What are your routines that prevent mess, minimize cleaning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
De clutter, de clutter and de clutter.

The end.

This. Also, don’t buy stuff you don’t need. My general rule is to buy stuff as replacement. For example, I just bought a new kitchen sink mat, meaning that I threw out the old one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't grow up in a super neat place. The one thing my mom taught me that I later put into action was always make your bed. It automatically makes the room look cleaner. I have built on that one grain of advice to become a neat person -- much neater than I ever was growing up, in college, or as a single person. I still have a long way to go. Mopping, sweeping, vacuuming don't happen as often as they should, but everything is more or less picked up. I've also embraced a happy level of clutter, but early on we set a rule against toys staying downstairs. My kids are older now (late elementary, middle school), so toys are not an issue. Getting them to put away their clothes, hang up towels, wipe the sink and not leave a puddle in front of our shower are our current struggles. IN general I do it for them, but not without reminding them that it's their responsibility! LOL

Fun fact: making your bed immediately every morning encourages dust mites.

Better to draw your bedcovers down to let your bedding “breathe” every morning. Even better if you open the windows too.

[Anonymous]

I also want to say thank you. I have ADD and we are moving next month. I would like to implement many of these routines in our new house. I have tons of specific questions that I will dump on their own thread, but I wanted to make sure y’all knew you were appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all these tips! Very helpful!

One of my tricks to minimize purchases is to wait before buying. If you're internet shopping, keep things in the cart or a wishlist before pressing the "buy" button. If I thought I needed something and still need it a couple days, a week, or a month later, it's likely something that will be useful to me. So often, though, I find a way to get by without the purchase.

[Anonymous]

Not buying stuff is key but so is getting rid of stuff. There's a lot of things you acquire, use and then don't need any more for various reasons. Those things have to go or they just pile up in the background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
De clutter, de clutter and de clutter.

The end.

This. Also, don’t buy stuff you don’t need. My general rule is to buy stuff as replacement. For example, I just bought a new kitchen sink mat, meaning that I threw out the old one.

Yeah I try to stick to the one-in, one-out rule.

THe biggest violator is my MIL who has a "grandma bag" full of random toys, books, and other crap she brings and leaves at the house every single time she comes over.

[Anonymous]

Don't have kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
De clutter, de clutter and de clutter.

The end.

This. Also, don’t buy stuff you don’t need. My general rule is to buy stuff as replacement. For example, I just bought a new kitchen sink mat, meaning that I threw out the old one.

Yeah I try to stick to the one-in, one-out rule.

THe biggest violator is my MIL who has a "grandma bag" full of random toys, books, and other crap she brings and leaves at the house every single time she comes over.

I never buy gifts for the kids in my family for this very reason. Only experience gifts from me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
De clutter, de clutter and de clutter.

The end.

This. Also, don’t buy stuff you don’t need. My general rule is to buy stuff as replacement. For example, I just bought a new kitchen sink mat, meaning that I threw out the old one.

Yeah I try to stick to the one-in, one-out rule.

THe biggest violator is my MIL who has a "grandma bag" full of random toys, books, and other crap she brings and leaves at the house every single time she comes over.

And by this I mean she refills the bag EVERY time she comes over with new dollar store junk and leaves it all here. So every week or two, it's another bag of crap left in my small townhouse.

[Anonymous]

Where does the "one glass for each person a day" sit when not being used, and what if you drink milk from it but later want water? Do you wash it by hand?

If everyone is putting their dishes into the dishwasher after a meal, how do you deal with haphazard loading that wastes room?

How do you handle the hook near the door for coats if you have different coats for different types of outfits? (Pre-COVID I had a dressier wool coat for work and church, a parka for groceries, a Carhartt jacket for yard work, etc...)

If you're cleaning the shower while you're in it, how do you handle the fumes that mix in with the steam? I feel like the chemicals will make me sick but I can't avoid them if there's steam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do two "Pick up 10 things" drills every day. We run around like crazy, putting things away and counting aloud. My kids jump at it because they usually pick the easy stuff to pick away. In a family of 4, if you pick up and keep 40 things in its proper place, twice a day - you are GOLD.

- I have made beds easy. My kids have a faux down comforter and no top sheets. They just have to spread out the comforter to make their beds.

- No shoes indoors.
- Everyone makes their bed as soon as they wake up.
- Everyone puts all dishes for snacking, cups, saucers, bowls from their rooms on to a tray in the hall in the morning.
- Everyone puts all their dirty clothes in hampers in the morning.
- Everyone takes care of disposing off mail addressed to them and any paper
- Everyone puts their dishes in the dishwasher after meals.

Some assigned chores specific to the family members.
-My DH runs and empties the dishwasher (thrice a day...we cook and eat a lot). He also takes care of breakfast and puts away leftovers in the fridge.
- My youngest waters the indoor plants, recycles and composts the kitchen scraps and will hang coats inside the coat closet.
- My eldest is in charge of panty, fridge and refrigerator organization - as well as making shopping lists by store.

- I clean (since my twice a week cleaning lady is no longer an option) the bathrooms and all the floors, once a week.
- I wash at least 2 loads of laundry a day. All my towels, bath mats, bed sheets and bed linen are white so I can wash on hot and use bleach. I fold everyone clothes and they are in charge of putting their clothes away in their dressers. I Konmaried clothes in the begining of the pandemic and I fold clothes in a specific manner based on whose clothes I am folding and their storage space in their bedrooms
- I take care of the yard and outdoor stuff.
- I cook some entrees during the weekend. Mostly DH is cooking but if I have to cook, I cook in the morning just after I finish my breakfast.

Thank the LORD that I do not have pets. Less responsibility and my house is cleaner because of that.

Food does not leave the kitchen/dining room.

Actually, in our house it does. I have 2 kids doing DL in their rooms. They are having meals their rooms, beverages and snacks. I need my morning tea in bed and I need 2 glasses of water on my bedside table. DH takes a nightcap at night in bed. Everyone has water at night. With COVID and our strange working situations we all have adapted to whatever works for us and is most comforting. I do not go chasing the dishes and utensils.

NP.

My kids have been bringing food into their rooms ever since DL as well! I’ve always hated food in bedrooms! But they often need a quick lunch and don’t have time or they’ll be late. Or they are starving during a non lunch time. I don’t know. It’s hard to keep up!

My house is otherwise very clean. We don’t keep dishes in the sink. I vacuum most days and constantly spray down counters and tidy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does the "one glass for each person a day" sit when not being used, and what if you drink milk from it but later want water? Do you wash it by hand?

If everyone is putting their dishes into the dishwasher after a meal, how do you deal with haphazard loading that wastes room?

How do you handle the hook near the door for coats if you have different coats for different types of outfits? (Pre-COVID I had a dressier wool coat for work and church, a parka for groceries, a Carhartt jacket for yard work, etc...)

If you're cleaning the shower while you're in it, how do you handle the fumes that mix in with the steam? I feel like the chemicals will make me sick but I can't avoid them if there's steam.

In our family, the glass is either with the person using it, or it sits beside the sink above the dishwasher if it’s not being used at the moment. They all go in the dishwasher at the end of the day. Takes one minute. We don’t actually have a strict one glass per day rule, but that’s generally how it works out. If I have a tea glass and I want milk, I just give it a quick rinse.

Everyone knows where the dishes go in the dishwasher — it’s pretty logical. If the kids put them in a less-efficient spot and the dishwasher is getting full and there’s no room for my dish, I may take 20 seconds to move some things around.

We have hooks near the back door (ours are inside a closet door in the kitchen) for coats. We keep the most-used ones there on a seasonal basis — rain jackets in the summer, fleeces in fall, down in the winter. We all have lots of coats — some of the more frequently used are in a closet that is not particularly convenient to the outside door, but still on the first floor, and we have the less-frequently worn ones (dressier, heavy parkas, etc) in our rooms.

I think think most people who clean while they’re in the shower are using a soap mixture, and not toxic stuff, but if I’m going to use something stronger, I just get naked, clean the shower, rinse it down and then take my shower. Whether you’re clothed or not doesn’t seem to make much difference in terms of what you’re breathing?

I don’t mean this to sound snarky, but you’re overthinking this. The point is to do what works for you and go with the flow, instead of against it. If it doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. I’m the pp whose husband kept leaving little things on the kitchen island so I got him a covered storage dish for his things. Where do your coats end up? Figure out a place to hang them near there. My kids don’t take food to their rooms (I never told them they couldn’t, it’s just not something they do) but if dishes in their rooms were an issue, I like pp’s solution of having a tray in the hallway. Figure out how you can make what’s happening work for you.

Also, you have to be willing to invest a little bit of time in getting cooperation from others in the family. If you don’t think the kids are loading the dishwasher properly, take some time to show them how and explain why it makes sense to load more efficiently. At first, it takes more time to teach kids to do their own laundry, but the payoff is huge.

[Anonymous]

I clean the shower while I’m in there but I just use Dr Bronner’s soap and a nylon scrubbie. You could also use dish soap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
De clutter, de clutter and de clutter.

The end.

This. Also, don’t buy stuff you don’t need. My general rule is to buy stuff as replacement. For example, I just bought a new kitchen sink mat, meaning that I threw out the old one.

Yeah I try to stick to the one-in, one-out rule.

THe biggest violator is my MIL who has a "grandma bag" full of random toys, books, and other crap she brings and leaves at the house every single time she comes over.

And by this I mean she refills the bag EVERY time she comes over with new dollar store junk and leaves it all here. So every week or two, it's another bag of crap left in my small townhouse.

Why can’t your spouse put their foot down? Store old grandma crap in a box, and have spouse show her the accumulation? Not trying to make you feel singled out, but curious, and very good at getting my way. For example, my mom kept buying kid vetch toys, (which I loathe,) even though we had expressed a preference for non-electronic toys. So I left them at her house, or kept taking them back to her house until she got the message. Can spouse not stand up to MIL? This isn’t a cleaning problem; it’s a boundaries problem. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Fun fact: making your bed immediately every morning encourages dust mites.

Better to draw your bedcovers down to let your bedding “breathe” every morning. Even better if you open the windows too.

I believe you. Culturally, I am used to giving a vigorous shake to my bed sheets every morning before making our beds. It gets rid of dust and skin flakes that mites feed on. I go out of the way to get bedsheets with super deep pockets so that that are easy to slip on and off from the mattress. Also, you must change bedsheets every week.