Getting Organized - How to Create a Clean Routine

It’s time to create a plan to keep your home clean, and cleaning tasks simpler and streamlined. If you’ve noticed it’s becoming difficult to keep up with household chores, creating a clean routine could help.

What’s a clean routine?

A clean routine is a plan that divides cleaning chores into smaller daily tasks that helps you prevent clutter from piling up. Taking 15-30 minutes each day in concentrated spaces in your home can make clearing clutter a less daunting goal. Doing this daily can have an impact on quality of life for everyone in your household.

When should I create a clean routine?

• I have rooms that constantly need to be organized no matter what I do
• I need to organize or declutter specific items like furniture, knick-knacks, or kitchen utensils
• I need to get my home organized for a move
• I need to get my parents or loved one organized to age in place
• My family is preparing for a major life event like the birth of a child, caring for an aging parent, or a newly emptied nest

How do I create a clean routine?

There’s no perfect way to clean your home. The best way to create a routine is deciding which small tasks best fit the time you have to be most effective. This can be done by assigning specific tasks to certain days or doing a quick clean daily in small time increments. We have tips for quick tasks you can complete room by room in daily, weekly, or monthly intervals. The best part is each task list can be completed in 15-30 minutes.

Quick Ways to Wrangle a Rumpled Living Room Daily or Weekly in 15-30 minutes.

• Use a basket or bin in a convenient area to hold your recent mail. Clear the container once a week to stay clutter free.
• Collect and create a home for important papers, and information you need to go through outside of the living room.
• Tidy up any items on tables and shelves by neatly replacing items.
• Move out of place items that have found their way to the living room floor, coffee, or end tables back to their designated spaces.
• Remove old newspapers or miscellaneous papers from tables.
• Tidy up any items on the couch like pillows, throws, and blankets by folding or neatly placing items.

Quick Ways to Wrangle a Rumpled Living Room Monthly in 30 minutes.

• Discard well worn, old, holey, stained, or torn pillows, blankets, and throws.
• Donate or discard gently used or unwanted pillows, blankets, and throws.
• Streamline books and DVD's that are openly displayed. Consider confining them to storage containers or donating those no longer used.
• Purge unnecessary items to reduce redundant "multiples."
• Return out of place items to their designated spaces.
• Gather excess pillows, blankets, and throws to place them in the linen closet or storage ottoman.
• Dispose of any old magazines, old mail, trash, broken or miscellaneous items.

Quick Ways to Tackle Kitchen Clutter Daily or Weekly in 15-30 minutes.

• Clear fresh herbs or spices past their prime from the refrigerator.
• Clear the counter of rarely used appliances.
• Dispose of plastic shopping bags gathered through the week.
• Choose one cabinet to reorganize in a space saving way. Try stacking items or using baskets to bring order to the space.
• Dispose of your kitchen sponge.
• Dispose of plastic cutlery and packaged condiments from carryout and delivery.
• Clear mail, coupons, or bills from the counters or dining table.

Quick Ways to Tackle Kitchen Clutter in 30 minutes monthly.

• Clear old or expired spices from the cabinet and pantry.
• Donate or gift appliances that have never been or are rarely used.
• Dispose of chipped or cracked cups, mugs, bowls, plates, etc.
• Reduce items that have too many “multiples” like plastic storage containers, plastic cups, or plastic utensils.
• Discard well worn, old, holey, or torn potholders, dish towels, and oven mitts.
• Purge the pantry of expired items and items with a 2-4 week shelf life like coffee beans and potatoes.
• Dump junk drawer contents.

Quick Ways to Clear Bathroom Clutter Daily or Weekly in 15-30 minutes.

• Clear the counter of styling appliances.
• Dispose of any soap slivers.
• Choose one cabinet to reorganize in a space saving way. Try stacking items or using baskets to bring order to the space.
• Remove makeup, hair accessories and jewelry from the counter.
• Dispose of or remove magazines, books and other reading material from the bathroom.
• Replace cleaning towels and sponges.
• Remove laundry items from the bathroom.

Quick Ways to Clear Bathroom Clutter Monthly in 30 minutes.

• Clear old or expired toiletries and medications from the cabinets.
• Donate or gift unopened toiletry or body wash sets.
• Dispose of old loofah sponges and replace with new sponges.
• Reduce items that have too many “multiples” like lotions, styling products, and body washes.
• Discard well worn, old, holey, or torn towels, and body cleaning gloves or mitts.
• Remove razor blades that are dull or have had 5-6 uses.
• Dump expired cosmetics that have changed in consistency or odor.
• Discard or organize bathroom cleaning products reducing multiples of the same item.

Quick Ways to Beat Bedroom Messiness Daily or Weekly in 15-30 minutes.

• Clear the dresser, bedside table or nightstand of trash or other items that live in different rooms.
• Choose one drawer to reorganize in a space saving way.
• Place books on a shelf, nightstand, desk, or designated space.
• Dispose of any trash, broken or miscellaneous items.
• Use decorative baskets and bins to store frequently used items.
• Place dirty laundry and bedding items in the hamper.
• Hang or fold laundry and place it in the closet or drawers.

Quick Ways to Beat Bedroom Messiness Monthly in 30 minutes.

• Use trays and organizers on dressers and nightstands to organize books, watches, etc.
• Organize items in your dressers and nightstands with like items and colors to make clothes simpler to access and keep together.
• Discard well worn, old, holey, or torn clothing and shoes.
• Dispose of any trash, broken or miscellaneous items. Be sure to discard worn books, magazines and old papers.
• Organize accessories, purging those that are worn or rarely used.
• Use space under the bed as extra storage for special occasions or out of season items.

Taking on the To-Do List

Creating a plan gives clear goals for the mind to work towards. Before you clean each room, visualize how you would like to see the room transformed. Organizing your home does not have to start after your home is overflowing with clutter. You can start the process now before it’s a necessity and reclaim your space and time. Breaking your plan down by rooms and tasks helps make an overwhelming task simpler.

If you want to customize your clean routine, you can prioritize your task list according to need and importance. Experts like Stephen Covey, co-author of First Things First, suggest organizing tasks into four basic categories:

• Important and urgent - Tasks that must be completed that day.
• Important but not urgent - Tasks that are important but lack the urgency of “right now.”
• Urgent but not important - Tasks that are necessary to complete but have “little or no lasting value.”
• Not urgent and not important - Low-priority tasks.

If you notice your to-do list isn’t reducing clutter the way you hoped, it may be time to declutter and streamline your items. Our expert Caring Transitions team can help with that! Complete the Free Consultation form on this page to get help!