Whether you clean your home yourself or have hired a cleaning company to do it, your home will not look clean if it is not tidy and organized. Even if you have a home-cleaning service every week, you would prefer them scrubbing bathtubs, mopping floors, and vacuuming your house to tidying and organizing.
So, what could you do to keep your home tidy and primed for its weekly or bi-weekly cleaning? (I am sure, you wouldn’t want spending every weekend getting your house ready for your cleaners. Would you?)
These seven quick tips will help you organize and keep your home tidy:
Define a place. First of all, define what each space is for, and how it will be used by your family. Is the office to be used by everyone or only by one person? Is there a designated play area for the kids? Where do they store their toys after they’re done playing? Do you have proper furniture to support those activities?
Sort your stuff. Look around your room and remove the items that do not belong in this room. I always bring a basket with me, so I actually remove the items from the room, not just think about removing them later. Once they are in the basket and out of the room, you will have a chance to decide what to do with them.
Decide whether you want to donate/sell the items you do not need or store them away for a later use.
Tip: If you have to think why you have this item, most likely you do not need it.
Define your storage spaces. Keep the items you use on a regular basis. There are items that you might use only a few times per year – store those away. If you use a vacuum packing unit less than once a month, keep it off your kitchen counter. Place a tray or a basket on a coffee table for the remote controls. It will immediately make the coffee table look tidier. Use a magazine rack to store your reading material. Regularly recycle older magazines to keep your coffee table or a magazine rack from overflowing.
Tip: Place your cell phone and keys in a designated area every day so you always know where they are.
Consistency. Make it a habit to tidy up and organize your home on a regular basis. For example, you can run a dishwasher every night and store the clean dishes in the morning. Once your family have finished their meal, remove all the items from the dining table. Keep your dining table clean – even a few containers or cereal boxes can make it look cluttered.
Keep cleaning tools handy. You wouldn’t want to run downstairs every time you need to wipe something out in an upstairs bathroom. Keep disinfecting wipes in every bathroom, the kitchen, and the laundry room to clean dust or spills. Have a brush and dust pan handy near the entry where your pet runs in after playing outside.
Re-charging hub. It is a good idea to keep your cell phone, iPad, camera chargers in one place. Properly labeling them will save you a lot of time when you need one.
The more the merrier. Ask your family members to help you tidy up before a bedtime. 10-15 minutes of their time can make a huge difference. Besides, once they start picking up after themselves, they might change their habits when it comes to throwing things around.
You might not have time to make your home spotless. That’s why you pay a cleaning service to have it done on a regular basis. The purpose of keeping your home organized and tidy is to keep it functional, and you – calm and relaxed.