Keeping a home well-organised when there’s three, maybe four or even five different schedules operating simultaneously can naturally make it easy for us to feel overwhelmed. And when that happens, cleanliness can start to fall by the wayside. At times it can feel like as soon as you clean up one spill, something else is knocked over, as soon as you finish one load of laundry there’s another full bin, and as soon as you put something away someone else has taken it out again.
The good news is, keeping your home tidy and organised is much more manageable when you know how to do it right. We’ve written a guide for families to help you do just this, and aim to provide you with some useful advice so you won’t have to feel like you’re fighting a losing battle again.
Read on for our tips on how to organise your home as a family.
1. Storage
Having ample storage is the key to keeping your house tidy and uncluttered. But when you think of storage solutions, your brain might jump to tacky containers, cheap looking drawers or white plastic boxes.
To this, we say jump on eBay Australia via Qantas Shopping (to earn Qantas Points as you shop) and you’ll be amazed at the variety of aesthetic options available, and all for lower price points than you may be expecting.
When items are scattered around the house, it can create the appearance of disorder – even if they’re essential objects like a hoover or ironing board. Just think about how busy your kitchen would look if your pots, pans, cutlery, plates and utensils were simply left on the counter instead of tucked away in shelves. All those mismatched shapes can be displeasing to the eye, and the same applies in the rest of your home. So try to store most of your belongings by utilising smart storage solutions – ideally solutions that have been designed to match the wider style of your home to ensure your organisation efforts stay seriously seamless.
2. Separate Work & Play
It might sound like an impossible task to keep your work and family life separate – especially if you work from home, as more and more of us do these days. If you do, having a designated workspace is essential. It doesn’t take much effort to set up a home office, but try to choose a small room with minimal distractions and ample natural light. Set up your laptop or PC at your desk, choose neutral colours and artwork to keep you focused, and pick a comfortable chair you’ll be able to work from all day.
If your children are especially young, it might be worth keeping this space out of bounds. Not only will keeping your kids out create a more professional environment, but you may find that stepping into this room puts you in the right headspace to concentrate on your work. Equally, having a separate playspace for younger children will let them know that they also are deserving of their own space in the house, and allow you to switch off and be fully present when you’re spending time with them.
If your home set-up allows it, you could also think about keeping your playspace separate from where you eat and cook. Although not essential for a well-organised house, having a peaceful dining area which will always be (relatively) free of clutter may make mealtimes more relaxed, somewhere you can come together as a family and talk about your day.
3. Daily Maintenance
We’re not suggesting you set aside an hour every day to hoover, dust and wipe the whole place down, but if you can find a window of even 15 minutes in the evening to put away toys, do the dishes, and pick up whatever has been discarded on the floor, we promise you’ll feel better for it.
Once your children have gone to bed, or if you find yourself having a window of spare time during the day, set a timer, queue 4 or 5 of your favourite high-energy songs, and do as much as you can. Treat it like the final sprint at the end of a marathon, and when the alarm goes off, stop. You’ll probably be surprised at how much of a visible difference quarter of an hour of basic cleaning can make, and if there’s only a small amount left to do you might find yourself happy to finish it off anyway.
Maintaining a basic level of order in your house on a daily basis is easier if you handle it in manageable, unintimidating chunks. And no one likes spending ages making a house spotless for it to feel like it’s back to normal the following day. So, keep your day-to-day organisation easy to uphold, and don’t put too much pressure on yourself to keep your house looking perfect all the time – after all, a bit of mess shows that it’s lived in.
4. Regular Purges
You almost certainly know how much stuff piles up with time, and that pile seems to grow exponentially as your family does. Before you know it, there’s clothes that don’t fit anymore crowding the back of the wardrobes, outgrown shoes lining the hallway and toys that are broken or no longer played with all over the lounge. Once you become used to seeing these items every day, they’ll blend into your environment, until one day you have family or friends over and start seeing the place with fresh eyes – realising just how much in this house you never use anymore.
That’s why having occasional ‘purges’ can help to avoid the inevitable build up of clutter, and make it more manageable than once every couple of years trying to muster up the motivation to go through every room sweeping for all the things you should have already thrown away. Seasonally, bi-annualy or on a set date – depending on the size of your family and the size of your house will affect how often you need to do this, but it’s important to have a clearout when you can.
Make it a family effort, a way for you and your partner to connect, or a day spent moving your way through the house letting the satisfaction roll over you as you remove all the objects you no longer need. Whilst recycling children’s clothes and games with missing pieces will be easy, letting go of more sentimental items might be more challenging – and although there’s every value in keeping hold of things that remind you of precious memories, not everything needs to stay just because it meant something once. The KonMari method suggests you keep the things that still ‘spark joy’, and get rid of the rest.
Keeping a family home organised might seem like an impossible task, but knowing how to approach it makes the job a whole lot easier. Remember that keeping your house clean is a family effort, and everyone can play their part to ensure you don’t feel swamped in clutter at the end of every day. Following our tips on how to organise your home both day-to-day and in the long run will make sure it stays as a relaxing, homely space for you and your family.
