Living in chaos can affect your health, both physical and mental. And in this day and age, where houses are becoming smaller, it is very important to have a tidy and neat home. Chaos is one thing; chaos in small spaces is a whole other issue!
So other than using a magic wand to make the chaos and clutter disappear what are your options? We are here to answer this particular question!
The simplest answer would be to keep the house tidy at all times, this way you never have to pick up clutter, impossible? I think not!
Here is our guide on how to have and keep a neat home at all times.
1- Make an entry system
They say that it takes 21 days for an action to become a habit. So make putting things in their proper place once you enter the door a habit.
It is easy to get a couple of proper cupboards that look nice and go with your furniture and place them in your entryway, or a cupboard and a couple of hooks.
Use one for shoes and one for bags, or use the hooks for bags and backpacks. And use a key hanger or a dish for keys. Find a proper place for everything and make it a strict house rule that everything should go in place once a family member enters the house.
2- Make a proper place for papers
Strangely enough, in this digital age we often find our houses still infested by stray papers everywhere! School papers, bank statements, paper ads, and so on.
No worries, we will not recommend the shredder for everything, just a few things really!
The best solution is to keep a file system for the papers you need to keep, like legal papers, your kid’s school papers and work papers. When you get one of these you check it and file it immediately in its proper place. Thus, it is out of sight but easily reached when you need it. And for everything else we recommend the shredder! Seriously, if you do not and will not need a paper in the future why is it sitting on your kitchen counter?
3- Raise your children to be organized
Kids’ rooms are a problem area for most people. A lot people choose one of two ways to deal with the chaos, either tidy the room themselves or with some help from the house help every day or ignore it until its cleaning day.
We suggest another approach for this problem area, make some rules for your kids and make those rules habits. Put a hamper in their room for laundry and tell them that everything they take off goes straight to the hamper. Put some boxes for their toys and tell them that all toys must be put away in their boxes after they finish playing. Even teach them how to make their own beds, even if the beds are not perfectly made, at least the room is in some order and they are learning how to keep it such.
4- Invest in some gadgets
Some gadgets like portable vacuums are a life saver when trying to keep a neat home. It makes cleaning up a small mishap hassle free, so get one and keep it in an easily accessed place.
A must have appliance is also a water dispenser. If you do not already own one you need to! They help keep the house organized without the clutter of water bottles everywhere. They are also good for the planet as they eliminate the use of plastic bottles. And they keep the kids from opening and closing the fridge a hundred times a day.
A very helpful gadget is also closet organizers, especially for kids. They help them find everything much quicker without needing to cause a chaos as they look for their favorite jeans.
I also find digital planners quiet helpful, there are a few apps out there specifically designed to help you design and maintain a neat and tidy home, find one that you like and use it.
5- Have a practical amount of home accessories
If you have more than 20 picture frames on your side table you will probably feel less inspired to dust around them, keep them neat and tidy or take them of the table to clean it.
Same goes for pillows, throw pillows, or anything that requires constant organizing. It is easier to keep a neat home when you have less accessories to tidy up or tidy around.
Of course it is more than okay to have all the accessories your heart desires if you can keep the place clean and tidy around them at all times. If not, your answer is to minimize.
Exchange the 10 throw pillows you have on your sofa for a couple of colorful ones and you will find that putting them in their proper placing is a breeze.