Dear Diary,

I try my best to keep things clean around the house. I’m the type of person that thrives off of their environment. If things are messy or out of place, I can’t focus until it’s fixed.

When we moved into our house, I decided to form habits that would make it easier to keep up with cleaning and make the days go smoother.

Here are 10 habits that help me stay tidy!

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1. Everything Has a Home

This is my best tip. If you know where things belong in your house, you are more likely to put it there! Find a spot for every little thing in your house! From coats to remotes and everything in between! If this is difficult to keep up with, get a label maker and label everything. This way, every person in your house knows where everything belongs.

2. Put Things Away as Soon as You Walk Into the Door

As soon as I get home, I hang up my coat and purse, take off my shoes, and put anything away that I walked into the door with. Mail? Sort it right away and put it where it belongs. Something I bought at the store? Put it where it belongs! This way, you don’t have things lying all over the place.

3. Command Center

Have a catch-all spot where family knows what to expect. This can include a calendar, a place for mail, a meal schedule, lists, etc.

4. Never Leave the Room Without Something

This makes cleaning up so much easier. If you’re getting up to use the bathroom, grab your snack wrapper and throw it in the trash while you are up. Any time you leave a room, check to see what doesn’t belong and take it with you.

5. Clean as You Go/Cook

Don’t wait until your entire dinner is cooked to start cleaning. While your dinner is in the oven, start to clean up anything you used in the prep (knives, cutting boards, mixing bowls, etc!). When you go to clean up after dinner, all you’ve have left is your dinner plates and cooking sheet!

You can use this in so many other ways than just cooking, too! If you’re working on a home project, clean up as you go! Don’t leave it all until the end.

6. 60-Second Rule

If it takes you 60 seconds or less to put something where it belongs, JUST DO IT. If you keep putting it off, it will likely sit there for days.

7. Tidy Up Before Bed

When you clean it up before bed, you wake up to a nice clean slate! Even if you’re exhausted, fold up any blankets in the living room, fluff up the couch pillows, clean up the toys, and put all the snack bowls and water glasses in the dishwasher. It only takes a few minutes and you’ll feel so much better in the morning.

8. Run the Dishwasher Before bed

If you have a dishwasher, run it before you go to bed. When you wake up in the morning, you can put all the clean dishes away and have a free dishwasher all day long! The dishes hardly have to hit the sink during the day. When you use a dish, clean it off and put it in the dishwasher right away.

Money-Saving Tip: Hand washing actually uses more water! If there are at least 8 dishes in the dishwasher, you are still saving up to 27 gallons of water per load. Also, utility companies generally charge higher rates during peak hours of the day. So running your dishwasher overnight can save you on electricity, gas, and water costs!

9. Do a Load of Laundry Every Day

This way, it hardly piles up! I haven’t been as great at this one lately, but usually, I try to do a little bit every night so that I can stay on top of it.

The money-saving tip applies here, too! If you run your washer/dryer after 7 or 8 pm, you will likely save money!

10. Put Clothes Away Immediately

Whether it be from the laundry or getting home for the day, put the clothes away! When the laundry is done, fold it and put it away. When you get home for the day, put your dirty clothes in the hamper and any clean clothes away in the closet. The longer you put it all off, the more it will pile up.

Bonus Tip: Stair Basket!

If you’ve been here before, you know I love my stair basket! I keep a basket by the stairs and put anything that doesn’t belong on that floor in the basket. The next time I’m going up the stairs, I bring the basket with me and return the items to their home. The basket then usually comes back down with me full of items that didn’t belong upstairs!

I could have included so many more, but these have definitely been game changers in our home! Hope you enjoyed!

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What habits will you be trying out?

Make sure to follow me on Instagram @bethsnotsosecretdiary!

Thanks so much for stopping by to read my not-so-secret diary!

Xx,

Beth