If you find yourself spending hours of time tidying the house each day or week, you may need to start living by this one cardinal rule!
If everyone in the house can follow or learn it too, it will be so much easier to keep a tidy space, AND it can help reinforce teamwork for everyone!
The rule is:
Never step over, walk by, or ignore something that is out of place!
Think about how simple that sounds.
Now, think about how you could use that in practice in your own life or even with your kids.
Think back to when you were a kid and you enjoyed hunting for random things like money or even Easter eggs. Take that into adulthood and hunt for the things out of place in your home. Ok, so it’s not as fun as finding money or chocolate – but you never know, maybe you have money hiding in places you forgot about!
Look around your room now. How many things have you already ignored just to stop and read this post.
Is there a dish in the sink that could be in the dishwasher? Is there homework done but still sitting on the table? Is there a blanket on the couch that is not folded up or put away? Is there a small collection of flyers for recycling at the front door?
If your house is very messy, this rule will take a bit more time and energy at first but dont give up on it! If you can stick with it, it has the ability to ensure that you only need to use a few minutes here and there to have the house tidy!
If, after some time of using this rule, you still find it too hard to keep up with, think about what you own and how you use it. You may be better off going through your things as you practice not ignoring them and placing them in a donate box rather than finding a home for them or putting them away.
Write down the rule in big letters on a piece of paper and put it up on the wall. Share it with your family or housemates. If everyone does it, the house will be tidy without that heavy feeling of committing to a whole day of tidying!
Never step over, walk by, or ignore something that is out of place!
Find the energy from deep down. Yes, even in those moments when you are beyond tired and the week has literally wrecked you, just take those few minutes. You know that ignoring the problem today will somehow make it multiply!
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