I have a secret.
Well, it’s not a secret because I tell everyone every thought I’ve ever had because I have no filter.
Chances are, if you’ve spent any length of time around me or caught a glimpse of my planner and many to do lists, you may suspect that I have OCD.
And you’d be right. I don’t mean OCD in the colloquial “the clothes in my closet are organized by color” way. (Although to be fair, they are; and I love it.)
I mean it in the less quirky and cute “bleeding hands from constant washing and won’t let Nate wear certain pajamas because he got sick last time he wore them” nutso nonsense.
I’m straight up cuckoo.
But you know what? It’s part of me. Sometimes it really gets in my way and interferes with my life, and sometimes it makes me a very organized and thorough person.
Connected to my craziness, I keep a pretty dang tidy house.
Occasionally someone will comment that they wish they had time and motivation to clean as much as I do. I always want to tell them that it’s really not that hard, and I don’t actually spend that much time cleaning. I’d guess I spend less than 30 minutes per day really cleaning. Anything else just sort of fits in along the way.
Clutter and mess make my brain literally feel like it is on fire. I can’t think about anything else. This is an extreme reaction to my house being a wreck, but I truly believe most people function their best in a decently clean environment. It’s soothing to our brains and gives us more energy and attention to spend on things that matter. I’d rather think about my kids and my projects and who I think is going to win the Bachelor, than fret about the last time I mopped the kitchen.
Here are my top 3 tips for keeping a clean house without being a slave to cleaning.
1. The “Do It Now” Principle
Trust me, you are never going to have more motivation to do whatever task you are procrastinating than you currently do, and it’s likely going to get harder the longer you wait. Do the dishes as soon as you’re done eating, sort the mail the minute it comes in the house, clean the weird sticky spot off your wall right when you see it. It doesn’t take long, and all of those little tasks done right then add up to a whole bunch of time saved at the end of the day and without a huge list of tasks to complete. And the dishes, man. Dishes just get worse. And smellier and grosser. Do it. Now.
2. Give everything a place.
If you don’t have a place for everything, you have too many things. I have a basket in my closet that I am constantly filling with things to donate, and I am ruthless in my purging of knicks knacks and papers that pile up in odd drawers in my house. And because of that, I always know where the stapler is, and it’s not hard to find or put back in its place.
This confession will really showcase my crazy, but I have a list of every item in my house. I wish I was joking. Periodically, I will look through it for redundancies, and things we don’t use. Then I’ll either chuck ’em or store ’em. I’m not saying you should keep an excel spreadsheet detailing all of your possessions (and my therapist probably would not approve of mine…). Just be mindful of what things are taking up space in your house and in your brain, and both places will be less crammed if you clear out some unnecessary clutter.
3. Make daily and weekly routines.
And I’m sharing my daily and weekly routines, which are the not-crazy secrets of my (quasi) success!
This little list has transformed my cleaning routine. Download the blank PDF Daily and Weekly Tasks Chart
Here is my daily and weekly chore list, that I mark off every day with a dry erase marker.
I have mine laminated and hanging up on my fridge.
I wrote in my tasks that don’t change in pen before I laminated it. I also have a few blank spaces for writing in additional tasks with a dry erase marker.
Friday is my day for my “monthly chores”. I have a list of chores that don’t need to be done daily, and I choose one of those chores to do on Fridays.
I got this laminator a few years ago and I love laminating all of the things.
You can also put it in a frame and use a dry erase marker right on the glass. Even a clear page protector would work!
I wrote in my tasks that don’t change in pen before I laminated it. I also have a few blank spaces for writing in additional tasks with a dry erase marker.
Friday is my day for my “monthly chores”. I have a list of chores that don’t need to be done daily, and I choose one of those chores to do on Fridays.
I left the download blank so you can customize it for whatever tasks you assign to be daily and weekly.
The daily tasks are really the difference between “my house is usually pretty clean” and “my house is only clean 1 day per week after hours of furious cleaning.”
What specific tasks you choose to make daily are up to you and the needs of your household. My suggestions for daily tasks are loading and unloading the dishwasher, wiping down the table and counter, tidying up the living area, giving the bathrooms a quick wipe down, and giving the main living areas a quick sweep or vacuum daily. Some people do a load of laundry every day- I prefer to do it all on one day.
I don’t share any of this to brag about my cleaning habits- if someone came and inspected my house with a white glove, my baseboards would not pass muster. Somedays I can barely see the carpet beneath the sea of toys. But usually, my life isn’t overrun with clutter and chaos and feeling like I’m drowning in cleaning tasks to complete. And I just want to tell you that it’s not hard. If you are feeling overwhelmed by a messy house, give these tips a try.
My mental state depends on things being orderly and tidy, and if yours doesn’t, that’s great! Being comfortable in your home is the most important, and this is what makes me comfortable in mine. There is not a whole lot I can control in my life of raising little people and being a military wife, but I can keep my sink empty and my counters clean, dammit.
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