Housekeeping tip #1 – Eliminating Clutter
A neat friend
Roger, a bachelor friend of mine, always had a perfectly clean apartment. Everything was in place, all the time. He shared with me that his step-mother gave him a great tip to help him for his whole life.
The tip
She told him that it’s easier to put something away when it’s still in your hand. Coming back to clean something up later only makes more work and the house is messy in the mean time. I’ve been working on implementing this for years.
It’s a challenge with children
I’m much better but with children it’s hard to put away EVERYTHING that’s in my hands when we walk in the door. I’ve got shoes, extra clothes, groceries, backpack, trash, child, etc. in my arms. I know, I know, get the kids to put their own stuff away. I’m working on that, actually.
I must be doing something right
The little one, five-years-old now, actually repeated one of my mantras to me last week. She said something like this, "I put my things away when I was done with them because if my friends and I put our things away when we’re done with them then my room will always be clean and I’ll know where to find my toys because they will be where they are supposed to be." Oh, my, did that blow my mind: my words coming out of her mouth as if they were her revelation! Hey, this stuff works.