Do you ever read those stories about how to quickly clean your entire house in half an hour and think, yeah… no. We’re going to need a more dramatic approach.
This house tiding technique is perfect for people who think – my house is so dirty and messy, where do I start? But the beauty of it is, that it also works perfectly for a house that just needs a quick go-over.
Quick backstory – I’m a professional organiser who has successfully gone from a ‘messy’ person to an ‘unmessy’ person by using ADHD friendly cleaning and organising strategies. Now I help families hack their homes so they don’t feel like they’re constantly drowning in housework.
How/why will this system work for me?
This cleaning system is based it on prioritising the things that are the most triggering first – like rubbish and dirty dishes, before moving on to the paperwork, toys, clean laundry, projects etc.
Because it’s all about big, broad categories, it keeps you moving and alleviates the temptation to go off on side quests, like reorganising the pantry/craft cupboard/bookshelves.
It’s also ideal for every level of mess and tidier. For people who physically can’t tidy for long, are time-poor or find it hard to stay motivated, this technique will assure you use your time wisely.
Before you can start, collect your supplies
You will need a small bin for rubbish and one for recycling, a washing basket and a damp cloth or packet of wet wipes. It may also be a good idea to find a box for ‘donations’ but don’t get too worried about that at first. If you want, you can also grab a notepad to write down any projects you think need doing – but more about that later.
The steps go
1. Put everything that’s rubbish in the bin
2. Collect dirty plates, cups and everything that should be in the kitchen
3. Deal with dirty laundry and shoes
4. Collect random paper and stationery into a basket
5. Put away clean laundry
6. Pack away toys and books
7. Wipe surfaces
8. Clean the floors and toilets
9. Projects
Ok – now for a little more detail
You can choose to do each step through your entire home, or in one space. You can also choose to give different steps to other family members if you’re lucky enough to have some help.
*Important rule. If you’re doing a whole home and there’s no way it’s going to happen in one session, just stop at whatever step you get to. But, the next time you clean, you need to start from step one again. If you pick up all the rubbish on Monday, redoing that step on Tuesday will take almost no time at all. Things that need to go in the bin should always be your #1 priority. Dirty dishes should always be #2 etc.
Everytime you tidy your house, start from step 1 again. Even if you got to step 3 yesterday.
It’s a system, trust it
Step 1. Rubbish
Grab yourself a plastic bag and systematically sweep all the rooms you’re cleaning for anything that needs to go in the bin or recycling. This includes bathroom rubbish like empty bottles in the shower etc. This also includes emptying and rubbish bins or waste paper baskets you have around your home.
At the completion of this step put the rubbish straight in the corresponding bins. If the bins are full, take them out. Be prepared to repeat later – rubbish always comes first. Remember this, whenever you look around and think, where do I start? Start with rubbish.
Step 2. Kitchen stuff
Now do the same for any kitchen stuff. Crockery goes straight in the sink or dishwasher and everything else goes to its home. We are putting things away, not just moving them. You may want to unpack the dishwasher at this point so you can put another load through. No dishwasher? Put away any clean crockery and do the washing up – or at the very least, put it in the sink to soak.
If at any point later in the process you find more kitchen stuff, deal with it straight away.
Step 3. Dirty laundry and shoes
Grab a laundry basket and fill it with everything that needs to go in the wash, tea towels, clothing etc. Now dump it all in the laundry and congratulate yourself because you are smashing it. Chuck a load in the machine at this point. Also, put the shoes wherever they go. If they don’t have a home, near the door is a good spot. Make a note on your piece of paper that you need to come up with a shoe-storage-solution.
Step 4. Paper and stationery
Pens, scissors and anything that looks like rubbish but is possibly important can go in a pile wherever that stuff lives in your house. If it has an easy home, put it there. If not, label a box or a basket to put it all in. When you choose to sort it and find a home for it, it will be waiting for you. But don’t start going through the basket yet – that’s not cleaning, that’s a project. If you do see something that needs your attention, note it down on your ‘projects’ list for later.
At any point of the process, you can wipe down clear surfaces, put remotes away, close any cupboards and drawers that are open. If it can be done in less than 10 seconds, feel free to get it done.
Step 5. Clean laundry
Collect any clean washing that is waiting to be put away. Either sort it by person and put it in each bedroom or put it away. Make sure to put your own laundry away before anyone else’s. You’re the one cleaning, you get first priority. This is majorly important if you’re a parent.
Away doesn’t have to mean folded in a drawer. Away can mean that everyone’s laundry is in a basket in their bedroom. Whatever works for you and your family. So long as that clean laundry is contained and will stay clean until it’s worn, you’re winning. FYI – I’m a professional organiser and I don’t fold clothes at all in my own home, they just get chucked in a drawer and I haven’t been arrested yet. Turns out it’s not illegal after all.
Put your own laundry away first
You’re the one doing the laundry
Step 6. Miscellaneous crap
You should be left with toys and books and other miscellaneous crap at this stage. You want to sweep this all into a basket to be dropped into its corresponding room. As you enter each room to put this stuff away, make the bed (if there is one) and pile any crap on top of it for the bed owner to deal with. If it’s a shared space, put everything away.
If that stuff doesn’t have homes, make a space or use a basket to contain it all in the room you want it to live in. Make a note to deal with it when you’re in the ‘project’ stage.
Step 7. Wipe surfaces
And now it’s time to wipe down any surfaces. You can actually do this step at any point you see a clear surface, but it’s a good idea to circle back through each room and make sure they’re all done. Wet wipes are your best friend here because they are easy on most materials and you can just pop them straight in the bin, meaning there’s no cross-contamination.
Step 8. Floors + toilets
Now it’s time to sweep, mop, scrub – whatever your floor-cleaning-standard is. And also deal with toilets and showers.
Step 9. Projects
Remember how I told you to get a notepad to write a ‘project’ to-do list on? Let me explain.
Projects consist of things like:
- Going through that pile of paperwork
- Reorganise your pantry
- Alphabetising your bookshelf
- Jumping online to buy a bathroom organiser from Kmart
- Learning how to fold onsies the Marie Kondo way
- Figuring out how to make labels with a Cricut Joy
Ya know?
These are the types of things that suck us in when we’re trying to tidy/clean the house and they are important – but they also are extremely distracting.
Now, I’m not saying that you can’t do a project before your home is tidy – that’s crazy talk. This rule is simply to point out the difference between projects and tidying.
If your goal is to get the house under control, then opening all of your historic mail is not the most direct route to tidy-town.
But when you are tidying, that’s when you see the stuff that needs to happen, like buying a new basket to contain shoes. So write it down and keep moving.
Learn to identify the difference between tidying your home and doing a ‘project’
Don’t let side-quests slow you down
It’s not always easy to put stuff away
As a professional organiser, I’ll tell you for free what the biggest issues facing most family homes are
1. There’s too much stuff.
2. There’s no set home for everything.
I hear you. Often houses that get messy really fast are like that because not everything has a place.
So when you hear someone saying, put this-or-that away in its place you’re like – great bloody idea IF IT HAD ONE.
If this is your home, it may be time to chuck out a bunch of stuff. As a rule, you want all of your storage solutions to be only 70% full. If your cupboards are at 100% capacity, using them is hard. If using your storage is hard, tidying is hard. If your house is chaos, life is hard.
When you have a spot for everything you won’t think – my house is dirty, where do I start? You’ll start by putting things where they go. It’s honestly so simple.
And this is why professional organisers are doing great businesses right now offering decluttering services – because families are drowing is ‘stuff’.