If you are selling your home, you will more than likely need to do some cleaning and preparation for the upcoming open home. Or perhaps, you are just wanting to keep the spring clean last longer.
Making home-organising a seamless part of your daily routine can be just as good for your headspace as it is for your styling. Check out these handy tips to help you keep your home effortlessly organised.
- Finish what you started
When you’ve got a lot to tody up, it’s easy to run in circles or start other jobs halfway through your current job. You know how it goes – you’ll have emptied one rack of the dishwasher when you notice a dirty cloth, so stop what you’re doing to take it to the laundry hamper. Then, you remember the pile of dirty pyjamas on your ensuite floor so beeline in that direction, only to pause to start packing up the stray cosmetics on the counter, all while your half-emptied dishwasher door remains how you left it. The best strategy to employ is to finish what you started. Make a note of other areas you need to attend to on your phone or a handy notepad.
- Scan the room before you leave
If you’re moving from one section of the house to another, consider quickly if there are any stray items you can drop off along your way. If you are about to move towards your laundry, do a quick ‘left to right’ to see if there is anything you can take with you. This stops you from backtracking later, and stops it becoming a chore – it becomes part of your progression.
- Don’t put it down, put it away
We’re all guilty of leaving the empty glass on the coffee table or putting our clothes on the chair in the bedroom at the end of the day. Learning to put it away, rather than down is a minute little decluttering habit. For example, bringing in the mail rather than putting it down on the bench for the weekend, open it up there and then. Pay your bills or put a note on your calendar then recycle or file away what you need.
- Knock over two-minute tasks
Take care of quick little jobs instantly. If a job takes less than two minutes, deal with it there – rather than taking a mental note or thinking ‘I will do that later’. Doing it in the minute you think of it will benefit you, as it often doesn’t take as long as you think.
- Make systems that work for you
A good strategy is to design your storage in a way that actually suits your household, as we tend to default to certain possessions residing in certain nooks of our homes. If you find yourself fixing your hair in your bedroom as opposed to the bathroom, make a draw in your tallboy or a tidy container to contain all the little items you need.
- Wrap up your day
Each evening, try to take 10 to 15 minutes to restore order to your home, as this can be an easy way to keep everything under control. In 15 minutes you can make your bedroom look tidy or simply but tidying up the kid’s toys all over the living room floor. By spending 15 minutes between dinner and bedtime to tidy your house, when you wake up in the morning your kitchen is clear, the cushions are back on the couch and you are ready to hit reset.