Making Your Home Sing - With Order

This is a repost with some new thoughts!

Does your home atmosphere rise and fall with organization?  I have noticed that when I let things go, it seems the whole house falls apart.  Dinner is any body's guess, laundry is overflowing, someone will need something that cannot be found, I get overwhelmed and grumpy and on and on...

But if things have a little bit of order, things tend to go smoother.  Everyone has clean clothes if a little laundry is done each day, dinner is a joy when it is planned out, knowing where things are saves much confusion and stress. 

Through the years, a few established habits save lots of time and energy.  By trying to keep things up daily instead of letting them get out of control, they are more manageable.  Little things like doing the dishes each night saves the dread of a sink full of dirty dishes facing you in the morning! 



Here are six quick, easy steps to help keep an organized home:

Six Things to Do Every Day

Get into the habit of completing these basic tasks daily. With just a few minutes work, you’ll easily be able to keep chaos at bay.

1. Make the Bed
Tidiness begets tidiness. A crisply made bed makes the whole room seem more orderly, which makes it less likely that you’ll let other things - such as clothes and papers - pile up around it.

2. Manage Clutter
Whenever you leave a room, take a quick look around for anything that isn’t where it should be. Pick it up and put it where it belongs. Insist that everyone in the household do the same.

3. Sort the Mail
Take a few minutes to open, read, and sort mail as soon as you bring it inside. Keep a trash bin near your sorting area for junk mail. Drop other mail into one of four in-boxes: personal correspondence, bills, catalogs, and filing.

4. Clean As You Cook
Instead of filling the sink with pots and dishes, wash them or put them in the dishwasher as you prepare a meal.

5. Wipe Up Spills While They’re Still Fresh
Whether it’s tomato sauce on the worktop or makeup on the bathroom counter, almost anything is faster and easier to remove if you attend to it immediately.

6. Sweep the Kitchen Floor
Every evening once you’ve finished washing up after dinner, sweep the floor. This will keep tough-to-clean dirt and grime from building up, which will make the weekly mopping much quicker.

By training ourselves and families with these useful tips, we can surely make our homes sing!

(Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook)