Chatting with some of my girlfriends recently, I learned that everyone seems to need a little help getting organised. I mean, why else would books and a Netflix series by Marie Kondo be so popular?
My friends work in a variety of jobs – some work from home, others do the commute into the city each day – but they are all juggling career and family, trying to share co-parenting responsibilities and all of them have loftier aspirations than endless toilet cleaning!
The truth is, we’re all looking to streamline and simplify our lives so there’s more time to do the things we enjoy doing most.
Below you’ll find some great tips for keeping your home tidier and more organised.
Stock supplies in strategic locations
This might seem like a no-brainer but I know how often I go backwards and forwards gathering my arsenal of cleaning products! Yes, I do have a container where I keep everything but, sometimes… you know how it is!
You know that you need specific products and tools in order to keep your home in a dirt and dust-free, sanitary condition – a broom, handbrush and dustpan, vacuum cleaner, bucket, mop, cleaning rags, duster, paper towels, scrub brushes, toilet brush, glass cleaner, abrasive cleanser, surface cleaner, floor cleaning mix, spray bottle, etc. The trick is to buy duplicates of the cleaning products or homemade mixes that you use the most, and store them close to the areas where you use them most.
For example, if you live in a two-storey home and use an abrasive cleaner to clean the upstairs bathrooms as well as the kitchen, then buy two cans – one for each floor of your home. Store one under the bathroom sink upstairs, and another under the kitchen sink downstairs. Also keep a bottle of other products that you use often in both locations. Along with these, be sure to also have necessary supplies such as a sponge or bunch of cleaning rags there too.
Any time you have to hunt around for supplies, you lessen your chance of completing the task that you set out to accomplish.
Lose the perfectionist attitude
Did you know that perfectionism is actually counter-intuitive and often stops you from doing something? When your aspirations are set too high, you’ll end up feeling overwhelmed and accomplish even less than if you had set a smaller, more attainable goal.
Let’s use the task of a quick tidy before a guest is expected to stop by, as an example.
Your friend has said she will pop in and you’re stressed because you haven’t cleaned the house in over a week. You want your friend to feel comfortable and relaxed and you don’t want to be judged for your lax habits. Instead of attempting a whirlwind deep-cleaning marathon that will leave you exhausted before your friend even arrives, it makes more sense to just tackle the quick and easy jobs that will still make a difference.
Vacuum ONLY the living room carpet and kitchen floor, because that’s where you’ll be spending most of your time with your friend. Wash the dishes and throw out the kitchen garbage. Quickly mop the kitchen and bathroom floors. Wipe table surfaces. Run to the bathroom and pull out your easily accessible cleaning supplies, do a quick squirt and wipe of the sink and mirror. While in the bathroom, change the hand towels, replenish liquid soap, stock up the toilet paper, clean the toilet bowl. You should be done in 30 minutes!
Go by task
Instead of cleaning one room at a time, tackle the cleaning one task at a time e.g. break into wet cleaning and dry cleaning. You generally need to dry clean first, to get rid of dust, crumbs and dirt, before you can sanitise. If you’re strapped for time, vacuuming is more important than dusting. So that’s one task for the entire house. Before you vacuum, make sure you pick everything up off the floor so there are no obstacles in your way. Stash these back in their proper locations so you aren’t double-handling everything but do this quickly so you don’t get sidetracked.
Grab your vacuum cleaner and go from room to room, first on one floor, then up or down the stairs, then the next floor. Don’t get sidetracked by things you discover along the way. Just vacuum!
When you’re done with that, clean your vacuum cleaner and put it away. Next, you can start on the wet chores you were planning on doing.
Now, at least one feature of the entire home is clean – the carpets and floors no longer have dirt, crumbs and dust. Now, you can celebrate with a quick cup of tea before moving on to the next step.
Dry chores first
The best time to wipe down and sanitise the surfaces of your home, such as counter tops, table tops, cabinets, sinks and floors, is after you’ve vacuumed and/or dusted but, when you’re busy, this isn’t always possible. So don’t stress if you happen to do your chores in reverse.
Again, instead of cleaning one room at a time, aim for one chore at a time.
Floor-washing for the entire house can be a single task. Once you’ve removed surface crumbs, dust and dirt, fill your bucket up with floor cleaner and get busy mopping. Or, if you’re a hands-and-knees type of person, get busy with a floor cleaning rag.
After you’ve finished washing the kitchen floor and other downstairs areas, move onto the bathroom. Tile, linoleum or hardwood floors often require different products or treatments so these tasks should be handled differently. Do the bathrooms last because these are usually the dirtiest in the home. When you’re done, put all used rags in their designated ‘dirty laundry’ spot, to be washed and sanitised before using again.
By now you’ll probably have realised that your home will look cleaner if you break it down by urgency and by chore, rather than by room. Look at it this another way. You could spend all day getting your living room perfectly done – sorting through old magazines, tidying your coffee table books, meticulously dusting every picture frame and knick knack on your mantelpiece, shining the wooden furniture, scrubbing the skirting boards, mopping the ceiling corners, wiping down window sills, cleaning each slat in your blinds, steaming the drapes, and vacuuming – all in that one room. But when you’re done, you’ll have an immaculate living room but every other room of the house will remain untidy and dirty. So, use common sense when you’re deciding what to clean, and when, according to how much time you have and which rooms are in immediate use.
You might also enjoy this article – 7 Organising and Cleaning Tips from Marie Kondo
Storage bins are your friend
Another aspect of keeping a home clean and tidy involves managing all the ‘stuff’ that accumulates everywhere. Think of that feeling of overwhelm when all the Christmas gifts need to find a place. What will you do with all of this extra clutter? Where will you put it? This is the time to embrace that age-old cliché, ‘a place for everything, and everything in its place.’
When things are lying around, they clutter your mind with their distracting presence. Think of all the types of things that you own and list them into categories and work out how many containers you will need and what size they should be. Sample categories might include picture frames, photo albums and knickknacks. Others might include blankets, camping equipment, winter/summer clothes, guest linen and towels, Christmas and holiday décor. You could also have categories for garden supplies, old toys, beach items, or rarely used kitchen appliances.
Then go out and buy the containers but don’t be sidetracked and buy loads of items that you ‘might’ need or think are cute.
Read this article: Seven plants that will purify your home!
Get rid of whatever you don’t use
Before you start packing your bins, get rid of all the things you don’t use or haven’t used for quite some time.
Be realistic about what you use versus what you just think you use. As part of your organisation agenda, you should be eliminating all superfluous items. For example, let’s say you have a box of clothes that you hope to fit into when you’ve lost a lot of weight – five years later, they are still taking up space in your closet. , You might be tempted to keep these ‘just in case’, but in all honesty, if you do eventually manage to lose the weight there’s a big chance that they might not even be in fashion. Now’s the perfect opportunity to give them to an appreciative friend or family member or, drop them off at the nearest charity shop.
Out of sight, out of mind
Label all the bins clearly and find somewhere, that’s out of sight, to store them. This could be your basement, attic, garage, guest room cupboard… wherever they are out of sight and mind. Store them with the labels facing outwards so that you can easily ascertain what is inside them.
And, that’s it! Time to put your feet up and relax!