There are few things as joyous as like seeing your kids laughing and making memories, playing outside with your fur babies. In the mud and in the rain, grass stains and all.
We all love our fluffy, friendly, funny and mischievous little monsters. For the majority us pet owners, our pets aren’t just animals, they are our fur family.
There’s no doubt about it; pets bring a lot of joy to a family and home. But they also bring a lot of mess to a house. From dirt and grime to shedding fur, tracking in pollen and more.
Keeping your house clean (and smelling fresh) while accommodating your pets can be a challenge, but we’ve got you covered. This quick start guide will walk you through simple, yet highly effective ways you can keep your house clean regardless of how dirty your fur babies try to make it.
Take these preventative measures
Here are five tips for new dog and cat owners on how to keep the house nice through cleaning hacks:
1. Brush your pet daily
Is cat or dog hair carpeting your floors, floating around in the air like soft snowflakes indoors?
Do you realize (with horror), as you step into your office in the morning, that your black dress pants are covered in white dog hair?
Pets shed on a regular basis in order to keep their coat new, shiny, and healthy. That means, when you have a dog or a cat in your house, you’ll be cleaning off fur-laden furniture on a regular basis.
Regular brushing, however, catches hairs primed for shedding before they ever make it to your furniture or floors. So instead of seeing hair on your couch, on your floor, your pillow, or your countertops, you can quickly and easily keep shedding to a minimum and your pet’s fur coat healthy all in one fell swoop.
If you don’t have much time, don’t worry. Even five minutes a day can be enough to show a significant improvement in keeping your house clean with pet family members.
2. Vacuum on a regular basis
You knew this was coming, didn’t you? Let’s face it, vacuuming isn’t much fun, yet it’s a critical step to take in order to suck up any animal hair that doesn’t get caught in your regular brushing regimen, and can also suck up any tracked in pollen, dirt and grime.
If you don’t vacuum, your house may start to smell like your pet. That’s right – vacuuming regularly is our #1 tip on how to get the pet smell out of your house.
Also, pets tend to bring insects home: your carpet could turn into a designated campground for fleas and ticks, making it especially important to vacuum regularly if you have lots of pets.
Vacuuming doesn’t need to be time-consuming or difficult.
Here’s how to incorporate vacuuming into your day, keep your house hair-free, and enjoy your time with your pets:
- Close off rooms your dog won’t need to go in, so less of the house needs cleaning.
- Keep the vacuum conveniently stored in whichever room has the most hair on the floor.
- Spend 10-15 minutes each day (maybe while dinner cooks) vacuuming just one room. This way, you won’t need to set aside a whole day for pet deep-cleaning.
Vacuuming may feel like an extra step in the day, but if you want to know how to keep bugs out of the house with pets shedding everywhere, vacuums are the best way to clean dog hair off any surface. They’re even the best way to clean dog hair off hardwood floors.
But not just any vacuum will do the trick. Do your research and find ones that are rated well by other pet owners for suction power, filtering and standing up to messes of hair that will clog lesser models.
3. Cover your furniture
Your four-legged buddy might not technically be allowed on the furniture, but after you’ve been away all day, all they want is to spend time with you.
When you come home from work, grab a snack, and sit down to watch your favorite show, they’ll probably jump on the couch beside you and ask for cuddles.
Or they’ll ask for your snack. Or they’ll take the snack without asking.
Sorry.
Using sheets or furniture covers is an important step to protecting your couches from pet mess. Muddy paws, shedding hair, and oils from your pet’s skin will all affect the quality of your furniture.
Covers are more easily cleaned and/or changed out than your furniture and are a great “quick clean” hack you can use to further the lifespan of your furniture while also keeping your home fresh and clean.
Think of it like this, you don’t change your bed every time it gets dirty right? Right, you change and clean the sheets. Same concept here.
4. Prepare for muddy paws
Just like young children, your dogs, cats or other pets don’t know any better. In fact, they probably love getting dirty and rolling around in the mud.
We’ve all experienced our fur babies barreling into the family room with mud caked in their fur and on their paws. Usually, this is followed by one quick fur-shake – and now the mud’s all over your walls.
So what’s a homeowner like yourself to do? Will you have to live with dirty footprints now? How can you keep the house clean of mud with pets?
There are a few steps you can take to decrease the pet clean-up on rainy days:
- Purchase door mats to catch most of the mud
- Invest in an inexpensive rug for each room with an indoor-outdoor entrance
- Keep a towel near the back door to wipe down your pet
- Buy a pair of boots for your dog – instead of cleaning your dog’s paws when they come inside, just take their boots off
Another key strategy, if your home’s layout allows, is to block off the entryway of your home and set up a staging area where you can clean your pet off prior to them entering into the mainstay of your home.
5. Food (and litter) mats
Litter boxes and food bowls are hotspots for spills and messes to occur.
If your pet is a new addition to your family, you may not realize it yet, but these areas should be protected with absorbent mats. One day, you’ll realize the litter box is surrounded by a thin layer of (dirty) litter tracked off your cat’s paws, or you’ll walk up to the water bowl and find your pet’s turned it over by accident. Oops.
In order to combat this, you can purchase specialized litter and bowl placemats, or if you’re thrifty you can fashion your own as a simple DIY project.
If you want to make your own, begin by cutting a dollar store floor mat to the size you need. Next, combine some foam board and contact paper, or lay down a piece of especially thick fabric – whatever fits your style. Just remember to place a non-stick mat under these, so that your pets don’t slip and fall!
Clean home, happy heart
As they say, cleanliness is next to godliness. And really there’s not much to it, no house cleaning secrets or special magic button. Basic, common sense strategies tend to work best.
Your home is a place where you make memories with your whole family – including your pets. In fact, keeping the home clean can help you and your pets enjoy the little moments while keeping everyone safe, happy and healthy.
Simple techniques such as hanging a towel by the door can ease your muddy-paw print nerves on a rainy day. Covering your furniture will turn “Stop jumping on the couch!” to “Silly dog, this couch is for humans!” And storing a vacuum near your cat’s favorite room will keep your pet hair anxiety under control.