Ten Tips For Having a Clean Home and Pets

While it may be hard to believe, it is possible to keep a clean home for family and guests and keep a comfortable home to your pets. These tips will focus primarily on maintaining your home with cats and dogs - if your fish or turtle are the ones causing the messy house, you may need to find another article.

1. Keep your pets clean. Bathing your pet weekly and brushing them on a daily basis will have the biggest impact on your ability to keep your house clean. Bushing your dog or cat daily can drastically cut down on the pet hair that is found flying around your floor and on your surfaces. Weekly baths can help cut down on the pet dander in your air and vents.
2. Easy to use vacuum and mop. A high quality, easy to use vacuum and mop can help keep your floors and furniture pet hair-free. By getting easy to use cleaning supplies, it can make the work seems like less of a chore. A cordless vacuum makes getting out the vacuuming and cleaning the floors a quick daily routine. A spin mop can also help lighten the burden of mopping your tile or hardwood.
3. Keep a towel by the door for paws. Putting a towel by the door will be a good reminder to wipe off your dog or cats paws when they come in from outside. Dogs specifically love to dig in the dirt, so use the towel to keep the dirt from getting all over your floors and furniture.
4. Cover your furniture. If your dog or cat is used to sleeping on the couch or a particular chair, cover the furniture with a sheet or blanket that can easily be thrown in the wash to keep the couch and chairs pet fur and dander free.
5. Keep them off beds. Now, this may seem like animal cruelty to some pet owners, but if you think about the amount of shedding and the dirt your pets get into during the day, it can really make you rethink allowing them on your bed. There are a lot of great pet beds on the market including orthopedic and memory foam beds that will be great for your pets to sleep well. It can also help you sleep better through the night if the pets are not on the bed.
6. Clean your pets' things. You can cut down on a great deal of pet dander, pet hair, and pet smell by washing your pets' toys and bowls weekly, and washing their bedding at least once a month.
7. Keep your pets food and treats in airtight containers. Always keep your pets food and treats in airtight containers to avoid bugs getting into the food, the food going bad, or the whole house smelling like pet food.
8. Clean up accidents quickly. If your pet accidentally goes to the bathroom or gets sick on the floor, be sure to clean it up immediately. If you let the accident sit, it will seep into your subflooring and hold the odor for much longer. If your pet uses a litter box, clean it at least once a day to reduce the smell of feces.
9. Use air fresheners. Febreeze and Lysol kill 99.9% of bacteria in the air to help reduce the pet dander and pet smell in the air. It can also be helpful to light a candle or use a wax burner to keep your home smelling fresh and clean.
10. Change your air filter. Of course, we are a little biased, but changing your filters can greatly reduce the amount of pet dander in your home can keep your home clean. Changing the filters regularly will allow the filters to do their job in cleaning up all the dust in the house and keep it smelling fresh.