I’ve never been a neat person. In fact, my mom used to threaten to clean my bedroom in her house with a bulldozer… I don’t think it would’ve been overkill, actually. That made my transition to being a fulltime homemaker fairly challenging and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve been browsing communities and a lot of them are a few years old but over and over again I see there are a lot of women who struggle with this. So now that I’m getting at least slightly better at keeping my own home I’ll offer you a few tips I’ve learned along the way:
Cleaning
- Start with just one room. If your entire house is trashed forget a massive cleaning right away. Start with the kitchen. And once the kitchen is totally clean make sure everytime you’re cleaning you do that first before you pick up anything in any other room. Add one room at a time after that. Eventually your entire house will stay clean.
- Get rid of clutter – there’s no organizing clutter. If there’s never going to be a space to store and get to it at your house part with it. If you love it make a place for it.
- Do laundry before you need it. If I do this (still learning, remember, before you go to my journal and laugh at how “do as I say, not as I do” this is!!) But if I do this there is very little laundry it seems like. Putting away one load of laundry is easy, putting away ten gives me a sore back and I won’t do the next 5 loads until my husband needs a shirt for work in the morning.
- If you already have a big pile of laundry as each load dries put it away. What you really truly don’t wear put in the bag for charity. You won’t miss it and you won’t keep rewashing it.
- Combine cleaning with something you like – Like to dance? Like to listen to crazy 80′s music? Like the smell of lemons? Somehow incorporate something that you find enjoyable into your cleaning routine so you’ll look forward to at least part of it.
- Open your blinds as you clean. Natural light feels cleaner than lightbulbs to me – it makes the room feel airier, somehow. This is how it works for me, if your home is really a mess it’ll motivate you to clean more because you’ll know your neighbors may be able to see in and you really wouldn’t want them to see the counter of dirty dishes while you watch the soaps, right?
- This one I know I’ll get eyerolls for but consider this: If you’re wanting your house to be better, cleaner, or whatever just do it. Stop nagging your husband or kids or roommates and get it clean. I’m not saying they shouldn’t help out, but if you want it clean, do it for you and then once it gets clean try to figure out where you need to help, what their responsibilities should be, and keep it that way. If you want a cleaner home and the other people aren’t doing their part making yourself the victim in your mind will only make you more stressed and probably keep you from your goal of a nicer home.
Cooking
- Most people that feel they can’t cook usually are most scared of meat, especially poultry. Or at least I was. Buy a meat thermometer. You’ll always know what you’re eating is fully cooked. I still mostly use this.
- You’re your own biggest critic – when someone says you’ve cooked something well believe them!
Crafting
- If you can, if at all possible if you’re a crafter when you’re spending the money on supplies try to also incorporate a system of storage into your budget. You probably don’t need anything special for a skien of yarn and a crochet hook but when you’re buying your 50th skien and 48 are unopened for “future projects” You might want to put money for the next few balls into some appropriate storage. It really will help!
Above all
- Recognize it’s a learning process and enjoy your way through it. Even Martha Stewart and Donna Reed didn’t start out knowing everything and/or doing it well.
I’d love to hear anyone else’s tips! :)
