How to Keep on Top of Mess

I am not the tidiest of people. I get overwhelmed easily, I  get dizzy from cleaning (although not so often lately I've noticed) and I let mess pile up and pile up until myself and Josh are feeling incredibly depressed from it all. Even then it's a few weeks before I get the urge to purge and clean! Or Josh gives in and does it for me. So, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and keep on top of the mess and not let our bedroom look like a bomb hit it!

Don't Put it Down, Put it Away
There's a tiktok sound of someone repeating this like a mantra and I absolutely love it! It's such a great reminder that it takes just as long to put something away properly as it does to just dump it down somewhere.

Put Rubbish in Bins Straight Away

To be fair, I usually do, Charlie is more the guilty one for this. How hard is it to put something in the bin as soon as you're done with it? It also bothers me when I've been doing lots of long shifts in a row and Josh hasn't been squishing down the rubbish so it's not overflowing. When we do get a chance to empty the bin, you can guarantee there's stuff that has fallen out!

Put Clean Washing Away Straight Away

This is one I really struggle with. I absolutely hate putting clean clothes away, especially as all three of us have too many clothes and I struggle to fit it all in our wardrobes and drawers. But if I don't, we end up with a mountain of multiple loads clothes on our bedroom floor and then it takes even longer to put away. It usually helps if we do smaller loads throughout the week, rather than trying to do a few large loads over the weekend! Unfortunately, work usually gets in the way of that though.

Get Kids or Spouses Involved

The last time I had a deep clean, I got Charlie involved and he actually had fun doing it! He put washing in the machine, turned it on, tidied away his toys and even helped me hoover. Not bad for a five year old! Josh is generally quite tidy anyway so apart from the odd thing he leaves laying around, he does his part.

Take Cups/Plates Out and Wash Them

Straight away or at least by the end of the day! Recently, Josh has been collecting 3-4 glasses in the bedroom throughout the week and it has been driving me potty! The worst part is, he complains about the mess on the side table but doesn't realise all the glasses are his! I drink out of one mug or my water bottle all day every day.

Give Everything a Place

When you're in a small space like we are currently, giving everything a place isn't easy. We have a cooler in the bedroom where we keep all of our drinks and snacks - which isn't very practical as it is quite big but it beats having shopping bags laying around like we used to. We try to encourage Charlie to put all of toys away in his toy storage under the stairs so he only has cuddly toys in his room by bedtime.

Anything we don't use but don't want to get rid of is hidden under the bed which is probably my favourite hack.

Declutter

If in doubt, chuck it out! The main reason I struggle with keeping on top of tidying is because I own too much stuff for the size of the room I have. It'll be different once we've moved into our house and I can spread things about a bit and we have more storage, but for now, if I'm feeling overwhelmed with it all, I try decluttering. I recently did a 101 Items Declutter Week and it helped immensely. I'm already feeling the urge to do another one!

Until next time,

Saph x