Growing up, there was this song we couldn’t escape. In school, in church, and even at home, it kept following me. The song says: “Cleanliness, oh cleanliness, cleanliness is next to godliness.” We sang it with so much joy, but do you know the funny part? Most people who sang it didn’t even practice it. You’d still see someone singing loudly about cleanliness while dropping groundnut shells on the floor. I used to shake my head, humans are funny like that.
As I grew older, I realized that sanitation isn’t just about singing songs, it’s about actually doing the work. And honestly, I’ve found a few little hacks that make keeping my environment clean less of a chore and more of a lifestyle. Let me share some of them with you.
Clean up immediately. I call this the “don’t deceive yourself hack.” You know that moment when you finish eating banana and you say, “let me just drop the peel here, I’ll throw it away later”?
Later never comes. Before you know it, peels have formed a family meeting in your room. I learned to throw things away immediately, no postponing. My future me is always grateful when I don’t leave messes for her.
Washing my hands always. I cannot stress this enough. Growing up, my mom would chase me with that look if I touched food without washing my hands, especially whenever I come back from school.
At the time, I thought she was just being dramatic, but now I get it. Clean hands save you from unnecessary sickness. Because there are thousands of germs that are left in our palms, some are stuck in our fingers whenever we move about for our daily activities.
Washing of hands has become a part of me that whenever I come back from work, school and I don't wash my hands I feel so uncomfortable until I do so.
My trick is to keep liquid soap near the sink and even carry a small sanitizer in my bag. That way, no excuses. Clean hands, happy stomach and free from some diseases.
Declutter like your life depends on it. I noticed that dirt hides in clutter. That pile of old papers or random nylon bags. They become magnets for dust and sometimes even cockroaches eww… Now, if I don’t need it, I throw it out or recycle it. Trust me, open spaces look and feel so much better.
Drainage patrol. Okay, this one sounds serious, but it’s real. In my area, if you don’t check the gutter in front of your house, it will turn into a swimming pool when rain falls. People love pretending the gutter is a dustbin, but I learned to sweep around and clear mine regularly. It saves me from playing “canoe adventures” in my compound whenever it rains and also saves you from mosquitoes which can cause malaria for your entire household.
Clean as you go. This is my survival trick in the kitchen. If I cook and leave all the plates till later, I’ll just sit there staring at them, regretting my life choices. But if I wash as I cook, by the time food is ready, the kitchen is already clean. Same thing with sweeping or mopping, small daily clean-ups keep things fresh.
Finally, I add a little touch of good smell. Sometimes I boil lemon peels or use air fresheners. Because when a place smells good, you just automatically feel like keeping it neat.
At the end of the day, sanitation isn’t about doing big things. It’s the small daily habits like, washing your hands, throwing things away immediately, decluttering, and keeping the drainage clear, that add up.
Cleanliness really does make life sweeter. And honestly, the old song was right, cleanliness is next to godliness, just that this time, I actually practice it.
Image is mine