Picture this: you’ve just spent a whole day cleaning your house only to plop on the couch, exhausted, but happy it’s finally done. But not 30 minutes later, you’re kids have gotten out all the toys, your husband went to pull something out of a closet and a million things came tumbling down, and your kitchen is a disaster after lunch. You wish you knew how to keep your home tidy all the time. Well, I have good news and bad news.
Let’s start with the bad news. Homes will get messy. But they’re meant to! We live here after all. Messes are a part of life and they can be beautiful in their own way. The good news is our homes don’t have to stay that way. They may not be tidy all the time, but they can be easily tidied.
That means the huge mess your daughter makes after baking cookies will no longer stress you out. You won’t sigh in desperation when you hear the toys dump all over the floor. And you will no longer have to spend an entire Saturday cleaning the whole house because it’ll be easy to clean after every “mess.”
Let’s get started.
Disclaimer: While the below steps are easy to understand they will take time. Don’t try to do it all in one weekend. Don’t even try to do it all in one month. Give yourself lots of grace along the way. But more importantly, don’t give up!
Do These Three Things To Keep Your Home Tidy
1. Declutter.
So basic, I know. But organizing is useless if you do not declutter first. I also know for many this is the most difficult and overwhelming step. Don’t worry. I’m here to help.
First, pick the area of your home that contains the least amount of clutter and start there. This will boost your confidence and strengthen your decluttering muscle.
Some good areas to start include:
- clothes closet
- linen closet
- Fridge
- bathroom
Under no circumstances start with sedimental items, toys, someone else’s things, or your kitchen. All of these can be overwhelming and will want to make you give up.
Now that you know where you’re going to start, here are 5 stress-free questions to ask when decluttering.
Lastly, you will need to prepare your “tools.” Before you start decluttering have a large box ready that you can drop off at a thrift store, a large garbage bag for trash, a basket of items to put away elsewhere, and a basket of “maybe” items that you don’t want or need but aren’t ready to let go of yet.
2. To put items away immediately after use.
The second tip to keep a home tidy (almost) all the time is to have a home for everything and put everything away immediately after use.
Cooking an awesome dinner? Put items away as you wait for things to keep you no longer need. Done with those craft supplies on your kitchen table? Take an extra two minutes to put them away when you’re done instead of waiting right before dinner.
3. Follow a simple cleaning routine.
I know many of you want me to give you an exact cleaning routine to follow that will keep your home sparkling all the time. But we all have different schedules and live very different lives which make that difficult. As inspiration, here is a cleaning routine I used to follow (and still loosely do).
Others follow what’s called a “loop cleaning schedule” where they don’t necessarily clean the same thing on a specific day, but instead list everything that needs to be cleaned. Each day they do what they can and the next go on to the next items. Here is a more in-depth article on the loop cleaning schedule.
Either can work for you! I do a combination of both actually.
Additionally, I (try) to make sure I clean a few things every day so that during those chaotic seasons of life I don’t feel like I’m losing my mind.
These daily tasks include:
- Sweeping or vacuuming any obvious messes
- doing one load of laundry
- making the bed
- making sure the kitchen counters are clean before bed.
While this article might seem like a lot if you’re just getting started, I promise, if you keep chipping away at it you will clear the clutter and the cleaning routines will become second nature.
Ready to keep your home tidy? Let’s get started today. 🙂
(If you have kids and are ready to use play as a way to help your kids develop physically, emotionally, and socially check out one of my favorite courses called Purposeful Playspace.
It will help you create a designated space where your kids will want to play without you with fewer toys but organized in a simple, way that promotes fun learning and development for your kiddos.
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