Keeping the house neat and tidy plagues all of us. It can feel as though cleanliness is a home improvement project that is never completed.
Whether you have little ones running around, pets taking over your home, or find yourself unable to keep up with the daily tasks of the home due to work, stress, and life’s usual comings-and-goings, you’re not alone.
Your home is your sanctuary. You deserve to feel at ease inside. We’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks to maintain a well-organized home for the most troublesome areas: the bedroom, living room, and kitchen. Those dust bunnies just aren’t going to remove themselves!
Establish a Daily Routine
Bedroom
There’s something about a clean bedroom at the end of a long day; a made bed, organized closet, and clutter-free space makes a huge difference in those post-work vibes.
After your morning stretches, let your top priority be ensuring the bed is made before leaving your bedroom for the day. There’s a reason for the common belief that “making the bed sets the tone for the day.”
When changing clothes midday (from that work blazer to your “night out” heels), hang up any articles that don’t need to be washed immediately.
Set aside 10 minutes before catching some Zs to peruse the space for clutter, out-of-place items, unfolded clothes from your morning wardrobe crisis, dishes and the like. Find a home for each belonging. This will ensure your nightly rest (as well as your morning waking) is truly peaceful.
Living Room
For some reason, the living room tends to be where most families’ clutter makes itself at home. By the end of the day, you may find yourself overwhelmed and frustrated by the amount of cleaning there is to do just to regain some semblance of normalcy.
Consider giving each member of your family a basket, bag or other container for their personal belongings. After dinner each night, or before your bedtime routines, each person is responsible for walking through the house (or the rooms that are most troublesome), collecting their stray items in the basket, to be put away or brought into their bedroom at night.
Similarly, it may be fun to play a song (or two) throughout the house on an amplified speaker, during which all members of the household are to clean up as much as they can (this can be a fun technique even for those who live alone!). Fold blankets, fluff pillows, put toys away, take dirty clothes to the laundry room, etc. When the music has ended, clean-up time is over and everyone is free to go about their nights or head to bed.
Keeping your home neat will be even more fun if you have supplies you’re excited about using. Invest in cleaning tools that make staying tidy a secret joy.
Kitchen
Establishing a routine for the kitchen is essential to mitigate potential family tension or frustration for the person in your home who naturally takes on the cleaning/caretaking role. Give everyone a particular responsibility that they are in charge of daily or weekly.
Additionally, relieve pressure by creating reasonable expectations for kitchen cleanliness. Do you prefer that dirty dishes be kept in the sink or on the counter next to it? Do you want the floors to be swept and mopped daily, every other day, or weekly? Make a chart and adhere it to your fridge or another visible place.
Don’t let things pile up. Make it your aim to accomplish a small number of tasks each morning and evening.
For example: load the dishwasher before going to bed, unload it upon waking in the morning (while your coffee or tea is brewing). Wipe down the counters daily with a gentle sanitizing spray to keep your family safe and healthy, clean out the fridge and take out the trash before it starts to smell rotten, etc.
Organize Beautifully
Bedroom
Sure, you could throw your blankets in any old container. You could haphazardly arrange your books on the bookshelf and use the nearest jar for those freshly cut blooms. But the kind of space you create for your nest will speak volumes to your soul and either make you elated to clean or dread the very thought of putting things away.
Use storage options you love: beautifully woven baskets to house blankets or knick-knacks throughout your bedroom.
In the closet, consider replacing your hangers with one uniform hanger for all your clothing items. Instead of letting folded items stack together, give each piece a home in a drawer or basket. Place a diffuser somewhere in your closet space to give you a warm welcome when perusing your clothing options as well as to infuse your wardrobe with an irresistible scent.
Living Room
Staying organized in the living room is simply a matter of everything having a place. Are your books stacked on the floor, or neatly arranged on a bookshelf? Are your extra blankets and pillows piled next to the couch, or folded and placed in baskets or under your coffee table? Are there knick knacks strewn about, to be tripped on or broken, or are they intentionally displayed on shelving or side tables?
Utilize your vertical space in the living room to maximize room for guests and family members. Consider installing a bookshelf, adding side tables, and purchasing tall storage options to take up less floor space.
Kitchen
Staying organized in the kitchen feels like an uphill battle, as the messes seem to stockpile every hour on the hour. Thankfully, arranging your kitchenware doesn’t have to be a losing situation.
Find things to place on your kitchen counter and dining table that double as decor (more on this later) and organization. This could look like placing seasonings and dressings in a beautiful kitchen caddy, storing snacks and leftovers in gorgeous canisters (pictured above), or arranging napkins and miscellaneous items in a woven tray.
The kitchen is the heart of the home. It should be cared for as such!
Decorate Intentionally
Bedroom
It’s altogether too easy to fill your space with all the things you love and end up creating a room with lots of clutter. Part of staying organized in the bedroom is starting organized!
Be intentional to design a room that looks streamlined. Avoid unnecessary decorations (knick-knacks without sentimental value, stacks of books you’ve never read, candles without any wax left, etc.) that only result in claustrophobia and stress.
Choose decor that speaks to your style and personality. There will always be many beautiful things available for purchase, but it is of the utmost importance to predetermine and have a detailed concept of your personal design style before making purchasing decisions. This will ensure you create a room that best reflects you!
Living Room
Which activities do you and your family enjoy doing in your living room? Let the answer to this question determine how you choose to decorate this space.
If you tend to spend most of your time in the living room reading, watching TV, playing games, and other leisurely activities, make sure there are plenty of comfy blankets and pillows available for friends and family to snuggle up with.
If time spent in your living room could be categorized as “productive” (children’s homework, school projects, working from home, puzzles and creativity, etc.), ensure there are enough clean, decor-free surfaces for members of your household to spread out and be constructive.
Make note of the ages of those who will most often be in your living room space. If there will be small children or pets playing regularly, avoid placing expensive, fragile decorative items within an arm’s reach. It can be very tempting to decorate for the rare occasion you throw an adult dinner party, resulting in valuables that are broken or used in a rousing game of “hot potato.”
Kitchen
The kitchen is, most likely, where you end up spending the majority of your day if you like to cook. Decorating intentionally in the kitchen requires taking into account the type of food preparation and meal serving your lifestyle and family culture enjoys.
Find pieces for your kitchen that are both functional and beautiful. This may mean spending a little bit more on a flower vase or charcuterie board that you’ll be proud to set out when guests come over. Splurge on a wooden tray for your eggs, salad servers that are sure to take your meal to the next level, and bakeware you’ll want to leave out year-long.
Decorating your kitchen can and should be fun!
For all of your home’s decor and organization needs, Loth & Co is proud to be the source of beautiful, unique goods that will give your home flare. We strive to be original yet accessible, fresh yet inviting. Keeping your home neat and tidy is easy when you’re well-organized and surrounded by things you love. Come see what’s new!