Best Habits to Maintain an Organized Home

Below I share my favorite 14 habits to help you maintain an organized home.

Being and staying organized in our hectic, modern world can be difficult. We’ve all experience days that get away from us, especially when we have children underfoot.

We want to give our children the best possible options and experiences. However, this often means we end up spending more time in the car than anywhere else only to come home to a hungry crew and a mess.

It is increasingly difficult to maintain an organized home. Even though my family is not nearly as involved in extracurricular activities as some, we are always on the move.

That’s the way our world works, but there is hope. Below are some of the best habits to simplify and maintain an organized home even for busy moms.

Living a simple life is not always simple until we become organized.

We do our best to make a concentrated effort to limit our hectic lives. Even so, there are certain obligations we must attend to that are outside of our control: work, school, family, and friends. That is why I have put together some of my favorite habits that helped me to stay ahead of the mess in a place I am in control, my home.

1. Don’t put it down, put it away.

This one habit may be the most important habit to master in the effort of staying organized.

At first, it takes some discipline to implement.  When I began to think about this one, I had to train my brain not to just throw things down in the most convenient location, usually the dining room table.

Granted, things still end up on the table that don’t belong there. Usually, this is because I have an armload of stuff and simply can’t put everything away at once. So, I allow myself to set things down briefly to put something else away. However, I tell myself that I must have this all put away within the next 10 minutes. For example, I may need to use this exception after going shopping, picking up children with multiple bags that need looked through, or cleaning out the car.  All these things need time to put away. But, I don’t let them stay there for too long.

When I first started training myself to do this, I literally had to say to myself many times a day, “Put it away the first time.” Instead of setting the mascara on the counter, put it back into the drawer. Or, instead of setting the cereal box on the counter, put it back into the cupboard.

Remember, the goal is to eliminate (or at least reduce) clutter.

This one habit is the most powerful tool in our arsenal to maintaining a simple, carefree lifestyle.

Why this works is obvious, you don’t have to handle everything twice.

If I really want to be lazy (maybe “efficient” sounds a little better here) why handle anything more than once if I don’t have to? When I lay it down somewhere and walk away, I must go back to it again. Only now my pile has multiplied and there are several things to put away.

I could be as lazy (efficient) as the next guy, but I had to remind myself that putting the item away to begin with was the simplest way to do it. This habit saves so much work in the long run.

2. Only keep what you use or enjoy.

Let me encourage you to make one of your next projects be to take stock of what you have and what you use. If you don’t use it or love it then either purge it, sell it, or find it a new home.

Sounds simple enough, but it isn’t. I know. But, we can’t create the simplified and peaceful lifestyle we all crave without this step. So, if it is not being used, or it is not bringing joy, then seriously consider donating it to someone who needs it worse than you do. You’ll be glad you did.

Making space creates the opportunity to fill that space with something even better.

3. Have a place for everything.

When I was a child the choices of television channels were limited. In my area, there were the three major networks and public television. On public television we had a few child friendly shows in the after-school lineup. One of these was Mister Rodgers. Anyone remember him? And one of his messages he tried to instill in us was, “A place for everything, and everything in its place”.

So, true!

One of the reasons why we don’t put things away is because there is no designated spot to put them. So, it ends up wherever we drop it.

This habit or rule could rival the first as the best life changing habit to simplifying your life. In the same way, it also requires a little bit of discipline. Having a place for everything is the perfect place to start, but it alone is not enough. We have to follow through with the second part of Mr. Rodgers’ golden rule by getting everything back in its place after we use it. This could be the hardest part.

Having a pre-bed or pre-supper tidy time is the best way I know to do keep belongings in their proper place. Every night before bed do a quick walk through and tidy up. Have children do the same as part of their evening time routine. Don’t wait until bedtime. They will be too tired.

If your children are smaller, they can do this just before supper. Then have a nice supper time, bath time, and story time with lots of cuddles. By the time you get done, they will be calmed down and ready for bed.

4. Have a place to drop things when you enter your home.

As I stated earlier, one of the reasons that we put stuff down rather than putting them away is because we don’t have a good place to put them.

This is especially true of the entry area of our homes.  You know what I’m talking about: keys, power cords, cell phones, bags, and papers all have a way of taking over this area and keeping us from being organized. And, if you live in the mid-west like I do there are all those hats, coats, gloves, umbrellas, shoes, and boots that need a home, too. They need a place that is handy, organized, and doable for the smallest member of the household.

This drop station will set the tone of the rest of the home.

I recommend taking note of everything that you regularly toss on the counter, kitchen table, or throw in a corner when you come home. Think about every member of the family and make a plan about what you need accordingly. In our case, we needed a good place for hats, gloves, shoes, coats, and bags. We used something like this. I like it because of all the extra storage. Let’s discuss those paper piles next.

Entry Organizer

5. Deal with paper right away.

Awww, the paper pile. This is another one of those areas that can get out of hand quickly.

My suggestion is to have a paper handling center near the door you enter most often. In this area, have a paper recycling container; a shredder (or at least a container for items to be shredded); a bill container; a “need to deal with” container for receipts, teacher’s notes, etc.; and a calendar.

Then, when you enter your home immediately put the papers into the appropriate spots. Go ahead and write notes on the calendar (ie: conferences, Thursday night at 6:30). Then recycle the junk mail and shred the papers with personal information. Now it is easy to place the bills and the “need to deal with” items in a safe, easy to locate place for later.

I love this system, and it reinforces our number one habit, don’t put it down, put it away.

*****

6. Always leave a space you enter in as good as or better condition than when you arrived.

This could be any space, and is an excellent concept to teach children.

I tell my grandchildren that they should be like ninjas. No one should be able to tell that they were ever there (by leaving a mess, I mean). And if they are really nice, they can be a good-deed ninja. They can leave a little gift to the space by making it even better than it was when they entered it.

This is great for outdoor activities, too.

For example, they can pick up some trash on the way to the car after a ballgame. That is their gift to the park and the people who use it.

However, inside the home I try to impress upon them that we all share this space. It is only fair to leave the space in the same condition as it was when we arrived. This teaches respect for others and belongings.

I recognized this principle in a friend of mine. When she borrowed her friend’s car, before she returned it she washed the exterior, cleaned the interior, and filled it up with gas tank. My hope is to teach my children and grandchildren to be this kind of respectful and responsible person. One who cares about others and other’s belongings including our environment.

7. Don’t go to bed with a dirty kitchen.

I think this is one of the hardest practices for me. I hate doing dishes as much as the next guy. I don’t know about you, but when I come home in the evening I am tired. I don’t feel like cooking dinner, let alone cleaning up the mess. But, this is one of those necessary evils. And, in reality, if we do the dishes immediately it is so much easier than letting them get dried on and crusty.

Teach children to rinse their plates off and put in the dishwasher after dinner. Have them help you wipe the table in addition to doing the dishes. Help them see the whole kitchen/dining area not just their own plate. For example, have them wipe off greasy fingerprints from chairs, wipe down counters, and a sweep up crumbs.

I believe that children should help out.

There is no free lunch in life.  After all, they shared in eating the meal, they can share in the preparation and clean up, too. Meals are not free. Someone had to work to earn money to buy the food, someone had to prepare the food, and someone must clean up afterwards. There is nothing wrong with children understanding this early.

Not only does helping in the kitchen instill a sense of responsibility. It also creates a sense of teamwork in our children. If everyone works together as a team, this makes clean up go quickly. It teaches them that “many hands make light work”.

Make it a game.

Can we beat yesterday’s time in getting done? Or possibly, hold off on desert until everything else is cleaned up. Then reward with a bowl of banana nice cream. ******

Plus, helping with the dinner reinforces the “always leave a space you enter in as good as or better condition than when you arrived” habit.

8. Put dirty laundry in the hamper, not the floor.

This seems obvious, but I don’t know of too many households that don’t have a discussion or two about this subject with someone in their home every once in a while. I witnessed someone with a hamper right in front of them and still throw their clothes on the floor next to the hamper. Ugh!

Maybe, in the comments below, you can share with me why we are so stubborn on this issue.

I am not immune, either. As I write this article, I have a few items of clothing tossed around my bedroom. So, please, understand that I am not judging.

So, here we go, let’s tackle this one together.

My suggestion is to have a hamper in every bedroom and every bathroom.

I also have a place for clothes that I have worn but want to wear again before washing. These items don’t belong next to my clean clothes in the closest, and they don’t belong in the hamper so they often end up in a pile in the corner. For this you could use hooks or a basket. I prefer hooks because then my clothes stay wrinkle-free. ******

Laundry is one of those chores that can become overwhelming very quickly, especially with a family. There is nothing worse than washing clean clothes because they did not get put away properly. Which leads me to our next habit.

9. Fold and put away the laundry right away.

 

As a young mother of four, my laundry was out of control. Once I began implementing this simple habit my life really did become better. Really.

I would do, on average, three loads of laundry a day. Yes, that is right. Three. And with this never-ending cycle of laundry there were always clothes waiting to go in, to come out, to be folded and to be put away.

 Once I made up my mind that I would fold the clothes as they came out of the dryer, my life changed.

First of all, I knew what clothes were clean. Clearly, if the basket in front of me was folded, it was clean. Also, my clothes were never wrinkled. Yay! Less ironing!

I had clothes that I liked to hang up. In my case, I folded them anyway as I took them out of the dryer. That way, when I put them away, (which wasn’t always done as immediately) they were not wrinkled.

Of course, you can have hangers available near the dryer and just hang them immediately. This would be a better option. In my home, this did not work, so I folded them. When I went to the bedroom, I’d hang them up while putting everything else away.

Now, I love folding my clothes as I take them out of the dryer.

They smell so good and are still warm and soft. It has become second nature to me. I put them away as soon as possible, too. That way they do not get mixed in with the dirty laundry and rewashed because you can’t tell what is clean and what is dirty.

If you are “lazy” like me, you don’t want to do any more laundry than you need to, do you? Yet, in my past, I ended up washing clean clothes over and over simply because they were not put away the first time.

Sometimes, it’s better to choose your battles.

Putting away clothes is one area that I did for my children instead of having them do it themselves unless I was literally standing over them to make sure that it got done. That is because, if it didn’t happen, the clothes ended up on the floor again. I ended up rewashing clean clothes. This made me angry!

I know. I know. It would have been more responsible of me to let everyone put their own clothes away. Believe me! And, if you are good at enforcing this one, then please, do that.

10. Keep a trash can and/or a recycling can in every room.

Keep a trash can in every room. Recycling too. Oh, and in the cars, as well. You can come up with some fancy ways of hiding them if you like (in the living room, for example) but remember convenience always wins.

There is nothing worse than just sitting down to relax (finally) and having to get up to throw away a piece of trash. So, guess what? I don’t. And there it sits on the sofa or end table until I get my butt off the couch. Oh, and it takes some discipline to remember to grab it and throw it away when I do.

I know that this may not seem like a big deal, but it doesn’t take long for that little bit of trash to become a pile. Why not just have a trash container right there?******

11. Gather and take out the trash every night.

This is so simple, but makes a huge difference. And it is a great chore for one of the children to do. Simply go around and gather the trash and take it outside to the large can every night. I had this be part of the kitchen cleanup routine.

Or have each person bring their trash from their personal space to the kitchen can at pre-bed tidy time. Then the person on kitchen trash duty takes it all out at once. This includes recycling at our home because the interior recycling area is limited. Staying ahead of the trash is also a great way of keeping ahead of the clutter and staying organized.

12. Never get out of the car without taking the trash and other messes you just created with you.

Just like in the home, the car is always a place where clutter and debris can take over, especially with larger families. So, for this reason, get into the habit of looking around you before getting out of the car and grabbing whatever items your arms can hold. Have the children grab their bags, toys, and trash, as well.

Place a trash can near where your car gets parked, whether in the garage or outside. That way you can toss the trash on your way into the house and it never makes it inside.

This supports our rule of leaving a place as good or better than when you found it. Have at least one trash container in the car, maybe two. I have a catchall basket in the car for toys, books, papers, and pens. That way they don’t end up on the floor when I have to stop quickly, and I can just carry it into the house with me when I go. Your car will still need regular vacuuming and dusting, of course, but it will remain a respectable clean in the meantime.

13. Use disinfectant wipes in the bathroom every night.

Just before bed, while in the restroom doing those all-important hygiene routines, take a moment and do a quick wipe down the bathroom. Grab some laytex gloves and a disinfectant wipe and wipe down of the counter, around the toilet (especially with little boys in the house) and any other area that is dirty. I like to do light switches, handles, and door knobs, too. This takes just a couple of minutes but saves the restroom from any major ick-factor in the future.

14. Always have a donation box going.

I always have a box or sack for donations. Any time I do laundry I can put too small or items I no longer want into it.

When I buy an item of clothing, I look in my closet and get rid of a similar outdated item. I might need to toss it in the trash or donate it, but I always get rid of something. Usually, I find multiple pieces while I am at it that I no longer use.

My clothes are just tools to me, so I don’t carry too many emotions about parting with them. If I do have an emotional response when purging, I elicit the help of a trusted friend. They can look at it objectively and let me know if this a keeper or not. The goal here is to only keep what truly matters and is useful. If it doesn’t fit those criteria, then out it goes.

There you have it.

My top ways to simplify and maintain an organized home even with children. The key areas of clutter entryway, kitchen, laundry, and trash were all covered in this article. Plus, these simple habits for an organized home can truly make your life simpler and better. The key is to stay on top of things before they become problem areas.

It takes some self-discipline to develop these habits at first. I am not perfect either, but I am striving to make them second nature. Once they become second nature, they will no longer be a burden but a freedom.

Freedom from handling everything twice. Freedom from having piles of clutter to sort through later. Freedom to find items quickly and not waste precious time digging for things. Freedom to have more time to do what’s important, having fun.

Hang in there. Being organized is well worth the effort. In the end, you will look back and wonder why you didn’t do it that way all along.

How about you? What habits do you have that help you maintain a good, simpler, and happier life. Let me know below.