HACKS: Tidy Habits for Roommates

 

Tidiness has many benefits, it brings order to chaos, it creates a space for zen and prevents your roommates from plotting your murder. If you aspire to tidy living, here are  a few  tips from around the web. Apartment Therapy has the 4 Things Tidy People Do Every Day (Besides Make the Bed). Here is just a sample:

An easy sweep

Tidy people wouldn’t dream of going to bed with dishes in the sink. They know that doing a quick sweep for out-of-place-items every night before bed will help them and their home get a fresh start in the morning. Keeping up with the clutter frequently makes it an easy, do-able task rather than an overwhelming chore.

Think ahead

When neat people take something out, they put it away. When they walk in the door and take off their shoes, they put them in the closet, not scattered in the hall. They know that they’ll have to put it away eventually, so cleaning as they go makes it seamless and easy.

Meanwhile Moms Everyday suggest has 7 Habits of Highly-Tidy People. They believe that tidy people…

Clean for Themselves

The highly-tidy like to clean. It’s not drudgery to them. They do it because that’s the way they like to live and not because company is coming over. Regardless of whether fussy Auntie So-and-So is visiting, the kitchen floor is mopped with regularity.

Clean Every Day

Sometimes the kitchen floor will be mopped whether it needs it or not. The highly-tidy keep cleaning schedules, like Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the days they mop the floors. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are vacuuming days, or as I like to call it, “Dyson Days.”

Highly-tidy people make time for cleaning. It’s as important as a doctor’s appointment or a meeting at work. Cleaning gets put on the calendar like other important dates in their lives. The highly-tidy even deny themselves of “playtime” with friends in order to take care of the business of maintaining their homes. “Sorry Gals, can’t go to lunch today. I have some ironing to do.”

Limit Time-Wasters

Think of someone you know that has a really clean house, then think of their favorite TV shows. I bet you’ll be hard-pressed to name them. The highly-tidy don’t waste a lot of time on TV or the Internet or other time wasters. For the highly-tidy there is always something to do around the house that takes precedence over superfluous diversions.

Not  to be outdone, Lifehack has 13 Habits that will Keep Your House Clean (Even if You have Kids). Among their tips:

  • Pull the comforter to the pillows. Since the bed occupies a lot of space, it will make your room look so much cleaner—even if you don’t completely make your bed.
  • Start the day with a load of laundry. When you get out of bed, put a load of clothes in the wash. Once breakfast is over, put the clothes into the dryer. Do a load of clothes every day.
  • Dry your sink. Just after you dry your hands, take a few seconds to dry your bathroom sink. It will remove spots and keep it looking nice.
  • Unload the dishwasher before breakfast. That way, when you dirty a dish, you can put it directly into the dishwasher. No dirty dishes pile up in the sink or on the counter. Turn on the dishwasher just before bed.
  • Leave your shoes at the door. Shoes track in dirt, mud, grass, feces, debris, gum, leaves, and much more. If you take off your shoes by the entrance, you won’t need to clean the floors as often.
  • Tidy the living areas just before dinner. Give your kids practice helping out in the house and, afterward, reward them with a meal.

Finally, if you want to know about tidiness, ask an expert, in this case a maid. Maid pro offers these tips Six Habits of People with Perpetually Tidy Homes. Here is the whole list:

 

  1. Every item has a proper place – and everyone who lives in the home knows what it is. This last bit is super important, so when an item’s place changes suddenly due to major reorg effort, everyone gets informed!
  2. They constantly purge excess stuff. Not twice a year or with each new season, but every day, all the time they are thinking: Do I need this? Do I want it? They also have ready lists of places where they can donate unwanted items rather than stuffing them into storage.
  3. They treat storage spaces differently – as places to contain items they use often rather than to stash away items they don’t really want or need but aren’t quite ready to part with. With adequate storage space all around, tidying becomes a fast, easy exercise.
  4. They decorate for double duty, locating attractive bins, baskets, bureaus, and other furniture items that double as design elements and storage. They also strategically place containers where they can accumulate items that need to travel, up or down stairs, for example, for greater tidying efficiency.
  5. They strategically locate supplies and tools. For example, an upstairs bathroom or linen closet might have its own complete set of moist wipes, cleaning rags, trashcan liners, a broom, dustpan, handheld vacuum, duster, and so forth for quick, convenient cleanups.
  6. They “do now”. No walk from one room to another or up and down the stairs is made empty handed. As soon as an untidy situation arises, they simply dedicate the few seconds or minutes it will take to address. Scrap of paper on the floor? Pick it up (1 sec). Dirty dishes in the sink? Put them in the dishwasher (1 min). Dishwasher clean and full? Empty it (3-4 mins). Dryer buzzer just went off? Fold and return clean laundry to its proper place (6 mins). You get the picture.

Happy tidying!