Secrets of a tidy home
I would estimate that 99% of the time, my home is a clean, tidy, and organised space. It is a space that makes me feel rested, it helps me to be creative and it is welcoming to others. This is not a little white lie that I have drafted specifically for the internet, and the pictures on my instagram feed reflect how my home looks on a day-to-day basis. Im sorry if these opening sentences have annoyed some of you. However, I am hoping that there are few of you who are curious enough to read on to learn how to keep your house and belongings in order. Every. Single. Day.
Hit reset
Introducing a daily ‘reset’ habit is one of the key actions that I took some years ago to help keep my house in order. By spending just a few minutes doing a quick clean and tidy I was able to keep my home exactly as I wanted it, even when I had a gruelling City job as well as a demanding miniature sausage dog to look after. I also attended university at night, and, like most people, I had to keep my commitments to family, friends and to my community. At this point in my lie, my resets would take me just 10 minutes – before bed I would make sure that the dishes were washed, my clothes were put away and I ensured that my work bag was packed for the following day.
My resets nowadays take about 5 minutes, and I do them three times a day because I spend more time at home. Both versions of my ‘reset’ were equally as effective. They prevented a build up of mess and things for me to do and, I believe, they helped keep the task of ensuring that my house and things were in order to a manageable size.
Why resets work
Resets work because they are quick and easy to slot in around existing daily or habitual tasks. Experts in behaviour change call this ‘habit stacking’ and ‘self-directed neuroplasticity,’ which means rewiring your brain to introduce and embed positive, healthy habits.
I typically carry out my daily resets after each meal. I eat three times a day and, because meal preparation and eating at home are already part of my daily routine, tagging a quick tidy up onto the end of each meal is not a big deal.
Tips for success
1.Target your efforts. A benefit of introducing one or more resets into your routine is that you can target resets towards completing tasks that will make your day – or your tomorrow if you want to do a nightly reset – run smoothly.
2.Keep them short. Small changes are usually easier to make than big shifts, so try to limit your resets to no more than 10-15 mins. You will find that you are far more likely to coax yourself into keeping the habit, particularly on a tough day, if you know that your reset will not take you long to complete.
3.Leverage existing habits. Adding a reset into an existing routine should yield a quick win, so once you have identified what you want to do, try to slot the reset into your day at a point that would be convenient and as close as possible to another long-term habit.
4. Use resets to ‘chunk up’ big tasks. You can use resets to help you tackle bigger chores, such as decluttering. E.g. if you need to streamline your kitchen you could decide to spend ten minutes every evening after dinner decluttering one drawer or small cupboard in the room. You should see results build up quickly and the immediate gratification should encourage you to keep going.
5.Get the household involved. If you live with family members, a partner, or housemates, ask if they would like to get involved. Maximising your resources should help you to maximise your results. Delegating small tasks to children is also a way of introducing them to looking after their things.
6. What a reset is not. A reset is not a ‘big clean’ and it is not meant to be vigorous work. You do not need to make your home look like a show property at the end of every day and you do not need to strive for perfection. That said, resets should get easier and quicker over time, especially if you are using one to make gradual progress on a big task like decluttering. Your approach to a reset does not need to be static, either. Have the confidence to tweak it as life changes.