Does clutter make you feel lost in your home because nothing is where it belongs? Sometimes it is hard to get out of a clutter rut. A myth about de-cluttering is that once you can finally get your home organized that it will stay that way. False. Once you conquer the mess, you must become disciplined enough to keep it that way. Try doing these tricks every day or throughout the week to help your home stay a clean home.
Designate an area for papers near your front door. Loose papers can account for a lot of clutter in your home. Having a space to deposit things like mail, school papers, flyers, or receipts right when you come home at the end of the day will help manage the pile of loose papers from becoming too overwhelming. Take this to another level, by opening your mail near the trash can as you enter your home. Then all that junk mail will immediately get thrown away rather than sitting on your counter for weeks.
Another trick to consider when you first enter your home at the end of the day is to have a place to set all those miscellaneous items you carry in with you from the car. Keys, wallets, shoes, purses, things like this don’t just need to be dropped haphazardly anywhere they fall. Have a designated spot where they belong and force yourself to place them every time you walk through the door.
Make yourself a chore chart. Designate one or two small chores a day, leaving Friday as a flex day. It may not sound possible in today’s busy world to get around to chores every day, but future you with thank you. This trick will prevent you from having to cram all your household chores into one day.
We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t go to bed angry”. Let’s expand on that and add, “Don’t go to bed dirty”. A dirty house that is. Make it a rule that before you go to bed, there are no dishes left in the sink, no clothes on the bedroom floor, and clutter from the day has been picked up. It will be so refreshing to wake up in the morning to a clean and organized house.
Excuses and putting things off until later are fuel for a cluttered home. Don’t get lazy when it comes to putting clutter away after a particular activity. If you have been working on a project, don’t just all your tools laying around with the mindset that you will get around to putting it away tomorrow. If your family had game night, make cleaning up part of the fun rather than just waiting until the morning to pick up.
If you get yourself and your household into a routine to do at least one of these tricks, you will be fast on your way to clutter free home.