We all want a house that is easy to live with and sufficiently clean and tidy, despite our busy lives and the frantic rush of everyday life. Linen from your Solid Wooden Beds, dishes from the night before, toys in the living room, papers: everything accumulates so quickly! And when things are not taken care of, things go wrong. Washing machines break down. Water pumps clog up. The appliances go on the blink. You need to be prepared for everything. Of course, it is best if you have a home warranty first. Then once you have the grown-up things taken care of, you can move on to prioritizing how you keep your home in good working order.
Tidying up can only be done after the space has been de-cluttered. Tidying up is putting things back in their place. However, if there is too much unnecessary stuff and the cupboards are overflowing, we don’t know how to tidy up. And the less there is, the less there will be to store. Tidying up means managing your space but also and above all your time! Neither are expandable. So let’s take care of our time, storage will be easier.
Additionally, maintaining the integrity of your furniture and ensuring a well-functioning house involves paying attention to even the smallest details. From repairing chipped paint to replacing faulty drawer slides, addressing these minor issues promptly can prevent them from escalating into major repairs or replacements. Taking the time to perform routine maintenance tasks like lubricating hinges and oiling wooden surfaces can significantly extend the lifespan of your furniture and keep your home in optimal condition.
Get organized, even when the days go by and don’t look alike
You may have already tested several ways of organizing yourself on a daily basis and you have given up: schedules, menus, load tables. All it takes is a grain of sand in the gear (sick, tired, unforeseen events that accumulate) and your beautiful organization falls to the ground! Two things that keep you from having daily rituals that hold up:
- You don’t plan for the unexpected: 1/3 of your day should be devoted to the unexpected. So if your to-do list and your diary are full (style, you can’t slip a pocket square in it, it can’t work! Every day, there are unforeseen events: a water leak, boiler breakdown etc.
- Perfectionism: sometimes you want to manage everything yourself. Let go of perfection and delegate certain tasks, even if it is not done as well as if you had done it yourself.
To get organized:
Ritualize: Set up daily routines (3 in the morning, 3 in the evening) that you write down and post to see and stick to. Split up the household if it takes too long, to avoid discouragement.
Distribute tasks
The participatory calendar is a way of planning everyone’s events in the month. It is ideally displayed where everyone sees it: the kitchen is, 80% of the time, the ideal place! This allows, unlike calendars on smartphones and simple calendars, to have an overview of “who does what at which time”. Take a moment a week to check the calendar and update it, because life is on the move and changing all the time. Maybe the kids do the dishes two nights a week or do their own laundry. Maybe they need to tidy up after dinner and make their own beds. Keep things varied!
Be ahead of time!
Every night before going to bed, do a few things that have the maximum effect! Clear surfaces or couches, pick up what is lying around and gather. Identify “hot spots” or “nests” that regularly form at strategic points in the house. Also, identify the “stoppers” for anything that is cyclical such as laundry or dishes. Take action without breaking your head too much: after all, everything that is done is no longer to be done! Always be one step ahead. Prepare the clothes the day before and anything else including lunch. Moving forward allows you to plan for the unexpected: are you having a meal that takes time? Double it and freeze. You will be delighted the day you don’t have time to cook.
No to perfection
Your home is your family’s place of life. If there is life, there is inevitably movement, back and forth in the garden, long play sessions and a living room. Surely you may dream of a clean and tidy house as you can see in magazines. But real life is not that. Take the time to sit down with your kids and enjoy, without worrying about mess for a while. Forget the mania and accept that your home is not always perfect. You will have plenty of time to have a nice, clean and tidy house when your children leave the nest. And it is almost certain that by then you will regret the hustle and bustle of when they were little! Your home can be in good working order, without troubles or hassle. So keep organized!
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