Dec 1, 2022 15 Comments 15 Likes
Unless you're an extreme A Type personality, chances are your home gets out of control, fast! I consider myself somewhere in the spectrum of A Type personality and my home still manages to get out of line it seems on a daily basis. Let's try this affirmation exercise. Stand in front of a mirror, look at yourself in a serious and loving way and say, "YOU deserve a clean and organized home". Say it with me! "YOU deserve a clean and organized home"... LOUDER! "YOU DESERVE" .... Okay.... Are you convinced yet? Because you DO deserve and clean and organized home. It just takes a little bit of work. I'm not going to scold you about the time you spend scrolling on Tik Tok and IG. I think you already have a decent clue. So I'll just say this- you have time. You can set aside 30 minutes in the morning, and 30 minutes in the evening. That's one whole decent hour to try to hold your place together as much as possible. This is what adulting is. Sorry I know it kind of sucks here sometimes but I didn't make the rules for aging. Make it fun, put on some music, light a candle, get to work.
Put your clean clothes away every day.
If you’re anything like me, you probably have the habit of changing a good 3-4 times a day, depending on the level of activity. Apart from changing, I try on multiple outfits that I decide I don’t like, and toss everything on my bed. This can create a pile up so fast it’s a perfect scenario for a nervous breakdown. A good tip is, set aside 5-10 minutes to just fold your clothes and hang them away. That’s really all it takes if you just do it daily. If you let it buildup however, not only will it take longer but it won’t be until you have a panic attack about how chaotic your home is that you finally decide you have to clean up. Don't let yourself get to that point.
Scrubbing your toilet weekly.
You don’t want houseguests coming over and seeing all your dirty business do you? Okay so then grab your toilet brush and cleaner of choice, and give it a little scrub about once every week. It literally only takes one minute at most! We all have time for that. While you're there, do yourself a favor and spray the toilet seat down and underneath as well. Once you see what's down there, you'll understand why you should do this weekly.
Load your dish washer before going to bed.
I know, the thought of doing one last task even before bed is just, ugh! But you will be happy you did tomorrow morning. Waking up to a kitchen with no sight of a piled up sink is a great feeling, and you are already setting a good tone for your day with this little pick me up. If you want to go the extra mile, give your counter tops a good little wipe. The whole task with dishwasher and wipe down can take you 10 minutes tops and will relieve a lot of future stress. Just get in the habit of doing it and thank yourself later.
Take your shoes off at the entrance.
I can’t tell you how controversial this rule has been in my home forever! Friends, roommates, family who would come in and throw a tantrum about having to take their shoes off. It can even set some people off and make them feel disrespected, but is it really that serious? Have you seen what happens in the streets and sidewalks outside? I live in a big city, and let me just say that I have seen some things. Where do you think all those germs go when your shoes walk through that? They stay on the soles of your shoes. And then, you walk into your home and track all those germs into your precious space. Don't do it. A good idea is to have an area for your every day shoes at the entrance, and keep a pair of house slides that are ONLY used inside the house. They should never touch outside ground. Keep a pair for your whiney guests too and give them a cookie to make them feel better.
Purge your fridge out every month.
You know those vegetables that you bought because you promised yourself and all your social media friends that you were going to eat more healthy? And now they have turned to gooey liquid in the back of the fridge drawer? Yeah, I’m talking to you. You can avoid a lot of this if you just go through your fridge monthly. Make this a little 1st of the month ritual you do every month like clock work. Or pick another day it doesn't matter. Starting a new month or even week with a clean home mindset really helps to welcome in positive energy into your home.
Hang your towels up after you use them, preferably near a window.
Do you know that you can extend the usage of your towels that you use after your shower? A lot of people think they need to use a new towel after every shower or so, and quite honestly this is a bit wasteful. Think about the concept- you get in the shower to wash your body of all germs, so if you gave yourself a good scrub that means the towel should mostly only pick up water from your body, right? So then why is is that people get icky about towels too often? The reason why is probably because they are not allowing the towels to dry properly, and then they start to smell moldy. That is the key here. I like to drape my towels over my desk chair near an open window after I have used them. This way they get properly dried and good to use a few more times until I feel they need a wash. I let them sit for the rest of the day and forget about them, then later come to collect them and put them back in my bathroom for another use. I would say a towel should last you a good 4-6 uses before you wash it.
Open your windows (if its safe and if weather permits)
This is one a lot of people don't think about. Let me tell you that as a house cleaner, I can tell when someone doesn't open their windows often. The house has a certain stuffiness to it and the walls and windows get coated with air grime. Yeah, it's a thing. Think about everything that happens in a house. We breathe, we sneeze, cough, cook, all kinds of other fun activities that disburse germs into the air. Where do you think it goes? To the windooooows and to the walllssss! You can help this situation by opening your windows daily a little bit and letting some air circulate through. Make it safe though. If you live on a busy street or anything like that, maybe put some kind of obstruction or lock device so that they don't open all the way. Be safe but let some air in. You will instantly feel better.
Open your mail every day
... And immediately toss out what is garbage. You can buy yourself a filing gadget to put your mail to sort through later- I would advise doing this weekly. But the important part here is immediately discarding trash. When we let mail pile up without sifting through it, we end up having insanely huge piles of what doesn’t even matter to us and is mostly junk mail. There is no need to hold onto junk. It only takes one good minute daily to toss out garbage mail.
Use up your shower products that are running to their ends.
She is a lady and she must buy every pretty bottle and 20 different scented body wash and conditioners. Shop she must. She is I, I am her. I understand this battle, and I understand it even more because I go into a lot of people’s bathrooms to clean them. Make it a rule where you will NOT buy yourself not one more bottle of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion etc etc until you are down to your last few drops.
We tend to have the habit of picking up new products every time we do a Target run. But this is where the trouble begins. Simply put, you don’t need it! I make it a fun game with myself to use up every last drop of every product that I have and I get excited when I keep finishing bottles and clear my shower out eventually. It feels like I accomplished a little bit of discipline and self growth. I give myself extra bonus points when I give my shower and tub a full scrub down and prepare it to welcome a new set of body cleaning products. I know, consumerism is pretty sick if you ask me. But hey, if it means playing little mind games with yourself and using them as rewards, then so be it!
Clear off that ever mounting coat rack
You knew I was coming for you. Almost every house has this beautful coat rack or coat chair *side eye* where they pile on about 50 coats they use through the days. Then you wonder why you have "nothing to wear", because your coat hanger is wearing it! Make it a weekly task that you simply MUST do! Take every single coat and boot you threw at this area and just hang them up will ya? All you need is one coat for each member of the household to have handy in case they have to run out. This is what it was invented for. NOT to hang your whole wardrobe. I promise you it will only take 5-10 minutes. You can do it!
