A lot of people struggle with trying to find a cleaning method that works for them. Many have a messy house, or room, and deep clean it every once and a while. Deep cleaning is great, but between those deep cleans, your space goes right back to being dirty. How does one keep everything so clean!? The secret is in the habits you create.
Tip #1: Before organizing all your things and putting them in storage, get rid of what you don’t need.
This is a very important first step because stuff will come right back out if you just put it away instead of truly taking care of it. Be honest with yourself. Don’t hold on to things that are broken and you won’t fix, things you never use, or things that don’t fit your style or body. To put it simply, when you have less stuff, you have more space. Branching from this, don’t bring in new objects if you don’t have the space for them.
Tip #2: Clean for 5 minutes right when you wake up.
Starting small can do wonders when you clean. Setting a small time limit each day is much less daunting than long hours of cleaning once a week, and it keeps your space clean for the whole week. As my mom says “pick something up and put it away and you’ll have a clean house everyday.” Start with the easy things that have an obvious home (like T-shirt or hairband), and don’t worry about sorting things in piles, put it away now! 5 minutes isn’t that much time, and if you think it’s too little, slowly move up the time to 10 or 15 minutes. The most important thing about cleaning is making it a habit.
Tip #3: Give everything a home.
You might be thinking “I know this! But I don’t know how to actually accomplish it….”
Here’s how! Choose your belonging’s home based on how often you use it. If you use it daily, put it in a place that you can easily access and retrieve. If you use it less, put it in a bin or a drawer. Remember, it should be a place where you can easily put it back when you’re done with it. Making sure things are easy to put back is important because if your things are hard to put back, you won’t want to put them back.
Tip #4: When your stuff has a home, make sure to put it back when you’re done.
It makes it easier to live your life in your room because things are where they need to be, when you need them. If you don’t put your things back in their home, your rhythm of cleaning will break and your mind will become as cluttered as your room.
Tip #5: Use the 70% Rule.
The 70% Rule means to keep 70% of flat surfaces clear at all times unless you are actively using them for something. Don’t just keep your desks or other surfaces clear, remember your floor too! Look at your room from above, is more than 30% of it covered in furniture? When things are set down, they become a magnet for other things; don’t give your stuff a chance to multiply!
Tip #6: Use the 30% Rule.
There are some spaces that you should leave 30% empty. While surfaces should be 70% empty, storage spaces should be 30% empty; this gives you space for bringing new things into your room. If all your storage spaces are full, you’ll have no room for new items, and you’ll start putting them wherever you like instead of giving them a proper home, bringing you right back to where you started.
Tip #7: Declutter and put everything back in its home before doing “real cleaning” like vacuuming and dusting.
When you are picking things up and moving them, it stirs up dust. Why dust before moving things, when dust will come back right anyway? Also, it is hard to dust or vacuum around items on the floor or on a desk.
Now remember what motivates you, and why your space should be clean. When your personal space is clean, you just feel better! Your brain is more at peace and you’ll feel lighter and more energized. Make your room a pleasant hideaway from a busy day, not a mess you dread entering. Organizing and cleaning has power, the state of your room reflects how you feel and how you live your day!
