18 Organizational Tips: Easier Cleaning, Less Stress

"The grass is greener where you water it." Have you ever heard that quote? I've been both a full-time working mom and wife, and a full-time stay-at-home mom and wife, and I can tell you that quote is absolutely true. At least when it comes to keeping a clean and stress-free house! Cleaning, tidying and organizing is difficult whether I am working full time or staying with Bundle at home full time. Here are a few tricks I've learned along the way to keep my stress levels lower and my cleaning list a little shorter. 

1. Have a shoe-deposit! Find something -- a bin, box, basket, tote -- anything that can corral shoes once you step in the door. I am THE number one offender in our house for taking shoes off randomly and leaving them all over creation. We aren't the "take-your-shoes-off-at-the-door-because-we-have-flawless-carpet" people, but I am totally the "dump-my-shoes-wherever" girl. :) This helps immensely when it comes to tidying the clutter. If I stick to the shoe-corral plan, I never have to pick them up off the laundry room, dining room, bathroom, or back patio floors!

2. Have a catch-all space. I bought this little tray (I think it's supposed to be a relish tray!) at Walmart for twelve bucks. It literally "catches all" in our house. We keep it on a shelf near our front door. If I pick up around myself as I go about my day, cleaning becomes SO much easier and quicker later on.  A few days a week, or even just once, I grab all the contents of one section and take it to its true home, usually the room I'm headed to anyway. Each compartment is for a different person in our family. Can you guess whose is whose? ;)

3. Let everything have its own place -- A "true home" if you will. Does your bathroom ever end up looking like this? These are a few of Bundle's bedroom toys. I try to keep the bath toys grouped together in this little dollar store tub-stick-on container! 

The other toys and clothes I will take either to their true homes or to the "Catch-All" container when I am headed those directions.

4. Get creative and find some clever hidden storage! This hope chest was given to me by a family friend when I was a child. Now, it's perfect for looking like a nice piece of furniture and hiding toys we can pull out for playtime.

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5. Have an area for artwork/projects. Don't worry about making sure it's always clean and perfect-looking. It's for art and projects!! In fact, it's kind of an easy way to tell guests some of the activities you and your kids are working on or a hobby you've recently gotten into. 

Our recently remodeled chalkboard table. It was literally a two day project, and now it's the area for most of our other projects!

6. Sort mail as soon as it comes. Having a system for incoming and outgoing mail/bills is the best thing I can do for my stress levels. If I know what has been paid, what needs to be taken care of, and what can be trashed, that makes my job as Lady of the House and co-bill-payer so much easier! My hubby and I found this at a garage sale for a dollar or two and restored it. I LOVE how it turned out! 

The cute key holder is a total bonus!

If our mail doesn't quite make it to this sorter, it sometimes goes here...but we try to keep the mail clutter off our  tables and sofas. Even a counter organizer can be helpful! We keep other things like stamps, sticky-notes and addresses handy here.

7. Store extra towels and linens for each bedroom and bathroom separately from one another. I put the linens for the guest bedroom in that bedroom's closet. The basement linens are stored in an extra drawer downstairs. Hubby and I's linens and master bath towels are stored right next to our room, and Bundle has a drawer in the same area all to herself. Having linens and towels handy where you are is so much easier than hauling them from across the house each time you need them. 

8. Likewise, store your favorite cleaning products where you use them most. In other words, need carpet cleaner more often in the dining room? Store it in the closest cupboard. Always need sanitizing wipes in the bathroom? Store them there. I occasionally watch for sales and buy a couple bottles/containers of the same cleaning product and put them in two places where they're used all the time. 

9. Create a recycle plan. Then stick to it. Recycling does take some work, especially if you don't have automatic pick-up in your city. We don't. Storage bins did NOT work for our family. They were always spilling in our car and we could never keep the recyclable materials separated. So...I got creative! This coat rack has a labeled trash bag on each rung to hold a specific recyclable material. When the bags get full, we simply tie them off and toss them in the trunk to take to the recycling center. LOVE this so much better than what we tried to do before.

I gather all the things that need to be recycled during the day on the counter, and take them out to our recycling system in the garage later in the evenings.

The System: a little silly, but it works for us!

10. Don't be afraid to utilize visible storage. If you have the extra space above your kitchen cabinets, use it! If you have some open shelving where you could stack those extra mugs, do it! Guests are never looking at those details. When reconstructing our burned down home, our contractor reminded us not to worry about details. Guests will always be looking at the "big picture", or how a room looks overall, and how it feels.

11. Always have a "getting-rid-of" pile. Since we just moved (again!), our pile is rather extensive. We are planning a garage sale for this fall, but if you don't feel that ambitious, simply send it off to a second-hand store. Simplifying your life and condensing your stuff is incredibly helpful in making a house easier to clean (not to mention, mind-freeing!).

12. Have an empty hanger plan. Maybe it's just me, but in previous homes we've lived in, I NEVER had hangers in the right place. They'd be strung across the living room floor, piled awkwardly in a laundry basket, or still stuck in between clean clothing in the closet. Now we have a specific place in each closet for empty hangers, so whoever is doing laundry can find and use them quickly and easily.

13. Keep track of your loose change! Seriously. It adds up. Our loose change jar is the date fund for me and my hubby. In the last six months, from loose change alone, we have $41.15!

Yay! Our (very historic) coffee can date fund.

14. Don't leave remotes in remote places. It's so frustrating to not be able to find a remote. Especially when some TVs and devices don't have any other way to turn on! I used a vase on our mantel. :) I'm never looking for remotes!

15.  Invest in some inexpensive, larger storage bins. These are from Dollar General. It's worth it to know ALL the gaming stuff or ALL the art supplies are in one area. It's even nicer to not roll up electronic cords and stuff them into nooks and crannies in the entertainment center when cleaning. Just neatly place them in the bin -- that's it!

Educational Supplies

16. Don't be afraid to have an "work-in-progress" storage area. Right now, our storm shelter is jammed packed quite cluttered with items and boxes we haven't had a chance to sift through since our move last month. As a busy mommy and wife, it's worth it to have just one cluttered "work-in-progress" area I don't see very often, but a very tidy rest of the house. As long as I do make progress on it every once in a while, I think it's fine.

Yikes!

17. Create an activity or hobby bin. This could be for a current personal project, a place for a child's learning activities, or even some rainy day art stuff. I love having the next day's activities for my daughter carefully laid out in the bin. 

It's so easy to change out from day to day or week to week. It's also easy to clean up after her area looks like this...

18. Keep all your library books in ONE place. I am so guilty of returning late library books. I finally forced myself to always put them away in one place after reading, whether leafing through board books with Bundle, or pouring over the pages of a cooking magazine. I didn't realize how many mental notes I had to take before I had a library book area! Plus, it looks nice on our bookshelf. :)

Ahh...order.

This post definitely isn't about buying more storage bins or spending hours organizing your home life. It's simply about being inspired, making a plan, and getting creative! Try a few at a time, slowly. I guarantee that after while, it will pay off! :)



Enjoy, with life. <3