9 Habits to Keep Your Home Clutter-Free

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I don’t know about you, but I love going to bed knowing the rooms in my house are all tidy and clean. For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed keeping my spaces nice and tidy (and helping my friends/family do the same). I’m not joking when I say I used to clean up my friends’ rooms for fun. Kinda weird and kinda funny, but either way I enjoyed it and still do today. 

Why Should You Have a Clutter-Free Home?

 So first, why should you even have a clutter free home? Why does it matter? Of course it’s not always going to be 100% clean and really, what home is? Home is meant to be lived in. On the other hand, because our home is meant to be lived in, we should at least TRY to maintain it to our best ability. Besides the fact that it’ll completely change your life, here’s a more detailed list. It actually surprised me how much I could talk about all of the reasons why. 

1. It saves you time. Have you ever been running late for an appointment, got into your car only to realize you forgot your to-go coffee, ran back in the house to get the coffee, but then scrambled around trying to find the specific mug you always put it in? Now you’re most definitely going to be late to that appointment! If you would have known the spot you always put the mug in, you maybe would have been on time.
2. Better focus. It’s sooo much easier to get any sort of work done if the house is cleaned up. If you need to get some work done on your computer but your brain is looking around at all the things that need to be picked up, how much work are you really going to get done? I bet not as much and not as efficiently as if your space was tidied up.
3. Easier to keep the spaces clean and organized. If you regularly keep your space tidy, it’s just easier to clean up when things are out of place. Then when it comes to actually deep cleaning your spaces, things are picked up where they belong so it makes the cleaning process so much easier.
4. Mood shift. There are actual studies on how you feel so much better and less stressed when you have a tidy home. The mental health benefits are amazing! I know first hand that I am so much happier when my house is tidy.
5. More space. When things are where they belong, it opens up space in the rest of your house. This allows everyone to utilize the room for what it’s meant. Every now and then things pile up on our kitchen table or snack bar and all of a sudden we can’t even use it for what it’s meant for – eating!
6. Aesthetically more welcoming and inviting. Obviously it looks nicer to have a clean home. My favorite compliment is when people come into my house and tell me it’s so “cozy”. Having a welcoming home is always a goal of mine.
7. It sets a good example for your kids. Why would our kids keep tidy spaces if we aren’t even doing it ourselves? Kids watch our every move so we should be setting the best example for them. This is a huge motivator for me when I don’t feel like picking up.
   

So there you go. Alllll the reasons on why to keep your space tidy. Now to the “how?”. Keeping a clutter free home can be hard (especially with kids), but I’m slowly getting better at practicing and experimenting with ways to make it possible and wanted to share these ideas.  Stick with me here as the last tip is usually what I find the most important of all!

How to Keep a Clutter-Free Home

1. Tidying when baby naps. When my one-year-old goes down for a nap, I do a quick house tidy. This doesn’t mean I’m deep cleaning the entire house (tidying and cleaning are two different things!), but just the big things that take a minute or so to pick up in each room of the house. This saves so much time for when bedtime rolls around as those bigger things can turn into a lot of your time by the end of the day.
2. Tidying when leaving the room. Even better than tidying when the kids nap is tidying as you leave a room. This one is harder for me as my daughter quite literally sprints out of rooms and I need to keep an eye on her, but if I know we’re leaving the house to go on a walk soon or meeting some friends, I like to pick up a couple of things that we’re playing with in the playroom or put some dishes in the dishwasher quickly. Again, these small things really add up at the end of the day. 
3. Out with the old, in with the new. Once I realize that we’ve been gifted a couple of toys or that I bought some new socks or shoes, I make sure to go through what we already have shortly after. For example, I recently got some new jeans, so I made sure to go through my old jeans and donate the pairs I haven’t worn since college. Another example is that my daughter was recently gifted a couple of things for Easter (like this super cute “work from home” set that she is obsessed with!), so my husband and I went through her playroom and stored away the toys she outgrew (like chew toys!).
4. Regular purging. If you can’t quite keep up with “out with the old, in with the new”, try to regularly purge. The main thing I find that becomes quickly cluttered is my closet. I make sure to purge the closet three to four times a year. To make it easy, I like to purge as the season changes. This helps me remember and decide what I need to keep or donate. For example, is spring starting? Go through all of your winter clothes and get rid of anything you didn’t wear a single time the last winter season. There’s a reason you never chose to wear it! 
5. Less is more rule. I use this rule when decorating a lot. Should I add that frame to the wall? That bowl to the coffee table? Is it giving any purpose for this season of my life? You’d be surprised how many times you will catch yourself saying no! Sometimes less actually feels and looks a lot better. Instead of asking yourself what you need to add, ask yourself what actually looks fine without adding anything.
6. Close the house at night. Along with tidying during nap time, we also tidy before bed when our daughter is asleep. One of us puts our daughter down for bed while the other starts on the dishes/loading the dishwasher. Then we both tidy the rest of the house which usually involves the playroom, living room and house entrances. It’s a lot less daunting and quicker when you have help, so seriously just ask your partner, put on some good music and tag team the tidying!
7. Baskets and bins and hiding spots. Sometimes it seems impossible to hide the clutter. This is when you need to get creative with baskets, bins and hiding spots in your house. I love these bins for smaller bathroom items, these bins for dressers and this kind of storage cube for toys or other kind of organization. We actually have that storage cube in my daughters closest for some clothes organization for now. I also had to find “hiding places” for some things which ultimately led to using space in our home I didn’t even know we had. For example, we have some deep kitchen cabinets and I was able to store my vases there.
8. Everything has a home. The keys, the pens, the shoes, the jackets, the mail – it ALL has a specific place and that’s where it should go when you’re not using it. Seriously, take the extra three seconds to hang your jacket and put the keys away when you get home. In a couple of weeks, it will just be second nature.
9. Intentional buying. The best way to stay clutter-free is to shift your mindset and buy (or don’t buy) intentionally. We are constantly being told we NEED this and NEED that when in reality, you would have been fine never knowing that item even existed. Once I started to realize how much I was actually consuming, I realized that I was being extremely wasteful. Not only were these items taking my money, but also my time, my mental load and my space. Next time you fill your Amazon cart, ask yourself if you truly need the items you’re about to purchase. Will you need them in a month from now? A year?

Final Thoughts

A clutter-free home might seem like a very distant dream, but it is possible! Remember, it’s not going to always be spotless, but to fully enjoy your home it’s worth it. You are just a few mindset changes and habit shifts away from enjoying your home and the space you already have. Happy de-cluttering!

Tell me below what helps you declutter? What’s your biggest road block when it comes to decluttering?