Tips for Maintaining Your Organized Home

You’ve just finished working with a professional organizer or Ditching the Clutter on your own. Your home is organized and feels amazing.

But how long does that organized space last? No matter how many times you muster the courage to organize your home, work, or closet space, it’ll all be for nothing if you don’t maintain it. The only way you can make your efforts worthwhile is by keeping it up, and this is probably harder than the actual organization part.

If you worked with Ditch the Clutter, there’s a good chance we left you with a maintenance plan to follow.

If you organized on your own, there are ways to maintain your organized home. The trick is to get yourself in a regular routine so that your home stays clean every day of the week.

Routines

The only way you’ll ever create a habit is by making a routine out of it. The organization step is a one-time operation, but maintenance happens every so often. As such it’s best to create a routine out of it so cleaning after yourself becomes an impulse and not a chore.

Here are some routine ideas you can integrate into your day to make maintenance easier.

Seasonal Routines

There are some things you cannot keep a daily check on. Calendars take time to get through, and larger changes come with the passing of seasons. So keep a seasonal schedule to go through all of the appliances in your home. Clean them, repair them, and get them ready for the next coming season.

Take out all of the summer clothes and bring forth winter wear. The beach toys and patio are closed up to make way for shovels and snow boots. Don’t save anything for the last minute. Fight against time to get things done, and create a yearly checklist of all the things you have to do.

Weekly Routines

You should have a decent weekly routine that helps keep your house in peak condition. Do a thorough cleaning of your home. Sweep, mop, and disinfect your floors until you can see a shine when you pass by. Clean up the bathroom and your closets that may have fallen out of place.

Places you use often and things you use almost daily should be back in their proper spot. Get everything ready for the next week so you’re not scrambling to find things.

This is a great step to follow if you have kids in the house that need to go to school.  Get the lunch containers and bags ready, find the right weather-friendly clothes for the week, and make sure there’s nothing anyone is forgetting after the weekend.

Daily Routines

Of course, then there is daily maintenance. It doesn’t have to be much. You can designate 15-20 minutes of your day to simply pick up items from the floor and other surfaces and put them in the right spot.

Designate time in a day to clean the dishes, make your bed, and dust so you know how much time you’ll use cleaning and how much time is free time. Time management is vital in your day-to-day routine.

Motivation

Everyone requires a little motivation once in a while. There are multiple ways to keep yourself on the right track, these are a select few: 

Inspire Yourself

There is no harm in looking for some amazing organization ideas. Some people can manage to make their home look astonishing and there’s no harm in wanting a good-looking home for yourself.

Go on Pinterest or find a blog that has some wicked organizing ideas that take your breath away. Aim to reach your goal of perfection and keep that perfect image in mind every time you see a mess in your home.

If you feel this isn’t working anymore, then don’t be afraid to go find some more amazing organizing ideas.

Remember What It Used To Be

It can be hard for you to picture the perfect organized room when your own room has never been in that condition before. But it’s not hard at all to remember the nightmare it may have been.

Before you decide to get lazy and leave things amok, remember the state of your home and/or room that made you want to organize everything in the first place. Frame this picture in your mind, because this is what you don’t want it to be.

It’s not embarrassing to run from what it once was. It’s an efficient method to bring on what it will become once you start maintaining your clean, tidy space.

Now or Never

‘Now or Never’ is the motto to live by when you want to keep your home neat and clean. You can’t expect your space to remain tidy forever. But you can expect the mess to pile up faster than you can keep up with it.

Whenever you pass by a mess or a cluster waiting to pile up over your head, think about the pain of cleaning it last time. If you don’t do it now, the mess is only going to get bigger and harder to clean up afterward. If you leave it off for too long, then you’ll be stuck with a big cleaning project you don’t have the stamina or time for.

So before you’re stuck in this situation, clean everything up before it has the chance to grow into one big mess. It may seem petty, but at least you won’t be spending a whole day taking everything out and reorganizing it all over again.

Re-organize!

Doing the same thing over and over again gets boring for everyone. There will come a time when you get tired of your setup, so don’t be afraid to take it apart and make a new one!

As the times change, so will your requirements from your space. You may get a new job, new hobby, new guests or residents in your home. All of these things will call for change in the system.

Rather than running from the facts, seize this opportunity to create a new functioning system that works better than the last one. Once you have, use all of the steps above to keep this new strategy alive and working!

Conclusion

Maintenance, in the end, is all up to you, quite like your organizing method. Keep your head in the game and stay motivated. Create a functional routine that works with your timetable. Make one for your day, one for the end of the week, and one for the end of the month. Seasons will bring changes that you have to be ready for, and life will bring even bigger ones you have to brace.