How to Keep Your House Clean on a Budget

Guest article provided by: The Cleaning Lady

With prices rising across the board on all items, keeping your house clean has gotten expensive.  Cleaning supply prices alone are up 10.1% year over year.    It’s enough to throw up your hands and embrace the filth.  But I’m here to tell you, with these tips, you can keep your house clean on a budget.

 

Ditch the cleaning service

I know, my colleagues are not going to like hearing this, but unless you are disabled or elderly and can not clean yourself, house cleaning services are a luxury.  And those prices are going up as well.  If cleaning supplies are up 10%, cleaners who provide their own supplies are going to raise their prices at least as much.  

I know, some people do not know how to clean, this is why they employ me.  If you are stuck between a rock and a hard place with not knowing how to clean and not being able to afford a cleaning service, I suggest checking out printable cleaning schedules like this.  These digital downloads you print at home list exactly what to clean in each room of your house.  You’ll be a pro in no time!

If you physically can not clean your house yourself, some cleaning services are willing to barter, especially for technical work such as fixing computers and websites.  Use these tips to barter for cleaning services.

 

Buy generic cleaning supplies

Generic cleaning supplies are just as good as name brand.  While companies like Lysol will tell you they have the market cornered on bathroom cleaners, any generic cleaner with bleach in it is just as good.  The active ingredient in Windex is ammonia, which is in generic window cleaners as well.  Store like The Dollar Tree have most of their cleaners for $1, which is quite a bit of savings from name brand.

 

Make you own cleaning supplies

This has been a big trend in the environmental movement for years, but it also makes budgetary sense.  The ingredients in most homemade cleaning supplies include baking soda and white vinigar, both of which you can get for under $2.  Check out these easy DIY cleaner recipes.

 

Reuse anything you can

Paper towels are a waste of money when you can cut up old t-shirts and use them as rags.  Old wash clothes will fit on the head of a Swiffer mop.  Reusing what you can makes good economic sense and it is good for the environment as well. A package of disposable Swiffer duster heads is almost $10.  You can fasten a microfiber cloth to the head and reuse it over and over again.  Be sure to save those spray bottles for your DIY cleaners!

So don’t resign yourself to living in squalor just yet.  With these steps your house can be as clean as it has always been, and you will pick up some new skills as well.

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