DO you want to live in a clean and organized house and never have to clean? Or, would you rather have a disheveled dirty crowded house where you are constantly cleaning. I have personally lived in both and know what it takes to live in a clean house and never have those whole days spent cleaning up huge messes.

Put Things In Their Place

First, everything has a place; when you finish with something you return it to where it is stored. It takes the same amount of time to set something in the wrong place than it does the right place. Second, incorporate cleanup into the dinner or project, then the kitchen goes from clean, to used, and back to clean and ready for the next person. If you see something out of place, put it where it belongs. If you spill something, clean it up. When you use the shower, take a moment and shake the shower curtain quickening the drying process so the water doesn’t hang around enabling mildew.

With everything in its own place it's easy to pull out a vacuum cleaner, give the rug a quick spot check and be done with it, putting it back wrapped up. If you incorporate cleaning into your life style you avoid the buildup that forces you to, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, spend hours going from kitchen to the bathroom, to the living room sweating scrubbing cleaning, only to have it dirty right back up again.

The House Sets Up Strict Rules

So, to try to fix the mess, you get the housemates together and set up strict rules and signs, “If you use it, wash it!” and “Whose turn is it to clean the bathroom”. This authoritarian lifestyle is not a lot of fun and can be totally avoided by taking moments in your day to incorporate living clean and living in a constantly clean environment.

The Recycle Metaphor

Well folks, society and recycling take the same metaphor. If each of us incorporates the proper disposal of paper, plastic, and glass and other recyclable products into our use of those products we will avoid the big Saturday afternoon cleanup. We will avoid having to have strict laws or recycle taxes enacted to try to motivate us. We can keep our earth clean while we live in it by putting the things we use in their proper place. Lets incorporate a clean lifestyle in all ways, if it has a triangle with the number in the middle, it’s recyclable. If your local community doesn’t offer recycling service, then make them; that should be a community mandate. Saving the Earth begins by saving our own "living rooms" and incorporating the time and energy of clean up and proper disposal in the act of making the mess. At least put the waste were it belongs. Recycle.

By: Mark Stegman