8 Things You Should Be Cleaning Every Week For A Tidier Home

There are, of course, a million things to do around any home, and most of them are some form of tidying up. But you can get a remarkable amount of mileage out of only a few when you do them without fail on a weekly schedule.

In a way, many of these items aren't cleaning ... or, at least, aren't only cleaning. They have as much to do with psychological maintenance. Tidying up has self-evident rewards in places where you enter your house, where you go first thing in the morning, and where you would experience little joys — except for the mysterious bits of spaghetti clinging to the window you're gazing out while you're having your coffee.

Some tasks with the potential to make your home feel tidier address needs you'll notice, and some you never notice unless they need cleaning. Others you might not really be aware of at all, but there's a certain pleasure in the subconscious knowledge that it's been done. And one more thing about those low-visibility tasks you needn't do every day but dare not leave for a month: The act of taking care of them will, itself, improve your attitude toward your home.

Not every family does this, but those that do already know what this is all about. Ongoing activities and projects — whether it's school projects, DIY jobs, and even board games in progress — can sometimes sit around looking messy indefinitely. The rationale is that there's no sense in putting things away, since you'll just drag them back out to finish the project. Here's one way to make yourself feel better about squaring away in-progress jobs: Snap a picture of everything before you put it away. Then, the worst case is that you'll have to reconstruct everything later.

Home organizers sometimes talk about homes' unintentional drop zones where people entering the house tend to put things out of convenience, rather than putting them in their proper places. But homes usually have at least a few drop zones, if not more. Some of the clutter they accumulate includes mail, found items, stray USB chargers and cables, school papers, and coupons. Whatever the mess is, clear it away every seven days at a minimum.

Have you ever had that moment when, walking into your guest bathroom, you look up and see a network of cobwebs that can't possibly have taken less than three months to build? How long, you wonder, has it been since you dusted up there? And how long has your mother-in-law been sternly side-eyeing that mess every time she visits? Take 20 minutes to at least knock the dust off of some place you normally ignore. You don't have to hit every area like this each week, but take care of a few.

You should remove leftovers and anything threatening to spoil more often than weekly, but it's amazing how good it feels to give your refrigerator a genuine semi-deep clean weekly. You'll be amazed at what you can get rid of, what has been spilled, and how many condiments a couple of humans can think are necessary. This is probably also a good time to do a little meal planning to use the things that need to be used soon, thereby saving some money and eliminating some food waste.

One of the biggest disconnects in home life is between how good clean bedding feels and how often we clean and change our sheets. They're not particularly challenging to wash and dry, and they're usually not all that hard to take off and put on the beds (some bunk beds notwithstanding). You'll thank yourself as you settle into bed for a few days, and a few days after that, you'll be able to start thanking yourself all over again.

The inside of your garage is often the first thing you see when you get home. It can set the tone for your evening, and so deserves some attention every week to make the best use of garage space. Certain things accumulate near parked cars and where one exits the garage and enters the home, and those are never the right place for anything to be stored. Tip: Clean out your car before you tidy the garage. You'll get the cleaning double-whammy, and otherwise you're just going to mess up your clean garage.

Except for bathroom mirrors, windows and mirrors don't always need to be cleaned weekly. But a quick swipe with microfiber and a cleaner can make a big difference in your week. Look out the windows and enjoy seeing the clouds or your kids playing without that involuntary shudder as you focus through dust and handprints and good grief, Kevin, is that pasta on the window? Speaking of which, spot-clean windows and mirrors as promptly as you can to make weekly cleanings easier.

You know the ones. Those little nooks and corners where your upright vacuum won't properly fit and the robot vac fears to tread. Dust bunnies and Lego bricks might accumulate there, or perhaps nothing at all does, but you'll feel better for breaking out all the crazy vacuum attachments and giving the out-of-the-way spots a quick cleaning. Might as well go ahead and take care of all the spaces under furniture that get neglected, while you're at it. And clean everything above the floor before you vacuum.