5 Essential Habits To Simplify Your Home

Whether you have a schedule packed with non-stop activities or spend most of your time at home, our homes and our lives can feel complicated. That’s why I want to share with you some essential habits to simplify your home!

But before I do, it’s important to note that living simple and on purpose is a very personalized thing, meaning it will look different for each of us. This is largely due to the fact that our home is based on our own personal values and priorities. Nevertheless, there are some universal habits that will help to simplify your home. 

When simplicity enters our homes, we feel a sense of control. We no longer scramble around giving in to every urgent matter. Instead, we create space for what matters most, those things we need and want out of life.

The bottom line is that when we simplify our homes we enjoy our homes more.

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Simplify Your Home With These 5 Habits

So, to help you simplify your home, here are 5 essential habits that I practice regularly to make my home simpler. I’m confident they will help you too!

1. Declutter Your Home

I’m not going to get into too much detail here on the how to’s of decluttering your home.  I have a ton of really helpful articles on decluttering or organizing all aspects of your home. You can check many of them out here!

For now, I want to emphasize the importance of implementing a regular habit of clearing the clutter from your home. When I finally started getting rid of the clutter from my home, I gained control over how I use my space and my time!

A consistent habit of decluttering will help you learn where and how to take control of your home. You’ll make space in your home and life to enjoy the things you love!

Plus, having a consistent habit of decluttering will show you, decluttering your home does not have to be complicated! You can declutter small things as you go about your day. When you’re cleaning a particular room take an extra 5 minutes to declutter one or two items.

Another way to make decluttering your home a regular habit is to keep a decluttering basket in your living room. When you come across an item that should be decluttered you can toss it into the basket right away.  When the basket is full empty the contents into a box and donate it!  This is similar to the basket I use. I also keep baskets in each of the bedrooms. It’s as easy as that to create this daily habit!

Once you experience some of the many benefits of decluttering your home it’s something you’ll want to make a regular habit of.

Just know that decluttering is not something that can be one and done. No matter how much you’ve decluttered your home, clutter has a way of creeping back in. That’s why it’s important to make this one of your daily habits to simplify your home!

As you go about your day, decluttering along the way, is one of the top things you can do to simplify your home! 

2. Create a Capsule Wardrobe

We all already have a daily habit of getting dressed. However, a capsule wardrobe will help you to simplify that daily task.

When I decluttered my home I also decluttered my closet in a major way.  I had a serious clothing collection, my closets and drawers were overflowing. The sad thing is the majority of the clothing items I owned, I didn’t even wear, they were just taking up space.

I’m gonna be honest here, I enjoy buying new clothes and will probably never be a minimalist when it comes to my closet. But by creating a capsule wardrobe I have so many more outfits to wear and so much more space in my closet! Getting dressed each day is a lot easier because the majority of my closet is able to be mixed and matched. Plus everything I do have in my closet is things I love and feel good in.

If you’re not familiar with a capsule wardrobe it is basically a wardrobe made up of versatile pieces that mix and match and that you love to wear.

When looking at creating your own capsule wardrobe so that getting dressed is simplified, here are some things to consider:

• First, reduce the size of your current closet, get rid of those things you do not love.
• Next start with a base of neutral pieces that all coordinate together.
• If you are missing any items, make a list before you go shopping.

There are some good tips here on how to love your closet with a capsule wardrobe. My absolute favorite capsule shop is Carly Jean Los Angeles. They make it so easy to create a capsule you’ll love.

A capsule wardrobe is one of the essential habits to simplify your home you’ll be glad you created!

3. Create Basic Rhythms and Routines For Your Week

I’ve talked about the how to’s of creating routines here. Creating and sticking to routines is one of the best habits you can establish to simplify your life.

This is because routines put those must-do’s on auto piolet. Knowing there is time and space for everything that needs to happen creates peace of mind and lets you relax and be fully present in the moment you’re in.

Here are some basic routines to consider:

A Cleaning Routine

There was a time when I would spend hours cleaning the house every weekend. If we had weekend plans I’d fall behind on the cleaning tasks and the house would be a mess all week or I’d be working overtime all week trying to catch up.

All that changed by implementing a daily cleaning routine. You can see my routine here.  Basically, I have one room each day of the week that I focus on cleaning. If I fall behind it’s easy to catch up because it’s only room. This essential habit will simplify your home so much.

Weekly Planning Routine

Out of all the essential habits to make your home simpler this one goes at the top. The truth is, if I’m only going to get to one of my routines this is the one!

Having a weekly planning routine will do more to simplify your home and life than anything else you can do. It takes on average about 15 to 30 minutes each week.

Every Sunday I sit down with my favorite planner and write out the week’s schedule for everyone. This helps me focus on my priorities and make sure I’m doing what needs to get down!

Weekly Meal Planning

Our families expect to eat every single day and multiple times a day. Scrambling at the last minute trying to figure out what to feed them suddenly makes everything feel a bit complicated.

However, having a plan in place means you know what you’re feeding everyone. Plus, you’ll have all the ingredients you need and you’ll know it’s healthy!

My simplified meal planning includes sitting down each Sunday evening with my planner.  I look at the events planned for the week and base my meals accordingly.

Busy nights call for simpler meals. I try to include everyone’s favorites in at least one of those meals. That’s it! I promise weekly meal planning will make your life easier!

If you prefer electronic planners you can see how I’ve used Trello, a free online planner to simplify my life.

Daily Evening Routine

Some people swear by the importance of a solid daily morning routine and others by a solid evening routine. I happen to be in the evening routine camp! I’ve written about why I think an evening routine is the most important routine and you can see the details of what mine looks like here.

I really attribute my evening routine to setting up my day for success. It’s just a series of simple tasks I do each evening that carries over into my morning and makes my day run so much smoother.

What your routines look like does not matter nearly as much as making sure you have regular routines in place that work for you and your family. These essential habits will simplify your home in ways you never would have imagined.

4. Simplify Your Home By Slowing Down

Taking time to slow down, be still, and have space to think, recharge, and rest is so important. You need to have regular time in your day to just chill!

Making sure you have this time requires you to be intentional with your schedule. For me, this meant limiting the number of extracurricular activities we commit to. Consider having your kids pick just one club/sport to join for the year. You can add in special events that come up, or ones that don’t require weekly commitments.

The point is you want to prioritize regular family time together where you are just enjoying one another.

Making space will ensure you are focusing on the things that truly matter to you and that you have a clear understanding of what your priorities and values are. This is one of those essential habits to make your home simpler because you’re making what matters most about your home – the people you share it with – a priority.

5. Prioritize Your Home

Your home matters!

The environment in your home has a tremendous impact on everything else. When your home is chaotic, everything feels complicated.

To simplify your home, you need to make your home a priority! Start by sitting down and thinking through what’s important to you in your home. Those are the things you should be doing right now!

Consider whether it feels like anything is missing from your home life.

Is a clean and orderly home important to you? Make decluttering a priority, get that cleaning routine together, and invest in some quality organization tools.

Is your priority creating a calm and quiet space? Consider decorating with neutrals. Have candles burning, add fresh flowers to the grocery budget, and play soft music on the daily.

Perhaps you love the idea of a home that’s bustling with friends and the neighborhood kids? Reach out and invite a few friends over, set up some games to play, focus on having plenty of seating in your home.

Whatever it is that’s most important to you, prioritize those things. Making this an essential habit will make your home simpler.

Having a clutter-free home, simplifying your wardrobe, setting up solid routines, slowing down, and making home a priority, are essential habits that are necessary to simplify your home. These are habits you’ll be glad you created!!