Golden Years, Gleaming Spaces: 18 Tips For Home Cleaning for Seniors

Getting up there in age means not being able to do what you used to do. Simple things can sometimes be outright exhausting, but your home deserves to be peaceful and stress-free.

House cleaning for seniors doesn’t always have to be a struggle and a chore, though. Discover these 18 tips on keeping your home clean.

1.  Make a Schedule

The best way to start is by making a cleaning schedule for your home. Designate specific tasks for each day to make it more manageable and less overwhelming.

Oftentimes, seniors tend to feel frustrated when they realize they couldn’t do things as quickly as they were once able to.

Know your limits. When age creeps up, so does joint pain, arthritis, and fatigue. Pushing yourself to do more will cause more harm than good.

As you learn to pace yourself and feel out how much you can do each day, go back to the cleaning schedule and change things around if you need to. It isn’t a race to clean your home.

• Break Down Tasks Into Smaller Steps

When you sit down to create a cleaning schedule or outline what you want to do each day, sometimes there are tasks that might seem impossible or would take a while. Breaking them down into smaller steps makes it more doable.

Every once in a while, reflect on the progress you make each day instead of beating yourself up over not getting something done. Congratulating yourself, feeling good, and feeling accomplished are going to make it easier to get things done in the future.

•  Use Organizers

Keep your home clutter-free by making sure things are being put away in a designated place like a drawer or shelf. By putting your things into organizers, it’ll also make it far less of a hassle to try to find one specific thing like an important document, especially when they’re all kept in the same place.

Here’s a few examples of organizers you could use:

• Clear containers that can be stored in closets or under your bed, so you can easily see what’s inside of them without having to do any labeling.
• Shoe racks for any sort of footwear you may have. Having a shoe rack can also make it easier to reach them.
• Paper organizers like accordion folders for bills and documents.
• You can also get organizers for your medicine cabinet.

•  Use A Rolling Cart

Using a rolling cart for your laundry reduces the physical strain on your body since you aren’t carrying anything around, gives you more stability and balance, and makes it easier to stick to your brand new cleaning schedule.

If you have multiple stories in your home, you can either get a rolling cart for each story or leave your single rolling cart in a convenient place that you can quickly get to from the stairs.

•  Use A Grabber

One of the major reasons behind the elderly falling is from bending over and losing their balance. Using a grabber can help you avoid that by acting as an extension of your arm to help you pick things up from the ground, and to get to those hard to reach spots around the house, like on top of the refrigerator or a cabinet.

• Use Natural Cleaning Products

As we get older, our bodies become more sensitive to the chemicals found in store-bought cleaning supplies. Start replacing them with things like white vinegar as an all-purpose cleaner, deodorizer, and disinfectant, baking soda as a scouring agent for scrubbing sinks, tubs and stovetops, and lemon juice or essential oils like lavender oil, tea tree oil, and eucalyptus oil for fresh scents.

•  Keep Sponges Disinfected

A simple hack to keep your sponges from spreading bacteria is by soaking it in a bowl of water (Add lemon juice to the bowl too if you want a citrusy scent), and then placing it into the microwave for two minutes. When opening the microwave, make sure you don’t touch the sponge for a minute or two so you don’t hurt your hands from the heat.

You still want to make sure that you are replacing your sponges every two to three weeks!

•  Steam Your Microwave

Place the bowl of water (as long as it’s microwave-safe) into the microwave for one minute. This will steam the inside, and make it easier to clean with the sponge you just disinfected.

•  The Secret To Sparkling Oven Racks

Like other store-bought cleaning products, oven cleaners can irritate your lungs, leading to coughing, chest pain, and shortness of breath.

Here’s an easier way to clean your oven racks:

1. Check your oven rack for any rust. If it has rust, use a plastic storage bin that can fit the rack. Otherwise, use your bathtub. You want to avoid any sort of rust transfer.
2. Run warm water into your chosen container (bathtub or plastic storage container) and add some dishwashing liquid.
3. Place the racks into the bathtub/plastic storage bin and allow them to soak for a few hours. This will loosen any grease or grime.
4. Remove the oven rack from your chosen container, and use a fabric softener sheet to help remove residue. If it’s being stubborn, use either an abrasive sponge or the green side of a normal sponge.

1.  Remove Pet Hair With Rubber Gloves

Have you ever rubbed a balloon on your shirt and made static that made your hair stand on end? You can use that sort of static to help clean up pet hair, whether it’s on furniture, in your car, or stuck in the carpet.

Put a rubber glove on one of your hands, then run it under water to dampen it. Next, run your hand over anything you might have pet hair on. It’ll start to clump together and you can remove it easily with your fingers.

After the glove dries, just dampen it again and it’ll work as good as new.

1.  Easily Wipe Down Blinds

A very easy way to dust your window blinds is to get a pair of old socks and tongs, and place each sock over the two parts of a tong. Then, close the tongs around each slat, and wipe them down until the whole blind is clean.

For a deeper clean, get a bowl and fill it halfway with water, and then fill the rest of the bowl with white vinegar. Clean off the socks you used for the blinds, dip them into the vinegar and water, then wipe down each slat again. Wipe each slat dry afterwards.

1. Open A Window

Without fresh air and ventilation from time to time, the atmosphere inside your home may become stagnant, causing pollutants and germs to build up. Not only will an open window make your home’s air more clean and make it smell better, but it could also improve your mood.

1. Keep Your Cleaning Supplies Visible

Encourage your cleaning routine by making sure that all your cleaning supplies are visible and easily accessible, so that you won’t have to spend time or energy looking for specific items.

1. Use Vinegar To Keep Your Toilet Fresh

All you need for this is a small mason jar and white vinegar. Fill the jar with the white vinegar, poke holes in the jar lid, and then place the jar into your toilet tank.

The water in the tank will begin to mingle with the vinegar with each flush, disinfecting and deodorizing your toilet.

Make sure to check the jar every once in a while so you can refill as needed.

1. Get Streak-Free Windows

The secret to getting those streak-free windows are microfiber cloths. You can either use water, or a natural window and glass cleaner made by mixing water, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol.

Simply wipe down your windows with the microfiber cloth after dipping it into the water or the window cleaning mixture.

For stubborn stains like bird droppings or any sort of tape, glue, or adhesive, make sure to gently scrub away at it. The alcohol will help to break down any adhesive you come across.

1. Take Care Of Yourself!

The most important thing you can do is to take care of yourself and keep yourself healthy. Do things that make you happy and give you purpose, and make it a point to talk to people often.

Other things you can do is make sure that you have a consistent sleep routine, spend time outside, get some sunlight every day, and find something new to read or learn about so you can keep your mind active and aware, even as the years creep up on you.

1. Ask For Help

If there’s chores around the house that you’re having trouble getting done by yourself, then it’s always better to try to ask for help from friends, family or a professional cleaning service, otherwise you could end up hurting yourself.

Asking for help can be really difficult sometimes, but in the long run it can save you a lot of time and energy. Share your schedule and what needs to get done with them.

1. Hire A Professional House Cleaning Service

If you’re having a difficult time managing the cleaning of your home, you can always rely on Right Touch House Cleaning in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to get it done efficiently and professionally.

Our cleaners are trained in multiple cleaning disciplines so that they can handle delicate items or areas of your home, so you won’t have to. Get a free quote to discover what a brighter and healthier home can be!