15 Easy habits for a clean and tidy home.
Our home should be a space we love, enjoy, and relax, no matter what the day brings.
Creating cleaning routines or habits makes it possible to keep a clean and tidy home. The last thing you want is to stay stuck all weekend cleaning and tidying up and have to do it all over again the following weekend.
Below are 15 easy daily habits for a clean and tidy home.
1. Cleaning Schedule
Create a cleaning schedule that is easy and works for you. You can create a schedule that will prevent you from cleaning on the weekends, even if you have a full-time job.
Break down 20-30 minute cleaning tasks daily. One day a month might require 60 minutes due to your monthly tasks like cleaning a tub or dusting blinds.
2. A home for every item
Every item in your home should have a place or home it will be. If you have items that do not have a home, you need to find one for each item or declutter items you no longer love or use.
When someone walks in, their work bag, jacket, keys, or wallet all need a place to go. It’s the same with your shoes, handbags, and clothes. Each single item must have a place it will always be in to avoid having a messy, cluttered home.
3. Instead of putting it down, put it away
We have a terrible habit of finishing a snack and leaving the wrapper on the kitchen counter instead of putting it in the trash can.
We remove our clothes and leave them on the restroom or room floor, which leaves our homes messy. So, instead of putting things down more than once, put them down where they belong to avoid putting them down again later.
4. Two minute rule
The two-minute rule states that if something takes two minutes or less, go ahead and do it. Doing this will save you time later. For example, as soon as you get the mail, go ahead and go through it, get rid of junk mail, and place important mail in a drawer.
When the trash can is full, throw it away instead of waiting until it’s entirely full or when someone is coming over.
5. Chores for everyone
Depending on the size of your family and the kids’ age, everyone in the home should have at least one chore. Each family member can also pick up after themselves.
Giving everyone a chore will make it less difficult for one person to do it all. One person can throw out the trash and replace the trash bags. One person can sweep, and the other can mop right after. Each family member can put away their clean clothes on laundry day.
6.5-minute resets
Five-minute resets are one of my favorite things to do. You will be surprised at how much you can do in five minutes. Set a timer for five minutes and start picking up or putting things away. When you need to catch up on cleaning or picking up, you can do five-minute resets for different areas of your home.
Resets can take 20-25 minutes to reset the entire house, divided into 5 minutes per area. If you implement other habits or routines, these 5-minute resets will not be needed daily.
7. Evening reset
Waking up to a clean and tidy home is the best feeling. Creating an evening reset will help accomplish that. The evening routine can be after dinner and before bedtime. These can include fixing couch pillows and throw blankets, putting the remote control away, and putting dining chairs back in place. Toys put away.
Anything that is not in its place, real quick walk around the home and put it in its place. Start getting your workout clothes and what you and the rest of the family will wear tomorrow so they can easily access the clothes in the morning.
8. Avoid visual clutter
Visual clutter can make your space look and feel messy. Keep different areas in your home with items you use or you love.
Kitchen counters should be clear of clutter. The only things I have on the kitchen counter are my coffee maker, glass containers for coffee, sugar, dish soap, and a sponge. I also have a box of tissue paper, hand sanitizer, and minimal decorations. You can put your knives and spatulas in the cabinet, and your toaster or any other appliances are also away in the cabinet.
The same goes for the bathroom sink, keeping things to a minimum.
Skincare products, deodorant, lotions, and makeup can all go underneath the sink cabinet. You do not need to display all those items; putting them away will reduce visual clutter and simplify wiping the sink area.
If you enjoy seeing your skincare products, consider buying wall shelves and displaying the products there.
9. Clean as you go
You can do a lot while waiting for something, for example, when you heat food in the microwave.
While you wait for the food to cool down, clean the inside of the microwave if you see it needs it. While you’re at it, also wipe down the outside of the microwave. When cooking, you finish using the spices and oils and put them back in their place.
Start washing cutting boards, knives, or anything you used to prepare food.
Do it as soon as you are done rather than waiting till after dinner to put everything away and wash dishes.
No one wants to do all that on a full stomach.
10. Never leave a room empty-handed
When you walk out of the restroom in the morning, take a glass of water from last night or this morning to the kitchen. When you get home and remove your shoes, go ahead and walk to your closet and put them where they belong. If you see toys on the floor that belong in a play area, put them away as soon as you see them.
11. Recycle bin
If you have a large recycle bin outside but want to avoid going out frequently, get a small trash can and place it underneath your kitchen sink for the recycling items. Instead of leaving them in the sink or the counter, put the recyclable items in the trash can to avoid visual clutter.
12. Make your bed
How many times have you heard to make your bed in the morning? Plenty, I am sure. But yes, making your bed in the morning will make your bedroom look clean and tidy. Also, have a schedule for washing your sheets. I prefer to wash my sheets on Sundays to start my week with clean sheets.
13. Clean when needed
When you have a cleaning schedule and have to clean a restroom by the time you know it, and it does not look dirty, go ahead and skip that task. Sometimes, your second restroom does not get used if you have no guests, or vice versa. If your floors are dirty and it is not your regular sweep and mop day, do a quick sweep and mop.
14. Wake up earlier
No one wants to wake up early to clean, but waking up just a little bit early, even by fifteen minutes, can give you a headstart on your day. You can put one load of laundry in the washer, make your bed, or put away the clean dishes left behind from the night before. These tasks require little effort.
15. Declutter
If you frequently find yourself with a messy home, then start decluttering. Keep only items that you love or use, and remove all the other items.
You can begin decluttering one space for 30 minutes at a time or take The Minimalist’s thirty-day decluttering challenge.
The Minimalist decluttering challenge involves removing one item on day one, two on day two, three on day three, and so on. By thirty days, you will have removed five hundred items.
I highly recommend Joshua Becker’s The Minimalist Home: A Room-by-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life
Need decluttering tips? Read the posts below.
How to Declutter Your Bathroom and Finally Keep it Organized and Clutter-Free
15 Simple Tips to Declutter Your Bedroom for Better Sleep
Final thoughts
These are easy habits to implement daily to keep your home clean and tidy. Before you know it, they will be second nature and part of your daily routine.
Having routines will give you an idea of what will come, saving you time. We all have different lives and schedules but try to find what works for you and your family.
Comment below and let me know what habits you implement to keep a clean and tidy home.