ORGANIZATION & TIPS TO A CLEAN HOME.

One thing I try to keep consistent in my home is organization and cleanliness. I feel as though this type of blog has been overdone but sometimes it’s interesting to know how others run their household.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A WELL ORGANIZED & CLEAN HOME

Let’s start off this conversation with why I believe keeping an organized and clean home is important. For myself, and I know I am a bit extreme when it comes to cleaning/organizing, it makes me feel like I have a balanced mind. When my home is super unorganized and messy, I can’t concentrate or be as present as I would like to be. (If your a psychologist, feel free to weigh in here but chances are I’m not changing my ways - I like them). I wouldn’t go as far to say my home is clean and tidy all hours/days of the week, but I do run a tight ship. Lastly, I think we all want to feel prideful of our homes in some way. We live a good portion of our lives within the home - so, to feel good about your space and take care of it not only makes you feel good but your home will also serve you longer.

CLEAR THE CLUTTER

I have a place for everything and if I don’t have a place or use for it, I probably don’t need it. I guess you can call me a minimalist to some degree (except for pillow covers and decor - I make room in my closet). Things that are of use can also just purely bring you joy like a vintage candlestick - it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to USE it. This might sound confusing when you see me styling new areas but my decor inventory is filled with things I truly love and use throughout the year. Of course I add to this pile, but it’s not to a point I would ever need a storage unit. Also, I have a fairly small home and don’t long or want for more space to store more shit I don’t need - I just need things to function and have the basics while looking aesthetically pleasing of course. For the items I do have, I make sure to choose quality things that I love. Why? Because when we love something as simple as quality towels or wine glasses, we take care of them. I feel there is more joy when caring and placing items we feel proud of. I’m sure everyone has a grandmother that has had the same set of china most of her life and it’s because these things hold their value. Take your time to source items that have value to you and will keep.

Purging always sounds like such a great idea for me and I always want the satisfaction of clearing out “stuff” but because I live a simplistic lifestyle and don’t have an abundance of items there is really nothing to purge. If you do have an over abundance, go through each room of the house and take your time to think about if it really serves you well and if you really need it - if not, donate! Clothing used to be a big one for me and ever since I started to buy quality items that are versatile, my closet hasn’t been cluttered. Also, in the long run it’s way easier on the bank card as I’m not looking for something new and cheap constantly which just ends up being donated once again. I can imagine this is hard for someone who loves having a large wardrobe but for me, I’m not a very fancy gal when it comes to that. Give me a good pair of levis, black shirt, carhartt jacket and I’m good! Kind of opposite of how I feel about my home haha!

In conclusion, fill your home with things you love and want to take care of. To successfully keep a clean home, I think this is the first step because for one, it makes areas easier to clean and two, you want to make them last. Speaking of items that last….

BUY ITEMS THAT LAST

Something important to me that I would like to mention is: We are constantly subjected to a world that is telling us to keep buying and that our items are out of style in 6 months. It’s a quick turn over time in the design and decor world. Your home can quickly fill up with fast easy purchase items. On a personal note: This is where I find my job challenging - I am not interested in going to wherever to buy a bunch of items that I will then place on my shelf only to replace them in a few weeks; all to create content. While it can be a struggle to stay current with certain styles, I want to find items that are unique, speak to me and will serve me for many years. Of course there’s some shelf filler items that I keep on hand that are trendy, but I try to be very mindful of what I chose and how long it will last. So while this screws me out of creating a lot of content and getting exposure, I think there’s something to be said about creating a space that will last without a quick turn over. No shame to those creators, you do you and for some…this is what makes them happy and works for their audience. For me, this doesn’t work... I hope that makes sense and doesn’t make me sound like a complete asshole.

ORGANIZING

Organizing to me means having a place for items to live and in order. For example, your towels should have a shelf and be nicely folded and your utensils should have dividers to separate spoons from forks. Pretty straight forward right? But organization for me also means there’s zero clutter and where you are placing these things, there’s not an overload of this item. Again, if your forks are spilling into the spoons you can probably store the extra forks for now because eventually your husband will loose 20+ a year in his lunch. It’s good to have back ups - have a place to store these so your area of which they live can sit nicely. It feels damn good to open a drawer and see it neat and tidy - except for my “junk” drawer. By the way, do you have a junk drawer? I don’t know how many times I have tried to eliminate mine and it just keeps coming back. Most days I can’t even open or close it, it’s a problem and I address it weekly but it has a mind of its own.

CLEANING

Cleaning can be a touchy subject these days if we mention the use of bleach or chemicals (I totally break out the bleach from time to time, get over it). In my home, I do try and chose products that I feel good about though because it makes cleaning more enjoyable. My top cleaning products I use and won’t go without are: Theives all purpose cleaner, Norwex Window Cloths, Norwex Mop and Dyson cordless vacuum. Lately, we have all been exposed to how much waste our world produces and if you haven’t, come out from under your rock. I do love to chose products I can refill and eliminate from recycle depots or the landfill. I get my detergents/soaps refilled which makes me feel proud (oh and less trips to the grocery store to stock up on chemical filled shit). Oh wait, I said I used bleach so I can’t be that snotty - but for my clothing detergent and soaps, I want a product that’s safe to use, free of the yuckies as it’s coming into direct contact with my body. While I’m on this topic, have you tried shampoo and conditioner bars? Another way my bathroom looks less cluttered and I love how they make my hair feel. PS, I used to be a hairdresser so I am a snob when it comes to shampoos but the unwrapped life bars are pure gold (also a lot of salons are switching to have your products refilled-yay!). Anyways, what I’m trying to say is cleaning with using products you stand by make you feel good about scrubbing toilets.

Okay we got the product talk out of the way now let’s chat about the actual cleaning. I don’t have a schedule really on days I clean or a system. If I see something that needs attention I usually deal with it right away. In my home there is: My husband, toddler, 1 boxer dog and two very annoying cats (sorry cat people). Pet hair drives me absolutely wild so I vacuum every day - probably overkill but I do love to vacuum, thank goodness. My home has a whole lot of windows that could probably be cleaned every week but I usually tend to them 5 times a year or more if they are really bad. I do quickly wash the ones with little finger prints every couple of weeks. We only have one bathroom and it’s small, which makes cleaning easy. I like to clean ours weekly and do a deep scrub almost monthly. As for our bedrooms, bedding is usually done Friday or Sunday; depending on how many muddy foot prints got on them. Since we are on the laundry topic, I don’t like to wait for 5 loads to pile up and we are a small family so I’m able to usually do a load a day or every other day. Thank goodness we have a water efficient washer because we have to haul water for our home (we have two wells that need to be redone because there is so much rust!) One pet peeve of mine is laundry all over the house or piled up to be folded - I understand how this happens with larger households and can only speak as to what works for me - So, I wash my laundry, put it right in the dryer and when completed I fold usually that day and put away. Boom, bang, done and It’s one of my most hated household jobs. Oh and because we haul water? It’s very rare I use the dishwasher. I hand wash dishes throughout the day. Every once in awhile when I get the urge to just know everything is spotless, I will do big laundry days which include couch covers, curtains, steam cleaning rugs - that sort of thing. I also like to wash my walls twice a year and use the Norwex mop to do so. We have wood heat as our main source (you won’t find a fancy switch here that turns on the heat, or a heat register) and so with having the wood stove, the walls and surfaces do get a build up of smoke. I could probably wash my walls way more but I’ve accepted the tinted wall colour and choose not to fight against it all year when we burn the stove for about 9 months.

I will admit, I do clean a lot - but it’s because I love my home and take pride in it. So, there you have it…my tips to a clean and organized home while trying to not sound like a stuck up jerk. Maybe you found this post helpful or completely unrealistic; but again, this is what works for me.