When it comes to setting goals for your home, (and if you’re not setting goals for your home you should be) often the number one goal I hear about is the desire to have a home you love, one that is neat, organized and clutter-free. Essentially, you want to be loving your home!
Let me start with the good news, this is a totally doable goal. You really can create systems and routines that will help you maintain an organized and clutter-free home.
However, there is an important caveat; getting or staying organized is not your biggest problem. What prevents you from loving your home, is too much stuff.
The hard truth is, that instead of clearing out the excess we try to make it all fit it then wonder why we can’t stay organized. But, we need to stop looking for solutions to store more stuff. Look, there is NO perfect organizing system that allows you to keep your clutter organized! You can stop wasting your effort looking for such a system because it just doesn’t exist.
So now what? The most impactful thing you can do to start loving your home is to get rid of the excess clutter. No this doesn’t mean you have to get rid of all your stuff. But it does mean you need to get rid of the excess stuff you don’t need or use.
Once you begin to remove all that stuff keeping your home clean and organized is about creating a few simple routines. By clearing the clutter and creating basic rhythms and routines you’ll be loving your home in no time! You’ll have a home filled with the things you truly love and find useful. A home you will love to spend time in!!
So, if you want to start loving your home today, do this:
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1. Address the Problem Areas First
We all have that one area in our house that we dread tackling. However, if you want to start loving your home this is where you need to begin. And you need to be ruthless, purge anything you don’t need or absolutely love.
Once you conquer your most challenging task, you’ll be excited to take on the rest.
And that is exactly what you have to do, get rid of the clutter throughout your home. You could move into your dream home tomorrow, but if you fill it with clutter, I guarantee you will not love it anymore than the house you’re living in right now.
So starting today, you are going to create a routine to deal with the clutter on a daily basis. I want you to get a large box for each room in your house. You can place the boxes inside of the closets. Personally, I prefer to have a cute decorative basket in my living room so it matches my decor, but a cardboard box is better than nothing.
As you come across items you do not need or use, immediately place them in that box. Until you’ve got a handle on the clutter, pick one room in your house that you will spend at least 15 to 30 minutes each day decluttering. Once the box is full, do not go through it, take it as is, place it in your car and drop it off at a donation center the next time you’re out and about.
As you keep this up you will be loving your home so much more!
2. Deal With Bulging Closets
When it comes to roadblocks preventing you from loving your home, there are two key areas that virtually everyone struggles with more than any other.
The first is the laundry. I can so easily remember those days of doing laundry every day and yet the blouse I wanted to wear always seemed to be dirty. I am so thankful that it’s been a while since I’ve felt this way. What finally changed the piles of laundry scattered around the house was dealing with our overstuffed closets.
Most of us have waaaay more clothing than is needed. I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised to hear that you haven’t worn half the things in your closet in the last 6 months. Nor would I be surprised if you regularly stand in front of your bulging closet frustrated because you feel like you have nothing to wear. The reality is this is normal. But it’s time to change that!
While I’m a big proponent of capsule wardrobes, you don’t have to create a capsule wardrobe to overcome mount laundry and start loving your home. However, limiting your closet to those things that you love and feel amazing in, is a great place to start.
Brooke, from The Happy Simple Mom, has some really practical tips for how to declutter your closet fast. Go read it if you need some help.
For now, you can begin by going through your closet and take it all out. Yes, all of it. Place anything that is ripped, stained or no longer fits, in that decluttering box. Also, add anything that makes you feel less than wonderful and confident.
Once you pare down your closets, you’ll have less laundry to do. Now you can put these routines into place:
Every bedroom needs a hamper. This helps keep the floors clear of dirty clothes. It also makes the process of doing the laundry easier.
When it comes to actually doing the laundry, aim for one load each day. By doing a load a day it’s pretty easy to wash, dry, and put it all away. After all, it’s only one load. This helps keep piles from forming and feeling overwhelmed by the job.
Since you’ve put a hamper in each room, wash by hamper. Washing clothes by person saves you the time of having to sort things and you can easily give the chore of putting things away to that person.
It also saves time to wash all the towels and linens together. I wash all towels on Mondays, bedding gets washed on Tuesdays and the next day I wash mine and my husband’s clothes and the following days are for each of the kids’ clothing.
This system saves me hours of time and keeps everything organized.
3. Deal With Paper Instantly
I told you there were two key areas virtually everyone struggles with when it comes to loving your home. You guessed it, the second one is Paper.
I wrote a detailed post on how to deal with Paper Clutter, it is worth the read! For now, I will tell you, that just like any other clutter problem you’ve got to eliminate the excess.
Eliminate as much paper as you possibly can from coming into your home. Sign up for paperless billing. Not only does this eliminate clutter, but it’s so much easier to pay your bills online.
Register for online banking. With online banking, you have access to your accounts 24 hours a day from literally anywhere. I can’t even remember the last time I actually went into my bank location.
Invest in some baskets and filing trays to house the paper that does come in. Develop a routine where as soon as you’ve reviewed any paper document, either file it away, toss it or take action on it. If time does not allow for this, have specific trays or baskets to corral the paper until you can deal with it.
At least once a week have a desk day, where you set aside time to handle any paperwork tasks. This will prevent it from piling up and eliminate the clutter.
4. End the Toy Takeover
I promise you, your kids do not need all the toys they have. Fact— your children will be benefited by having fewer toys. Fact— it is next to impossible to be in love with your home if your home is overrun with toys.
If you want to start loving your home, no doubt about it, you’ve got to start limiting the toys.
My recommendation is to start by removing old toys that are no longer played with. Next, get rid of all those random free toys that come with Happy Meals and birthday party gift bags. Follow that by getting rid of all broken toys and all duplicate toys. My kids never even noticed when I got rid of these types of toys.
For the other toys choose 4 or 5 similar toys at a time and ask your kids which one they want to keep? They only get to pick one or two each time you do this.
Now set some boundaries. Realize you need to stop buying your kids every latest toy. You also want to talk to your relatives and let them know you’re trying to limit the number of toys in your home.
Finally set space boundaries. All toys must fit in a specifically designated space.
Now that you’ve limited the number of toys, limit the number of toys they can take out at a time by keeping many of their toys on the top shelf of their closet.
For those toys that are out, invest in a basket or bin for toys. This will make it simple for the kids to toss their toys into the basket. You then want to start a regular routine that involves your kids cleaning up all their toys every evening.
When young kids have a regular bedtime routine, it helps them fall asleep so much easier. The bedtime routine can start with tossing all their toys into their basket.
5. Set Up a Regular Cleaning Routine
Any effort you make to love your home will never work if your home is messy all the time. But the good thing is, with a good portion of the cluttered cleared out, it will be much easier to keep your home tidy.
You can actually put cleaning chores on autopilot when you set up a simple cleaning routine. The key here is finding a routine that will work for your schedule. Aim to have a regular day or time for doing each task.
In the beginning, you want to write your schedule out and hang it up in a place you will see often. This will help you keep up. It won’t take long for your cleaning routine to become automatic.
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6. Label Everything
One of the greatest obstacles to maintaining a clutter-free and organized home is the people you share it with. If you go to the work of setting up the right routines and they don’t follow them it can feel very daunting.
The easiest way to overcome this problem is simple to label everything! A label maker will be your best friend here. When everything has a home with a clearly marked label both kids, and yes even husbands can return each item to its rightful place.
You want to label everything, from storage shelves, cupboards, drawers, and bins. This way, whenever something is needed everyone knows where it is and where it goes back to.
Assigning everything a home and labeling that home is a game-changer.
7. Freshen Up Your Style
You have accomplished so much in clearing the clutter and setting up some solid routines, now it’s time to fresh up your style so that you will truly love your home.
Start by using decor colors that make you happy. According to Country Living, these 5 Paint Colors That Will Make You Happiest”. Whether you paint, add a new rug, or a few throw pillows to the couch use colors you love.
If you have a small budget, that’s okay simple little things like fresh-cut flowers or new plants can brighten your whole place. Seeing a plant subconsciously makes you feel calm and relaxed.
Also, do something to create a beautiful ambiance. Add some soft lighting or a naturally scented candle. You can see some more ideas on how to love your home here.
You can create systems and routines that will make you love your home. All it takes is clearing the clutter and building a few small habits.
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