I am the queen of the quick tidy-up. I have to be, because my default nature is to be sloppy. When I am cooking or doing a craft or DIY project, I create disaster zones. In my 20s, I was likely to leave it that way and just work around the mess for days afterward until I was finally forced to clean up after myself, but now that I’m in my 30s, I’ve identified that my state of mind is strongly tied to how tidy my surroundings are, so I’ve taught myself how to do quick pick-ups.
Milo's room
So here you have it, the 10 Minute Tidy Up:
- Very quickly pick up everything that isn’t where it should be and put it on the bed.
- Divide what is on the bed into logical categories. One category should always be “Doesn’t belong in this room.” (If I’m tidying Milo’s room, the categories would be: “Dirty laundry,” “Clean clothes,” “Costumes,” “Toys,” “Trash,” “Doesn’t belong in this room.”)
- Put away the easy stuff first. (Dirty laundry goes in hamper, clean clothes go in closet or drawers, toys go in toy chest, trash goes in trashcan.)
- For the pile of things that doesn’t belong in the room, ask yourself if it often ends up here, and so would it thus make sense to have it live there permanently. Think about making a home for it there so that it can still be put away rather than just sitting on the floor. Likewise, if the dirty laundry ends up in the same spot, consider moving a hamper closer to that spot. In the meantime, take that stuff out of the room you’re tidying.
- Vacuum or sweep. It’s a simple step that makes any room look a thousand times cleaner.
The end!
I know a mom who has five kids and every night right before she goes to bed, she walks around the house and puts all the clutter into a big box and then puts the box in a closet in the guest room. That way, if her kids want to know where their stuff ended up, they don’t need to ask her, they just check the box. If they don’t want their stuff ending up in the box, they can clean up after themselves better. I think that is a genius solution and might use it myself when Milo is older. Right now, he thinks that cleaning and tidying is a novelty, and really loves to help. He evens pick up after me and his dad: if my water bottle isn’t where it usually is, he’ll bring it to me saying: “Back, back,” meaning, “Put it back, mom.” I love this phase, but I know it won’t last forever.
4 Responses to “How to Tidy Any Room in 10 Minutes”
I love the box idea! We do a quick clean-up of the playroom every night before Henry goes to bed. It makes all the difference!
Hey Jo,
Similar to the box thing, my folks used to employ the “Saturday Bag,” into which all toys, etc. that weren’t picked up on Saturday at noon would go until the following week. I remember shedding many tears about this as of course I waited until the Saturday Bag was coming around to scramble to pick up all of my toys.
I’m not sure if that was effective or not in teaching me to pick up my toys and plan ahead, but I think it did inadvertently teach me about prioritization under pressure and picking favorites from my toys. HA.
[...] How to Tidy Any Room In the meantime, take that stuff out of the room you’re tidying. Vacuum or sweep. It’s a simple step that makes any room look a thousand times cleaner. Tidy People I wonder what happens when tidy people do marry NTP and have children, if those children are now all the whiney kids you see on Dr. Phil? I’d explore this psychological breakthrough longer. Teaching children to fight clutter If you drop things randomly as you pass through the house, so will the kids. Joe’s point is excellent, keeping the house tidy is a team effort. Mail this post [...]
megan: milo and i do a quick pick-up every night, too, while matt is feeding the cats. it definitely helps, but you know how it is. the rooms still get messy again!
george: I LIKE THE SATURDAY BAG! i might have to steal that. i do think it’s probably a little easier with only one kid, but having a consequence is a good motivator for kids.