‍

Do you two want to start living together in the same house? Are you excited to share your new space with your sweetheart and build a future together? After all, it won’t feel like home until you have someone special to share it with, right? Keeping a clean home is one of the most important yet difficult aspects when moving in with someone for the very first time. As much as you love your partner, sharing a household might come as a bit of an adjustment for both of you.

That’s perfectly normal; however, you may find that you have different opinions about things, or that you simply don’t get along with each other. You can make it work even if is difficult, you will need patience and communication to start getting used to doing things differently but the journey is worth it. It doesn’t help that there are so many little things that tend to accumulate quickly and start showing up as clutter or pet hair on nearly every surface in the house.

Fortunately, there are ways to make moving in together easier than you think while still maintaining an orderly and clean environment at the same time. This article gives a practical cleaning guide for couples on how to keep your space clean and organized when living with your sweetheart.

Put the essentials first

These are the things that you’ll be using every single day, so it makes sense to put them at the front of the queue when you first move in together. After all, you’ll need a bed, mattress, tables, chairs, a stove, and kitchen appliances like a fridge, microwave, and oven right away. Depending on your lifestyle and the layout of your new home, you might also need a dining table, chairs, a sofa, a TV, and/or a landline phone. In any case, put these things at the top of your to-do list before moving in together, and don’t forget to factor in any additional (non-essential) items that you might want to include as well.

You maybe already move in with your partner and already have some time together, in this case, make sure that the necessities are available and in a not cluttered environment. I have been living with my partner for a while and he goes out in the morning earlier than I do, he keeps his things in a particular space that works for him but we had to work together because the space was starting to look cluttered and disorganized, we just keep the essentials there and get the other stuff on the correct place, we have a particular checklist when cleaning so for us the things we need are on sight and avoid having to clean all the time.

Have a weekly tidy-up day

You’re bound to have some mishaps between now and when you move in together. However, if you’re smart about it, you can minimize the chances of things going wrong significantly. This is especially important when you’re going from a single to a shared household.

There’s nothing worse than having to clean up a massive mess after your partner has been eating, drinking, and sleeping in it. Use the weekly tidy-up day to make sure that your home is always in the state you want it to be; that way, you’ll save yourself from a lot of unnecessary stress.

As mentioned before, communication is key in this new journey. You may feel the need to clean after your partner but this will only cause tension and stress for both. It is important that when you decide when are you going to tidy up it works for both, check your schedules and try to make them at the same time. If you have time to do things multiple times a week it works best to have small tasks during the week that will not take much time and will help both of you to be happy with the state of the house.

Keep your home smell-free and air clean

It might sound a little bit odd at first, but you can improve your home’s overall smell level by keeping it smell-free and keeping the air clean. Keeping your home smell-free and keeping the air clean will naturally fade away the smell if you don’t take action but dirt and dust accumulate in the air and can cause illness and fatigue.

When you enter a room for the first time after moving in together, take a moment to visually inspect the state of the room. If you detect any strong odors, don’t ignore them: get rid of them right away! This may need the help of the landlord if you are renting or there may be things you can do on your own.

There are a few things you can do to keep the air in your home clean and smell-free. If you have pets, make sure their space is clean and allow them to be in open spaces if possible to allow smells to leave the room. Also, try to open all the windows in your home when you can. If you live in a city, try to avoid letting the air inside your home sit stagnantly. Cleaning your home regularly and vacuuming your carpets will help to keep your home fresh and smell-free.

Don’t skip the dusting — ever!

Someone should dust when moving in for the first time, you should not neglect it. You never know what kind of dust has been collecting in your old home for the past 10, 20, or 30 years, so it’s important not to skip that step when you first move in.

Clean your surfaces with a dry cloth and proper cleaning agents so that you don’t water the dust with your cleaning products. Then, lightly dust everything that was just cleaned with a cloth so that the dust is separated from the clean surfaces. You should dust while you’re living with your partner, and you should definitely aim to get it done every day. If you can’t get it done right away, then you should try prioritizing it next to your other daily tasks.

Store all of your clothes in suitcases or plastic bins

As much as you might love the idea of having a whole wardrobe full of clothes that you can wear and wear again whenever you want, it can be a huge space-hog and cause clutter in your home. Depending on how big your wardrobe is, this could be an even more significant problem than you think.

While you might not be able to get rid of all of your old clothes right away, you can definitely reduce the amount of clutter your home is suffering from by storing all of your garments in suitcases or plastic bins. This will drastically reduce the amount of clutter in your wardrobe, and it will also greatly improve the overall look and smell of your home.

When I first move it I had some clothes in a suitcase for a lot of weeks, the idea is to just keep the things you actually need available to you and while going through your clothes check what you no longer like, you no longer fit and what you can put in the trash. Avoid attaching too much to stuff, especially if you have reduced space in your new house.

You should use multi-purpose cleaning products to get the job done quickly

Multi-purpose cleaning products are often very effective at tackling a variety of cleaning tasks, so it makes sense to use them whenever possible. This will also save you money since some multi-purpose products (like toilet bowl cleaners) will usually last much longer than their non-multi-purpose counterparts. When we went to buy the first things to clean our new apartment we bought very few things, we got 1 kitchen cleaner, and 1 for the toilet. This is not perfect for everyone but it helps to see what works for you and what does not.

If you find yourself on a budget try to get vinegar and baking soda, these do wonder in multiple areas of the house. They are a great investment to make when you are living with your partner for the first time. This will save you time and money, while it will also reduce the clutter in your home.

Divide the tasks depending on your schedule

This is often a common-sense tip that many people forget about when they first move in with their partner. It’s important to take into consideration how your partner’s schedule will overlap with your schedule, and you should ideally aim to divide the chores between the two of you based on that.

This will ensure that each of you gets the job done, while it will also give each of you a chance to assert your independence and show your partner that you can do it on your own. If you can’t do it alone, then you shouldn’t have to do it at all. Work together to see the things you guys like to do around the house and which you are not very happy to do, try to do the task division as equally as possible, and take into consideration the time you each have to better coordinate with your partner.

When you move in with your partner for the first time, you’ll both have to make many adjustments to your habits and your daily life. That’s perfectly normal, and it’s not going to happen overnight. You can’t just go from being single to being in a relationship without making some adjustments. That’s perfectly normal. In order to make the adjustment easier, you’ll have to be proactive and think about how you’re going to keep your house clean and organized. You’ll also have to work together to make sure that everything is done on time and in the correct order that works for both of you. To help you in this new life, I have created a free checklist for weekly tasks that may help you stay on track with the things that need to happen around the house, you can get it below and let us know if there is anything we can help with in the comments.

Pin it for later!