Before you go to sleep
Before you go to sleep
Take advantage of the 5 minutes before going to sleep to order and make your life easier. It consists in that before going to bed you prepare the clothes that you are going to wear the next day, the things you need to take to work, the children's wallets, set the table for breakfast …
Throw away what you don't need
Throw away what you don't need
To have the house tidy it is necessary to throw away everything that you do not need because surely your space is limited. Do "cleaning" regularly. In the same way that you take advantage of a move to get rid of junk and trinkets, changing the closet or spring cleaning, etc., these are good times to throw away everything you no longer need. Rule number 1: "if something goes in, something goes out."
Out of sight
Out of sight
Your house not only has to be neat, it also has to look so. And there is not always a direct relationship between the two. Dressing rooms without doors, unmade beds, shelves with many different objects … All this contributes to the feeling of chaos even though everything else is really in order.
Order in the mornings
Order in the mornings
It is valid for the order and cleaning of the day to day as well as for deep cleaning. Before you leave in the morning, spend 5 minutes clearing tables, throwing out trash, removing clothes from chairs, etc. Your house will be orderly without you noticing. And if you want to spend more hours cleaning, start first thing in the morning too. You will be fresher and you will finish it all in one day.
Store it where you use it
Store it where you use it
It is not only important to give each thing its place, but also that that site is the right one. One of the main premises to succeed is that we keep the different objects in the place where we use them. Do the children play in the living room? Place a basket there for them to put the toys in when they are done. As long as you put it in a tall cabinet, they will never leave it there.
Find your method
Find your method
Do not believe outright the method of the last guru of order who has published a book. As with diets, the systems for organizing and ordering the house are also personal and what may work for one may not work for another. Better stay with the advice that you see yourself capable of applying and adapt them to you.
Make it easy
Make it easy
Don't look for complicated systems. If, for example, you decide to keep invoices in a filing cabinet, sort them by years. Establish a color system to differentiate the different areas, attach the bank receipt to each one … you will do it for two days.
Better step by step
Better step by step
Break any large cleaning project down into simpler, easier-to-accomplish tasks. You can do it room by room or, within a room, one week the closet, another the bookstore, etc. If you order something every week, before you know it, you'll start to see results. In addition, going step by step makes you feel that you are meeting mini objectives, and that motivates.
Clear countertops
Clear countertops
To offer an uncluttered appearance, one of the things that have the greatest visual impact is to collect and clear the horizontal surfaces: the floor, the table, the entrance console … In the kitchen, it is recommended that you do not accumulate pots or small appliances on the counter. Only the essentials.
Before ordering, please think
Before ordering, please think
Reflect on the causes that have led to your house (or a specific room) being so messy, what you can throw away and what not, who uses that space and what their habits and routines are … And study how to make order last after cleaning.
Involve those who live with you
Involve those who live with you
It is of little use to beat yourself up by tidying up the house and to come up with the most effective of the systems if you don't tell the rest afterwards. Everyone must contribute. For example, if you put hangers at their height for the little ones where they can leave their coat or backpack, everything will be more organized. A few boxes on hand to store toys will also do wonders.
When you are short of time
When you are short of time
Not every day you will have the time to save everything in its place. So that this does not ruin the order in your house, a solution is to establish a place in each room where to temporarily leave things while waiting to be placed. You can use a basket and store it in a drawer when it's empty. Set one day a week to put everything in its place.
Be careful with the hangers
Be careful with the hangers
Hangers on the wall can help keep order. But if mountains of coats, scarves, bags accumulate in them … they cause a sensation of chaos. Reduce the number of hangers and make them only for frequently used clothes.
Organize vertically
Organize vertically
The height of the walls can become one of our allies. You can use cabinets or shelves that reach up to the ceiling or, if you don't, place boxes or baskets on top of them. Also use bridge-shaped furniture that frames doors or beds, making the most of space. Reserve tall spaces for things you don't use much.
Don't stack, order
Don't stack, order
This problem occurs often with the mail. After picking it up from the mailbox, we got home and left it on a table telling us that we will check it later. Although in reality all we do is add the mail of the next day, and the next …
Put a trash can in the hall
Put a trash can in the hall
And before you drop the mail, do a first screening of the letters that are important and what is only business mail. Once a week you should empty it.
Labels, yes, if necessary
Labels, yes, if necessary
It's often recommended to label boxes to find out what's inside without having to open and close them to find out. Do it only if you are going to use those boxes. Write in large print to see it well and, above all, do not buy a specific machine to make them: you would unnecessarily increase the junk you have.
Identify hot spots
Identify hot spots
It can be a corner of the kitchen counter, the entrance, a table in the living room … In all houses there is a point where things tend to accumulate. And you order it and after two days it is full of things again. A good solution is that you take drastic measures and eliminate them completely by placing something on them: a plant, a lamp …
21 days ordering
21 days ordering
Hanging up clothes, putting shoes in the shoe rack, sorting mail … These are tasks that only take a few minutes, but we usually leave for later out of habit. Aim to do these things daily for 21 days. At first it will cost you, but after this time you will have consolidated it as a habit and you will do it automatically. We challenged ourselves to order as Marie Kondo for 21 days.
More boxes is not the solution
More boxes is not the solution
It is common that when wanting to order a room, the first thing you think about is boxes. That can encourage you to accumulate excessively. Do you need them? The first thing is to get rid of everything you don't need and then the boxes. Place dividers inside so that everything is not piled up and make sure they are all similar since that homogeneity conveys a sense of order.
It's not that you tidy up all day or that every Saturday you do a Marie Kondo operation at home. The secret of an orderly home lies in the little habits that we apply on a daily basis. The tricks to keep the house tidy that we have proposed in the gallery above will help you optimize your efforts and find the easy-to-order routines that best suit your lifestyle.
Some keys to keep your house tidy
- Throw. It is the basis of everything. A house full of unnecessary objects is impossible to be orderly. The rule of minus is relentless: the less things we have, the easier it is to order them. The "if something comes in, something comes out" usually works. We know that it is often difficult to get rid of objects, but we assure you that once you start it is addictive. And of course there are things that have to go straight to the trash like unimportant letters, unnecessary bags, samples, or advertising.
- Image matter. It's not enough that your house is neat and clean - the mother of all tidy tricks is that it looks neat visually. Don't leave the bed unmade, appliances on the counter, open cabinets, or magazines on the couch. Out of sight, out of mind.
- In the morning or at night. A few minutes can do a lot for the order of your house. Take advantage of those 5 minutes while making coffee in the morning or reserve 10 minutes before going to sleep to put the house in dance. Dedicate them, above all, to removing and organizing everything visible: coats, things on the table, folding blankets, clearing countertops, hanging everything on chairs …
- Boxes If you use them well, they are wonderful. Once you've kept your items to a minimum, having boxes with organizers inside can help keep things super organized. They are also ideal for putting down children's toys. Put them within their reach so that they can put everything in. A box (just one, eh?) To leave all that we will organize later will also help keep our home clear.
- Take advantage of the space. Leave at the top of cabinets and shelves everything that you use little. However, do not even think about putting boxes in the upper areas to store your day-to-day things: you will never use it and everything will be in the middle.
