Apartment Cleaning Tips

Keeping your apartment or home clean is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. But with summer bringing about schedules that are more hectic than ever, we know how easy it is to become a little negligent towards our cleaning duties. Fortunately, cleaning your apartment doesn’t have to be a chore that takes up an entire day or weekend. Whether you’re preparing for an impromptu visit from friends or family, or simply wish to organize and tidy up your living space, below you’ll find a few tips and shortcuts to clean your apartment quickly and efficiently.

cleaning supplies

Image from www.apartmentguide.com

Cut Out Clutter

One of the first steps in cleaning any space is to cut out clutter. Do a walk through of the apartment and gather in a bin any items that have been thrown on the ground or aren’t in their proper place. Cleaning the space will take much less time when you aren’t constantly stepping over clothes or other items that have been strewn on the ground.

Clean Similar Surfaces Together

Since you most likely use different cleaning products for different areas of the apartment, clean all areas that use the same product at one time. This prevents you from constantly running back and forth to the same area to exchange one cleaning product for another.

Fluff The Living Room

Since the living room is most likely where you’ll be spending most of your time when entertaining, it’s important to make sure this area is looking clean. Fortunately, making the living room look clean and tidy when you’re short on time is actually quite easy. Simply run through the room with a vacuum to eliminate crumbs and dirt on the ground, fluff up the couch pillows, and fold your throw blanket. Lastly, light a scented candle to create an extra aura of coziness.

Tackle The Bathroom

Not only do you not want to use a dirty bathroom, but you especially don’t want to make your guests do so. To tidy up the bathroom in a hurry, simply wipe down the counters and sinks, swish a little Clorox in the toilet bowl, straighten up any rugs, and pull the shower curtain shut. All of this will make the bathroom appear freshly cleaned without you having to perform a complete ceiling-to floor scrub down.

Clean As You Go

One of the easiest ways to maintain cleanliness in your apartment is to tidy up with everyday tasks. For example, wipe out the sinks right after you brush your teeth or throw dishes in the dishwasher right after you finish eating. By cleaning areas as you go, you’ll prevent dirtiness from building up and save yourself time when you do need to tidy up the place in a hurry.

Cleaning the apartment doesn’t have to be a weekend-long task that you dread for days prior. Keep your place neat and orderly by cleaning as you go and following these tips for the times that you need to tackle a quick tidy-up.

 

 

Space Saving Tips & Tricks

While apartment living certainly has numerous benefits and perks, there seems to be one small dilemma that many apartment dwellers find themselves facing-lack of space. But just because you live in a small space doesn’t mean you have to feel like you do! Thankfully, the struggle to find a proper place to store belongings has made renters and small homeowners quite the resourceful bunch.  Below we’ve compiled our favorite space-saving and storage-maximizing, tips and techniques to help get you started in creating a clutter-free and organized apartment.

Furniture

As far as furniture goes, it’s important to keep in mind scale and proportion. Try to keep your furniture as tight and compact as possible, and remember that multifunctional furniture is definitely the way to go in small spaces.

Ottoman

Not only do ottomans serve as a footrest or an extra seat for guests, they can also be extremely helpful in saving space around the apartment. Choose an ottoman with a removable top, and you now have a multi-functional room centerpiece that also serves as place to hide remotes, blankets, DVDs, and more. There even exist convertible ottomans that can easily transform into an extra bed for guests!

Trunk/Storage Bench

Using a bench or storage trunk is a perfect way to maximize storage and utilize space in an apartment. By placing a storage bench at the end of your bed or using a trunk as a coffee table, you’re able to store a multitude of items in a vital piece of furniture that also serves many other uses.

storage trunk

Image from www.venturanaba.com

storage trunk 4

Image from www.pinterest.com

 

 

 

Murphy Beds

Studio apartments can surely get a little packed, especially since you’re combining dining, entertaining, and sleeping all into one room. Consider investing in a Murphy bed, or a bed that can be pulled up and down from the wall. Murphy beds are the perfect solution to create more space for eating and entertaining by completely hiding your bed when it is not in use.

DIY Tips

Proper furniture isn’t the only way to save space in your small area! Here are some simple DIY tips to quickly and easily increase the amount of space in your place:

  • If your home is lacking in closet space, make the most out of your closet by stacking clothes vertically. Simply hook hangers onto one another with a soda tab, and you’ve instantly increased your amount of closet space. (Which gives you the perfect excuse to buy new clothes!)
soda tab hangers

Image from www.rantchic.com

  • If you’re looking for more shelving to store cans or other pantry items in your kitchen, check out this easy-to-make DIY Slide-Out Cabinet that will conveniently store food while taking up hardly any space.
  • Even walls can provide storage in small places! For a simple and lightweight shelving option, consider using wicker baskets instead of traditional shelves. Check out the instructions here.
wicker basket shelves

Image from www.makinglemonadeblog.com

  • Another important tip to remember when decorating a small space is that mirrors can make a room seem significantly larger. Likewise, mirrors are great decorative pieces to liven up a space and add more light to a room.

In addition to these helpful storage tips and techniques, many of our Flaherty & Collins properties offer storage units for bikes and other similar items!