So let’s just be straight up right now. Is my home always “Pinterest perfect”-ly clean? Hell no. I have 3 insane animals running around at all times and a hard-working bloke that works in the automotive industry for goodness sake. However, my home is normally about 15 minutes from guest-ready at any time. That’s not to say that if you peer down and run your finger on the skirting boards there won’t be dust. It just means that if someone was to rock up to my door at short notice, I wouldn’t be hiding behind the curtains, hoping they’ll give up and go away.
Now, I live in a 3 bedroom semi-detached Edwardian house. It’s not a huge palace but it’s not tiny either, especially in comparison to other properties in this country. It’s pretty average size I’d say. I also don’t have children which I realise can play a HUGE factor in just how realistically tidy your home can be if you have 3 under 5 running around your feet all day. However, I do employ a few tricks that really anyone can do – whether your home is much larger than my own or if you have a tiny brood who are adamant about leaving their toys underfoot at all times or you have a small flat where you’re the only one you have to pick up after.
So here are just a few tricks I employ on a daily or weekly basis that means my home stays relatively tidy at all times. Results – obviously depending upon your personal circumstances – may vary.
Make Your Bed
I know it seems a bit of a pain in the arse to make your bed but you have to think about how much real estate your bed takes up in your room. If you make it pretty much as soon as you get up, that’s like 1/3 of the room already done. It also makes me feel better at night to crawl into a bed where the sheets are tucked in and the duvet is straight. It’s the same sort of feeling when you’ve spent the day in a new city to come back to your hotel room, feet tired and the room has been tidied up in your absence. There’s just something very calming to me about a made bed. It literally takes about 3 minutes and it’s so worth it.
Keep your bathroom cleaning products in the bathroom
This may sound like an obvious one but I used to keep all my cleaning products together. When it came time to clean the bathroom, I’d have to lug all the products upstairs which meant it could potentially get pretty manky because it was inconvenient. Now, all my cleaning items along with cleaning cloths and sponges are kept out of sight under the sink. If something needs a quick wipe, I just reach into the cupboard and I can spray the sink and the toilet in one go, run the hot water, rinse it all off and have it sparkling in less than 5 minutes for a quick tidy.
Toss junk mail as soon as it comes in
I hate with a passion when our dining room table starts to pile up wth envelopes promising 0% credit card deals, takeaway menus stuffed through the door and flyers from local businesses. As soon as that kind of thing comes through the letterbox, it’s in the recycling. Don’t wait until it piles up, just deal with it immediately and it won’t be cluttering up your surfaces.
Do the dishes (or run the dishwasher) on a daily basis
There’s nothing worse than waking up in the morning to see a huge pile of dishes that have been left in the sink from the night before. Make a pact with yourself that the dishes will be done every evening. Because I work from home, I try to make sure the breakfast and lunch dishes are washed and put away before Wayne gets home from work in the evening and then Wayne normally washes the dinner dishes and I dry and put them away before we go to bed. If you get into the habit of doing them daily, it’s really not that big of a deal and they don’t pile up. Bonus tip: Always rinse your dishes under a hot tap straight after they are used. It’s makes doing them so much quicker and easier when you’re not having to scrape off dried food from 3 hours before.
Once the dishes are done, clean the worktops
Another habit we’ve gotten into is that as soon as the dishes are done, I take a clean cloth and spray the worktops and hob and wipe everything down. It literally takes a minute and keeps the worktops nice and clean, ready for the following day’s prep.
Have a quick tidy up before you turn in
Every evening, I do a really quick 5 minute tidy up before I’m off to bed. I do a quick sweep of the downstairs, fluff the cushions on the sofa, put any mugs in the sink, put any coasters back into place and grab anything that needs to be taken upstairs with me. When you do this on a daily basis, I promise nothing becomes so bad you don’t want to deal with it the next day. Plus, it’s quite nice to wake in the morning to things being relatively tidy before it all goes to hell in a handbasket (again).
Don’t zig zag
When you are putting things back in their rightful place, don’t bother doing the zig zag, taking one item at a time to its individual location. Make a small pile somewhere or get yourself a basket – one upstairs and one downstairs – and chuck everything in there that’s not been put away that doesn’t belong on that floor. Then in one sweep, put everything back in its place by room. Also, every time I go up or down the stairs, I grab the basket so I don’t make any wasted trips and things are being put away throughout the day.
Get yourself a portable vacuum
Okay my dog sheds MASSIVELY ALL THE TIME. The cats aren’t anywhere near as bad if you would believe but Shelties have quite long hair and if I don’t keep on top of it, I have little balls of fluff rolling around on my dark floors like tumbleweed. I do a ‘big vacuum’ once a week but every other day, I grab my Dyson handheld* and do a quick run around to get any stray fluff balls hiding in the corners. I also use a Swiffer at times but I find the handheld a bit easier and quicker. (It’s hidden behind the sofa near a plug socket so not only is it convenient to get to, it’s also always charged.)
So those are just a few things I do to keep a tidy house. Do you have any tricks you swear by? Or are you hiding behind the curtains when guests come around unannounced? Let me know in the comments!
I adore your blog, so inspirational X
These are such great tips. They would have worked so well for me before the kids came along. But I really struggle to keep on top of it now we have little ones. Yesterday was quite successful as my oldest was at pre-school so I was able to do a quick once over. However, when you have a toddler following you around pulling out everything seconds after you have put it away it does get rather disheartening. You end up wondering what the point is of tidying up at all. The only time my home is guest ready is probably after 10pm at night when no bugger will visit anyway. lol
I wholeheartedly agree with all of this! Admittedly not every rule gets followed everyday, but by and large these things have become habit for us now and I love how people coming to stay or popping over isn’t the panic stations it used to be. I nabbed a cordless Dyson in the sales a couple of weeks back and am so pleased I did. Clearing up the fluff and litter tracking from a long haired cat who only graces the outside when it’s warm and sunny has become much easier!
Great tips! Love your blog ?
Man I am so glad I started following your blog. Your content is kind of amazing. I do struggle with keeping a tidy house even though my situation is somewhat similar to yours, 2 cats and 1 husband. My biggest problem is finding any motivation to do tidying during the work week. I’ll get a lot done on a Saturday or Sunday, but it takes so much effort to catch up from the week’s messes. And then by Tuesday we’re back to being a mess that I have to stare at for the rest of the week. One of my “40 before 40” wishes is actually to develop better habits for keeping the house tidy so this post might just be the kick in the buns I needed to start focusing on that more! If I can break a lot of the tidying down into quicker, more frequent tasks like you do it might just be possible. Haha. Thank you!
Other than making my bed, these are pretty much how I run my life. Have been doing it since before kids and now the kids are gone. But it truly helps to make the house feel “ok” even when someone drops by unannounced. I abhore “piles without purpose” so try to keep things organized on a daily basis and the 5 minute evening tidy definitely keeps things from getting bad. The only think I would add is that we are good about not leaving clothes piled on the floor or around the bedroom. We have hooks in our small walk in closet that keep the “not clean but not dirty” clothes from being in the bedroom. Amazing how reading your tips I just kept nodding my head!!
A cordless Dyson is one of the best things I’ve ever bought. Having a dog and 2 cats means I’m forever having to get rid of pet hair and the Dyson has made it so much easier x
There’s nothing like doing something small like giving the worktops in the kitchen a tidy to make it feel more put-together and acceptable
Mel ★ http://www.meleaglestone.co.uk
I actually do all of these already (except for the basket which I will try!). We have a young son so I’d add onto the list, teach your child to tidy up! We are working on putting away one set of tous before getting more toys out. We have an Ikea Kallax unit in the play area and I’ve sored the toys into genres, so my son can pull out the boxes and explore what’s inside. That’s when we encourage/help/insist that we put the previous box and its contents away first!
We also get him to take his dishes to the sink, dirty clothes into the clothes basket etc I think this really helps us and teaches good life habits too.
Love your blog. It’s my happy place online!
I know what you mean about piles of post, and a table top full of everything know to man, not good.
My pet hate is a sink full of pots, it’s such a feel good factor when you walk in to your house, and everything is neat and tidy. When I’ve seen those hoarder programs, I really don’t know how they live like that, I know it’s each to their own but it would drive me barmy.
Good tips Kimberly xxx
I always make sure the bed is made and cushions arranged. I prefer to get into a made bed. We manage to stay fairly tidy but then it’s just the two of us and no kids or pets so I think it’s a bit easier! The main thing for us is the big pile of post that we leave and leave … must get on that! Job for the husband methinks!
Where are your plates from? Love them!
Whether at home or in the office, in order to feel good and function well we need to tidy up. We have to put in order the things we use and the places we are in, so as to facilitate our works, and even to sleep, rest or relax well.. Maybe a good amount of stress and clutter in our mind comes from the clutter around us – from not doing the right things and not doing them right!. Your article with tips for a tidy home, are useful in many situations. Using a basket for first collecting many things and then placing each as needed is a very useful tip . Thank You
Thank you for this, we have made a new years resolution to be tidier and clean more frequently. We are doing most of these but there are a few new things for us to try too.
Great ideas here, will have to try. The one thing we struggle to keep tidy in our house is shoes. There’s never a good place to store them without putting them in a wardrobe and forgetting they’re there.
Fab tips as always! I’m always so reassured to see you achieve a beautiful home with pets…it spurs me on! I always try to straighten up the coffee table before bed and always make the bed, it’s true it makes a huge difference. Thank you! Xxx