ORGANIZING SYSTEM
It’s important to figure out what happens to all of the items that come into your house. Do you have a place for all of them? We are all guilty of letting things pile up in our garage, front entry or dining room table. Ensuring things get put away where they live is essential to keeping your home tidy and organized.
Figure out a system that works best for you. When you bring in groceries, put them away and organize them neatly in the pantry so you can see everything you have and ensure you don’t buy them again on your next trip to the store. Keep an ongoing list of items you need so you know what you’re out of when you head to the store.
Hang up coats in the closet and put shoes away neatly. Empty backpacks and hang them up in the mudroom or put them in their cubbies. Hang clothes back on hangers or put them directly in the laundry basket when you’re done with them.
When you bring new items into your home, take them directly to the rooms they belong in. Maybe you make labelled bins for each person so when you collect items, they get put in the bin so they can be taken back to their correct location.
CLEANING SYSTEM
It can be overwhelming to try to set aside an entire day for cleaning the whole house. Try to create a system that allows you to split up the duties and take on one task at a time. For instance, on Monday; clean the bathrooms; Tuesday do the floor; Wednesday do the dusting; etc. I find writing it down helps. This way, you will have a clear list of what needs to be done and nothing will be missed and you don’t have to feel pressured to get it all done at once.
Some people have a cleaner come in but then they get all flustered trying to tidy before the cleaner comes. If you follow the organizing system, you should feel less stressed when it comes to tidying for the cleaner. Another option is to tackle one room per day leading up to cleaning day.
LAUNDRY SYSTEM
I think we are all guilty of letting the laundry pile up. Try to set aside one day to do the laundry, aside from any laundry emergencies. Plan to do the folding and putting away the following day. I find it’s easier to do it all at once than having to do laundry every day. Setting aside a few hours to get it done will take the pressure off as a daily task.
Make sure everyone gets their clothes into the baskets when they’re done wearing them. Have separate baskets for whites or darks or things that hang dry vs. items that go in the dryer.
PAPER SYSTEM
When you get mail, where does it go? Do you have random piles of paper around your house, on your desk, in your kitchen junk drawer? It’s easy to get lost in a paper mess. We find many of our clients have saved receipts and invoices and magazines and papers they didn’t need to keep. As time goes on, they end up in piles and you never look at them again.
Having a system for your papers will help to stop them piling up and also will enable you to find them when you need to access them. I suggest a basket system for new papers that come into your home – one for papers to be looked at, one for keeping and filing away, one for shredding or discarding.
Having a filing systems for all of your important papers is very helpful. Have a folder for all categories such as home, auto, phone, insurance, taxes, etc. Make sure you go through these files every year to make sure you aren’t saving paper you no longer need to keep.
DIGITAL SYSTEM
How do you keep your phone from reaching its capacity for photos or having millions of emails in your inbox? A good practice is to delete unwanted emails or those you no longer need as you see them or read them. Even if you can set aside some time once a month to go through your emails and clear the ones you no longer need and make folders for the ones you want to save that will stop them from piling up and becoming overwhelming and filling up your inbox. On your phone, go through your photos and delete photos you don’t want, screenshots, doubles, etc. Check your apps: are you using them all? On your laptop, clear the desktop of files, make folders, empty the trash can.
If you can implement all of these systems, even one at a time, you will feel more at peace in your home and less overwhelmed by the clutter surrounding you.
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