Do you ever feel discouraged because your house doesn’t seem to sparkle? Even after you do your daily cleanups, does your house still look dirty? 

Don’t beat yourself up! The longer you live in a space, the dirtier it seems to be, and the more piles up. Even if you are intentional about it, there are some spaces in the home that show wear and tear more easily. 

There tend to be 12 areas in a home that make a house look more or less clean. By tackling these 12 areas, you can make your house feel brand new. 

1. Clutter

Clutter is typically about 98% of the problem. If your house is cluttered, it’s going to look dirty – no matter how much time you spend scrubbing the floors. 

Plus, with clutter, it’s hard to actually see beyond the clutter to what is causing the house to look dirty (such as dust in hidden spaces). When you remove the clutter, you can do a much better job of cleaning. 

Here are some places clutter piles up:

  • The outside of the refrigerator. Is your fridge covered with magnets, reminder notes, and children’s artwork?
  • Countertops. Are your kitchen countertops cluttered with seldom used appliances? 
  • Side tables. Do you treat your side tables like catch-alls?
  • Bookshelves. Are your bookshelves organized or stuffed full of odds and ends? 

Take time to remove clutter and take note of the difference it makes in the cleanliness of your home and your sense of calm.  

2. Carpet Stains

Stains happen – especially if you have children. However, if you don’t treat carpet stains right when they happen, those stains will remain.

Carpet stains instantly make a house look dirty and old. If you have a stained carpet, try an eco-friendly carpet and stain remover. If the stain is more severe, you might need to rent a carpet cleaner or hire a professional. 

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3. Grimy Kitchen

Even if you do a great job of regularly cleaning your kitchen, it needs a regular deep cleaning. 

As you cook and use your kitchen, oils and sauces splatter and collect on the walls, your stove top, burners, and other surfaces. 

Choose a day to do a deep cleaning of the kitchen, wiping down the cabinets and organizing your kitchen drawers.

Clean your stove top and oven with a non-toxic, environmentally friendly degreaser. Remove the limescale and hard water stains in the dishwasher with a special cleaning pod

4. Messy Laundry Room

The quickest way to make your laundry room feel dirty and leave you feeling overwhelmed is to let it become consumed with piles of laundry.

Some people always have piles of clean and dirty clothes in the laundry room.

Instead, organize your laundry room in a way that makes it easy to sort dirty laundry (use a compartmentalized hamper), wash clothes, and fold clean laundry. 

5. Neglected Bathroom

There are few things more embarrassing than having a guest use a dirty bathroom in your home.

Unfortunately, even if you keep your bathroom relatively clean, it may still look dirty. For example, when you clean, do you clean the hard-to-reach places (like the back bottom of the toilet)? Use a toilet wand to clean those hard-to-reach areas of the toilet bowl and seat.

Another reason your bathroom may still look dirty after cleaning is that it hasn’t been updated. If you are using bathroom fixtures and décor that are old, your bathroom will look dirty. Invest in some new bathroom décor and spend an hour deep cleaning those bathroom spaces you don’t get to each week.

6. Uncared for Walls

Over time, your walls get grimy. Dust floating in the air and oils from cooking settle onto the walls leaving them appearing dingy. 

Baseboards and corners often go neglected, as well. The next time you are cleaning surfaces, make sure you tackle these areas too. Wipe them down with a safe and effective all-purpose cleaner.

7. Dust

If you want to instantly bring some of the sparkle back into your home, give it a good dusting. Dust on surfaces makes homes look dull and dirty. 

You may find it helpful to purchase an extendable duster pole that allows you to easily get into corners and baseboards and return your home’s luster.

8. Dirty Dishes

No matter how clean the rest of your house looks, it will never look clean if there are dirty dishes piled in the sink or sitting on the counter. 

Make it a habit to load dishes into the dishwasher as soon as you are finished with them to remove clutter and decrease your stress. 

9. Unwashed Windows

Natural light makes a house feel more alive, but if the windows that allow that natural light to come in have smears and streaks, it does the opposite.

Invest in window cleaning tools, like squeegees and scrubbers, or hire professionals to clean the inside and outside of windows (and the screens) to instantly make your house look cleaner. 

10. Old Paint and Wallpaper

If the paint or wallpaper in your home shows signs of wear and tear, like chips or peeling, it will make your house look dirty.

Repairing these eyesores will make your home look so much cleaner. Try just repairing the chips, but, if necessary, repaint or reapply wallpaper to make your walls look fresh.

11. Unmade Beds

It’s amazing how quickly you can make your bedroom go from dirty to clean just by making the bed. 

For instance, let’s say the rest of a bedroom is clean, but the bed is messy; your brain will process the room as dirty. Try it for a week and notice the difference it makes. Your mood will be so much better.

12. Entryway Piles 

Do you have a “drop zone” in your home? This is a place where everyone in your family “drops” everything when they come home – shoes, backpacks, purses, etc. 

If everyone in your home adds their stuff to this spot each day, it’s going to become an eyesore. Plus, all the dirt and debris from everyone’s shoes will find its way there. 

Instead, create an organized entryway. Put out a storage bench, a rack to hang coats and hats, and place a shoe organizer near the door. 

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