Cleanliness may be next to Godliness but it sure is a pain in the neck. I hate doing housework, but I do enjoy having a nice clean home. Maybe you are in the same boat as I am. You want to have a nice clean home, but you don’t really want to clean. If that is the case then these tips are for you.

1. Adjust Your Perception Of Clean

Everything else I tell you will require some level of physical labour. This tip only requires mental labour. It is much easier to keep your house clean if you learn to discount some of the mess. For example for two months or more in the corner of my living room sat a large box filled with girls clothing to give away. After a little while I barely noticed it, and it even started to look like it belonged. The same can be true for dust on your TV stand, smudges on your windows, or dishes drying in your sink. All of these things have become part of my house being ‘clean’

2. Invite People Over Often

My house gets messy and messier until either a) I get tired of it being messy or b) we clean up because people are coming to visit us. I can tolerate a lot more mess when I know it will just be us at home then when I know someone is coming over. My mother and grandmother always kept their homes clean because someone ‘might’ come over. The threat of might isn’t good enough for me. I need to know. If I know people are coming I will clean.

3. Allow Yourself One ‘Bomb’ Room

When I was a teen mother used to say, ‘it looks like a bomb went off in this room’ whenever she came into my bedroom. This meant the room was messy, and that she greatly underestimated the amount of mess a bomb going off would cause. Still I think every house should have at least one ‘bomb’ room. This is the room that things just get tossed. It is where the mess collects. We have lots of things in our house that don’t really have an ‘away’ to put them. They just get moved around depending on what rooms I think people will be in when the visit. Take it from me, if you are ever in my house and the place looks clean, but you notice a closed door, do not go in that room.

4. Entertain At Night By Scented Candle Light

Sometimes even with the added incentive of having people coming over and a bomb room your house still doesn’t get as clean as you would like it. In cases like these you will find that the low light of a gently scented candle will mask any stains or dust that you did not get a chance to clean The scent is to help in case it has been longer than you’d care to admit since you last cleaned.

I hoped these tips have helped you. However if they don’t because your house is already cleaner than any of my tips can make it can you please come over and help me. Please!