Are you feeling constantly drained by chores? They don’t have to take up all of your free time.
Luckily for us, professional home organizers have revealed the five routine things to change to save time and energy at home, helping you to spend less time working and leaving you with more freedom to focus on what really matters.
Here, they delve into the best home organizing ideas to help you streamline household chores or start some new tidying habits.
Routine things to change to save time on chores
These things super organized people do every day may take some time to build up to, but with dedication and discipline, your home will soon start to fall into line, too.
1. Putting things down, not away
Create drop zone systems near common clutter hotspots such as sideboards to reduce visual clutter.
Putting items down, rather than putting them in their designated home adds a surprising amount of time to our chores. Putting your coat on the back of a chair and then having to put it away might not seem like much, but repeat this several times around your home every day, and it adds up. Instead, follow the one-touch rule.
Tracy McCubin, head declutterer and CEO at dClutterfly lives by the motto, 'Don't put it down, put it away. Although it sounds easy enough to do, it's way easier for us to set our car keys wherever there is an empty surface or to throw jackets on the nearest chair. Taking 30 seconds to put what you are using away in its rightful place will save you so much time organizing. Long gone are the days of random piles and mountains of clothes where they don't belong.’
Baskets are the best go-to for creating drop zones. Be they in your entryway, living room, or hallway, they can quickly corral clutter making it easier to put away at the end of the week.
2. Using ‘junk drawers’
Using set organizers in drawers can prevent you throwing anything into them as you pass.
In a similar vein, shoving something into a drawer or cabinet to hide it is not the same as tidying up, and it adds time to our chores each week.
Jennifer Williams, professional organizer and owner of Saint Louis Closet Co. says, ‘Shoving random items into drawers might seem like a quick fix and clean especially when an unexpected visitor arrives, but it only causes frustration later. Use dividers or small bins to keep things organized.
'In closets, custom drawer organizers help keep accessories, socks, and other small items neatly sorted. Also, consider setting up a drop zone inside your side door, so each family member has a cubbie or locker to drop their keys, purses, backpacks, and necessities.’
To conquer the dreaded junk drawer, start by taking everything out and only putting back functional items, such as cables, batteries, flashlights, and so on.
Stackable storage bins with lids allows you to make better use of vertical height on shelves and in deep drawers.
These adjustable drawer dividers allow you to completely customize your storage spaces, reducing clutter but controlling what you can and cannot store in a drawer.
Make better use of your closet door with this over-door storage rack with space for shoes and accessories. Easy access means you are more likely to put items way for a neater home.
3. Waiting for the ‘right time’ to start
Waiting to start only lets the problem get worse, increasing the time it takes to deal with it.
It is arguably best to avoid waiting to spot the signs it’s time to declutter your home and treat it as a constant practice. Tidying and decluttering as you go will save you a lot of time and energy in the long run, and reduce the risk of your having to declutter a whole house in one day.
Tracy explains, ‘Decluttering is a practice, not a one-and-done. Your home will never stay perfect after you finish decluttering and organizing. Life is chaotic and mess is inevitable – you will always be acquiring new things, and you will always have to declutter. Instead of waiting for a free day, take 15 minutes and get something done. If you get yourself in the habit of decluttering regularly, clutter will have a harder time building up.’
Keeping a decluttering schedule or a weekly organizing schedule can help you stay on track.
4. Over-organizing your home
Keeping storage simple encourages you to keep your home tidy.
Tracy warns, ‘If you buy a bunch of bins, containers, decanters to fill to make your pantry, for example, look Kardashian-esq, know that it takes a lot of work to keep it looking that way. Bins and baskets can be super helpful for organizing and keeping control of loose items but it is easy to hit a point where you've over-organized and keeping your decanters neat and tidy becomes a full-time job.
‘Be realistic about how much work you want to put into having a Pinterest home.’
This simple clear bin can corral packets and loose items on shelving, making them easier to keep neat without hiding anything. They are the best option for keeping organizing simple all over the home.
Shelves don't need to be complicated, nor do they need to be a free-for-all. These acrylic dividers will stop items falling over, while establishing clear categories for easily-maintainable storage.
Cabinets do not need to be complex to be more functional. These pull-out basket drawers ensure you can reach every corner without having to decant everything or use multiple organizing products.
5. Encouraging clutter magnets
Eliminating clutter hot spots reduces the risk of mess.
There are several reasons why your home might attract clutter, with the key issue being ‘allowances’. Allowing yourself to have a bedroom clothes chair, for example, encourages you to toss items to the side, rather than organizing them. The result is a mountain that you have to deal with later, increasing how much time you have to spend on chores.
Jennifer continues, ‘Tossing clothes on the floor, over a chair, or on the nearest surface just creates clutter. It makes laundry day more stressful and adds extra work. Keep a hamper [such as the Joseph Joseph Divided Hamper, from Amazon] in a convenient spot – like your closet or bathroom – to make it easy to drop clothes where they belong. Add a pull-out telescoping rod to your closet so you can easily hang the clothing that is not yet ready for the laundry, this will keep it fresh and not wrinkled for your next wearing.’
Under bed storage is a great way to expand on your existing closet space, be it for storing your off-season items, or offering a place for you bulkier pieces that need folding, but take up too much space in dresser drawers. These bags on wheels makes them easy to pull out quickly and access as needed.
Meet the experts
In her two decades as a professional organizer, Tracy has helped thousands of clients turn their space around, implementing helpful habits to ensure organization isn't just a feat of getting rid of items you own, but more about adopting an attitude shift that sticks.
Besides being a CEO, Jennifer is an organizing ad home improvement expert. She is also a member of the Association of Closet and Storage professionals.
FAQs
How do I keep a clean house with a busy schedule?
The key to keeping a house tidy with a busy schedule is to minimize chore resistance and clean as you go. To minimize resistance, create organizing systems that work with your existing routines, such as using drop zones in your entryway or kitchen for items you put down and pick up daily, such as keys, accessories, and mail.
Likewise, simplify storage systems in closets to make putting things away just as easy as putting them down, such as replacing hangers in an entryway with hooks.
Then, try to keep your home tidy as you go. Once you have used an item, put it away. When you are waiting on a task, such as cooking dinner, take the time to clean the kitchen, and so on.
Switching out these bad habits in your routine is a great way to finally enjoy a chore-free weekend. Next, work out how to establish the right cleaning balance in your home to reduce time wasted on ‘pointless’ chores.
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