7 Ways to Decorate Your Home to Minimize Cleaning
As a professional cleaner, I’ve seen the interiors of thousands of homes. There’s a multitude of different surfaces, furniture, and decor that someone can furnish their space with. Building and decorating a home space is a “choose your own adventure” task, so-to-speak.
Some homes (if compared side by side) almost identical in size, can take 2x-3x the time to clean. Reasons why:
(1) The variability of building materials
(2) The functionality of a space
(3) The amount of things owned
(4) Daily living habits
Let’s go over the different furnishings and home optimization tasks for your home, to create a space that’s more functional and easier to clean.
Image by Kaloust Assilian
Skip Glass Tabletops
Glass tabletops can be a really beautiful centerpiece at home. If you MUST have a glass tabletop — maybe choose a side or entry table instead of, say, a dining room table. Reason being, they get dirty (real quick!). Cleaning the glass on furniture can increase the overall amount of time it takes to clean your home — up to 30 minutes potentially.
If you’re looking for a tabletop that gives that glossy or shiny look, try an acrylic or a marble material like this GraceNook White Dining Table Set, this Wohh White Marble Dining Table Set, or this Celeste Dining Table with Heat Resistant Faux Marble.
Image by Sarah Chai
Keep Decor and Appliances Minimal
What can you consolidate, minimize, or eliminate from the shelves, cupboards, closets, and countertops? The more items that you own, the more that you have to manage, organize, and clean.
Spices - Can you keep them in a cupboard or a drawer instead of the countertops?
Appliances - Can you keep some of your appliances that you don’t use on a daily basis on a shelf in the garage or in the basement? Personally, I love these 4 tier chrome shelves.
Knick Knacks / Decor - Are there items that you can hang up vs. keep on a shelf or a countertop?
Reduce the Amount of Things You Own
Reduce the duplicates of the things you own and think in terms of functionality. Ask yourself: what are the maximum amount of pots and pans, mugs, plates, etc. that I can use at one time? In doing so, the amount of dishes that can accumulate at once will minimize, naturally.
By reducing the things you own, this might require an update in routine and habits, too. Perhaps you still want an extra set of dishes while the dishwasher runs its cycle…and that’s ok too! There’s no right or wrong answer in being minimal-ish. The best solution is a solution that works for YOU and your household.
Shower Head: Reduce Mineral Buildup
I wrote this article on the different areas that mineral buildup occurs in the home. Depending on where you live, this may or may not apply to you. Some areas have higher amounts of mineral deposits in the water. If this is the case, you’ll notice hard water stains in places where water flows at home (such as the shower, sinks, etc.).
There are a number of ways that you can reduce mineral buildup from occurring in the first place. For example, you can replace your shower head with a Jolie filtered shower head to help reduce or eliminate hard water stains from occurring in your shower.
Organize Shower Products into Caddies
Keep shower products contained, consolidated, and up off of the ground. Shampoos, conditioners, etc. are so much easier to clean and manage when they’re neatly organized in a caddy. Products are less likely to accumulate soap scum like the rest of the shower does when you keep them in a high place, up and off of the shower floor/tub.
Personally, I like kind with suction cups because they’re drill free and stay out of the way, suctioned to the wall. The hanging shower caddies can work, but in my experience they tend to slip down and off of the shower head.
This open air design LEVERLOC Shower Caddy helps keep things aired out so that products can dry in between shower use. This will help reduce soap scum buildup overall. It also keeps things oh-so-tidy.
This Eunion Suction Cup Shower Organizer is also a beautiful design and keeps everything easily seen and in place.
Keep Items Up, Off of the Ground
The less you have on the ground, the easier it is to clean your floors. Keeping a tidy floor space will not only help minimize dust accumulation, but dust won’t collect inside of the crevices where clutter would otherwise be.
If you’re limited on storage space and must keep items on the floor, try using storage bins or a credenza with storage space to keep clutter tucked away.
Try: the SICOTAS Fluted White Storage Cabinet, this SICOTAS Accent Wood Storage Cabinet, or the PHOYAL Sideboard Buffet Cabinet.
Keep an All Purpose Spray by Hot Spots
Have an all purpose spray readily available in certain hot spots of the house. Hot spots might include the kitchen counter or the bathroom sinks. Spray and wipe sinks and counters as you go throughout each day. This will help minimize buildup overall in your space.
The Tidy People All Purpose spray mixes form and function, beautifully. It’s a non-toxic refillable cleaning product that is effective, smells AMAZING, and looks beautiful on your countertop.
