The 4 Essential Elements of An Organized Home
What does it mean to have a “clean house”?
I find that when people talk about having a clean house, they’re using that term to refer to 4 distinct processes. And I think that’s why “cleaning your house” can feel so overwhelming, difficult and never ending! We’re using a quick, short term that sounds pretty easy to refer to 4 different tasks that, when taken together, include an awful lot of work.
I find that when we can pull apart these 4 essential elements of a clean and organized home, the tasks themselves are better defined, which makes it easier to understand how to complete them and know when we’ve achieved success. In addition, we’ll end up doing less overall work, because we’re able to efficiently group the tasks needed to accomplish each element!
So without futher ado, here are the 4 process that together contribute to what most of us would call a “clean house”:
1) Decluttering
If I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, most of us (including me!) have too much stuff. Decluttering gets rid of the excess, allows us to inventory what we have, and frees up space. Decluttering is its own task - you just have to go through items and get rid of what you no longer need and love. You don’t have to do anything else at all while decluttering! I recommend a 2-tier system for decluttering: do larger purges once or twice a year (and you don’t have to do your whole house at once, break it down by room!) and then keep a donation bin in your laundry room, mud room, or closet, for the times you pick something up and realize you don’t want it anymore.
2) Organizing
Whereas decluttering is deciding what to keep and what to get rid of, organizing is finding a permanent home for each and every object. This is something that many people have never done, and so it doesn’t occur to them that this is what it means to set up an organizing system. Organizing itself is a one time thing. I only recommend that people reorganize to repurpose spaces as their needs change. If you find yourself constantly reorganizing the same space over and over again, this probably means you didn’t declutter first, or that the places you’re putting things don’t make sense for your life and habits.
3) Tidying
The thing about organizing systems is that they don’t maintain themselves. Even the most beautiful system with matching containers and custom labels is useless if the people who live in the space don’t tidy up regularly. Tidying means placing each object back in the home that you found for it during the organizing process. Tidying is unsexy, unfun, and uncool - but it’s the lynchpin of keeping a home organized. I recommend that my clients take 10-15 minutes at the end of the day to tidy up their space. This can be a difficult habit to acquire if you’re not used to it, but I’m here to tell you that it’s much easier than doing marathon tidying sessions on weekends or holidays when you’d rather be doing something fun!
4) Cleaning
Cleaning and tidying are not the same thing! While tidying is putting things back where they belong, cleaning is the removal of dirt and debris from surfaces using cleaning products. As you might imagine, it’s much easier to clean a decluttered, organized, and tidy space than it is to try to start cleaning a room before doing steps 1-3! In fact, this phenomenon contributes to most of the dissatisfaction many people have with house cleaning services. When someone can’t reach all the surfaces because of clutter and disorganization, they can’t clean your home effectively!
Now that I’ve broken down the 4 elements of a clean house, do you notice any gaps in your routine? Try adding the steps you’ve been missing, and you’ll realize it’s much easier than you thought to keep your house clean!
LMW
