We have three fur balls at home, two dogs and one cat, I find it really hard to keep on top of the house work at the best of times but even more so when you have to worry about muddy paw prints or cat fluff all over the carpet. Sometimes it just seems impossible to get rid of dog smells, but there are wonderful ways and simple ideas to help you keep on top of it all.
Here are my top tips on keeping your home clean despite the pet’s best efforts:
Stock up with handy cleaning tools
I have an indoor broom handy and a dust pan and brush. The thought of having to hoover twice a day to pick up the pet hair made me feel quite frustrated, so I now use the broom to sweep it all up and the crumbs that the children leave too – win win. Quick and easy.
A dust pan brush is great to get cat fur off the carpet too – wet it a little and rub the cat fur with the bristles. Watch the fur clump together, pick up the clumps and throw it in the bin. Rocky has a spot at the top of the stairs, which I think is where the pipes warm up the floor, he sleeps there all day and night. As you can imagine sometimes the beige carpet looks grey so this neat trick saves me a lot of time and I can just do that one area when I need to.
Use a steam mop with scented cleaning products
As you may have read in one of my previous posts, a handy tip is to put Zoflora in your steam mop. This not only cleans the floors with the steam getting rid of bacteria – but it also makes it smell devine! The good thing about the steam mop is it gets into the crooks of tiles, so where the pets might have dribbled their water or had an accident, the steam mop will give it a thorough clean.
Swap out the pet bedding
Buy a dog blanket for their beds, or a throw and buy it twice. Use one for a week and wash. Rotate the blankets whilst washing. This way the pets never go without their comforts. Washing the bedding weekly reduces the risk of eggs hatching if they have collected bugs on their long grass walks!
Cover the sofa!
If the pets live in the house as you do it’s worth covering the sofa with throws. We all love sofa snuggles. Throws not only protect the sofa from dirt but it is also easier to wash. It works for the children too. The last thing we want is a chocolate stain or a felt tip pen signature. A tip for pets and children.
Keep a dog towel by the door
Big dog walks equals muddied paws and dripping wet from ear to tail. I find it really useful to grab the dogs towel at the front porch and wipe down the muddy paws. Otherwise they create a parade of brown paw prints throughout the house, which is a job to get that up from the carpet. So I use a preventative method before they get into the main house. I don’t want to ruin their fun by not letting them get muddy!
Do you have any useful tips on keeping the house clean with pets? I would love to hear them in the comments below or on social media @mummyconstant.
This is fantastic! Keeping your home home clean can be a humongous struggle when you have pets, but tips like this make it much easier! Thanks so much for sharing your advice!
Hello, I really liked your idea of putting zoflora to my steam mop. i checked you other article and everything that you have posted there and here as well just makes perfect sense. my husband is a keen dog lover and i have had that problem with the dog smell for quite a lot of time. Now, I am going to implement some of the strategies that you suggested. Thanks for the article, it is very helpful!
TWEET IT! LOVE IT…I KNOW WHAT A HELPFUL POST AS I DO CLEAN MYSELF TO SHINE MY FLOOR. SOME OF TOOLS IS MY COMMON HOUSEHOLD. HARDLY USED ANY CHEMICAL SOLUTION AS I USE STEAM MOP & IT WORKS FINE. KEEP CLEANING IS A SERIOUS MATTER WHO HAS A PETS. PETS HAIR ALMOST FOUND WHILE CLEANING. THANKS FOR SHARING NICE TIPS ALSO.
It is not an easy task to keep your home clean with pets.But cleaning is necessary to prevent unwanted diseases.These tips helped a lot in keeping my house clean.Thanks for sharing!
Great advice on keeping your home clean with pets. It really can be a difficult task as it always seems like dogs and cats are shedding. I’ll have to get a new dog blanket for the sofa, thanks for the reminder!