8 Habits to a Cleaner Home

I know how it is!  The laundry is piling up to the ceiling.  The dishes are piling up in the sink.  The toys are scattered all over the floor.  The baby is crying.  The toddler is drawing on the walls.  The 4 year old is standing in a puddle of pee.  Everything feels like pure chaos.  And sometimes the chaos is unavoidable.  But sometimes we do this to ourselves.  We get so behind on things that we get overwhelmed and don't even know where to begin.  I don't know about you, but when my home is cluttered, everything feels more stressful.  If I can manage to keep everything somewhat picked up (I'm not talking about a Better Homes and Gardens here), the stress level immediately goes down and I'm able to better manage the crazy things that I can't always control.  

And keeping your home in that picked up calm state doesn't have to be a huge monumental task.  It can be broken down into small habits that just become part of your day.  I'm going to list 10 habits that will help you go from a house that breeds chaos to a home that encourages calm.  

1) Do a load of laundry every day.  Not just putting it in the washing machine.  Wash, Dry, Fold, and Put Away!  Every Day.  If you do it every single day, it's not overwhelming.  It's just a small load.  I like to bring a load down and put it in the wash as soon as I wake up before I do anything else.  Then once the older kids are off to school, I put the wash in the dryer, fold what was in the dryer and put it away.  It literally takes 10 minutes if I do laundry daily.  I like to keep a schedule.  Our laundry on Mondays, my son's laundry on Tuesdays, my youngest daughter's on Wednesdays, my middle daughter's on Thursday, sheets of Fridays, towels on Saturdays, help my oldest daughters do their laundry on Sundays.

2) Unload the dishwasher before making breakfast.  Then it's empty and ready for everyone to load their dishes into after breakfast is finished.  This makes breakfast cleanup much easier!

3) Handwash dishes before bed.  It's so nice to wake up to a clean counter!  And if you do the handwashing every day, it will be quick and easy because it won't pile up.  

4) Do a quick wipe up of the counter and mirror after you use the bathroom in the morning.

5) Pick three non-negotiable areas and pick them up every morning and evening.  If you stay on top of it, it will never be overwhelming.  Enlist your kids to help with this.  Do a quick 10 minute pick-up every evening.  Your three areas should be the main areas that you find yourself in during the day. My three non-negotiable areas are the kitchen, living room, and bathroom.

6) Declutter for 15 minutes a day.  Decluttering is the best thing you can do to create calm.  Everything that you own requires time and energy to maintain.  That time might look like picking the object up, wiping it down, dusting it, or putting it away.  Decide what is worth your time and what is not.  Decluttering can be exhausting, time consuming, and overwhelming.  Sticking to 15 minutes a day makes it more manageable.  And if you declutter for 15 minutes a day.  You will end up spending 91.25 hours per year decluttering.  Now that is a sizeable chunk of time!

7) Work at one deep cleaning chore per day.  I often feel like I spend all my time just keeping things status quo and I don't have time for deep cleaning.  However, if I can work at one deep cleaning chore per day, I'll have my home deep cleaned in no time!  I like to preplan my week on Sundays.  If I pick 2 or 3 deep cleaning chores that I want to work on over the course of the week, I can just get after them.  Otherwise, I tend to get paralyzed by trying to decide where to even start.  And then I don't end up doing anything.   

8) Make your bed and pick up your room when you get up and are getting dressed.  If you do this daily it will never get out of hand, and your room will be an inviting and peaceful place to go to at the end of the day.  Not to mention, it's a great example for your kids to learn how to keep their rooms tidy!

With these 8 habits in place, the weekly cleaning chores become so easy!  All that is really required weekly will be vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, and maybe taking out the garbage if you haven't already.  Have your children take ownership of their areas (their bedrooms, bathrooms, play areas).  Teach them how calm their spaces can be when they keep them clean.  And require them to do chores in their areas.  It's also good for them to do chores in the main areas of the home as well.  It teaches them responsibility and ownership and cooperation.  

Now, some of you probably already have these habits in place.  For others it might be daunting to think of trying to do all 8 of these things every day!  I fall somewhere in the middle.  When I do all 8 of these, it's amazing and I love the outcome.  But, then I fall off and get behind and everything feels like chaos again.  I have a gift to help both you and I establish these 8 habits and stick to them!  I have a habit tracker for us to grow a beautiful garden of habits together.  The first month, we will pick one habit and focus on doing that every day for a month.  We will fill in one leaf for each day that we complete the habit.  After the first month, I'll bring you a new habit tracker with space for two habits on a stem of leaves and a stem of flowers.  The third month will have three habits and so forth until we create a beautiful garden of habits and a calm and inviting home for our families.  Are you with me?  This is going to be fun!!!!  Download the habit tracker, pick a habit, and start filling in those leaves.  Let's share our progress on facebook to keep each other accountable!  I'll pin a post in the Tamar Hope Designs group where we can cheer each other on!