Decorating Your Home to Minimize the Time You Spend Cleaning

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Home décor is not just a way to fill your space; it is a method of making your house into a home by
instilling the aesthetic you prefer. But every piece you add to the rooms in your house, from furnishings
and electronics to accessories like photos, lamps, pillows, and rugs, is one more item you have to clean
(or clean around). However, you don’t want your home to look like a monastery just so you can cut back
on housekeeping. So here are a few ways to decorate your space in order to make it both beautiful and
easy to clean.

1. Put furniture on sliders. You may not need to clean under and around furniture every time
you pull out the vacuum or mop, but you should do it once in a while, if for no other reason
than preserving your health. And if your furnishings are too bulky and heavy to move easily,
you’re probably not going to exert the effort very often. So think about putting them on sliders
or wheels (depending on the surface they’re on). This will make even large pieces easy to
maneuver for cleaning purposes and keep your hard flooring surfaces from becoming damaged
during cleaning.

2. Avoid unnecessary knick-knacks. The more stuff you have, the more time it will take you
to clean; that’s just common sense. Things in your home will not only need to be cleaned
themselves, but you’ll also have to clean around them. So if you find that the time needed to
clean your space keeps getting longer, perhaps you should think about ways to minimize the
clutter.

3. Keep collectibles enclosed. You may have display items that you want to showcase in your
home. But since cleaning them can be difficult and even dangerous (especially if they’re
breakable) you don’t want to do it any more than absolutely necessary. For this reason, it
behooves you to keep these items in enclosed display cases rather than on shelves so that less
dirt and dust gets in.

4. Get an e-reader. A lot of people love to read in their spare time, but if you’re spending all day
dusting shelves of books, you may not have much time for reading. By getting yourself a Kindle
or Nook you can house a whole library in one tiny package, drastically reducing the amount of
time you spend cleaning. You might also consider switching to a streaming movie service and
buying only MP3s instead of filling your shelves with CD and DVD cases that have to be dusted
frequently.

5. Look for stain-resistant fabrics. Everyone is bound to have accidents and spills here and there,
but you’ll have a much easier time cleaning them up with stain-resistant textiles on your side.
Couches, chairs, curtains, and rugs can all be found in materials that have been treated to make
it harder for stains to stick. So unless you want to be on your hands and knees scrubbing the
carpet or the couch to remove stuck-on stains, look for stain-resistant materials whenever you
buy items to decorate your home.

Evan Fischer writes for Suspended Ceiling Shop, where you can find Dune Supreme ceiling tiles and
other ceiling accessories for your home improvement needs.