My Top Tips to Keep Your Home Tidy When You Hate Tidying

Tidying is never top of my agenda but sometimes it just has to be done.

When I was younger I was not a tidy person it was a never ending battle between my parents and I to tidy my bedroom, with clothes piled up on the floor you would never have known I had carpet, even when I moved out to go to university it only got vaguely better, with communal areas stressing me out if they weren’t clean and tidy but my bedroom looking like some sort of explosion had happened. It was only when I moved in with the Mr that I became a tidy person. Possibly this is because the Mr is even messier than I am and when it’s your home you become a little more house proud, but it’s probably because if our flat becomes messy then you simply can’t move about and live your life! SO I thought I would share my top tips  for tidying when you’re not naturally a tidy person.

Start one room at a time. There is no point trying to blitz your entire house – unless you have a whole day and want to not stop halfway through to eat. Pick a room, tidy it thoroughly don’t just do a half hearted attempted and then move on. I nearly always start with the bedroom because it’s always the messiest and I sleep much better when it’s tidy.

Remove anything that doesn’t belong in that room to start with. Dirty plates, that towel that should be in the bathroom, the 5 pairs of shoes that live in the hallway normally and the packet of popcorn you ate at 1am the night before, take them out of the room and put it in the place it should be. You’d be surprised how suddenly you have a lot less to tidy.

Put your clothes away. Whether they are on the floor because they are dirty or because you decided that the fifth outfit change wasn’t working for you either pop them in the wash or fold and put away for another day. If like me you sometimes wear a t-shirt twice before washing then fold it up and if you have a chair store it there or I start a nice tidy pile by my bed to remind me to wear it again before I wash it. Don’t just leave it in a crumpled heap.

Make the bed. Bedrooms always look tidier when the bed is made. Throw everything onto the floor change the sheets and cover if necessary and then re-make the bed, have a little sit down because let’s face it tidying is tiring and assess what still needs to be done. By now it should be looking a lot tidier and you can work more on the cleaning side.

Organise knick knacks and clean the surfaces. If like me you have a lot of ‘stuff’ then it’s probably out on display and gathering dust, for example I have a white shelving unit which houses, make-up, skin care, jewellery, books, stuffed animals from various trips and general knick knacks. I work a shelf at a time take everything off, wipe the shelf and then re-arrange the items. There is no point in just re-organising the items if they are covered in a thick layer of dust. Then hoover the carpet to finish.

What are your top tips for keeping your home tidy?