Any tips for single people trying to keep an apartment always clean?

Make a list of everything in your apartment that needs to be done. Do one area each day. Once an area has been completely cleaned up, keep it that way. Clean as you go. If you're a TV person, get up during commercials and work on it. It's amazing what you can get done during a commercial break!

Glad to help. Most of us have way too much stuff, so start by getting rid of everything you don't absolutley need or use. It's much easier to keep clean. For example how many sets of sheets do people need? I say just two, maybe even one- you wash it and put it back no need to store it. Also don't keep things that only do one special thing. They take up space and you rarely use them after the first week.

Make a week of going through each room and see how much you can do without. Ok all that being said, now to cleaning. Make sure everything you own has a specific place not just floating around the house.

You need to make the effort to put things in their place. Including laundry(hamper) clean clothes closet, etc. After eating take care of dishes right away either by putting them in dishwasher or washing and putting away. Make sure at the end of the day you go through and do a quick clean-puttting everything away so you can start the day fresh tom. Then when you get home from work you may just have a liitle tidying to do from that morning. Set up a cleaning schedule like saturday laundry. Monday mop floors Tuesday clean bathrooms etc. so you really shouldn't need to be dealing with clutter after you get going then it's just a matter of doing your daily chores. You'll appreciate having a haven for a home. God Bless you!

From experience, don't let your friends come in; they always leave a mess behind for you to clean up.

Seriously, set up a routine to follow everyday. And the best thing you could do is always take care of your little messes--dishes you used when eating in front of the tv, dirty clothes you've dropped in the bathroom when getting into the shower, fixing something to eat--if you clean up these things as you use them then you've won half the battle. The rest of it is maintenance--vacuuming, mopping, cleaning the tub and swabbing out the toilet. Get a handle on it now and it won't be a headache when you want to have company over on the spur of the moment, or worse, YOUR MOTHER DROPS IN UNANNOUNCED!!! I hate when that happens.

Set aside 1/2 hour per day to straighten things up. You must commit yourself to this goal and it will become a habit. You'll be suprised how much can be done in this time. Buy an oven timer and set it to 30 minutes. Look around at what is most annoying and start in. After the "ding," you are a free person.

Rinse, repeat.

Lots of hints.

-Dont have as many things out. The less stuff you have, the less you have to clean around.

-Use drawers, baskets, etc. for things. have a common basket or drawer you empty your pockets, etc. into. Have a drawered end table you dump your magazines, etc. into. have a basket to hold pens, notepads, remote controls, medicines, etc.

-Use decorative trash cans in all the rooms so you don't have junk letters, etc. lying around. I use large old crocks in most rooms, covered trash cans in others.

-Add shelves, hooks, etc. to closets to house coats, hats, umbrellas, etc.

-Use a large covered container for your dirty clothes or a large container in the bottom of your closet.

-If you keep a lot of documents, organize them into notebooks. the notebooks also make it easier to reference and less likely to misplace.

-Periodicallly (every day or 2) go thru your apartment with a box, picking up and putting away stuff that belongs in another room but just hasn't made its way there.

-If you have central air, keep the filter clean.

-Use good floor mats at your entrances to keep stuff from being tracked in.

-Use air conditioning instead of opening the windows.

-A few times a year, do a thorough cleaning (under beds, all baseboards, etc) to keep dust from bilding up... otherwise a fast cleaning of the main surfaces should be OK.

-Use good cleaners, especially in the bathroom. Newer cleaners will get rid of mold, etc. in a few seconds.

-Use other cleaners correctly. For example, if you use fantastic, wipe down with a sponge and towel afterwards, otherwise a thin residue is left which dirt clings to.

-Finally, organize your house around your lefestyle. Make keeping things organized easy based on your habits, not something requiring lots of aditional effort.

When you live alone you tend to get a bit lax in the housekeeping dept. Especially if you work full time. You just have to pick up after yourself. Use a laundry basket for dirty clothes. Organize as best you can. If you have a small place you just have to keep things picked up and organized.

Keep things organized: Chores are less scary when everything has a place. And make sure not to let your chores pile up. Believe it or not, tasks are easier to do and less time-consuming when attended frequently.

This is coming from someone who doesn't like to clean, by the way! ;-)

This is way too simple: Clean your house, then JUST DONT MAKE A MESS!! The little maintanence things are necessary no matter who you are or where you live. Do one or two chores a day and IT WONT GET MESSY!!

FlyLady!

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Make a list of what needs tidying and make sure you do at least once a day. Also if you tidy up a little once a day it will save you doing a lot of tidying up all at once.