19 Ways to Make Your Home More Organized and Clean
General Advises
- Invest in a good floor-cleaning robot. It truly saves hours of cleaning per week and keeps your floors tidy and clean. If you don’t care for Wi-Fi connection and all the modern features and limit in budget, choose an older model. Every year iRobot presents a new vacuum cleaner and it’s 5 times more efficient but trust me even old models work great, 2 times cheaper and definitely worth its prices.
- Keep your floors mess-free. Don’t leave toys/socks/bags on a floor and schedule your robot to clean once a day automatically. It could take time to hide wires and make a habit not to leave anything on a floor but once you are there you don’t need to vacuum clean by yourself anymore in your life.
3. Make a family routine to start cleaning 2 hours before kids go to bed. Ask your children to clean-up their rooms while you’re busy with a dishwasher, multicooker, taking a short relaxing bath and sipping a cup of chamomile tea. I usually reward children with a cup of milk with a cookie and a looooong storytime and everyone is happy.
4. Pick up one area a day to clean. For example, today I cleaned one bathroom and tomorrow I’ll clean a closet. It takes me 5 to 30 minutes per one area a day and keeps my house clean and organized.
5. Use wipes, use it a lot! I found cheap and gentle to skin and surfaces wipes and use it for everything. Absolutely great for wiping dust from some surfaces or cleaning an occasional spill, washing toddlers’ hands when you need it fast and now, even to wipe a baking sheet.
6. Try to minimize the amount of items on horizontal surfaces that you store or display in your home. It’s fast and easy to wipe an empty surfaces and you don’t need to clean a lot of stuff as well.
7. Organize a little station in your home to leave keys, wallets, glasses, cellphones, pens, etc. that you use a lot or need to take when you leave.
Organize your Kitchen
- Give multicooker/slow cooker/pressure cooker a try. You could find so many great reviews and wonderful recipes but the best is that it saves your time dramatically. Just cut ingredients, throw everything in a pot, press a button and enjoy your meal, make it ahead of time or schedule for a breakfast. Instant Pot is very popular and there are many fan groups on Facebook. Personally I love KitchenAid Multicooker.
- Keep your cabinets organized with Expandable Stackable Kitchen Cabinet and Counter Shelf Organizers. It saves your time picking the right item and creates extra spaces in your kitchen.
3. Clean your kitchen instantly. It takes a little effort to quickly wipe some occasional spills but it takes 4 hours on your weekend. Also keep a sponge or microfiber towel close and accessible (I found that hanging under the sink is the most convenient storage). If you need to wait for a tea kettle or ocasionally stir your meal, take a towel and wipe a dust from countertop or wipe fingerprints from appliances. It takes a minute a day and your kitchen sparkles.
4. Organize your pantry lists and plan deliveries to your door. It took me hours to drive to Target, Costco or Safeway with kids to purchases Laundry Detergents, Kitchen Towels, Wipes, Dishwasher Detergent, Trash Bag, cotton pads, Ziploc bags and so many more. Probably there are better options but I like using Amazon Pantry Boxes. I spent few months planning the shopping list and choosing the right frequency but right now I don’t need to purchase household supplies at retail stores and it saves me one Saturday a month.
5. Use drawers rather than counters or store necessary items in a basket so it’s easy to move for cleaning the counter.
Organize your Grocery
- Save 30–50% on fruits and veggies using Imperfect Produce. This company has a great mission to fight food waste throughout the country by finding a home for produce that is too big or small, different color or shape, surplus. The team and services are incredible: https://www.imperfectproduce.com/register.php?referral=327476 (by using the link for registration you’ll get $10 off)
2. Learn about grocery delivery services in your area. Some companies, like Instacart in my area, deliver grocery from multiple stores (Wholefoods, Costco, FredMeyer, Safeway, QFC, etc.), have promos and savings. Delivery is not free but in my case it works as I’d spent more money on gas and many hours during the week.
3. Save your time making a grocery shopping lists and preparing your weekly menu by using services like allrecipes.com or foodnetwork.com. Simply choose your favorite recipes, check all ingredients and add checked items into your grocery lists. Easy and fun!
4. Use frozen meals for last minute breakfast or dinner. Search good recipes with frozen vegetables or fish, it’s fast and healthy. Check your local Trader Joe’s for fabulous frozen Chicken Soup Dumplings or mini quiches which make a great dinner or appetizers. Frozen croissants or macarons are also easy and great for last minute desert.
Organize your Closet
- If you have high ceiling in your closet invest in a vertical storage. I have three narrow but tall closets with sliding doors, where I installed multiple levels of wire shelf kits, 4 feet each. It’s super easy to install and instantly creates extra space.
A lot of options are available, I personally find narrow and long ones (on the right) and wide utility shelves (on the left) very useful. Utility shelves are wide enough even to fit your carry-on luggage.
2. Use stackable boxes or containers for seasonable items. Throw away individual shoes’ boxes and divide your seasonable shoes, clothing and accessories, summer toys, blankets, extra bedding into boxes. Much easier to store and much more convenient to maintain your closet clean and dust-free.
3. Use your kids’ closet wisely. Put a little shelf, a cube storage or extra wire shelves into your children’s closet.
