Make your bed.
We have a rule in our house that the last one out of bed has to make the bed. What a great incentive to get up early and start the day! If you think about it, the bed is the largest item in your room, so making it all neat and tidy, the room looks put together! Bonus: you’ve already accomplished one thing and it only takes a few minutes!
Unload/reload the dishwasher every morning.
I try to make a habit of running the dishwasher every night after dinner so that the dishes are clean and ready to unload in the morning. When I wake up and head to the kitchen, I quickly unload the dishwasher. **See my secret below! After breakfast I load up any dishes that have accumulated in the sink- mostly cereal bowls, coffee mugs and ice cream bowls from the night before. I don’t follow this habit exclusively though. If I don’t have enough for a full load, I will just wait until the next night to run it. But with school being out now and having kids home, I’m sure it will be full every night! I need a KITCHEN CLOSED sign, so they won’t graze all day long.
**A secret that I use to unload the dishwasher fast is to put my mug of water in the microwave (for tea or hot choc) and set the time for 90 seconds. I play beat the clock and try to get the machine unloaded in under 90 seconds!
PET PEEVE: Glasses with tops that collect water!!! UGH!! #firstworldproblems
Up next…..
Do a load of laundry every day.
As I get older, I don’t have as much energy as I used to. Boo Hoo! I do 1 load of laundry each day to keep my hampers emptied out. My kids do their own laundry, so I just take care of hubby and my laundry. No, we don’t generate a ton of laundry a week, usually 1 load of whites and 2 loads of dark clothing. I also wash our towels twice a week and sheets once a week. On the off day, I’m always throwing something in- pet beds, coats, blankets, bathroom rugs, etc. to stay with my schedule. We also are on a well and septic system so doing a load a day doesn’t overload the system. Here’s my schedule for Laundry
Monday– Whites
Tuesday– Darks
Wednesday– Towels
Thursday– Misc.
Friday– Darks
Saturday– Bedding
Sunday– Towels
Pick up clutter/tidy the house
In the morning after everyone leaves, I take a walk through the first floor of my house and pick up any clutter that is hanging around. Monday mornings are the worst! We’ve had all weekend to clutter up the house with newspapers, dishes, blankets, books, receipts, etc! I take the time to put everything back in it’s place. If it’s too overwhelming, I will pick up a laundry basket and toss items in there, just to get things picked up FAST! Later, I will unload the basket and put things where they belong!
** The laundry basket strategy also works really well if you get that call that someone is dropping by in 10 minutes, and you want to have a tidy looking house! Just ditch the basket in a closet! (Not that I have ever done this! wink)
And a BONUS habit….
Take the trash out after dinner
I’ve made the mistake too many times of leaving a full bag of trash in the kitchen garbage all night and been bowled over by the smell of leftover salmon in the morning- not a good smell to wake up to! I make a habit of taking out the trash after the kitchen is cleaned up, just to get any food smells out of the house and at least into the garage outside! Again, if it’s not quite full, I will empty some of the bathroom trash into it until it’s full. I just recently found that some trash bags sold at the store have scented bags- my favorite so far is the “Gain” scented bags!!
That’s it! I hope this helps if you’re struggling at home! See you next week!
Linking up with Grammie Time & The Diary of a real housewife & Mom to Mom Monday!
I do most of these; I also try to wipe down all the bathroom counters. With three little boys they tend to get quite messy in just a day!
Oh, I hear ya!! Great idea!!
I do love an organized person! I know these tips would surely work, if I’d just do them. sigh….
You CAN do it!! Just try one habit at a time!
One thing I would add in addition to this, at least in my home, all countertops have to have junk removed. I like to start fresh each day and I tell everyone living here, everything has a place. I like how your children do their own laundry. So many do not that still Iive at home.
Your post received MOST VIEWED from Party at My Place this past week. Will be featuring it on Thurday.
Super!!! Thank you, Michelle!!
I agree with all that you’ve said, especially with making the bed. If the bed isn’t made, the whole room automatically looks cluttered. All good tips for keeping things neat! It’s ALL good. Thanks for sharing.
You always taught me to make my bed….I just had selective hearing at the time!!!
I try to make the kids pick up before going to bed, but yes, I also have to do a run around every morning to get stray blankets or anything that was missed. Great list!