After many years of trying, I have finally organized my house! This is a major acomplishment for me because I was not raised to be a good housekeeper. My mother was a pack rat who hung on to most of the furniture she purchased when she and my father moved into their house in 1962 and she claimed she never saw dirt. To top it off, she was a stay at home mom and I am an only child. She had time on her hands so she never saw the need to enlist my help in household chores – although I gradually learned to vacuum my bedroom and pick up my clothes. The lack of training carried through to my adult life and my own housekeeping abilities. Over the years I developed some habits that have taken the chore out of cleaning and I’d like to pass a few of them on to you.
1. Find a Place for Your Stuff – Organize and stick to it. This may seem like a daunting task, especially if you are not the organized type – which I am not so this was the difficult stage of the process. It may be a colossal undertaking the first time you go through your closets and cabinets but in the long run it is a time saver – especially if you are in rush looking for something at the last minute.
2. Minimize – Do you really need to hang to clothes you haven’t worn for five years hoping they will come back into style? This is also true with household items. Chances are if you haven’t used it for a long time, you probably won’t again. Find a bin or a bag and start a donation pile. It will not only help someone who can use your household and clothing items but it is environmentally friendly as well.
3. Toss the Mail – Face it, how many catalogs do you really need? Quickly go through your mail and pitch the junk rather than letting it pile up on the dining room table.
4. Pick Up As You Go – Once you have organized your surroundings, keep it that way. Picking things up and putting them away as soon possible saves a lot of stress at the end of day when all you want to do is sit down and relax.
5. Wipe up Spills As Soon as They Happen – This should be self explanatory but how many times have you simply walked away from a coffee spill only to step in it later or find that it has stained your counter. Taking care of it now will save some aggravation later. Invest in quick mop system too. It’s a great way to touch up the floors in between washes and keep the house smelling good too.
6. Touch Up the Bathrooms Every Day – Let’s face it’s a room you use several times a day – why not wipe down the vanity while you’re there. On the last visit of the day, scrub the toilet while you’re brushing your teeth.
7. Enlist Your Family’s Help – This is a great way to teach children to respect their environment and start good habits. If they learn to start caring for their toys and keeping their room neat at an early age, the more likely they will carry this routine with them as they grow. It will be one less chore you have to do and (hopefully) they will more likely to help out in the future.
Sounds simple enough? Again, as with any project, the hardest part is getting started and it does not have to be done all at once. When I started on this journey I found it best to take one small area at a time and work on keeping that neat and move on to the next rather than trying to tackle an entire room. Sometimes it was just keeping mail off the foyer table and “stuff” off my nightstand but it worked! The change in the environment has wonders for not only me, but also the entire family. The house is now a peaceful place to be rather than a stressful mess. Less mess and less stress – what could be better than that?
