If you’re anything like me, a constant goal of yours is keeping a tidy home. An untidy home is not only visually unappealing but can cause unnecessary stress and anxiety. In a perfect world, everything in your home should have a place, and when this isn’t the case, it can create a feeling of chaos.
The concept may seem simple, but when you factor in all the tasks you need to accomplish in your daily life, it can feel overwhelming. Did you know there are small steps you can take each day to make it much easier to keep your home neat? I have gathered some tips here for you to keep your home in order.
Declutter. A great place to start is to make sure you don’t keep too many things out on display. The more tchotchkes and knick-knacks that you have out, the more places there are for dust and dirt to accumulate. Keeping your counters and mantels less cluttered also creates the illusion of more space and cleaner lines altogether.
Find a place for anything that does not need to be out, and if you cannot find one, create one. Places like The Container Store have solutions for problems you didn’t even know you had. Beautiful baskets, acrylic organizers, and glass jars can do wonders.
Start new daily habits. Try adding in a few tasks that you might not do every day now but will prevent you from having to do so much at once. Do a load of laundry every day, so you don’t have to do 4 loads over the weekend. Or spend 15-30 minutes each night tackling small chores like dusting, vacuuming, or mopping the floors. By doing a little each day, the tasks will feel less daunting and you will be less likely to procrastinate or avoid them.
Keep cleaning supplies handy. This may seem obvious, but many people don’t do this. Instead of keeping all your cleaning supplies in one spot, try placing them in convenient places throughout the house. Keep bathroom cleaners in each bathroom and multipurpose cleaners in multiple areas in your home. This is especially helpful if you have more than one level in your home. If you don’t keep any cleaning supplies on that floor, you are likely to push it off until later.
Invest in a robot vacuum. My robot vacuum is one of my all-time favorite purchases for the home. So much so that I recently purchased another for our second floor. If you have children and/or pets, you know how tough it is to keep the floors clean. A robot vacuum is a great solution and really helps with daily maintenance. It will not eliminate periodic vacuuming, but it does drastically reduce the dust and hair on the floors. Most models now have Wi-Fi and can be scheduled to run at a time that is convenient for you. Some even have self-mapping features so they learn the layout of your home, which means they will clean more efficiently.
Shoes off policy. A simple step you can take is to start a no shoes policy in your home. This should go for your own family, as well as guests. Shoes carry bacteria, germs, and gunk from the outside into your home. Think about all the surfaces your shoes touch and then realize you are walking them around your home if you leave your shoes on.
If you have young children like I do, you know that they are crawling around on the floors and putting everything in their mouths. Keeping shoes off the floors just makes sense to maintain clean and sanitary floors.
Progress not perfection. While we strive for a clean and neat home, you need to be realistic about what is attainable and what is not. These tips are to help you and create habits that will lead to a tidier house, but there will be times where a perfectly clean home is not your top priority. You need to remember that it is okay, and you can always reorganize and go back to it.
Do you have any great tips for keeping a tidy home? We always love to hear from you, so shoot us a message!
- Ashley Turner
