Keep Your Home Clear of Clutter!
Now that you’re free of stress because you have a clutter free home, do your best to keep it that way. The key here is consistency. If you’re not used to keeping a clutter free house, you can follow these steps to maintain your peaceful abode. I know when you come home you’re tired and don’t want to do anything but as long as anyone or anything lives in your home, there will be clutter. The way to combat that is simple.
First, always clean up after yourself. There are times you put something on the table when it should go on the shelf and you tell yourself “I’ll put that away later”. This is your number one mistake. Yes it would require you get up but if you take action right then, you won’t have to do it later. If you leave it, it will begin to look like a bigger mess and will only add stress. You’ll begin to feel overwhelmed like you used to before you decluttered your home. Just get up and put it on the shelf or where ever it should go. Do the same for things that others leave lying around. Try your best to train your children and spouse to put their things away too so you’re not the only one having to pick up.
Rooms like the kitchen require more attention. Obviously, if you cook, you deal with a mess daily. Make it a routine while you cook, to clean as you go. When you’re done, if you have family that’s eating the food, make everyone help you clean the kitchen until it’s spotless like it was before you started. This requires less effort on your part and ensures that you’re not doing dishes at 10:00pm or leaving dirty dishes in the sink.
If you’re going to do laundry, make it a point to wash, dry and put away immediately. Save your laundry for another time if you don’t have time for all of these steps. I wash while I cook, dry while I eat and clean. Then when I’m done with dinner, I take the clothes to my room to fold, hang and put away.
The next and last tip requires little effort and some time on your part. Just before you go to bed, allow about 30 minutes or less to do a “walk through”. Go to each room of your house and look around. If there’s one or two things out of place, quickly move it where it needs to go. If you have kids, it’s a good idea to have them do the “walk through” with you so they can pickup their mess. If they have to do this too often, it’s only a matter of time before they start picking up after themselves. It will take no time at all to do this for each room. Maybe 1 day a week, take your broom or vacuum with you to pickup those pesky dust bunnies.
I hope this article and others I have written have helped you. I would enjoy your feedback.