Ever find yourself faking excuses for why your friend can’t visit your place to use the bathroom before going out? Ever turn red with embarrassment when unexpected guests enter your home? This sounds like you have a messy house.
Imagine how much more enjoyable life would be if you were one of those permanently tidy people whose homes could be company-ready with 15 minutes’ notice. We wanted to turn our clean fantasies into a reality, so we researched the daily habits of people with clean houses. What we learned is that it takes more than a few deep cleanings to achieve this status of cleaning goddess. It takes daily work and preparation to keep your house in a constant state of perfection.
How you can adopt habits of people with tidy houses to get out of the disaster zone you’ve been living in. Here are some tips!
#1. Make Your Bed
Before you leave your bedroom or house in the morning, make your bed. If you’re in a rush, pull the comforter up to the pillows, and smooth it out to create the impression of a made bed. This simple act creates a sense of order in your bedroom and sets your day off on a productive note that’s likely to carry through.
#2. Empty the Dishwasher in the Morning
Get the dishwasher emptied and ready to go for the day. Doing this in the morning sets the groundwork for an easy dinner cleanup at night and keeps dishes from piling up in the sink during the day.
#3. Do a Load of Laundry Every Day
Washing clothes on a regular schedule keeps the dirty pile from becoming overwhelming. Those with big families prefer doing it every morning, but if you live alone, doing laundry a couple of predetermined days a week would be sufficient.
#4. Use Baskets to Organize Things
When there’s a place for everything to go, it’s easier to keep everything in its place. Scatter cute baskets throughout the house to hold your things, and add shelves to hold the big pieces.
#5. Don’t Procrastinate
Procrastinating is being slow or late about doing something that should be done, do not delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it or because you are lazy. When a box is delivered, unpack the goodies inside, and discard the packaging immediately. The same goes for dealing with messes. The longer you wait, the harder they become to deal with.
#6. Put Away Your Clothes From the Day
As tempting as it is to drop your clothes on the floor after a long day’s work before changing into your sweats, take the time to fold, hang, or place them in the hamper. Do this, and your clothes and floor will both look better for it.
#7. Clean as They Go
You can dramatically minimize your mess by cleaning as you go. If you rinse the cutting board while the pasta is boiling or start loading the dishwasher while the chicken is baking, the bulk of the work will be done by the time you serve dinner.
#8. Never Go to Bed With a Dirty Kitchen
Resist the urge to climb directly into bed after a big meal. Take care of any and all kitchen cleanup that night. Clean pots and pans and wipe down counters. Not only will the mess harden and be smellier the next day, but waiting means that you’ll have to spend your morning back down to make up for what you neglected the night before, instead of getting a head start on the day ahead.
#9. Plan Ahead
Whether it’s picking out your outfit the night before or reviewing what cleaning products you need to restock before tackling the bathrooms that weekend, you can give yourself a jump on the day by planning ahead.
#10. Don’t Own Extras of Anything
This isn’t always the case. People tend to have and keep extras of everything. But once you decided you wanted to live a simple and minimal life, you have to make decisions about what you are going to keep and what you are going to get rid of. There is a day you are going to organize your attic and storage room and later on will realize you own load sets of Christmas lights, enough lights for three trees or more. When you tested them all, threw away what wasn’t working anymore, kept the ones you wanted and give away the rest or better yet, throw them away.
“Too much stuff leads to clutter, which isn’t conducive to a clean, orderly home.”
