5 Rules for Organizing Your Home
Being organized can help reduce the stress in your life. Organizing your home so that things are easier to find when you need them, clutter isn’t in the way, and cleaning doesn’t seem like a monumental task are good reasons to approach organization strategically. Let us help you with a few tips to make your home more tidy and keep it that way.
These 5 rules will help guide your success in organizing your home:
1. Don’t Procrastinate
Piles of laundry, unopened mail, or dirty dishes can be daunting and stressful to take on all at once. Manage theses tasks as they happen, so that you aren’t overwhelmed when you absolutely have to get it done. Doing a little bit every day is easier than taking a whole day to catch up.
Organize the mail as soon as you bring it in the door. Open, sort, and shred the mail as it comes in. Have a filling system for bills and important documents. Shred and send the mail you don’t need to the recycling bin or compost pile. Taking the same approach to other daily tasks can make them easier by doing a little at a time.
2. Put Maintenance on the Calendar
Scheduling regular maintenance for your HVAC system, clearing debris from your gutters, cleaning dryer vents, and changing the batteries on your smoke detectors can prevent future problems, big and small. Read more on this topic in this article about “the first 6 things you should do before you move into your new home.”
Besides servicing the systems in your home, other deep cleaning tasks like these should find their way on to your calendar:
- Run cleaning cycles on your dishwasher and washing machine
- Move appliances or big furniture to clean areas not regularly reached
- Clean Blinds, windows, ceiling fans, and vents
- Shampoo carpets and rugs
- Vacuum and clean soft surfaces like sofas, curtains, and mattresses
3. Define Where Things Belong
Storage may be one of the best tools for organizing your home. Defining where things belong helps to keep clutter out of the way and helps you to find things that are easily lost. A bowl for your keys, a drawer for the TV remotes, a cabinet for batteries, cables, and cords could save you lots of time.
Dirty dishes belonging in the dishwasher as soon as dinner time is over, and clean dishes in the cabinet when the cleaning cycle is complete. Creating a system of keeping things where they belong can create efficiency in the way your home functions.
4. Get Everyone Involved in the Routine
Everyone who lives in your home and even visitors can help to keep it organized. Just one person can’t do all of the organizing, but one person can be a good manager of the organization system in your home. With time, organizing will be a part of the regular routine.
Inform guests of the house rules by telling them things they need to know about keeping the space tidy like, “we keep the shoes here.”, “Recycling goes here”, or “You can put your towel here when you are finished.”
Teach your kids how to help keep your home tidy and show them how to safely join in the cleaning tasks as they grow. Learning the responsibility of taking care of their living space is a skill that will benefit your kids as they grow into adulthood.
5. Donate / Recycle / Clear the Clutter
Clothes that don’t fit anymore, extra decorations, linens that need to be replaced, or gifts that were never used are taking up otherwise useful space in your home. You could consider selling the items that have value in a garage sale, on a reputable site online, or at a local re-sale shop.
Most donation centers will give you a receipt for the items you donate, which you may be able to deduct from your annual income taxes. Your local church or community service organization may know of a family in need that could use the items directly.
These rules for organizing your home will help you keep your home in working order. At TexasLending.com we want our customers to gain great information about having a happy and healthy home. Our goal is to be your go-to experts for mortgage information, as well as provide helpful homeownership tips in our blog.
When you are ready to buy or refinance your home, reach out to us! Getting Pre Approved to buy a home is fast and FREE at TexasLending.com.
