Someone today asked in a group I am in how, as an unorganized person, do you keep your house clean? Granted, I am not an expert in this subject, though I will say that my house looks better than it ever has before.
I attribute my success to creating rules that I don't allow myself to break.
The first rule I made was "no laundry in the hallway". Yes, I used to have laundry up and down my hallway, covering the floor completely. I eventually got sick of this (embarrassed when people would come over unannounced and see how bad my house looked) and decided that that was it. No more.
So that became Rule #1. And not only that, it eventually became "No ANYTHING in the hallway". No boxes, no storage items, nothing. So, after this became regular life (meaning I didn't have to think about it anymore, it was just natural), I made Rule #2: "no laundry on the bathroom floor". Anytime I'd see laundry on the bathroom floor, I'd make whoever put it there pick it up and throw it in a basket. Or I would do it. Then came Rule #3: "no dishes in bedrooms". When we cleaned out my son's room when he switched rooms with my office/art studio, we found all our lost plates, bowls, and silverware. After that, no more dishes in the bedrooms! Actually, it was kind of always a rule, but with him upstairs alone, nobody was paying attention to what he was bringing up there, so he did what he wanted. But now with his bedroom downstairs, we can better keep tabs on where our dishes are. And from there, I keep making new rules at they arise, based upon our wants and needs.
And the rule I have about rules is that: I never implement a new rule until the old rule is a part of our daily life. This is key to the whole system working. If you try to implement too many rules at once, they won't work (you'll forget, they'll forget, everyone will forget and quickly life will go back to being messy).
So be patient. Just one rule at a time.
Your rules will apply to you and your family's needs, so start where you need the most help. Is your laundry room crazy? Are your dishes never done? Is your stove always dirty? Start with whichever is bothering you most. Then go from there. You can do what I do and go around your house and make a list of everything you want to fix or change. Go room by room and write it all down and go from there. Then, when you've implemented a rule and conquered it, scratch it off your list.
And that's it! I tell you, I've struggled for YEARS (try 20) to learn how to keep my house in presentable condition, and while it's still not perfect (I have a creative mind and my stuff tends to hang out everywhere all over my house), it's a BILLION times better than it ever was.
Though I now have a puppy who thinks it's his mission in life to tear up every single piece of paper and plastic he can find, which doesn't help my housecleaning battle, but I'll take that any day over mounds of laundry all over my hallway and house 😏
Do you have a cool tip or trick that has helped you keep your house clean? I'd love to hear about it, share it below!
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