One word: storage

Always start by cleaning anything that’s a storage space in the home (refrigerator, countertop, book shelf, dishwasher, kitchen cabinets, pantry, medicine cabinet, work desk, kitchen table, coffee table night table, garage shelves, shower caddy, bathroom vanity counter, foyer closet, clothes closets, trash cans, fireplace). I even add purse to this as well as car.

You’d be surprised how literally anything can be a storage spot and how much clutter and trash can develop from just one week especially if you’re a product junkie like me.

By the time you finish this, 80% of your house will be clean. Throw out what you don’t need and buy clothes hangers or file organizers or caddies or makeup or jewelry organizers for whichever storage spot seems the
most crammed.

Decluttering will make the house look cleaner than someone who disinfected and swept and mopped all day but didn’t declutter the storage area

When I'm cleaning the house throughout the day while working, I work from one end of the house to the other. I always start in the master bathroom after my shower and then clean my bedroom (straighten, dust, vacuum). When I leave the bedroom I bring all the laundry from the bedroom with me (sheets, towels, and clothes hamper). Laundry is near our bedroom so I get that started next. Then I'll do a small straighten and vacuum in the other bedrooms (I don't deep clean these -- kids have to deep clean once a month on the weekend) and bring that laundry out so it is ready to go as the other laundry finishes. Then vacuum hall and stairs.

Downstairs I start in the kitchen with any leftover clean up from the night before (usually putting dishes away and then putting breakfast dishes in the washer), then wipe down all counters and cabinets. Then a big tidy in the entire shared living space (anything to go to bedrooms gets stacked on the already clean stairs) then wipe down all surfaces at once, then vacuum the entire first floor and mop all areas that need it.

Then I clean the kids bathroom later on as I work my way through the laundry. Last thing will be a quick clean/wipe down of the downstairs powder room.

Depending on how busy I am with work this can take me one day or two days. If I split it up then it's upstairs the first day and downstairs the next.

Anonymous wrote:For me one touch isn’t meant to apply while tidying/cleaning. It is to apply all the time, while living life, but meaning put the thing already in your hand from using it directly away where it goes instead of somewhere else to have to pick up a second time to put away for real. That just creates second jobs unnecessarily because I am not a job creation program.

Simple example - spouse/child comes home from work/school and takes of their coat and hangs it on the back of the kitchen chair, creating a job for someone to take it and hang it up in the closet. One touch would be taking it off and directly putting it into the closet. This is the type of thing that drives me nuts in my house with people not really actually cleaning up after themselves and instead creating extra tidying/cleaning work as if anyone needs more of that.

In our house, the coats are on the chair because the coat closet doesn’t fit them all or it’s not one of the two coats everyone is allowed in the coat closet. It’s a factor. It’s definitely easier to do the one touch thing if your stuff: space ratio is right.

I need to declutter but does anyone else feel like the toys are just sapping their energy? We don’t even have THAT many, judging from peers, but I feel like the toys and the clothes that are constantly becoming too small just use up all my executive function energy and then everything else has just slowly gotten worse since kids.

For me one touch isn’t meant to apply while tidying/cleaning. It is to apply all the time, while living life, but meaning put the thing already in your hand from using it directly away where it goes instead of somewhere else to have to pick up a second time to put away for real. That just creates second jobs unnecessarily because I am not a job creation program.

Simple example - spouse/child comes home from work/school and takes of their coat and hangs it on the back of the kitchen chair, creating a job for someone to take it and hang it up in the closet. One touch would be taking it off and directly putting it into the closet. This is the type of thing that drives me nuts in my house with people not really actually cleaning up after themselves and instead creating extra tidying/cleaning work as if anyone needs more of that.

Anonymous wrote:I saw a social /reel / post the other day that said just embrace the stuff that’s in that room. Set up one basket, one drawer, or one shelf in each room. It should hold anything in that room.

I see not doing this for every single item. but I think that works for a lot of things.

If your kids keep reading in the living room but your kids bookshelf is in their bedrooms or loft, make a small kids shelf in the living room. In other words don’t drive yourself nuts carrying the books around over and over.

This is a cool idea. I like the idea of making your house work for you and your lifestyle, rather than trying to fit your lifestyle into the house.

Anonymous wrote:Op again. I’ve made some work progress and also some cleaning progress this afternoon.

I like Go Clean Co. She is a deep cleaner and not super practical for everyday (a little bit yes, a little bit no). She should put out some PhD level information about the art of putting things away — some of them belong in the room you’re in, some of them go upstairs, and some of them go all over the place.

I know people say to declutter. That’s ideal. But also.. I’m interested in teasing this apart.

Her general philosophy is pretty solid, even if you dont do a deep clean. She prioritizes not doing things multiple times, and using the right products for the right job to maximize effectiveness. I'm a big fan if you can't tell

I follow the Flylady book.

I saw a social /reel / post the other day that said just embrace the stuff that’s in that room. Set up one basket, one drawer, or one shelf in each room. It should hold anything in that room.

I see not doing this for every single item. but I think that works for a lot of things.

If your kids keep reading in the living room but your kids bookshelf is in their bedrooms or loft, make a small kids shelf in the living room. In other words don’t drive yourself nuts carrying the books around over and over.

Op again. I’ve made some work progress and also some cleaning progress this afternoon.

I like Go Clean Co. She is a deep cleaner and not super practical for everyday (a little bit yes, a little bit no). She should put out some PhD level information about the art of putting things away — some of them belong in the room you’re in, some of them go upstairs, and some of them go all over the place.

I know people say to declutter. That’s ideal. But also.. I’m interested in teasing this apart.

I blast music. I start with laundry. While that's in I clean bathrooms and kitchen, then dusting, then mopping, vacuuming. Change sheets/towels, empty trash and dishwasher and done. I can do it all in two hours.

Anonymous wrote:If you're spending all your time putting stuff away and spraying surfaces you are not doing a deep clean. You need to buckle down an actually clean the whole room. It's going to take longer.

No one said deep clean.