A common New Year’s resolution is to keep your home cleaner. But how do you start achieving such a broad resolution? If you are living in Chico, you probably want to spend more time in our beautiful parks and less time scrubbing your tub. Here are four ways to keep you on track to help your apartment stay clean all the time!

De-clutter

Apartment living is generally restrictive on space. One of the easiest ways to make keeping your apartment cleaner and easier to organize is to get rid of things that you don’t need. We like to use the love it, use it or lose it rule. If you don’t absolutely love an item, or if you don’t use it all the time, then it is time to donate it or trash it. Having a de-cluttered apartment will not only help you make your space look larger than it is, it will make your space easier for you to clean too.

Create Habits

If you haven’t touched your dishes in a week, the carpets haven’t been vacuumed in a month, or you have a soap scum accumulating in your bathroom, it can be difficult to clean your whole apartment in 30 minutes or so. Waiting until you absolutely have to clean means that you have to allocate hours to making your Chico apartment look appropriate for guests. Get in the habit of cleaning as you go. Clean dishes while cooking, sort mail immediately from the mailbox, or wipe down the bathroom counter after getting ready in the morning. Cleaning the mess right as you make it will allow you to always have a clean apartment.

Create a Landing Strip

It is common for Chico apartments and studios to not have larger entry ways where you can unload stuff when entering your apartment. A great way to keep your home clean is to create a landing strip for your entry. What is included in a landing strip?

• A doormat outside your door
• A small side table to put a bowl or plate to catch keys, wallet, phone etc.
• A basket where you can put mail
• Coat hooks for your jackets, leashes etc. (If you have a closet close to the door then make space for those items if you don’t want them visible.)

Not having designated places to put all of the random junk that lands on your counter or dining room table creates clutter. If you get in the habit of using a landing strip, you will save your surfaces from mail, contents of your pockets and more! When you are living in Chico, you'll have a place to put your fresh flowers from the farmers' market and buy a few candles to decorate the table!

Be Social

Do you find yourself rapidly cleaning an hour before you have guests over to your house? Well, know that there are a lot of people in this world who do the same exact thing. Want to be in a continuous habit of cleaning your apartment? Schedule dinner dates or get togethers and plan to host the social gatherings yourself. This will give you an incentive to keep your apartment clean.

Now that you have a few tools in your tool belt to help you keep your New Year’s resolution to keep your apartment clean, it is time to make changes now.

Need help deciding where to start cleaning? Download the checklist below for inspiration!