When you think about having a clean, organized home, the idea of a weekend-long deep cleaning session may come to mind.
While deep cleaning is a surefire way to get a tidy home, you also can and should keep up with cleaning and organizing on a daily basis. These are 10 tiny habits for a clean and clutter-free home.
The Power of Tiny Habits in Keeping Your Home Tidy
Generally, your home doesn’t suddenly get dirty and crammed with clutter. Instead, it slowly grows dirtier and more cluttered by the day.
You can keep the mess in check by staying on top of it with small, daily efforts. Adopting these tiny habits will have a major impact on the cleanliness of your home.
1. Make Your Bed Every Morning
Your tiny habits start as soon as your feet hit the floor in the morning. Take a moment to make your bed before heading out of the room.
This gives your room a tidier appearance. More than that, it sets the tone for the rest of the day.
2. Follow the “One-Minute Rule”
It’s easier to do a quick task right away than to let those tasks build up into a laundry list of chores. If a task only takes one minute to do, do it right away.
Examples of suitable tasks include putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher, putting the kids’ backpacks away, and wiping off the bathroom counter after showering.
3. Keep Surfaces Clear
When your home’s surfaces are covered, it’s easy to leave an extra item sitting there, too. On the other hand, when a surface is clear, that extra item that you leave behind will look out of place right away.
Spend time removing as much of the clutter from tables, dressers and counters as possible as a reset. After using those small kitchen appliances and other items, simply store them out of sight.
4. Do a Quick Nightly Reset
Even with the best efforts, there will still be a few areas of your home that appear cluttered at the end of the day.
Rather than waking up to a dirty home, deal with the mess after dinner each night. A nightly reset might include folding the throw on the couch, putting the kids’ toys away, and returning used cups to the kitchen
5. Declutter as You Go
Before walking out of a room, take a quick look around. Are there any cups, dishes, toys, shoes, or other items that are out of place?
Grab those items, and deposit them where they belong. When you return to that room later, you won’t be returning to a mess.
6. Adopt the “One In, One Out” Rule
One of the reasons why clutter grows is because you have too much stuff. Your home only has so much storage space.
When you run out of storage space, those items have nowhere to go except on the floor, countertop, or furniture. As a rule of thumb, get rid of one item each time you buy a new item. This minimizes clutter throughout the home.
7. Clean While You Cook
Before you start cooking, unload the dishwasher. As you prepare your foods, bypass the sink and put dirty dishes and utensils directly in the dishwasher.
You won’t have a mess to clean up later, and you’ll know right away when you have a full load of dishes to wash.
8. Put Things Back Immediately
It’s easy to just put something down and walk away, but it’s equally easy to return that item back to its rightful place.
When you put something down, you inevitably add to the clutter in your home, and you create work for yourself down the road. By simply returning things where they belong, you won’t have clutter.
9. Do Small Laundry Loads Regularly
There’s no need to wait until the weekend to do several loads of laundry. Instead, pay attention to how many towels, light-colored clothes, and dark-colored clothes are in the hamper.
Getting a sectioned hamper can help with this. When you have enough dirties to make a small laundry load, go ahead and wash the load.
10. Do a Weekly Quick Clean
These tiny habits set the stage for a cleaner and more organized home. However, you also need to give your home a regular weekly clean. This job will be much easier to do thanks to your new tiny habits, and the chores serve as a reset to prevent filth from getting out of hand.
If you’re already using these tips or you simply don’t have the bandwidth available to adopt them, you need extra help around the house. At Better Clean, our experienced housecleaners will provide the one-time or recurring cleaning services you need.
We always work around your schedule, and we can customize our services so that your home is cleaned exactly to your specifications. To schedule cleaning services Boston for your home, contact Better Clean today.
