“Ah! My house! So much to manage and so little time! I need some home routines! Stat!”
Our homes are a sanctuary and refuge from the wiles of the world, but sometimes it can feel so ‘gosh-idy’ overwhelming. We peruse Pinterest and see these fantabulous visions of beautiful and tidy homes, but the work it takes to get it looking like that! Simplify your home routines.
I want to have people over, but the thought of getting the house presentable makes me cringe. Not to mention, just creating a relaxing, cozy home for our Loves and us. Simplify your home routines!
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If you’re like me and don’t have a week free to focus on dolling up the house, then some regular routines will help keep it happening every day. Routines help put our home (and our tired brains) on autopilot. Systems help to create an environment of healthy habits so we can live the life we love to love.
To help us get there, here are 8 ways to simplify our home routines today.
- Plan ahead
- De-clutter regularly and adopt a one-in, one-out principle
- Consistent Home for essentials like Keys, Wallet, Phone, Shoes, Coat, Bag
- Process for papers
- Daily Tidy Sessions with swish and swipe
- Laundry Routine
- A little every day
- Letting go of perfection
Planning Ahead for Home Routines
First, having a plan helps make anything happen. A goal without a plan is just a wish. My magic wand has not come in from Amazon yet, so the wishing is not cutting it. Having even a basic strategy for the day is a giant and vital first step. The Fly Lady is great for walking women through creating home blessing routines. Below is a basic plan for example sake to show you how simple it can be:
| Home Routine Plan | |
| Day | Tasks |
| Monday: | Bathrooms (20 minutes) One (complete) load of laundry 15-minute tidy session |
| Tuesday: | 15-minute tidy session Dusting/surface cleaning One or two loads of laundry |
| Wednesday: | 15-minute tidy session Floors (20-minutes) One load of laundry |
| Thursday: | Wash sheets/towels Wipe refrigerator Plan menu and grocery list Order groceries online |
| Friday: | Pick up the grocery order Clean out: car, purse, backpacks, lunch boxes, hall closet One load of laundry 15-minute tidy session |
| Saturday: | ***Activity/Fun*** Meal prep (1 hour) Clean Kitchen (20 minutes) De-clutter/purge/organize one zone (20 minutes) Sweep entry/porch (5 Minutes) Any laundry |
| Sunday: | ***Rest*** Plan week: look at calendar, lay out clothes, get bags, shoes, keys, phones…ready 15-minute tidy session |
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Declutter
This may be the second of the 8 ways to simplify your home routines, but probably the most significant, we must de-clutter and purge regularly. Cleaning is so much easier to make happen if we’re not moving a bunch of stuff to clean there. For example, if the floor is clear and the mop bucket isn’t buried, getting all the hard floors cleaned is a quick task to knock out.
If we are getting rid of stuff, but don’t have a strategy for what is coming it, we won’t make much progress. Adopt a one-in-one-out rule. If you add something new, one item needs to go. Before purchasing an item, think about where it will go, how will it be stored, what will need to be removed to make space for it in your life?
Consistent Homes
It is so cliché, but it’s worth repeating “everything has a place and everything in its place”. If everyone knows where something goes, it makes getting it there so much more feasible. If you have a home for your keys, you simplify your life by getting them there consistently. The same principle goes for water cup stored on a tray that otherwise is inevitable all over the house each day or where the used towels go, and every other item we come to own.
Process for Papers
I don’t know about you, but papers are the worst for me. They end up in piles and on the refrigerator and forgotten in a folder only to cause panic the day we need it. Creating a consistent process for handling your papers is a great way to simplify your life. I like April Perry at Learn Do Become for her paper help, but find your method and resolve the paper puzzle for your sanity’s sake.
Daily Tidy
To keep things running smoothly, we must do regular maintenance and that means a daily tidy up and swish and swipe session. Each day (usually twice works best), spend 15 minutes putting things in their homes and swiping up surfaces and whishing the brush around the toilet with a little soap in it. Everyone in the family is in on this, so it might go quicker, but if it is on the plan to be attentive to this regularly, then it keeps things simple and from getting too complex and out of control. Keep a large pretty basket in each room to gather wayward items and carry the baskets room to room to send things home. Voila!
Laundry Routine
Some people like to do 14 loads of laundry for their Saturday fun, others want to think about laundry every day and so they do a load a day. Chose your pleasure, but whatever you do, embrace the fact that there will be laundry and create a routine for getting it done.
What works for us is a load a day – a completed load every day. That means a load usually goes in, in the morning, it is switched at some point in the day, and then it is folded (5-10 minutes) and put away before we go to bed. Done. Others find the thought of the laundry going almost every day painful, but this little-every-day method works really well in our home. I can’t remember the last time I felt overwhelmed by laundry. It feels completely manageable when I am consistently making strides.
Let Go of Perfection in Home Routines
I’m tempted to twirl around in an ice palace singing, but seriously, let it go, perfectionism that is. Perfection is an elusive myth and it’s setting us up for failure and shame. As you know or soon find out, here we are thriving with grace, we have it altogether…mostly.
That’s 8 Ways to Simplify your Home Routines today
Which will you apply today? Comment below or in our Facebook community with your top tips to simplify your home routines.
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About the author, Jaime
Here at Altogether Mostly, you will find grace, compassion, joy, and beauty. I use empathy and a little tough love to bring out the best in people. I live in the Midwest United States with my loving husband and awesome children. For more about me and Altogether Mostly, please visit my about page here.