A house with kids can get..umm…pretty chaotic from time to time. I liken mine sometimes to a tornado coming through, pulling everything from the shelves and drawers with it. It may not be exactly how it looks, but it sure is how it feels. It can easily get to the point where you have no idea which room to start in or even what kind of stuff to bother tidying because there is simply mess EVERYWHERE!
The quickest way to get it done is to actually get started, and the easiest way to start is to pick one type of item to hunt around for first.
Enjoy these easy micro steps for resetting a room, or even the whole house, even when it has you pulling your hair out!
Garbage
First, focus on finding ALL the garbage. Carry a garbage bin around with you to make it easier to collect it all. Better yet, get everyone on board and give everyone their own garbage can to carry around to make the job go even faster and tackle more of the house all at once.
Recycling
Now, move on to the recycling. Some people could have a plastics bin, and others could have cardboard and paper. Break down the cardboard as much as possible so that it all fits into the recycling bin.
Clothes
Grab a laundry basket and go around picking up all the laundry. It doesn’t matter what load it’s supposed to be sorted into. For now, the idea is just to make it quick. So just gather it all into one bin. Once you are sure that you have it all, you can sort it into the different loads that the clothes belong in and start tackling some of the loads.
Food and Dishes
Next, bring any food to the kitchen. Gather the dishes and bring them to the sink or the counter beside the sink. Don’t take time yet to wash anything or to put it into the dishwasher. At this point again, it’s just about focusing on gathering the items quickly. Once you have collected all the dishes, go ahead and load that dishwasher.
Deal with the clutter
This is where speed can be on your side again. Grab a couple of bins, make one a bin for clutter that has a home, and the other for clutter that has NO home. Use the bins to gather any items that aren’t where they are supposed to be. Make sure to save some extra time at the end of this task to actually put away ALL of the items that have a home. The last thing you want to do is to leave it for another day because chances are that day won’t come or won’t come for a while. After that is put away, get everyone to help out with finding homes for the items that have no home. As you put things away from either bin, ask yourself if it’s still worth keeping all of the items. This is where you could sort the items into donate, toss, or sell bin rather than put them back in their home or find a new home, especially if you think you can part with the item.
Restock and Resupply
This is the opportunity to make sure there are things like extra toilet paper rolls in the bathrooms, paper towels in the kitchen, soap by all the sinks, toothpaste in the bathrooms, and tissue boxes around the house. You could even restock drinks in the fridge or lunch snacks. Basically, think of anything that you use up! Make sure there is enough or extra where you need it. If you can’t restock something, add it to your shopping list so that you can ensure you have some in the house the next time.
Room Reset
Now, take some time to reset each room as you like it. Things like pillows set up on the couch, arrange books on the shelf, put toys away, etc. Any items that haven’t been reset or touched while going through the above list so far.
Self Care
Lastly, do something for yourself!! In all the chaos of looking after the home, it’s easy to forget to do something for your own mental health. Chances are, the house won’t stay super clean for long, so enjoy it while you can and do something that you love to do in your now tidy house! Even a dance party will work!!
If you can follow these steps, then no matter how overwhelming the room or house becomes, you can easily start somewhere and truly feel like you are making progress. It’s just a matter of picking up one piece of garbage to start it all off!
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