moved into a smaller place and though you have lot of nice things you have very little space in which to keep those nice things.  Or, you may be someone from a family where you were never really taught about household cleanliness and because you have small children you now find yourself struggling and overwhelmed by the daunting task of maintaining a clean and healthy household for your children.    Listed in this information will be tips, ideas, and skills to assist one in making improvements based upon one‘s own personal goals.  For those with small children, guidelines will be given for household safety and sanitation. 
            A certain level of household cleanliness and safety is essential for preventing injury or illness to young children.  The United States Department of Health and Human Services (2002), in a study of child maltreatment found that more children are victims of neglect than any other form of maltreatment.  Failing to maintain certain minimal standards of household cleanliness and safety is considered a type of child neglect, especially if one’s child is under the age of three or has special needs.  Children need a  safe and reasonably orderly environment to live, grow, and develop.  However, take heart, if you are an individual who cares enough about your child’s well being to seek information about how to improve the safety, cleanliness, and organization of your home you already posses a strength that will assist you in accomplishing this goal.  Therefore, do not be too hard on yourself if you are having difficulty in this area of your life.  It does not mean you are a bad person. 
            There are many things that can cause one to have difficulty with household cleanliness and organization, things such as:  single parenting, both parents being employed outside the home, life crisis, and mental illness are just a few.  It is also important to note that household cleanliness and organization are not the sole responsibility of a single gender or person.  In two parent households, people must work together and share the responsibilities of the household in order to maximize efficiency and maintain a positive loving relationship in which both parents feel valued. 
            The first step in accomplishing your desired level of household cleanliness and organization is to walk through your home and do a written assessment of areas in need of improvement.  Be as specific as possible. 

The following is a list of some things to check out in your home:

    These are just general guidelines.  Many of the following household chores need not be cleaned or checked on a daily basis.  If you like the following lists, write them down on a sheet of paper or create a file for them on your PC and the items on the lists can be used as an organizational tool.  Leave a space beside each listed chore and place a date checked and a date completed.
 

KITCHEN AND DINING AREA

  • Dishes clean and stored in clean dry location
  • Sink, stove and countertops clean and free of excessive debris (paper clutter, open food containers, perishable food items, tools, utensils, & chemicals)
  • Cleaning fluids such as dish detergent, bleach, and oven cleaner are stored in a secured location inaccessible to small children and separate from food items
  • Flooring is clean (vacuumed and spot cleaned if carpet, swept and mopped if hard floor surface)
  • Table and chairs clean and free of excessive debris or toys
  • Cooking utensils, dish cloths, hand towels, flatware, cleaning items, garbage bags, food storage containers, and miscellaneous kitchen items such as matches are stored in safe, clean, dry location, easy to find but inaccessible to small children
  • Non perishable food such as canned goods are stored in clean dry location
  • Opened, non perishable food items such as dry cereal and pasta are resealed with a twisty tie or placed in a sealed container or zip lock bag
  • All perishable food is placed in refrigerator in closed containers
  • The refrigerator is clean and free of spilled food and crumbs
  • The refrigerator is maintained at a maximum temperature of 40 degrees or below
FAMILY ROOM
  • Sofa, chairs, and pillows are clean and free of excessive dust and allergens
  • Carpet is clean and free of unattended soils (spots that have not been cleaned with soap and water)
  • Hard floor surface is swept and mopped
  • Any throw rugs or area carpets are free of excessive dust and allergens
  • Coffee tables, end tables, TV stand, or any other living area furniture are clean and free of excessive debris (drinking cups, paper clutter, food containers, tools, utensils)
  • Toys are stored in container and only out when being played with
  • Videos, DVD’s, CD’s, or any other electronic items are stacked in neat stacks or stored in containers
BEDROOMS
  • Bedding such as sheets, pillow covers, blankets, comforters, or throws are clean and free of unwashed soils
  • Beds are covered neatly with bedding
  • Beds are free of clothing, paper clutter, food matter, and shoes
  • Beds in children’s rooms are limited to one or two stuffed toys
  • When not being played with, toys are placed in containers or toy box
  • Books, paper, crayons, markers, glue, scissors, and/or any other creative play material are stored in clean dry location inaccessible to infant/toddlers.
  • Dirty clothing is placed in a laundry basket (when basket is full laundry is taken to be cleaned)
  • Clean clothing is folded in drawers (designated containers) and/or hung on hangers in closet / no clothing is on the floors 
            Use knowledge of your weak areas as a springboard for learning and self development.  Instead of focusing on your weaknesses and putting yourself down, focus instead upon the strengths and abilities you posses.   Make a written list of your strengths and abilities then utilize these strengths and abilities to assist you in accomplishing your goals of household cleanliness and safety. 
            Remember, if you are not living alone, this goal involves other people in your household.  Even the youngest children can learn to pick up toys and put soiled clothing in the proper place.  They can learn this especially well by example and by being patiently taught to do so by parents and/or older siblings.  If children are not included in keeping the house clean they miss out on the opportunity to learn personal responsibility and are less likely to develop skills of self accountability.  The following are six helpful suggestions for successful sharing of household responsibilities:
  1. It is essential for parents to be consistent with their expectations and to establish themselves as positive authority figures by making their leadership fair and equitable.
  2. Assign tasks in a calm and considerate tone of voice thus showing mutual respect for the adult or child being assigned the task.  This communicates that the person chosen to complete the task is a valued member of the household. 
  3. Do not assign tasks to children in the form of a question.  For example: “Can you please empty the trash?” or “Would you pick up your toys?”  Questions imply that the person assigned to complete the task has a choice to decline the assigned task without negative consequences.
  4. Make sure that household tasks are assigned to age appropriate people.  For example, a six year old child should not be expected to operate a washing machine or dish washer.
  5. Children are easily side tracked.  It is important to provide occasional follow-up and verbal encouragement along side the child while the requested task is being completed.  With very young children it is best to only assign one simple task at a time, such as saying put your toys away rather than clean your room.
  6. It is very important to provide verbal praise and affirmation after a task is successfully completed.  Do this for both children and the adult members of your household.  It connects the task with positive emotions, communicates that the person completing the task is a valued member of the household, and helps the person completing the task feel like their efforts are appreciated rather than taken for granted.  
       

 

Hints and Ideas 

Household cleanliness and organization can be made much easier if a home is equipped with certain household supplies.  The following is a list of things that can either be bought at a local discount retailer or some of them can be acquired at rummage sales, flea markets, and/or thrift shops.  Recycling ideas will also be listed utilizing items in the household that are usually discarded.

  • Each room in the home should have a trash can with trash liners.  For smaller trash cans, plastic grocery bags can be used as a trash can liner.  To accomplish this task you need not spend money.  There are a number of items that can be cleaned and used as a substitute for a trash can.  If you have the time and energy they can even be painted, decorated, and personalized.  Some examples are:  old pop corn tins, five gallon paint buckets, large coffee cans, and/or milk crates.  If using a milk crate and the crate does not have a solid bottom to catch liquid, it should only be used for paper trash.
  • To help control laundry chaos, try placing a laundry basket in each bedroom and in the bathroom if there is enough space.  This will help prevent the pile-up of dirty clothing on floors.  When a basket is full it can then be taken to a designated area and sorted.  Even if you do your laundry at a laundry mat, have a designated area in your house to store family laundry.  In this area have at least 4 laundry baskets of different colors.  Use one for whites, one for colors, one for blue jeans, and one for towels, wash cloths, dish cloths and other linens.  Wicker baskets, milk crates, and other items are good substitutes and can easily be found at rummage sales, thrift stores, and/or flea markets.
  • Clothing hangers are important, especially for more dressy clothing such as skirts and dresses.  Have plenty of clothing hangers.  Although they are usually inexpensive to buy you need not spend any money to acquire plenty of clothing hangers.  Sometimes you can approach businesses that utilize uniform services and request their extra hangers.  Each time the uniforms are cleaned they are placed on new metal hangers.  People working at these businesses usually have more hangers than they want.
  • Large and medium sized storage containers are another important item for household organization. However, if you buy containers from the store it can get quite expensive.  There are a number of substitutes that can be utilized as storage containers for items such as toys, books, out of season clothing, tools, hard ware, photos, or any other item you might deem worthy of prolonged storage.  Examples of these items are:  cardboard boxes (clean/dry), milk crates, wicker baskets, large coffee cans, old popcorn tins, used gift bags, used gift boxes, five gallon paint cans, and/or any large food container such as a pickle jar or plastic mayonnaise jar (clean/dry).  The key to appropriate utilization of these items as storage containers is to sort and organize the things to be stored then decide which container is more appropriate.  Always label and always have an appropriate storage space designated before storing.