Ditch the Chaos with a Clean and Organized Home this New Year

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It’s time to bid farewell to chaos and embrace the new year with a refreshing clean and organized home. In the hustle and bustle of daily life, it’s easy to overlook our living space’s impact on our well-being. Let’s explore practical strategies to turn your home into a haven of tranquility for the new year. Say goodbye to the stress of disorder and hello to a fresh start. Welcome to a cleaner, calmer, and more harmonious home, setting the tone for a promising new year.

The Impact of a Clean and Organized Home on Well-being

Whether you realize it or not, your home has an impact on your overall well-being. When we get rid of clutter, our brain can focus and our emotions are better regulated. Clutter-free homes also provide a sense of familiarity and consistency that offer us stability. 

Studies show that clutter is linked to procrastination, feeling overwhelmed, and an overall lower quality of life. Having a sense of order and structure benefits us by causing us to feel better able to manage life.

Less Stress

Having a tidy home can help you minimize stress. When you have disarray at home, it causes higher stress levels which can have an impact on your overall mental health. While cluttered spaces can cause you to feel overwhelmed and anxious, an organized space can make you feel safe and calm.

Strategies for Decluttering and Organizing

Embarking on the journey to declutter and organize your living space is a powerful step toward a more peaceful home. Here are some practical strategies for transforming each room into a well-ordered sanctuary. From the heart of the home, the kitchen, to the cozy corners of your bedroom, here is some room-by-room guidance to streamline your living spaces. 

Discover the principles of minimalism, explore innovative storage solutions, and learn how to maintain a clutter-free environment. Get ready to tackle the chaos, reclaim your space, and create a home that fosters clarity and calmness.

Room-by-room guide:

Decluttering can initially seem utterly overwhelming. However, it’s important to chunk the project into smaller tasks. First, think about your home as individual rooms. You have the kitchen, living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.

Select one room that you will target first. For example, the kitchen. Break that one room down into even smaller tasks. You may want to start with the pantry, the drawers, or the cabinets. The key is to work on smaller tasks. 

Don’t attempt to do the entire kitchen all at once unless you simply desire to. You can avoid overwhelm by working on one or two smaller tasks each day. This will keep you motivated because you will begin to see progress and feel productive enough to continue with the project of decluttering.

Once the entire kitchen is complete, move on to the next room. Remember that it’s okay if it takes you a week to complete the kitchen. Break up each room into small tasks and work on 1 or 2 tasks each day. The great thing about this is that once you do this initial deep decluttering of each room, all you have to do is maintain it regularly so you will have way less work to do in the future. This hard work will pay off.

When you get to the living room, follow the same process. Maybe one day you focus on the entertainment center and the next day you focus on tidying furniture and getting rid of items that are cluttering the space, and so on,

In the bedroom, you may want to start with the nightstands and dresser. Next, move on to the closet or under the bed, etc. Do this with each room and give yourself grace. It’s okay if this is a gradual process.

Storage and Minimalism

As you’re decluttering your rooms, feel free to utilize storage bins. When you use storage bins that are the same, it can elevate your space and give the room a visually appealing appearance. In the kitchen, you can try decanting. Use the same types of storage containers for your cereals, baking ingredients, or pasta. This eliminates the various random colors that the food boxes come in and leaves your kitchen with an aesthetic appearance of uniformity.

You can do the same thing in your linen closet or bathroom. Select storage containers and bins that are consistent to give your space an even more organized and put-together appearance.

Get rid of things that you don’t need. It can be tempting to hoard, but if you haven’t used an item in 6-12 months consider tossing it or giving it away. Sometimes we hold on to things way longer than necessary simply because we don’t want to let things go.

Try to think about what you need and use frequently and keep those things around. Anything else that is taking up space and is pretty useless can go. You’d be surprised at how much stuff you have in your home that is just clutter with no use or purpose. It’s okay to let it go.

Establishing Sustainable Cleaning Habits

Once you’ve decluttered your home, it’s time to establish some cleaning habits. These habits and routines will prevent you from having to do regular massive decluttering sessions. The goal is to do an initial massive declutter and then maintain things thereafter with only small decluttering sessions along the way.

One cleaning habit you should have is a daily cleaning routine. Select cleaning tasks that you will commit to completing every day. This usually includes washing the dishes or running the dishwasher, sweeping the kitchen floor, wiping the counters, and tidying the living room before bed.

 I’d recommend taking a few minutes each night before bed to declutter any high-traffic areas that tend to get cluttered easily. This may be your mud room, mail, dining room table, etc. 

Depending on your schedule, you can also commit to quickly cleaning the toilet and wiping the sinks and counters in your bathroom.

 If you have older children, you can teach them to do the same thing in their own bathroom. A simple swish of the toilet brush and a Clorox wipe along the counter and sink may take only 5 minutes of your time each day and keep your bathroom looking fresh. This makes cleaning easier for you in the long run.

NOTE: With a family, it’s unlikely to have a spotless home 24/7 and that is okay! Let your family live and let your kids have fun. However, you can train them to clean up their toys once they are finished.

Have a designated place for toys and kids’ items so it doesn’t clutter the entire home. Teach your kids where things belong and keep them accountable for putting things back in the right place.

Practice decluttering and tidying before bed each night so you and your family can wake up to a clean home. Tidy before leaving the house so that you can come home to a tidy home. It’s a wonderful feeling to walk in the door to clean and organized living spaces.

Weekly and Monthly Tasks for Clean and Organized Home

Once you’ve established your daily cleaning habits and routines, plan your weekly and monthly habits and routines. Some tasks need to be completed weekly. For example, washing clothes, towels, and bedsheets. Vacuuming the house, taking out the trash, and cleaning out the car are also tasks that can be done once a week.

Monthly tasks can include things like sweeping the front porch, straightening closets and drawers, wiping cobwebs, cleaning baseboards, etc. 

If you need help determining what to do each day, week, and month check out Fly Lady. She has an amazing cleaning system which helped me alot when I first got started.

Final Thoughts on Having a Clean and Organized Home

I understand that this may seem overwhelming if this is all new to you. Remember, you are starting a new habit for the new year. New habits take time and practice. Take one day at a time and take it one small task at a time. It’s okay to work in baby steps.

Decluttering and maintaining a clean and organized home is worth it for the well-being of you and your family. Everyone in your household will benefit from being able to focus better, regulate emotions, minimize anxiety, feel a sense of stability, and everything else that comes with having a clean living space. 

Also, don’t do it alone. Get your family members on board to help you with tasks or to help you maintain cleanliness. Each person can take responsibility for picking up after themselves, putting things back where they belong, and working together to keep the home clean.

So take the first step to ditching the chaos and starting the new year fresh! It’s time to declutter and begin your fresh start in an organized and peaceful home!

If you enjoyed this article, you’ll also love: 5 Good Habits to Get Organized and Eliminate Mess

Comment below: 

Have you noticed a significant difference between living in a cluttered space versus living in a clean and organized home.