These habits will help you keep a tidy home. They are pretty simple but once you start doing them, they have a big impact.
I’ll be honest, if you came to my home right now, you could probably write your name in the dust on my entertainment center.
This first trimester of pregnancy has really hit me hard and getting back into my weekly cleaning routine has been slow going. Plus I hate dusting, so I’ve been putting it off. 😉
However, I don’t have a messy house. My home is tidy.
Things are picked up, there aren’t piles of messes that I need to tend to, and I don’t feel overwhelmed with the stuff in my home.
I believe it is because I follow these habits to keep my home tidy. The simple habits help me stay on top of the clutter before it gets out of hand.
By the way, these things were not part of my daily habits. Instead I would let the clutter build up throughout the week. Now I deal with the little messes during the week, so that I don’t have big messes to deal with on the weekends.
Daily Habits for a Tidy Home
1. Deal with the mail right away.
Instead of throwing the mail on the counter and letting it pile up, I sort it right away. It is so much easier to deal with a little bit each day than a huge pile at the end of the week.
This also ensure that the mail doesn’t get spread throughout the house: on the kitchen counter, on the desk, on the dining room table…..
Usually the mail ends up in one of four categories:
- trash
- coupons
- bills
- miscellaneous (invitations, reminders, ect.)
I throw the trash away immediately, add the coupons and bills to the folders in my binder, and hang the invitations on the fridge.
This is just one of the daily habits that I keep for a tidy home.
2. Do one load of laundry a day.
For the last two years, I have been in the habit of throwing in a load of laundry before breakfast. It is usually ready for the dryer after we finish getting dressed, and then I fold and put it away around lunch time.
This is so much easier than saving all of the laundry for the weekend. And this way we never run out of clean clothes!
Plus there aren’t piles and piles of dirty clothes lying around the house. I love seeing the bottom of the laundry basket each day.
You can read more in this post My Detailed Laundry Routine.
3. Put belongings away right away.
Before I followed routines, I used to throw my purse, keys, and shoes in random places when I got home. Then the next day, I wasted so much time searching for them because they were never in the same spot!
It’s a little embarrassing!
Now, I simply put those things away when we get home. My keys are placed in the basket on my dresser, my purse is hung in the closet, and my shoes are returned to the shoe rack.
This prevents clutter building up in the main living areas, and I know exactly where they are the next time I need them.
My son also follows routines for picking up his toys (with some persuasion!). Before naps and bedtime, we pick up his toys, so that they don’t get out of hand.
4. Clean kitchen before bed.
I started doing this about two years ago, but I didn’t always make it a habit until Jen issued a challenge to clean your kitchen every night for an entire month. I accepted the challenge, and ever since then, it has become a daily habit.
During the day, I try to keep up with the dishes by putting them in the dishwasher after breakfast and lunch and wiping off the counter tops.
That way there usually isn’t a huge mess to deal with at supper time. It only takes about 20 minutes to clean up the kitchen each evening.
Waking up to a clean kitchen in the morning is wonderful! I will never go back to a messy kitchen!
5. Involve the kids.
If you have kids, they are adding to the mess and should learn how to keep a tidy home as well. Give them age appropriate chores around the house.
Whenever you’re trying to get your kids more involved with the house, always start with your kids’ belongings. They should be in charge of putting away their own shoes, clean laundry, toys, jackets, dirty dishes, ect.
Then as they get older and more responsible, you can give them more chores to do, like folding laundry and washing the dishes.
6. Take care of small messes right away.
As you are going about your day, clean up small messes as soon as they happen instead of letting them pile up into big messes.
Big messes are always harder to deal with later.
For example, as you’re preparing lunch, put food away that you are done using. Rinse dishes off and put them in the dishwasher.
You’ll have less to tidy up after you’re done eating.
7. Tidy before bed.
My kids get to watch a little TV in the afternoon, but only if their rooms have been picked up. So that only leaves the main living spaces for me to tidy up before bed.
Each night quickly tidy up your home. Everyone can get involved. Make it part of your evening routine.
If you’ve been cleaning up messes throughout the day, you’ll have less to clean up at night.
Quick Tidy Habits
- make bed
- put dirty clothes in laundry hamper
- put dirty dishes in sink/dishwasher
- clear off bathroom counter
- put shoes, keys, purse away
- deal with mail right away
- clean up messes right away
- put clean clothes in dresser and closets
- wash dishes every night
- sweep floor each evening
- general tidy up in main living areas
If you are tired of the messes piling up, try adding these daily habits to your routine. They don’t take much time, but make a huge difference in keeping the big messes away.
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4 thoughts on “7 Easy Habits for a Tidy Home!”
I couldn’t agree more! I do each of these tasks daily and it makes all the difference.
Doesn’t it?! It is so much easier to deal with little thing each day rather than big messes later.
I love how when you do things as a routine they become a habit and you continue to do it daily!
So true! Routines become second nature and save so much time.