Cleaning your home is not your favorite thing in the world? Yeah, that’s true for most people. However, you still do need to clean your home and you need to do it right. Remember, if you do a bad job, you’re doing yourself a disservice and nobody else.

We talked to professional cleaners at My American Maid and asked them what some of the worst cleaning habits were and how people should act to avoid them. The biggest offender, they immediately agreed, was putting off cleaning until it’s so dirty that cleaning is that much harder. Here are the others, equally important.

Shower Rituals Need to Change

What do you do with the shower curtain once you’re out of the shower? Chances are that you don’t know, because you never really thought about it. But that should really change. Most of us instinctively leave the shower curtain in a corner, all bunched up as we leave the shower, and just never think about it.

But do think about it for a second. You just left the shower curtain in a warm, wet and dark environment. If that rings a bell, it’s because that represents the ideal conditions for mold growth. Fortunately, there is a simple way to prevent this problem from ever occurring. Simply spread the shower curtain to dry faster. Keeping a window or the door open helps immensely, too.

Are You Vacuuming Wrong?

This is one of those chores that most people claim to love, but when it actually comes down to it, people suddenly remember – vacuuming sucks (pardon the pun). And it kind of is annoying. For the most part, you need to bend over and push the vacuum cleaner back and forth for half an hour or even longer, covering every square foot of your house with a tiny 15-inch pad. And the noise these things make can be just too much.

But don’t be fooled, vacuuming is hugely important. The dust and other particles that get caught in your carpets and on your floors can be quite shocking. And if you don’t remove it by vacuuming, you will end up breathing it in at all times. This can cause or exacerbate respiratory issues such as asthma or allergies.

Try to vacuum at least once every two weeks, but ideally each week. Oh, and don’t forget to empty the vacuum bag every time (or at least every other time) you use it. As the vacuum bag fills with dust, your vacuum cleaner’s ability to clean diminishes.

How Is Your Dish Washing Game?

The standard excuse of ‘needing to leave the dishes to soak’ typically ends up leading to dishes stacking and not being washed for a full day or even longer. Leaving the dishes unwashed is one of the easiest mistakes to make, and one that can be particularly nasty. Not only do they start smelling bad, they can also develop some nasty pathogens on them – after all, food residue and water are ideal grounds for pathogens.

This is why washing the dishes right away is the most salient advice coming from experts. Alternatively, they propose to have a time of day when you do the dishes, after dinner, but before going to bed.

When the dishes are washed, you will typically leave them on a dish rack to dry; but for how long? Keeping the dishes on the drying rack for days on end is not problematic in a health sense, but moving them to their designated cupboard as soon as they are dry is a good habit to have.

Just like with everything else in life, a good home cleaning habit is valuable in multiple ways. Try to adopt as many of these and your quality of life will surely increase.