Want to know the secret to a clean home? Clean, as in you wouldn’t be embarrassed if someone walked in unexpectedly. It will make your life sooooo much less stressed! And it only took me about 5 years to figure out ☹!
The secret to a clean home: pick up as you go.
Now, I know you’re probably rolling your eyes thinking, “Oh, haha, that’s the ‘secret’?” No magic wand or little cleaning fairies? Won’t the twitch of the nose (any Bewitched fans?) work? Let me explain.
Choose Your Routine for a Stress Free Home
We are responsible for our actions, and the routines or habits that we use every day. And as we grow older, with more responsibilities, we need to adapt and change our habits so that our homes serve us, rather than us serving our homes. When I was a teenager, I rarely put anything away. Clean clothes would be stacked on my dresser, and rather than putting them away, I would just take what I needed each day – drove my mother crazy. As I began to have children of my own, I realized how much clutter and messiness caused me stress. I may not have the cleanest home in the world, but I do have a neat, orderly, decluttered home. And one important way to have that clean home is to pay attention to how I live in it.
Let me outline a typical morning and show how the choices I make can change the look and feel of my home.
Routine/Habit Option #1
In the morning, I take a shower, put in my contacts, put on my makeup, blow dry and curl my hair, change out of pj’s into clothes for the day. The bathroom could look like this as I walked out:
- Wet towel was not hung up properly to dry well and not stink
- Makeup is left on the bathroom counter – not put away in a drawer or specific bin and splotches of blush and concealer is left on the sink
- Blow dryer, curling iron, hair products/ hair spray is left on the sink
- PJ’s on the floor
Leaving One Mess to Make Another
Then I go down and make breakfast for the children. As I crack the eggs into the bowl, I miss the bowl and some of the egg whites drip onto the counter. I spray the pan with the nonstick, accidentally spraying all around the pan including the stove behind the pan because non-stick spray seems to go everywhere. Make the toast, get the butter and preserves out – ‘cause who doesn’t love toast with butter and preserves?
Plate and serve breakfast to the kids who are still in their pj’s and without bibs (for the little ones). They demolish it as kids sometimes do – not exactly eating over the plates provided, and little Johnny in the high chair, decided he was done before he was finished, so he dumped his plate over the side of the high chair to his delight.
After they finish and leave to get dressed, I move on to the next thing (which seems to be more urgent at the moment), and I leave the kitchen like this:
- Egg whites on the counter
- Nonstick on the stove that just gunks up more every time you turn on the burners – little bits of scrambled eggs left on the stove.
- Crumbs from the toaster fall out onto the floor and counter as I get it out from the cabinet
- Eggs, milk, butter, AND preserves are now on their pj’s since I didn’t put bibs on them.
- Crumbs, eggs, sticky stuff on the floor.
- Dishes left in the sink for ‘later’…whenever that comes! Food and sticky stuff on the high chair.
- To top it all off, I didn’t wipe the hands and faces of everyone, so now when they run off to play, everything they touch has crumbs and sticky stuff on it.
Not a Great Start to the Day
I’m overwhelmed and behind already with 2+ rooms that are a mess, sticky preserves that are being transferred to every toy, wall, and piece of furniture in the house that they touch…and it isn’t even 8:30 AM yet!
Imagine instead, that after breakfast as my children went off to get dressed, I could get to the tasks of the day that I had already planned or sit down to read to the kids or sew/knit or whatever I have a passion for.
Cleaning/picking up as you go
is the secret to a clean home.
It doesn’t take much effort – really! It’s just a habit that so many are not in (remember it took me about 5 years to get it). But once you begin this habit, it will totally change your life.
What if You Could Eliminate a Lot of Stress from Your Day?
Routine/Habit Option #2
- Hang up towel to dry (spread it out rather than fold it so the moisture gets out)
- Put all my makeup away when finished and give a quick wipe down of the sink area I used
- Put away blow dryer, hair products, hair spray, and pjs’
I leave behind a clean bathroom.
- Bibs go on all my the kids – unless they are 3yrs old or can prove that they can eat without messing up their clothes
- Hold the pan over the sink and spray the nonstick – the excess goes in the sink – who knew?!
- Remind everyone to “eat over your plate” and gently bring them back to the task at hand. If they are playing with their food, or giving it to the imaginary dog, I take the plate away. They will not starve. They might complain or cry. I give them one more chance, then away it goes until mid-morning snack. (Trust me – you won’t have to do that very many times.)
- As they’re eating, wipe the egg whites off the counter, wipe up the crumbs from the toaster on the floor and the counter. While the kids are eating, I can clean out the crumbs from the toaster so they don’t fall all over the next time.
- Wash/dry/put away the pan and wipe down the stove
- When everyone’s finished, have THEM put their plates in the sink or dishwasher if they’re a little older. Rinse plates and wash/dry/put away or put immediately into dishwasher
- Wipe the kitchen table and high chair. Shake out the bibs in the sink, and stack away for lunch unless they are totally disgusting
I leave behind a clean kitchen.
We also need to get the children involved in the way they live in the home, and contribute to the care of the home. You can read about raising self-sufficient children HERE.
You can call these habits, rhythms, routines – it doesn’t matter what you call them, it’s all the same concept. Cleaning up/picking up what you’ve messed up before you leave the room is the ultimate secret to a clean home! Now….to teach your children to do the same!
Have a great day!
Janet
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