Tips to Maintaining a Tidy Home
Keeping a tidy home can be a challenge. Especially with pets, children and overall busy lifestyles. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming or a near impossible feat.
It is all about maintaining a strategy, staying consistent and not making excuses. Life gets a head of us, it is a natural occurrence. It is coming back from that and not allowing things to get out of control that keep us on track. Preventing the chaos from getting out of hand is the key to maintaining a tidy home versus having to always start over.
Here are some simple ways to start keeping up with the house.
Make the beds each morning.
Regardless of how the rest of the bedrooms may look, a made bed can make a room look so much more put together. It brings order to a space that may not be is all other aspects.
Stay on top of the dishes.
Empty and load the dishwasher. Always aim to have a clear sink of pots and pans and other dishware. By clearing dishes after each meal, helps prevent a build up to tackle at the end of the day.
Take 5 minutes to pick things up in each room.
After my son goes down for a nap or to bed at the end of the day, I run around picking up his toys and books he has enjoyed entertaining himself with. This creates a sense of calm in each room, without the madness of stuff laid all about. He is still quite little, but soon enough he will learn to help take care of this with me, but until then, I handle it before I take any rest. It is always a nice feeling to wake up the next day and not be surrounded by clutter. It is also nice to not step on a toy or tiptoe around them.
Close the kitchen at the end of the day.
This is a fairly new concept to me, but I find it brilliant. After dinner, we tidy up the dining room and kitchen as we normally would, but now, by “closing the kitchen” you tackle all of the dishes and cleaning, and everything is set for the next morning. This prevents late night snacking by the whole family and shows a completion of the day and settling down for the night.
Maintain a manageable cleaning schedule.
By having a manageable cleaning schedule, you prevent getting overwhelmed by having a cleaning day where you are trying to squeeze all of your chores into one single day. While that method may work for some, a lot of our schedules cannot accommodate this. I started doing this prior to children, when I worked a full time job and had an hour long commute both ways. I’d come home exhausted and didn’t want my weekends to consist of only chores. I designate a chore, such as cleaning the bathrooms, to one day a week, and so on and so forth. While I have my daily chores, they are usually quite minor in comparison to the larger tasks I assign to each day of the week.
Have family members assist you with assigned tasks.
Give responsibility to other members of the family. Children are quite capable by certain ages to handle small chores, such as bringing their plate to the sink after a meal, or putting a book or toy away after using it. As for husbands or partners, have their designated tasks that you agree upon. My husband does most of the outdoor chores while I maintain a majority of the interior ones. It is a trade off we had agreed upon very early on when we started living together, and it works for us.
Stay on top of laundry.
The more family members you add, the more laundry there is. I have a laundry day as a part of my cleaning schedule, but I also tackle a load here or there when needed. As our family grows, I do see us having to do a couple more loads throughout the week as needed. For some, you may want to try doing a load a day. And do yourself the biggest favour of all, once a load is completed and folded, put it away.
Unpack as soon as you get home.
I swear by this after a family trip. If it is a day trip or a week long vacation, as soon as we get home, I unpack our bags. This way we know where everything is, no food gets forgotten and rots, laundry can be started and bags and suitcases can be put away and out of sight.
Tidy up throughout the day.
Handling the little messes throughout the day prevents massive messes at the end. Take a couple minutes to prevent hours late. This will not only save you time, but sanity as well.
What are some of your tips to maintaining a tidy home? These tips may work for some, but may not work for all. If you thrive in chaos and tackling everything all at once, all the power to you! By breaking tasks down into smaller pieces, it usually helps being more thorough, less rushed and less stressful. Ever look at all of the things you have to do, to only get overwhelmed and not do anything at all? I think we have all had a moment, or many, like this. Baby steps at first, but once you get a rhythm of handling things as they come up, it helps us see things clearer over a panic.
Melanie xoxox