The truth is that no matter how organized we may be, life, as well as our families, can be messy, and maintaining a home can be a real challenge.
Here are the practices I use to make sure that—no matter what—order can be restored in my house quickly, painlessly and without the assistance of a disaster relief agency.
Have a place. Having specific places for everything in your home is essential to staying organized. When you and other family members know where things belong, getting your home back in shape is much easier.
Put things away. To keep your home under control, try to spend at least 20 minutes a day putting things directly away or back into the rooms where they belong.
Develop routines. It is always easier to do any task when there is a process to follow and a designated time to do it. By identifying certain days, times and methods for household work such as laundry, paperwork and cleaning, you’ll take the guesswork out of how things get done and ensure you stay on top of these tasks.
Consistently purge. Holding onto items that you no longer use, need, want or enjoy makes keeping your home organized much more difficult and it uses up valuable storage space. So always be on the look out for things to give away or sell and set up an area to collect these items.
ASSESS THE MESS. If clutter continually builds up in specific areas of your home, try to figure out why.
Ask yourself:
- Is there a place for each item, and does my family know where the place is?
- Is the place convenient and accessible to where the items are used?
- Are there excess items that need to be purged?
- Would additional storage containers help?
After determining why the clutter builds, make the necessary changes and then reassess.
While I can’t promise you an explosion-free future or a home that’s always in perfect order, you can attain a sense of control over your space and, hopefully, a sense of calm to go with it.
