Are you ready to set some ground rules for your home so you can finally maintain an orderly one?
Or do you really crave to have a clean and organized home, but are feeling too overwhelmed and stressed with all that clutter in your life?
If that’s a yes then you are not alone. Everyone likes a neat and clean environment because it keeps us healthy and creates a more happy and positive life.
However, cleaning a messy home can make almost anyone feel exhausted and overwhelmed, especially if they don’t have a set of fantastic house rules already set in place.
Simple house rules will always help you keep your home clean and keep it that way. It’ll streamline the mess and help maintain an effortlessly clean, and organized home in a fraction of the time too.
Besides, keeping a well-managed clean and orderly home can be a real challenge, and these home rules to maintaining a clean home, all work for good measure.
Here are 8 house rules that’ll help streamline your home into a clean and organized one.
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8 Home Organizing Rules Everyone Needs to Follow
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1. Store your similar items together home rule.
When it comes to maintaining a home that stays tidy, you must store your belongings accordingly.
And pro organizers all say that similar items being stored with other similar items will do the trick in helping you streamline the mess.
For example, cookbooks, novels, and textbooks are all books that should be sub-categorized and stored in their perfect place in a cohesive way.
Another example could be things like nail polish with nail polish removers, scarves with mitts, and whatever seems like they should go together for you, you should store them accordingly.
After all, this is one of Marie Kondo’s go-to rules in the KonMari approach so it’s best to follow suit because it really works!
2. Always Put Your Clothes Away home rule — the dirty, the clean, and the forgotten.
When it comes to maintaining a clean and organized home we have so many excuses when it comes to doing the things that we don’t want to do — that always includes putting our clothes away.
For some reason putting our clothes away seems like so much effort but sticking to this home rule is really going to be an important house rule for you, that is if you master it.
When we put things back to their rightful place (especially when it comes to our clothes), it will make it so much easier to find the items that you always love to wear rather than sorting through a large unorganized pile that’s at the bottom of your closet.
So, whatever excuses you have, banish them! At the end of the day, you’ll be really surprised how clean your space stays if you stick to putting your clothes away on a daily basis.
Similar: Step by Step Guide to Thinning Out Your Closet
3. Create a drop off zone for Your Most Important Things & make this a home rule you stick with.
When it comes to maintaining a tidy and organized home, it’s extremely important that you have a place for all of your important things so that you can remain tidy when you enter the home.
You know the stuff that is important to you, things like your keys, your cell phone, wallet, make-up, sunglasses, basically anything that you will need for the day or the go-to items that you can’t live without.
By creating a designated area or drop zone for these items (and any other necessities that you may need from time to time), you’ll never have to search for that forgotten item again — making this home rule one that will never fail you!
4. Honor What You Have, Decide What to Keep & release the old rule.
Are you saving your old first date movie stubs, dried up flowers, Or maybe “Memorable” paper that is outdated and just doesn’t serve a purpose anymore?
It might be time to rethink what you are holding onto and what you can genuinely let go of without feeling regret. It’s okay to pay homage to your memories but don’t let them pile up.
5. Start Your Planning at the Beginning of the Day home rule.
This is a rule that can turn into a great habit if you get used to doing it on a regular basis.
Expert organizers all say that the key to getting organized and staying organized is to begin from the second you wake up by creating an intention of carrying out what you need to do to get done — done.
It may sound silly at first, but when you set your day up with house chores and decluttering ‘in mind’ and seek to accomplish them for that day, your home will reflect all your efforts and hard work.
So start each day by writing down your three most important home chores that you would like to complete for the day. It could be as simple as cleaning out your junk drawer, all the way down to reorganizing your purse.
Having the intent to stay organized and making a checklist is a great organizing rule that’ll help you stay just that much more organized.
Similar: 8 Laundry Room Organization Items to Make Your Life Easier
6. Follow the ‘Just One Thing’ Rule if you are really messy.
Pro organizers have a lot to say to those messy people that just can’t seem to get away from their clutter — follow the just one thing rule.
This rule will help you find that ‘one thing’ that you can easily put away in between doing or walking from one room to the next.
This can be putting away that used tea mug you enjoyed yesterday or a glass of water, to putting away your slippers from the back door to the front door, all the way down to the keys that you left on the table and not on the hook.
Simply put, the just one thing rule is a great house rule for staying on top of messy habits.
7. Keep All the Surfaces Clear in your home.
When it comes to maintaining a clean and orderly home, the clear surface rule is echoed time and time again and that’s because it really is one of the most important home rules that you can implement.
Tables, desks, floors, and counters (they are all surfaces) gather up so much clutter from almost everyone who uses them…
So, the next time you are walking by the kitchen and you see that you left the blender out from making your morning smoothie? Clear it!
It’ll make your home shine and stay extra neat and tidy.
8. Purge Every Three Months home rule.
Through time, we can gather so many unnecessary things that we do not need and that make our homes look extra messy.
That’s why purging every three months can help you stay in control of what you decide to keep and what you decide to let go of.
If you follow this home rule and actually put into action what you’d like to donate and get rid of, the rest of the rules will be a lot easier to manage because you will have a lot less stuff to clean up.
Some handy things to remember when it comes to purging your household items:
- Begin by listing each room in your house that you want to organize and number them in an orderly sequence from most important to least important. That way you can complete the process of decluttering or purging from most necessary to get done to least.
- Define your decluttering goals and decide if you are ready to accept a more minimalist lifestyle. Sometimes we dream of having an organized home, but we just love stuff. Define how you want your home to look and determine what goals you are realistically able to carry through with.
- Invest in tools! Get some boxes, bags, or baskets for sorting items. Having the empty Tupper wear containers will really give you that extra boost you’ll need come organizing day.
- Inspect each item carefully and really make a conscious choice on whether it serves a true purpose being in your space. Marie Kondo is queen for organizing and you can learn all about how she does it in this post here.
- Sort everything in piles; trash, recycle, sell, donate. Once you have everything in uniform, you’ll be surprised how easy this becomes every three months.
Isn’t it nice to know that you don’t have to spend multiple hours cleaning if you repeatedly follow some of these existing home rules yourself?
It’s highly recommended that you pick one house rule and see how it helps you keep your home clean. Focus all week on making that one rule stick, then you can start the next rule and go on from there!
And if you would like to take your decluttering one step further?! Check out 10 Habits Of People With Homes That Are Always Organized Next!
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Author: Rebecca
Hi, my name is Rebecca and I am the face behind Everything Abode! I am a lifestyle and wellness writer based out of Vancouver Island. When I’m not writing or exploring mountains and beaches with my furry rescue, I love spending time learning creative ways to manifest a healthy home. Thanks for stopping by!
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