I have not always kept a clean and tidy house. The thought of someone dropping by with only an hour notice used to astronomically stress me out. I used to think I only had time to clean on the weekends, leaving me stressed out with how much I had to get done. I felt like I had to sacrifice my weekends to only have everything messy again a few days later.
It doesn’t have to be this way! When I started delving into homemaking (while juggling work of course) I realized that if I could break down the workload into smaller steps, I could have a clean and tidy home nearly every day of the week! Here are the 5 things I have implemented into my daily schedule to keep my house tidy.
- Constantly declutter
This sounds silly- of course you have to declutter to have a clutter free home. However, when we think of decluttering images of HOARDERS pops into our minds. Spending days on end lugging our stuff onto the lawn and clearing out our crap, noooo thank you! Of course, the people on Hoarders have been holding onto their clutter for years. Maybe you do a declutter every six months or so. Guess what? You don’t have to wait for long periods of time in between decluttering. I am personally working on picking one small section of my house every day to declutter and organize! This way I can save myself time, stress, and space for the things I actually do need. It does not have to be a huge project every day- just yesterday I took five minutes to empty out our junk drawer and only put back things we actually use or need. In a month or so I will circle back to it to do another quick declutter and re-evaluate our needs! It is a quick and simple trick that I love to use to keep the house tidy.
- Clean one thing each day
Until more recently I used to feel the need to clean everything in an entire day or two. I would reserve my full weekends for cleaning and have no time for anything else I wanted to do. This tip piggybacks off of the last one by encouraging you to take small, more consistent steps in maintaining the home. A typical week for me will look like this:
Monday- sweep all of the floors & spot mop (cleaning up any little spills or messes that the broom will not catch)
Tuesday- deep clean all surfaces (kitchen counters, stovetop, tables, mantles, benches, bathroom counters)
Wednesday- wipe down all glass surfaces (windows, oven, mirrors)
Thursday- sweep all floors & spot mop (again)
Friday- toilets & showers (spray down and let sit for a few minutes and then scrub and rinse)
Saturday- laundry (clothes and freshening up couch cushions)
Sunday- take out garbage & compost
Each task takes no more than 10 minutes from my day and if I am feeling motivated to clean more, then I am only setting myself up for success! I find that pairing a small declutter with cleaning only one thing each day takes away pressure to constantly clean everything at once while also leaving me feeling a sense of accomplishment that I not only worked a full day but I also spent time caring for my home!
- Create a night time routine
I am borrowing this tip from Mrs. Midwest and the blog But First, Coffee. Both of these women have made it a habit to make sure their kitchens are reset before they go to bed each night. Mrs. Midwest calls it putting her kitchen to bed (how cute!) and But First, Coffee suggests that you just clean your sink every night. Regardless of what you choose to do for your night time routine, try to incorporate a small task that will set tomorrow you up for success. There is no better feeling than waking up and being able to immediately start your day without having to rush to get anything done.
For me this looks like putting away our dinner mess, wiping off the kitchen counters, drawing our shades, and setting out my clothing for the next day. It is so nice to wake up and be able to get ready for work without worrying about what I am going to wear as well as making my morning coffee in a sparkling clean kitchen!
- Start meal prepping
Um. How exactly is meal prepping going to help me have a tidier home, Sophia? Hear me out. Knowing what you plan on eating for the week and prepping it will save you so much time on kitchen cleanup throughout the week. I typically like to plan out my meals and begin prep on Sunday mornings. I will generally have the same lunch at work every day, so I can immediately begin to chop and portion any veggies I need. While chopping veggies I can set up my rice maker to cook any rice we plan on using or I can pre boil any pasta we will need for the week. If I am prepping for later in the week I can utilize my freezer space until closer to the day we will be having that meal to ensure it won’t go bad.
Having an idea of what meals we will be making and preparing the tedious and messy things in advance, saves me so much cleanup time throughout my busy week!
- Just do it
Nike said it best. Finding motivation can be hard! When I get home from work the last thing I want to do is chores. Tying into having a night time routine, having a structured schedule of your day is the best way to keep momentum going to get everything you need to do done! As much as it can suck to get started, once you do you usually realize how little time and effort it actually takes. My best tip to get started is to set a 10-15 minute timer to get your cleaning and decluttering in! Starting is the hardest part and you will be surprised just how much you can get done in such a short amount of time. Once the timer is up your tasks should be done and you are golden for the day!
I hope these little tips help you in keeping your home neat and tidy throughout the week. They have been such a game changer for me and now I am not worried about anyone dropping in at a moment’s notice.
Thanks so much for sticking around, until next time!
-Sophia
The Working Homemaker 