Clean, neat and tidy homes make any house wife jealous. Instead of being jealous, attain a smart home to make others feel the same. No one feel good if he enters a home where things are thrown here and there and furniture full of dust. Through this article let me give you 50+ house keeping suggestions for you to keep your home ‘smart and special’. Make use of your storage spaces effectively and avoid placing things visible outside – this is the first step to make your home tidy. Also never forget to clean your home frequently.

Living room - The lively room

• In most homes carpets are used to beautify your living room. It is to be cleaned periodically. Rainy season gives a dirt smell to your carpet. Clean it once in every week and dry well under sun.
• Beneath the chairs of living room, you can build pull-out drawers to place tea glasses. If so, you can avoid tea stain on your chair arms due to placing of tea or snacks.
• Put one or two aspirin tablets in your flower vase filled with fresh flowers. They stay fresh for a long time.
• Dining hall
• Avoid upholstery chairs in your dining room as it’s difficult to remove stains. Medium height chairs are enough. Also avoid wash basin in your dining hall; if may make your guests discomfort while others using it.
• If you construct a separate counter in your dining room you can place all your dishes there. If everything is spread on your dining table, you won’t get enough space to serve and eat food. As everything is placed in the counter, you can avoid frequent visits to kitchen to bring something.
• A few persons like to put decorative spoons and mat on dining table. But if not frequently cleaned they will be covered with dust soon. It’s better to place them during meals only. Instead place a low height flower vase to decorate your dining table. Otherwise you can’t communicate with the person sitting at the other side of the table.
• Just keeping in mind the convenience of guests, you need not build big dining tables. Round dining table is best for square dining rooms and rectangular tables for rectangular ones.

Bed room - The room to make sleep your tensions

• Place a planner in a wall of your dining room. You can keep note of your bill dates and important assignments or functions in this planner. Place a calling bell near the bed of senior members.
• If you place small tables on either side of head board of your bed, you can place your favourite books, walkman, alarm or your favourite things. If you avoid steps in windows, you can keep it clean as you will avoid placing small things there.
• Many persons have a habit to place their sandals beneath bed. If you place a tray there, you can easily clean the space there.
• Never place plants in your bedroom. They emit carbon dioxide at night and it is not good for your health.
• Place only frequently used items in your dressing table. If you don’t use them frequently the things placed outside will get dust attack easily, killing the beauty of your home.
• Use washable paints in your kids’ room so that you can clean them frequently.

While washing clothes - the tedious job

• Add half cup baking soda to the water used for cleaning towels. They will leave the bad smell.
• To remove ink stain of your clothes apply a little alcohol on it and wash well. To remove ink stain of walls, use bleaching powder.
• Add one cup vinegar to towels while washing. Colour won’t fade.
• Shampoo is best to remove dirt from collars than soap. It easily removes oil.

Kitchen - The power house of your family

• Sponge used for cleaning dishes can be placed in bleaching powder. Bacteria get sterilized easily. To remove the bad smell of sponge lemon juice is the best.
• Put one or two cloves to your sugar can. Ants won’t enter it.
• Place a rubber mat on the top of stainless steel sink while cleaning dishes. Your sink will be free of stains.
• Old tooth brushes are best to clean taps. Rubber sealing of your refrigerator can also be cleaned using a tooth brush.
• Place a blotting paper in the container before you fill salt. Salt won’t dissolve easily.
• Apply a little coconut oil to your daal. It stays long.
• Sprinkle a little salt powder before you place ice tray in your fridge. Your ice tray won’t stick to the freezer surface.
• To remove stains of plastic containers, apply baking soda mixed with water. Then apply a little vinegar and later rub using a brush.
• To remove the smell of fish or garlic from your hands, lime juice is the best solution.
• To remove bad smell of meat and fish placed inside your fridge place a little vinegar in a small vessel inside your freezer for a few hours.
• One cup baking soda is enough to absorb the bad smell inside your microwave oven.
• If your gas hob gives yellow flame it’s the indicator of dirt particles in the burner. Use a small needle to clean the burner.
• If your glass vessels have faded, there is a simple method to bring their glory back. Dip your glassware in warm vinegar for one hour. Then use a scrubber to clean it.
• Insert a sponge inside a nylon socks. Then tie it well and use to clean sink, bath tub and tiles.

To get rid of pests - The real headache

• Dip sponge in soap water and gently rub on ants. You can apply kerosene or Vaseline in the areas where they enter. Sprinkling powdered cardamom, pepper or camphor are alternate solutions. Chalks available at market like ‘lekshmanarekha’ can also be used to get rid of ants. Mix boric powder and atta and stick it to ant-affected places.
• Soap water is the best solution for pests in furniture. If fissures or cracks are present in walls, fill them using silicon, white cement or putty. Also apply Vaseline in the legs of furniture. You can use hot water for cleaning bed sheets or boil them well using water, in case your bed has pest attack. Then dry it well for 2-3 days under direct sun.
• Apply a little Vaseline to the inner surface of a can and place bread dipped in jam. Cockroaches will fall into these traps easily.
• Put a little eucalyptus or curry leaves to an earthen pot and burn it inside your rooms. Your rooms will be filled with a nice smell and mosquitoes will flee from the place.

Bath room - To wash off all dusts

• To remove soap bubbles and its dirt from your bathroom rub using sponge dipped in vinegar.
• To get rid of bad smell of your toilet place a little baking soda open at any corner of your bathroom.   
• Before cleaning bath tub, fill it with hot water. Cleaning will be easy. If bath tub turns pale yellow, use turpentine and salt mixture to clean it.
• Dip shower curtains in salt water to prevent fungal attack.
• If shower curtains get fungal attack dip in hot soap water and apply lemon juice. Then dry under direct sun.
• To remove marks on bathroom tiles clean using cotton dipped in kerosene or alcohol.
• To remove rust stains from tiles apply kerosene to remove it.
• Now toilets are divided into wet area and dry area. The area used for bathing (with shower cubicle) is called wet area and rest belongs to dry area. They should have height difference of at least half inch. Wet area should be in lower position than dry area.
• You can fix railing near toilets if old people are present in your home. It avoids slipping.
• Brush, detergent and other equipments used for cleaning bathroom can be placed in a cabinet inside the bathroom. It’s a nice suggestion to place all those things in a bucket of one bathroom, if your home has many bathrooms. You just need to carry that bucket to every bathroom while cleaning, thus saving a lot of space for placing those cleaning items in every bathroom.
• Below bathroom sink you can place towels, shampoo, shaving set etc in a cup board.
• After cleaning taps remove the moisture completely. Otherwise scratches may occur.

Furniture - The showroom of your interior

• Open the closed cupboards once in every week to give free circulation of air inside. It removes bad smell of your clothes too.
• You can make covers with zip for furniture. They can be removed and cleaned easily. If you feel difficulty in opening zips apply a little bar soap on it.
• You can place camphor inside cupboards to absorb moisture. It gives a pleasant smell too.
• If there is gap between walls and windows, apply m-seal to block it.
• Coconut oil can remove gum from your furniture. Apply a little coconut oil to a piece of cloth and gently rub it on those areas to remove the gum completely.

Before I conclude a few tips in a snapshot

• It’s a housewife’s habit to keep everything at home. To keep your home clean first step is to remove unwanted things.
• Start cleaning from your veranda. First clean ceiling, then furniture and at last floor.
• It’s a nice idea to prepare a timetable for daily, weekly and monthly cleaning tasks.
• Clean your rooms daily, glass windows, furniture and decorative items once in a week. Polished brass vessels can be placed inside covers to avoid dust.
• While cleaning courtyard remove the fungus of flower pots. Give equal preference to clean the surroundings of your home as you do for your interior.

Image source: Wikipedia