CLEAN AND ORGANIZE YOUR HOME- THE ULTIMATE GUIDE
Ready to clean and organize your home? I think this is the perfect time to spend a little of my day digging into my home! How about you? I have tons of easy and savvy tips and ideas to help us get our homes in order and KEEP THEM THAT WAY!
Today’s post is H-U-G-E. It’s a guidebook and a collection of my very best tips, posts, and the best advice I can give you about organizing and cleaning!!!!!
Think this post as part hard truth, part pep-talk, part practical advice and part tried and true cleaning and organizing methods!
I’ve read dozen upon dozens of books about cleaning and organizing! I’ve kept a schedule for cleaning and organizing in my day planner for decades too!
And now I read cleaning and organizing blogs and watch youtube for the best tips.
After all that here’s what I’ve observed…
EASY AND PRACTICAL AND CONSTANT ARE THE BEST WAYS TO CLEAN AND ORGANIZE
Cleaning is cleaning and organizing is organizing! Let’s talk about the best ways to keep a clean and tidy home! And for heaven’s sake let’s not complicate the process! Do you really care that your folded clothes look like tiny packages? And if you do, is it worth the time and energy to keep them that way?
Some people love to clean and organize. My sweet daughter-in-law, Abigail loves to clean. And amazing daughter Jacqueline is a savant when it comes to keeping her home free from clutter. My Mom, well is the queen of neat!
I, unfortunately, did not get their “clean gene”!
However, I’ve learned how to clean and love a clean and organized home. So for me, cleaning and organizing is a necessary evil.
It drives me crazy to live in clutter. Clutter loves to gather in piles! And piles love to make mountains! It’s hard to clean around a mountain!
CLEANING AND ORGANIZING TIPS FOR YOU
So over the years, I’ve developed simple and practical methods of keeping a home clean and organized!
Many of you have commented and emailed me asking me to publish a post on cleaning and or organizing!
So here are all my best cleaning and organizing tips all in one place just for YOU!
LET’S GET RID OF THE CLUTTER
I honestly believe you cannot have a clean house with piles and piles of clutter! So it is so important to tackle the clutter first! That does not mean not to clean, but I would not do any big heavy-duty deep cleaning until you have decluttered the area you want to deep clean.
Cleaning your home will be so so much easier if you don’t have to pick up anything! So so much easier!
THE FRUSTRATION OF CLUTTER
Clutter is so frustrating!!! It’s like an elephant lurking in your home. And we often feed it with more “stuff” and it grows and spreads out and you know when it gets really horribly bad when you become blind and indifferent to it!
Or worse yet, you just shut the door on it and it never goes away!
Your clutter is the proverbial “elephant in the room”!
Okay, today we will start to get rid of that clutter elephant once and for all!
DON’T FEED THE BEAST
The number one rule when you decide you want a clutter-free home is DON’T FEED THE BEAST. Make this your declutter mantra.
Say it with me, friend…
DON’T FEED THE BEAST!
Promise yourself you will not just drop something to put away later! It often does not get put away and then a clutter elephant begins to grow!!!!
DO THIS ONE THING FOR A MORE ORGANIZED HOME
Have you ever gone to someone’s home and noticed that there is NOTHING out of place? It’s like they must have fairies or elves or a workforce that tidies their home all day long!
But, it’s really not magic or a hidden gaggle of tidy maids! They have a secret!
WHAT IS THEIR SECRET?
You might not know their secret. Or you might know it and have forgotten it or just have not put it into practice!
DO THIS ONE THING FOR A MORE ORGANIZED HOME is one of my most popular organizing posts. In it, I not only share the secret for a tidy, organized home but share tips about how to incorporate this secret weapon into your daily or almost daily routine.
I’ve been practicing this method of keeping our home free of clutter for years! And I’ve taught it to my kiddos! So anyone can learn it and put it into practice!!!
HOW DO YOU EAT AN ELEPHANT?
One bite at a time!!! One bite at a time!!!
I’m a creative and we often, by nature, are quite disorganized! But this creative gets a bit crazy when my piles get out of hand! And they can get out of hand!
To keep me from being overwhelmed by clutter I spend 15 minutes a day decluttering my home. And do this 5 days a week.
Remember… How do you eat an elephant?
ONE BITE AT A TIME
So I tame my clutter elephant one bite at a time too!
This method works for even the largest clutter elephants! You can get rid of them using this easy method.
I’m not much for the popular methods of holding an T to see if it brings me joy or love or whatever it is!
And I can’t even think of the time and energy and potential for a bigger mess using the organizing method of dumping everything in a room into the center of the floor! Yikes!!!!
And that death method of organizing gives me the creeps!
BE PRACTICAL!
Let’s be practical!!!!
When we make big messes to get rid of messes we just make more messes! And we use so much energy and time that we could use elsewhere!
You can be organized without creating chaos or thinking of what others will use when you die! Crazy!!!!!
Just…
BE PRACTICAL
I have another mantra I use when organizing…
BE RUTHLESS
This is an amazing and popular post called DECLUTTER YOUR HOME IN 15 MINUTES A DAY that will show you my organizing method. It works! You don’t have to get stressed out or make messes! It’s is so easy and practical!
However, you did not make elephant size messes in a day. So this method is a process. An easy and genty process… with a ruthless attitude!
And I have a very handy and (again) practical printable about what are the best things to keep and what to let when organizing! So many of us get confused when it comes to keeping and letting go! It really is an emotional process for some! So this printable plan will help!
Here’s what it looks like…
You can see my 15-minute declutter plan and get my declutter guide HERE.
YOU CAN DO IT!
An organized home is not illusive or just for people who love to put things away!
Anyone can get their home in order and keep it that way.
ORGANIZING IS A DISCIPLINE
And disciplines must be practiced continually to work. But disciplines DO work!!! They are amazing and get easier the more you and I practice them!
Organizing gets easier and easier when you practice the 15-minute a day organizing method!
And one day, soon your home will be the home with nothing out of place!!!!! At least for a little while!
READY TO CLEAN?
I love a clean home! But, I really don’t have the time or desire to spend one or two days a week in a cleaning frenzy!
So once a room is organized or once you have your home free of clutter how do you go about cleaning it so it stays relatively clean?
I’m so glad you asked!
How can a home stay clean if you only clean it once a week? Once every other week? The answer is… it can’t!
CLEANING IS AN ONGOING PROCESS
Just like decluttering, cleaning is a process!
I believe in the occurrence of entropy in this world! Entropy is the natural process of things moving from order to disorder. And I believe it occurs when it comes to things naturally moving from clean to dirty too!
I see it in the clothes I wear and the dishes in my home and on my floors and windows. Things just get dirty!!!
And I like things to be clean!
So I must circumvent the clean to dirty process! I must stop it and outwit it! Because if I don’t do anything entropy will win every time!
The hard truth is unless you have a full-time housekeeper ( or fairies or elves) your home will get dirty and you must clean it!
So let’s put in place an ongoing process to overcome dirt and grime and germs and bad smells and all of their other disgusting friends!
LIFE IS MESSY! CLEAN IT UP!
I love Bissell’s slogan! It is so true and so to the point! I’ve taken this saying literally and made it a house cleaning mantra…
LIFE IS MESSY! CLEAN IT UP!
Why should we expect anything different? Messes are inevitable!
Why let a mess beat you? And steal your joy? Should the messes in your life be a surprise or make your fume or cry?
Wouldn’t it be better to just smile can clean messes up? Honestly, be thankful for the messes you can clean up!
Don’t let spilled milk and a tornado hitting your home have the same emotional value! You can handle a little mess in your home! Have the attitude “I’ve got this”. And then clean it up and move on!
CLEAN YOUR HOME IN 30 MINUTES A DAY
You can live in a comfortably clean home! You can have a home that smells wonderful! And you don’t have to be on your hands and knees all day to have a clean home!
Here is a practical, easy and doable way to CLEAN YOUR HOME IN 30 MINUTES A DAY!
I’ve used this method for decades in homes big and small and this method works!
You can have a clean home using my cleaning method 30-minutes a day for 5 days of the week!
It sounds easy because it is!
You can start today! The secret to this process is…
JUST START CLEANING SOMEWHERE AND WHEN 30 MINUTES IS UP STOP CLEANING. THE NEXT DAY PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF!
I have so many tips and tricks I use to clean my home in 30 minutes day! Make sure you check out this must-read post HERE. In it you will also read about THE CLEAN HOUSE TOOLBOX I use!
MORE CLEANING AND ORGANIZING POSTS FOR YOU
Here are two more posts that will really help when it comes to keeping you on top of things in your home! These routines are just suggestions. Maybe you can tweak them to work best for you!
We can have an organized and clean home! And we don’t have to do it alone. Let’s teach our children and solicit everyone in your home to pitch in and help out!
Our homes are sanctuaries for ourselves and those we love! Let’s take pride and joy in them!
Here are a few other cleaning and organizing posts for you …
Yvonne, thanks for always giving us such wonderful tips! I use your 30 minutes a day cleaning method and it’s great! No more doing everything in one day and scrambling to get it all done. It’s so much easier to do a bit of cleaning each day! I always enjoy your posts! You always have so many great ideas for us to incorporate in our homes.
I have a cleaner come in once a week mainly for the bathrooms and washing the floors. That doesn’t mean I don’t clean. I windex glass tabletops and wipe down wood surfaces every other day and run my stick vacumn around. My kitchen gets cleaned after every meal so it sparkles. And, of course I do a good spring and fall clean of places that get missed like top of doors and walls.
As for clutter, I tackle things as they come in the door so it doesn’t pile up. Newspaper read and into recycle, mail sorted, paid or shredded. I no longer want or have use an item, it goes into my vehicle and dropped at the Salvation Army. You are so right! You can not properly clean if your home is cluttered so that needs to be the first chore. Tackling one space or even one drawer a day will result in a tidier home over time.
You are one smart gal, Joanna!
Great post love your tools
I am able to clean a lot more now that we’re empty nesters. With small kids and teenagers, it was just difficult and I was lucky if I got a meal on the table 3 nights a week! I am still working part time, so my weekends are spent doing laundry and/or cleaning. I like to “gut” rooms and clean them from top to bottom…I usually do a room that way once or twice a month. I count it as exercise!
Just sitting here this morning, enjoying my coffee, thinking about my declutter project for the day and reading this. LOVE everything you bring us, Yvonne! Always inspiring!
You are so sweet, Debra!
Yvonne, I’d like to know what type of mop and product you use for ceramic tile floors?
I like Norwex. Just google Norwex to find a consultant.
Yvonne, I have a cleaning lady come in every 2 weeks mainly for bathrooms, kitchen and floors. She has taken an abrasive sponge to the acrylic bathtub (which we NEVER use). And when I pointed it out to her and told her to never use it again, the next time she used VIM cream cleaner which is also abrasive. My tub is now a real mess of abrasive scratches on the shiny surface. What can I do to remedy the appearance of the tub? HELP
Oh, Elizabeth! I’m so sorry! I really have no expertise in this area. I did just google “how to get scratches out of an acrylic bathtub and I did see some products show up to help. However, I would have a professional come in and try to help. I hope you let your cleaning lady go!
Does anyone have advice on a good cordless vacuum? I’m looking for one,,Thank you,,always love looking seeing Yvonne;s post daily,such a beautiful home,,I get so many ideas,,
Love,
Tina
The elephant in my house is the sewing room which has a sewing machine, embroidery machine, cutting table, ironing table, computer (bill-paying station), printer (generating receipts, recipes, patterns) and jewelry making supplies. My cleaning/organizing attempts get highjacked by inspirations that never get finished or hidden in project bins, tote bags. My small stacks get piled on top of each other and become a mess again. Too many tasks are done in that one room and I tell myself that at least it is the one room. My crochet projects and yarn get stashed in the guest room closet. I’m taking the kitchen timer in the sewing room and try to limit my focus for 15 minutes. You always inspire. Thank you.