5 Easy Ways to Keep Your Home Tidy All Week
Don’t you wish your home could stay tidy all the time?
Maybe you think this is a 50’s aesthetic or that it is something only stay-at-home women can achieve.
What if I told you that anyone can keep their home tidy all week long, and that you can avoid having to use an entire day off to get your home back in shape?
5 Easy Ways to Keep Your Home Tidy All Week
For years, I hated taking my only day off to do a full house clean because it turned my only day off into a workday of another sort.
I wanted a day for rest and relaxation.
I wanted a day to be able to be spontaneous with my family without feeling stressed out that by the middle of next week, my house would be crawling with germs because I hadn’t cleaned it.
I began to think of a better solution than letting my housework pile up until Saturday rolled around.
And that’s when I came up with an easy solution that kept my house clean all week long, allowed for little interruptions through the week, and still let me take Saturday completely off from all housework.
Does this sound impossible to you?
It’s not, all it takes is a little time to plan ahead and then a little discipline to follow through.
1. A Zone a Day
I divided our house into zones:
- Mudroom
- Bathroom
- Kitchen / Dining Room
- Living Room
- Bedroom
There are five zones, one for each day of the week.
I assign one zone to each day, and make sure that zone is thoroughly cleaned on that day.
2. Set a Timer
When you have a lot to do in a day, one more thing feels incredibly overwhelming. The truth is, cleaning only one zone a day should only take 5-7 minutes.
That isn’t much at all.
Set a time for 5-7 minutes and get to work, and you’ll see that one simple task takes very little time and leaves you with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
3. Blitz Your Living Space-2 Times a Day
This is something that should only take 2-3 minutes, but makes an enormous difference.
What is a blitz?
It is where I quickly go through our living spaces to straighten and put things away. I straighten couch pillows, clean off the table, and put random items away on the kitchen counters.
If I have time, this is when I will also empty the dishwasher and put laundry away.
I do a “blitz” of my whole house twice:
- Mid-day before my husband comes home from work
- End of the day, so that I start my morning with a tidy home
4. Involve Everyone
If you have children, you can begin involving them in keeping a tidy home from the time they are toddlers.
I began teaching my children from a small age to:
- Pick up their toys
- Put their laundry in the laundry basket
- Make their beds
- Put their dishes in the sink
- Put away anything they took out of their rooms
I didn’t see any need for me to have to constantly run around after them, picking up all of their messes.
Eventually, they will be out of the home and living on their own, and will not be coming over to clean their house!
I have two boys, and over the years, I’ve taught them to vacuum, mop, do laundry, iron, wash and dry dishes, use the dishwasher, and cook a meal.
There is no reason why boys shouldn’t know how to do housework and meal prep as well as girls.
Now they are teenagers and know how to collect their own clean laundry out of the laundry room, change their bedding, and clean their rooms thoroughly without being reminded.
Do not allow all of the housework to fall entirely on you. Teach everyone, including your husband, to pitch in and help you carry the load.
5. Use Timers On Your Machines
This has become one of my favorite things to do at the end of the day.
Where I live, we pay a lower rate for our power from 9 PM – 7 AM. I make full use of this, and I have found that it also saves me a lot of time and hassle.
Our largest energy monsters have timers on them, so I can get them set up and ready to go at any point of the day when I have a few minutes to invest.
I can load the dishwasher, put the detergent in, and set it to go off at 9 PM or later.
I also load my washing machine, put in the detergent and fabric softener, and program it to go off at 2:30 AM (so that my clothes are not sitting wet inside for hours, getting a sour smell).
Being able to program my machines ahead of time is a huge time saver and keeps my home running smoothly.
What is your best time for keeping things tidy in your home all week? Let us know in the comments below!
Learn how to plan your week in 3 short minutes with this post and free downloadable chart:
