INSIDE: Do you struggle to stay on top of messes and clutter in your home? If so, learn how to utilize routines to get your home clean & decluttered in less time!
After weeks of being home nearly all day every day, I’m reminded how quickly our home becomes messy, cluttered, and disorganized… IF we’re not intentional about staying on top of it all.
Of course, this doesn’t mean my kids can’t make messes, play with their toys, pull 47 books off the shelf to find the exact one they want, or get out mountains of art supplies to complete a certain craft project.
And I certainly don’t spend all day cleaning, picking up, decluttering, wiping, etc. Although, I’ll be honest… there have been days when I feel like this is all I do. 😂
Yes, it’s important to me that our home is relatively neat, clean, organized, and decluttered — but not at the expense of my sanity.
Not at the expense of barking at my children to pick up all. day. long.
And certainly not at the expense of living an enjoyable and fulfilling life.
My goal when keeping our home neat and decluttered is to spend as little time and energy as possible while maximizing the results.
I do this is through routines!
Different than strict “schedules” that dictate specific time periods and orders, routines are much more forgiving.
A routine is simply “a sequence of actions regularly followed”.
Our family currently utilizes 3 daily routines to keep our home clean and decluttered enough.
Outside of these 3 daily routines, we spend very little time on housework.
Let’s take a look at these amazing routines that help us simplify home management on a daily basis!
#1. The Morning Routine:
- make beds (the kids do this)
- open curtains
- get fully ready for the day
- do a load of laundry or put away laundry from the night before (more laundry tips and our routine)
- make and clean up breakfast
- plan/prep for dinner
- do at least one household chore from my to-do list (start a load of laundry, clean a bathroom, sweep floors, vacuum, etc.)
NOTE: Dave and I wake up quite early, so we get ready and tackle several of our personal to-dos before our children wake up. The list above is what we do after the kids are awake.
#2. The Afternoon Routine:
- do a quick pick-up and clear the table of any craft projects before lunch
- make and clean up lunch
- prepare as much of our dinner as I can ahead of time
- do one household chore (it’s often something outside during Summer months)
NOTE: As our children get older, it’s much easier for me to accomplish more throughout the day. But back when I had 4 children 5 and under, these post-meal time periods were the best (sometimes the only) times during the day when I could squeeze in a quick household task or another to-do.
#3. The Evening Routine:
- clean the kitchen after dinner
- run the dishwasher (we run it every night even if it’s not completely full)
- prep breakfast and pack lunches for the next day
- feed my sourdough starter
- do a full-house pick-up before baths (everyone helps)
- do one or two more household chore (I do this while Dave is monitoring the bath/shower process)
- clean out dishwasher (and wash dishes if necessary)
- swap out all bathroom and kitchen linens and wipe down the germiest areas in our home.
- make my to-do list for the next day
NOTE: After 14 years of studying simple living practices and applying them to my own life, I’m confident a solid evening routine is one of the best ways to set yourself up for a successful and fulfilling day ahead (read more about our evening routine).
Of course, there are weeks when I do more deep cleaning or a post-vacation laundry marathon… but day in and day out, these 3 routines keep our home clean enough, organized enough, decluttered enough, and simplified enough that we feel comfortable living here.
And isn’t that the goal?
That our homes feel clean and organized enough.
Not for our friends or our neighbors or our mothers… but for us.
The beauty of routines is that they are usually fairly easy to adapt to your own needs.
And, once you find a routine that works well for your life, family, and schedule, you can “rinse and repeat” over and over and over again until it becomes a habit you do without even thinking about it.
For example, Dave and I go through the motions washing dishes and emptying the dishwasher every night without thinking much about it. Similarly, our children make their beds, open their curtains, and get ready for the day without reminders.
These are the habits we’ve adopted from the routines we intentionally created.
As a result, these tasks feel effortless and we aren’t prone to procrastination because we do them without thought (you can’t procrastinate when you don’t think about something.)
Ready to simplify your home and life with routines?
If you have no idea where to start, give our routines a try — morning, afternoon, and evening.
Then, as you go through the motions with our routines, think about ways you can adapt them to better fit your needs.
Consider the times you have the house to yourself and can be most efficient.
Think through periods of otherwise idle time that you could put to use.
Ask your family for their opinions (you might be surprised what suggestions they offer up).
Finally, keep in mind these routines are meant to serve YOU, to make your life easier, to maintain your home in less time with less effort.
They will feel like work at first, but eventually, they should become second nature — to the point where you don’t need to think about what you’re doing.
So let your kids pull every book off the shelf, let the laundry pile up for a few days, let the table be overrun with craft supplies… because you have routines that will get your house back to clean and decluttered enough in no time.
In the meantime, you’re free to focus on anything other than housework for a while!
Have you utilized routines to simplify your life?
If so, I’d love to hear more!
Linda Jean says
I loved what you once wrote about “hushing the house”. I have routines, but could not get a good after dinner routine going until I started calling it “hushing the house”. Why do the words matter so much? Just the thought of creating a hushed atmosphere helps me find the motivation to get through what needs to be done.
Andrea says
thanks for sharing Linda! I’m thrilled that a change of expression has helped you. So funny how our brains work!
Enjoy your “hushed house” in the evenings!
Toni says
Do you have any printables with these routines? Would love to give them a try to get into some good habits!
Andrea says
sorry, I don’t have printables — but you are welcome to copy and paste from my blog to create you own (just please only use them for personal use). Thanks!
Mitzi Roberts says
Yes I follow routines. They are lifesaving. The one I follow is: FlyLady.net
Andrea says
Yes, I’ve heard such amazing testimonies from my readers who also follow FlyLady! Glad you’ve found a routine that works well for you!
Lane says
Hi Andrea! This post is so helpful! At what times would you say you start and end each of these routines? I’m just wondering if I were to try to implement them about how much time I should allow per day. Thanks so much!
Andrea says
Hi Lane,
Glad the post is helpful for you! The beauty of routines (and the way it’s different from a schedule) is that you can allow as much or as little time as you have to build a routine into your day.
So, for example, if you only want to “give up” 30 minutes of your morning to a morning routine, then I’d suggest sitting down and thinking through the most important tasks for you to accomplish in the morning and figuring out how to fit that into your 30-minute window.
Our summer schedule is definitely different than the school year when Dave needs to leave by 6:30am… but I usually give myself about 30-45 minutes to do the things in the morning and afternoon routines (not including the time we are sitting down at the table to eat). And then closer to an hour to do the evening routine.
However, I don’t accomplish everything in one lump chunk of time. Some happen before the meal, some happen after the meal, some are during the meal, etc. etc.
Does this help? Or am I confusing you even more!?!?!
Let me know if you have more questions!
Lane says
Yes that helps so much!! Thank you!!! I’m excited to give these routines a try for my family!
Andrea says
you’re welcome! Happy to help!
Wendy says
Great advice, Andrea.
Jessica says
Hi, these are helpful! Any chance you have them as a printable?
Andrea says
Thanks Jessica,
I thought about doing a printable for this post (I even started creating it) but then decided not to. If inspiration strikes me at some point, I’ll make a printable and let you all know about it!
In the meantime, I personally love using sticky notes for this type of thing. You can line up all your tasks and to-dos on a wall and then move them around to the places/times you feel works best for YOUR daily schedule. Then, once you have a routine that seems to work well for you and your family, write it down as more of a list to follow.
Sharon says
I’ve been struggling for years now to come up with routines that I actually follow through with, but nothing seems to work. I absolutely looove this idea you mentioned regarding using post it notes to help me plan and create a routine 1st and THEN later on, I can write it down in more of a list form! Yes!!! This really resonated with me! I am going to try this idea out for sure!!!
Andrea says
yay — I love when this happens!! You might try 827 different things until you find something that actually works for YOU… and then all your efforts are worth it!
Sharon says
Absolutely! Thanks Andrea!! 🙂
Ashley says
“Not for our friends or our neighbors or our mothers… but for us.” Yes!! Especially the “mothers” part I’ve had to work hard to get to a point of, this is MY house and I’ll do what works for ME and MY family. I don’t have to do things the way other people do for any arbitrary reason.
On the book note, I love keeping our books in baskets with the cover facing out. That way the kids can easily thumb through and pick the one they want without taking them all off the shelf. And they’re easier to put away, especially for younger kids!
Andrea says
Hey Ashley,
true story — I actually thought of you and your mom when I wrote that line 🙂
Mara Beard says
Great post! Thank you for that motivation!
Shan says
Andrea, I love that each of your daily routines includes making and cleaning up a meal. Planning and making meals for a family is so important! Thanks for encouraging and challenging us. And you set such a good example. Love those pictures of your children reading contentedly at home.
Andrea says
food! our days revolve around it! I honestly spend so much time making and cleaning up food these days, but everyone needs to eat 🙂
Diana says
My nemesis right now is the preparing meals *and then cleaning up afterwards* because my little guy is so intense and hands-on. He rarely naps, he hates for me to be out of his sight, and he will not be cooped up in any device without screaming. So even 10 minutes to clean up feels like an eternity with a screaming child! 🙂 Still trying my best though… 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement that routines can go a long way in taming the chaos! I also have a 6 and 3 year old so I know that this will not be forever, even though it feels like it has been already and will continue to be 🙂
Andrea says
oh man — I can totally relate. Will your little guy tolerate being worn in a carrier?
Give yourself grace right now — it’s a rough time. At least you have a couple other kiddos so you do know it will eventually get better (it just stinks not knowing when “eventually” will come!)
Diana says
Yes–and with the way the phases go, sometimes you think “Oh, it’s better now!” and then they regress for a month 🙂
He likes the carrier if he’s ready to sleep. If he’s awake though, he tries to reach and grab whatever I’m doing–not so good if I’m chopping veggies or putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher! I do use it on my back sometimes if I get desperate. And lately I’ve been able to have him sit in his highchair for a few minutes with a snack for dinner prep.
I’m trying to get better at quickly coming up with a routine to fit the new phase, and then quickly modifying it when it no longer works. I’m usually slow at that but trying to be more flexible does help!
Andrea says
sounds like you are doing an amazing job! Keep it up — it WILL get easier!
Alison says
I love that you included “make my to-do list for the next day”. I sleep better when I know exactly what I need to tackle the following the day!
Andrea says
ah yes — ALWAYS a to-do list for the next day!
Lynn says
Love this post! Even though my life is in a completely different phase than yours (no kids or husband at home) I needed this. I have always known that if you just do a little bit here and there, you don’t need to spend a lot of time all at once. Now that mowing season is almost here, I need to get my inside routine down.
Thanks again!
Lynn
Andrea says
Thanks for sharing Lynn — I always hope my tips can be applied to others in different seasons of life!