The floors are the basis of making our homes look tidy. By regularly cleaning your floors your house will feel clean and fresh. How often you clean your floors will vary between each household. If you have a crawling baby, you will need to clean regularly to pick up all dirt, grime and germs before their little hands do. Kids running from inside and outside will also bring in a lot of dirt therefore regular cleaning is necessary. However, if you live alone and work all day once a week clean is sufficient.
The importance of a regularly cleaning the floor
- Hygienic
- Sweeping or vacuuming the hard floors will keeps the carpets cleaner longer
- Makes the flooring last longer
- Picking up dirt will prevent scratches on other floor surfaces
- Will prevent dirt rubbing into carpet causing a stain
How to keep floors cleaner longer
- Place floor mats at each entry door, eg. front, back, laundry and garage
- If kids come inside from pool or muddy area place a towel down for them to dry and wipe their feet on
- I find the kids bring in a lot of dirt on their school socks, like bark from the playground. Get them to remove their socks before coming inside
- Daily quick sweep in high traffic areas
- Wipe up spills as soon as they are made
- Don’t wear shoes inside
- Ask visitors to remove their shoes. This is a real pet hate of mine, when people come into my house see shoes at the front door, I’m barefooted but still insist on wearing their dirty shoes on my clean floor which in the end is creating more work for me. Ask them nicely and they should respect your wishes.
How often to clean floors
- DAILY – quick sweep/vacuum in high traffic areas
- EVERY 1-2 DAYS – Quick mop in kids bathroom/toilet.
- EVERY 1-2 DAYS – If you have a baby crawling – quick sweep/vacuum and mop
- WEEKLY – Vacuum and mop.
- STRUGGLING TO FIND TIME – If you don’t have time ensure you vacuum and mop the high traffic areas weekly, every 2nd week do a full house mop.
What are high traffic areas?
- Kitchen
- Front Door
- Living Room
- Under Dining Table
Equipment to use
- (for quick clean) Dust buster on stick, broom or dust mop
- Vacuum Cleaner or broom to pick up dirt and dust
- DIY Floor Cleaner
- Mop and Bucket
I get asked regularly what is my favourite mop. It’s this one. I have been using it for over 10 years and rave to anybody that listens about it. Ultimately I just love the effortless glide over the floors compared to the old ones I used to use.
Natural Floor Cleaner
I have 2 effective DIY recipes for cleaning floors, depending on your flooring, find my recipes here.
Get your children to help you – on the morning you vacuum ask them to place anything on the floor of their bedrooms up on their beds to make it easier for you to vacuum.
