It’s the most annoying thing to spend hours upon hours cleaning your home only to feel that it still looks dirty when you’re done.
Cleaning isn’t something everyone loves to do, but almost everyone can appreciate the result of cleaning: a clean home! So when you put all that effort in and your home still looks dirty, it’s pretty disheartening.
There are several reasons why your home still looks dirty even after a good cleaning and there are some really easy fixes to help you out so let’s dive in!
Let’s talk about the reasons your home still doesn’t look clean even after you clean it so you can feel like this…
We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
1. You Don’t Have a Cleaning System
One of the biggest reasons your home still looks dirty is probably because you aren’t actually cleaning in a systematic way. When you have a cleaning system in place, you ensure that you are cleaning all areas of your home on a consistent basis and you aren’t letting any area accumulate dust or grim over a long period of time.
When you have a cleaning system in place not only do you ensure keeping your home looking clean, but you also lighten the load because you begin to be in maintenance mode rather than deep cleaning mode.
Find a cleaning system that works for you and your family and stick to it to ensure your home never looks dirty!
2. Your Light Switch Covers Need Cleaning or Updating
Dirty or outdated light switch covers are one of the easiest and cheapest ways to make your home look clean. So many hands touch those damn things and if you have little ones, a lot of those hands are messy. We often ignore the smaller items in our cleaning schedule, but when they are a nice bright white, they make any room feel clean.
Good thing is, light switch covers are easy to swap for anyone even someone with no DIY experience and they are cheap! If they are outdatesd or cracked, update those too!
2. The Plastic Shower Curtain is Stained and Stinks!
I just discovered this amazing hack and I’m happy to report it works! I noticed that my plastic shower curtain liner was so stained at the bottom from our hard water and it started to smell. I’d clean the bathroom during my weekly routine and the bathroom would still have a lingering unclean smell. I just knew it was that damn shower curtain liner.
I figured if I could throw the fabric shower curtain in the washer, why wouldn’t a plastic one work too? So, I tried it out and it was awesome! I put the washer on a delicate cold cycle just to be sure the plastic wouldn’t be damaged.
The water stains came out and my bathroom actually smells clean! Super easy hack that is sure to make your home looking and smelling cleaner!
3. Carpet Stains are Making Your Home Still Look Dirty
One of the best things we did was remove the carpet in all our main living spaces. With those rooms being used so much, the carpet in those areas tends to get dirty a lot faster and cleaning stains regularly is not the business.
We decided on hardwood floors throughout the main living areas and carpet in all the rooms. This has worked out really well as we don’t wear shoes in the house to keep stains at a minimum. I spot clean the rugs we have, but that’s really about it! We also don’t let the kids eat in their rooms which cuts down on the risk of stains.
I know switching out your carpet for hardwood is not an easy, quick or cheap fix, but no shoes in the house is and adding in a routine spot cleaning will help big time! You can also get your entire carpet area cleaned every few months which would help as well and is not as expensive.
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4. Your Sink is all Scratched up
We have an older school white enamel sink that tends to get scratched by every single pot and pan in the house. The easiest solution has been to use Comet powder, mix it with a little hot water to make a paste and let it sit for 20 minutes.
Use a scrubber and a little elbow grease to clean up all the scratch marks. Once you clean it up, that bright white sink starts shining and makes your whole kitchen feel clean.
5. You Still Have too Much Stuff
Before your home can actually feel clean, it really does need to be decluttered. Not only will you have fewer things to clean up each day, but your home won’t look like it’s covered with “stuff”.
I can promise you that until your home has properly been decluttered (and I’m not talking full-on minimalistic mama), it will never really feel clean. Every time I spend time decluttering a room of my home, it always feels cleaner and remains cleaner in the long run.
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6. There are Toys Everywhere
If you don’t have baskets in your home to tackle the toy situation, you are really not winning at #momlife right now. Ok, seriously though, baskets are life!
I have this seagrass basket in my living room and it has been the best investment I have made in the toy organization area of my life. I use baskets for all the kid’s toys, even in their rooms and it has made life so much easier during clean up.
Plus, these baskets are super cute so even with a bunch of toys in them, they make the space look neat, organized, and clean!
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7. You Haven’t Tackled The Paper Piles
If you don’t know about paper clutter, are you even an adult? Paper is so hard to tackle, because it accumulates so damn quickly!
Paper piles in your home can really make the space look and feel cluttered and dirty. Find a system for your paper clutter that makes organization easy and keeps the paper clutter away!
8. You Don’t have a Central Communication Center for the Family
Speaking of paper clutter, you need a place to store the paper items that come in the mail you need to review. A family command center is the perfect solution to centralized family communication and helps with your paper decluttering system.
Storing all your paper for the week in one area really cuts down on the clutter, but also keeps your home looking clean.
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9. There’s Not Enough Light
You may not think this would make a difference, but I can guarantee when your space is light and airy, it doesn’t feel dark and dingy. Simply removing blackout curtains and replacing them with less dense curtains will bring that natural light into your space and will make your living areas feel bright and clean.
10. Your Curtains Look Dingey
Curtains often get bypassed when cleaning and they’re lucky if they get some TLC once a year. I can attest to this…when we bought our home I didn’t touch the curtains that were left for 5 freaking years! Yah, I know, horrible.
I just figured, they looked fine so why bother? But I realized that if I had all matching curtains that let some light in, it would brighten up our space and it really did! Now, my family and living room areas look cleaner and it’s actually nice waking up in the morning walking out to some sunshine in the house.
Also, these curtains are not expensive at all and that was another reason I didn’t make the switch sooner.
11. Your Front Porch Needs Some TLC
The first thing you and your guests see is your front porch. One of the most annoying things about our home is the fact that the vent to the dryer comes out of the wall right near our front porch. Lint from the dryer spews our every time I do the laundry. Needless to say, our next home will not have this as a feature.
When I walk up to my front door, sometimes it just looks so filthy because of that damn vent, so once a week I spruce up the front porch. There’s something about a dirty entryway that already makes your home feel dirty even before you walk in.
Your front porch is one area that is on the weekly cleaning schedule I’ve created because mine bugs me so much and it’s often overlooked!
12. Your Light Fixtures Need Cleaning
Glass light fixtures can be so annoying to try and clean. Your best bet is to take them off completely every few months and throw them into your dishwasher for a nice deep clean. Getting the layers of dust off can be a chore if you try to do it when they are on the fixtures.
Throwing them into a high heat cycle will get all the scum right off and will brighten those areas right up. You don’t notice what a difference this makes until you try it out.
13. The Baseboards Need a Deep Clean
Have you ever looked at your baseboards and you just wanted to gag? Those things get DIRRRRTAY!!! It totally makes sense since they are near the floor, but they are annoying to clean.
So, mom cleaning hack here…
Get a wet microfiber cloth with barely any soap or even just watered-down vinegar and wrap it around the bottom of a broom or Swiffer. Use that to wipe down your baseboards instead of getting on your hands and knees to clean the grime.
14. There are Scuff Marks or Nails in the Walls
Scuff marks or nail holes in the walls can make your home still look dirty even after a good cleaning. Make sure you tackle scuff marks as you notice them so they don’t accumulate over time.
As for nail holes in the walls, those are a quick, easy and cheap fix. Just buy some spackle and fill the holes. Paint over the holes after they dry. Filling these holes is definitely worth the time and energy it takes to make your walls look new again.
If you like to modify your wall hangings often or add decor during the holiday season, just make it a habit to fill the holes right after you take everything down.
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15. Your Kids Love to Mark Everything up with Markers
Best thing I ever did when my daughter started getting into coloring was I only bought the ultra-clean washable crayons and markers. I literally don’t let my kids have any other drawing options (unless I’m playing with them) until they are old enough to not draw on every surface of my home.
I learned my lesson when my son wrote on my couch with a melted crayon (yah, a lot harder to get out!).
If they receive crayons or markers as gifts and they are not washable, I either exchange them or save them for later.
16. Your Doors Need a Good Wiping
Here’s another fixture that often gets overlooked, but can really make your home look dirty. A quick wipe down every few months with some water and a towel or even baby wipes is a great quick fix to making your home look clean again!
17. Your Windows are Not Clean
Windows can be hard to keep maintained if you have little kids who love blowing on them or drawing pictures with their dirty hands.
However, they can begin to make your living space look dirty if they aren’t wiped down every few weeks. Clean the windows that are more apparent every two weeks and higher windows or those that aren’t touched as often, clean only every few months to keep your home looking tidy.
18. You Wear Shoes in the House
My hubby grew up never wearing shoes in the house and my mom tried to implement this later on in life, but it never stuck. My mom gets her carpet cleaned religiously because my dad still wears his shoes in the house.
My hubby would never let me live it down when I’d wear shoes in the house so eventually it became natural for me to take them off as soon as I got home. Now, our daughter will call out anyone that comes into our home with shoes on.
Not wearing shoes has cut back on how much we have to clean and it’s nice not to have to worry about what’s on the bottom of all our shoes from the outside that we are bringing in.
19. Your Shoes are Unorganized
Keeping your shoes off the floor and organized is a great way to make sure your home doesn’t look dirty.
Usually, shoes are one of the dirtiest things in our home so keeping them either outside or organized inside will make sure your home looks clean at all times.
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20. The Trash Can is Overflowing
Not letting your trash can overflow is a simple way to ensure your home looks clean. I know it’s easier said than done, but it’s worse to have to clean the trash can because old food was overflowing on the inside.
It ends up being less work to take the trash out more frequently so the inside of the can remains clean.
Is there anything else that makes your home still look dirty after a good cleaning? I’d love to know in the comments!
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We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
