Want ONE piece of advice that will forever alter the way you view your home-keeping efforts and get you through super busy and chaotic seasons of life? This is it — maintenance!
Our family enjoys/endures 3 exceptionally busy seasons each year — I suspect at least a few of you can relate…
- The first 7 weeks of the school year.
- The first 2 weeks of December.
- The month of May(hem)!
These busy seasons throw off the balance in our homekeeping… but it’s generally OK because our goal is to preserve enough order so we don’t feel overwhelmed or discouraged when the chaotic periods end (a.k.a. it doesn’t look like a tornado ravaged our home).
We have simple routines that help us maintain a base level of cleanliness, order, and organization, even in the craziest of life circumstances, so we can manage our home without totally burning out or falling more and more behind each week.
Want to know our secret?
It’s not magic… It’s maintenance.
Whenever I’m asked to share just ONE tip to help simplify, organize, and gain more control over our homes and lives, I always preach “maintenance”.
- When you take off your clothes, put them away instead of dumping them on the floor.
- When the mail comes, recycle or trash it (or take action) instead of saying you’ll do it later.
- When a bill arrives, pay it.
- When the laundry is clean and dry, fold it AND put it away.
- When the dishwasher is clean, empty it.
- When there are dishes on the counter, wash them or put them in the dishwasher — and then dry them and put them away.
- When toys and books and games are making a mess in the living room, pick them up.
Simple? Yes.
Easy? Fairly.
Fun? Not particularly.
These simple 5-minute maintenance tasks, done consistently over time, will make a profound impact on the look and feel of our homes… so why don’t we do them with 100% consistency?
Because we’re tired, busy, and we always seem to convince ourselves we will have more time later.
But we won’t “magically” have more time or energy tomorrow.
The clutter won’t “magically” go away if we procrastinate enough.
Our family members probably won’t “magically” decide they will do what we’re not willing to do and take care of the messes for us.
And we won’t “magically” stop caring that things are messy and disorganized.
It’s not magic… It’s maintenance.
I’m not proposing you start a massive organizing or deep-cleaning project in the middle of a busy season.
I’m not even suggesting you tackle small decluttering projects.
The goal during busy and chaotic seasons of life is to maintain your current level of organization and not go backwards or make things harder on yourself.
This means that if your home is currently messier than you’d like, it will probably stay messier than you’d like until you’re out of your busy season… but IF you’re willing to put in a bit of time each day to maintain the current status of your home, things won’t get any worse either.
And yes, it will require some time and effort EVERY day.
Because it’s not magic, it’s maintenance!
If you’re willing to commit to daily maintenance, here are 5 areas I suggest you focus on.
1. Keep up with laundry.
Find a simple system that works for you — one load a day, one giant laundry day each week, etc. — and stick with it.
- Don’t worry about sorting or ironing — they are totally overrated!
- Do it from start to finish — don’t let clean clothes get wrinkly in baskets.
- Enlist help from your family — even little kids can fold and put away.
RELATED READING: 10 Life-Changing Tips When You’re Overwhelmed With Laundry
2. Have a plan for food and dishes.
You need to eat… so even if it’s fast food or frozen pizzas, you need some sort of plan for your meals and your grocery shopping. And you’ve got to clean up after yourself to avoid bugs and lots of foul odors!
- Create a super simple meal plan — think grilled cheese, hot dogs, frozen lasagna.
- Stock up on paper plates if that will help.
- Run the dishwasher every day — even if it’s not totally full.
- Keep the kitchen counters as clean / clutter-free as possible.
RELATED READING: 75 Frugal, Family-Friendly Meal Ideas
3. Take out the trash.
Stay on top of trash throughout your home each day. Period!
4. Reset main living areas.
This could easily be condensed into a 10-15-minute pre-bedtime routine that will have a huge effect on the overall look and feel of your home.
- Fold blankets and fluff pillows
- Stack books and corral toys.
- Put any trash, dirty dishes, and dirty laundry in the proper places.
- Run a stick vacuum (or broom) over your floors.
RELATED READING: 8 Tips to Speed Up Your Cleaning
5. Make a “to-do later” list.
During extremely busy periods of life, there often isn’t time for bigger projects or things that aren’t 100% necessary right now.
I’ve found that a “to-do later” list has been life-saving in these situations — allowing me to temporarily alleviate my brain from constantly thinking through everything I want to do, without worrying about forgetting about it completely.
While you’re at it, consider taking 2 minutes to create a “done list” at the end of your day — you might be surprised by all you accomplished!
RELATED READING: Why You Should Create a Done List
Finally, remember that busy seasons won’t last forever, and a perfectly organized home is not a sign of your worth, nor should it be your goal in life.
If you stick with these daily maintenance tasks, you won’t fall behind or be worse off after your busy season passes — and that’s a “win” in my book!
Stop wishing you had more time… and start maintaining with the time you have.
After all, wishing implies magic, and…
It’s not magic… It’s maintenance.
Rhonda says
December is busy, but I always say the month of May is the busiest of the school year. I call it “Maycember”!
Andrea says
yup, May is NUTS!!! All the end-of-year school stuff is just insane!
Patsy Dodgson says
Thank you for the toothbrush tip. I ordered several, and we’re using them along with our electric brushes.
Andrea says
haha — glad to introduce you to a new toothbrush. We are also loving them 🙂
Penny says
Thanks! I needed to read that today!
April says
I LOVED this post, it was well-written and easy to understand…however, I’m curious what you would recommend in a situation like mine. I come from a house that was never clean (my mom is literally a hoarder). So I’ve had to struggle to learn these habits. And I’m getting better, but it’s still not very natural. Any tips to make it easier?
My other issue is that I have 4 little kids at home (6, 4, 4, and 1). It seems like every time I get something clean and/or organized, my littles undo my work and make it worse. How can you keep your kids involved in this or at least give me some time to try to improve the systems we have to make it smoother in the future?
Andrea says
Wow, that’s a BIG question! I would say pick one or 2 things to focus on right now — maybe keeping the kitchen counters cleared off and keep your bed made and clutter-free. Make sure you stick to those goals until they become habits — then pick 2 more things to focus on.
As for organizing with kids — yes, they will undo everything! I do most of my “projects” while they are sleeping or when Dave is home. Nora can kind of help me, but Simon and james are way too young so I really don’t even try to get them involved yet. They can help “pick up toys” but not do an organizing project.
If you’re just looking for a little time to finish a quick project (and you can’t do it while they are sleeping) my best suggestion would be ask a friend or grandparent to come over for a couple hours, or find a movie the older kids can enjoy and let them watch it while the little kiddo is napping 🙂
Christine @ The (mostly) Simple Life says
I love this! I sometimes feel silly blogging about decluttering or cleaning or organizing because it’s not all that mind-blowing or exciting, you just have to do it!
It’s all about creating systems that make it easy for your to stay on top of things, but at the end of the day, you make it a priority and you make it happen.
Andrea says
yes, exactly! Sometimes I feel so ridiculous typing up some of my posts that I think are common sense — and then I get a boatload of comments and emails saying that people had never thought of that before. Crazy for me, but I’m glad it’s helpful 🙂
Laura says
Wonderful post! Thank you so much. You have been inspiring me lately to get things in order. I’ve already purged most of a craft room, a bunch of clothes and my office area. I’m working on our important binder and a friend is helping me redo the craft room so I have a useable space in which to build my design business! I have a 16mo old little girl and work from home. Using your lovely blog to help motivate me to get organized has made me feel so much more in charge of my life lately! I have such limited time right now with a toddler, so I want to take advantage of the time I DO have and an organized house will so so help with that. Thank you times a million! xo
Andrea says
Thanks Laura — and congrats on getting more organized. It’s not always easy — but little by little, you’ll get there and it will be SO worth it when you do!
Diana says
You are so right, and one difference between me and the “effortlessly clean” people (of which I am not one but my mother-in-law is–and I’ve been learning from her!) is that they automatically do the maintenance. It doesn’t seem to feel like a struggle for them. 🙂 I am doing so much better than I used to, thanks to blogs with encouragement like yours!
Two notes that crossed my mind while reading: Sometimes even that 15-20 minutes is too much. When I was pregnant, even 5-10 minutes of the up-and-down motions that cleaning requires was enough to thoroughly exhaust me. I did my best, but things were not as neat as I wanted them to be, and I was ok with that. (And I know you’re totally cool with giving yourself grace as needed, I just wanted to mention it for anyone in that situation who’s reading the comments 🙂 )
Also, you’re absolutely right that we all have the same amount of time in a day. But some of us can finish certain tasks more quickly than others. It may take me 15 minutes to wash the same amount of dishes that you can do in 7-8 because I’m a klutz and have to be careful not to move too fast lest I break every dish I wash 😉 Multiply that through sweeping, dusting, mopping, neatening, folding laundry, making beds, collecting laundry, etc. and my housework might legitimately take longer than yours, leaving me feeling like I don’t have enough time to finish it all. If you have any tips for how to increase the speed at which we DO our tasks, I bet many people would enjoy a post like that too!
Thanks SO much for this reminder! I needed it today–things are starting to spiral downhill around here, and I need to start that maintenance now. Let me go start by unloading the dishwasher so it’s ready for the breakfast dishes 😉
Lauren says
I agree with your comment, Diana. Sometimes I read lists of the chores people accomplished in a certain amount of time and I’m blown away by how many things they got finished. I’m certainly not being purposefully slow, but I feel like a turtle compared to some people! I too have wondered what I can do to complete the same tasks more quickly.
Andrea says
VERY good point Diana. Not trying to brag — but I am definitely one of the “effortlessly clean” people you describe. I’ve been doing the maintenance steps for SO long that it is 100% natural to me and I rarely even realize what I’m doing. Plus, I really enjoy cleaning and organizing so it’s honestly fun for me (I know, I’m crazy!)
And honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever really stopped to think about your point that for some people the same exact tasks could take significantly longer than for other people. But again, you are completely spot-on with how you describe it. I would have to say that in general, I am a extremely efficient person and put a lot of effort into learning the best and fastest way to do something since I know it will save me so much time in the future.
I’m very competitive so I’m always “challenging” myself to come up with ways to do something quicker, faster, more efficient, with less effort, etc. Even simple tasks like peeling potatoes, slicing fruit, dusting, loading up the groceries, I have my “best” way to do them and I try to always do things that way until I learn or come up with an even better way.
This probably sounds overwhelming for someone like you — but for me, it’s really exciting because I’m always try to better myself and make it into a game.
All of this to say, “Yes, you are exactly right!” I can probably do things faster than a lot of people but I don’t know why. I’m also not sure how to help or teach others how to be exponentially more efficient because it’s just how I’m wired.
Does that make sense? Hopefully it helps a little!
Diana says
Thanks, Andrea! I actually really like the idea of trying to something the “best” way every time. I’ll have to try that in a couple areas and see what works for me 🙂
And maybe for people like me, it’s better to choose to do fewer things slowly than try to fit in everything. For example, making a one-bowl dessert recipe instead of a fancy one so there are fewer dishes to clean. Or make extra sure to have fewer clothes so there isn’t as much laundry to do. Or have fewer knicknacks to dust. Or not spend as much time on hobbies so I’m not rushing to get supper made/cleaned up. Hmm….sounds like what you already do anyway, so maybe that’s part of your secret! 🙂
My hubby is used to a house like yours, and I’m just NOT naturally wired that way like you are, so I’ve been trying to come up with coping strategies that I can make into habits that will help us both feel comfortable 🙂 I like to think I’ve come a long way in the last 5 years, so I’ll keep on plugging away! I appreciate your help so much!
Trudy says
What I have found helpful in speeding up my cleaning routine is how I set up my home. For example….my mail comes by the front door. When I get it, in my foyer is a cabinet, next to it is a trash can for recycling….I drop the junk mail into it immediately and have a tray for the rest of the family to go through. By not having to carry it around, it’s less likely to get dropped somewhere. I have cleaning supplies in each bathroom for a quick cleanup……by looking at how I do things and having them close at hand…it helps me
Susan says
I totally agree with your post. I would add that sometimes the problem is that folks don’t have a place for where their belongings “live.” If everything has a place, it’s much easier to deliver it “home.” This means a consistent but low-grade maintenance of deciding where something will go when it meanders across your threshold. It also helps one decide when buying something new. Where will it live in your place?
Andrea says
YES Susan!
That’s one of my main points whenever I do speaking engagements. You need to “make a space” for everything, otherwise it will sit out and be clutter!
Georgia says
That was what my Mom said my Grandfather’s motto was, “a place for everything and everything in it’s place.” If it does not have a place you have only two choices, find a home for it or get rid of it.
Andrea says
I fully agree with your Grandfather!
Natalia says
I have 2 activities scheduled for after work tonight: Wednesday’s Meal Planning for next week and laundry (including putting away – which I tend to drag…!!)
Thanks to your… reminder, I will also clean up the fridge while planning the meals (plan to use up some stuff hanging around in the freezer, too), and I will weed through my closet and donate a few items I barely used this summer, before bringing in the clean laundry.
Andrea says
sounds like good things to accomplish and cross off your list!!
Julie H says
Great post! Such a nice way to tell people to get off their hineys and get to work. Lol!!
Andrea says
haha — yup!!
Siobhan says
I’ll work on my photo clutter for 10 min.
Barb says
Excellent post Andrea! The title is a great saying to remind myself that “Maintenance…not magic” pays off, even when I don’t feel like it. Love the challenge at the end! I’m going to have a daily 15 minute date with paper clutter. 🙂
Michelle says
Today I will tackle the paper clutter on the kitchen counter … and set aside 15 minutes nightly to take baby steps in the right direction!
Paulette says
And…once we get it into shape, it’s SO Much easier to maintain. You’re so right, Andrea!!
Amanda says
My husband had this exact conversation last week. Once it’s clean and decluttered, taking 20min daily to maintain it makes life so much easier than letting it all fall apart and spending several hours (or more) getting it back into shape.
Deni says
I needed to hear this post! I’ve got to stay focused on what’s important to keep things running, like meals, laundry and our family calendar. Planning is key! I have so many distractions during the day, so I have to remember to use my “top 5 list” for the day. This list helps me sooo much!!!