When you go to Babci’s house, for the most part, it looks tidy. Here’s a little secret I’ll share with you. She is actually a slob. I think it’s due to a combination of growing up in a tiny house with no storage and having to work around the clock with manual labor. First on the farm, then at the factory…both jobs were very labor intensive and tiring. When you don’t have time to clean things right, you cut corners.
Here are some of the things she loves to do to keep her house tidy. Most of them I don’t agree with, but who knows, maybe if you’re a slob too, this might do just the trick when you learn about a surprise visitor coming to town.
Cleaning and Storage Tips: Dirty Dishes
On more than one occasion, I have come home, decided I needed to bake something and automatically turned on the oven to pre-heat it. At Babci’s house, this is a very dumb thing to do. “What’s that smell?” I open the oven and there are dirty pots and pans stored there. Thankfully my annoyance had gotten to the point where she stopped doing that sometime when I was in college. She still stores her pots and pans in the oven. I suppose that’s a viable thing to do if you have a tiny kitchen. I prefer my $40 pot rack as I don’t have to empty and clutter my counter with pots and pans every time I decide I want to bake something.
She also used to store her circular items like Pie Plates in the microwave, although she got rid of the microwave all together earlier last year. She decided it takes up too much space and she never uses it anyway. She has a lot of kitchen storage these days so I’m surprised she still does this stuff.
Cleaning and Storage: Hooks and Nails
I think this is also a trait leftover from her days of living in a one room farmhouse with 10 other people. She has 3 closets sitting mostly empty yet there are hooks and nails on the back of every door, on the walls, along the stairs down to the basement. She loves her hooks. I can see the practical aspect of this both from a space and convenience standpoint. You can just look at a wall and find something instantly vs rummaging around in a closet or drawer somewhere. You need to put something away, on a hook it goes. Alternatively, it gets hung on the back of a chair somewhere.
Cleaning and Storage: Clutter
Another way babci has kept her house looking relatively clutter free is having a designated area to ditch her extra stuff. In her apartment building, there was not enough room to have a “spare room” to throw your junk in, so she closed off 1/2 of her back porch and made a giant shed to put stuff in. This was where she stored all her jars and random things that might be useful someday. Her fabric she kept in garbage bags behind and under furniture. Once I moved out, she took over my bedroom closet. I don’t know how she ever found anything with this method, but it enabled her to keep all her stuff. When she moved, I splurged and bought a dozen clear tote bins and sorted fabric by color or material type so she can find something quickly. Everything was folded so you can see a layer of that fabric from the side of the tote. She still uses the tote bins but they are all a jumbled mess now from rooting through them. I tried.
Cleaning and Storage: Take your shoes off
It’s a lot easier to keep the floors clean if your not tracking in dirt from your dirty garden shoes. We always take our shoes off as soon as we enter in the door. I think this is quite common with many cultures. Babci gets annoyed though that I don’t have slippers at her house for the kids. She hates anyone being barefoot. Apparently she thinks walking barefoot (and sitting on concrete) causes rheumatism. I should get her some new slippers this winter.
So in Summary here are the main tips from Babci. Use at your own risk
- If you don’t have a place to store something, stick a hook on a wall and hang it up.
- If your closets are full, then utilize other spots for storage like underneath the bed or behind the couch, Any hidden cubby hole is instant storage.
- If company is coming over and you don’t have time to do the dishes, quickly rinse them off and put them in the drying rack to rewash proper later, or hide them somewhere til you can get to them.
- Hanging clothes on the back of the chair looks neater than throwing them on the floor.
- Making your bed instantly makes bedrooms look neater.
- If all else fails, keep your kitchen, living room and bathroom clean, and close the doors to the other rooms.
It took quite a bit of head scratching and analysis to figure out why Babci prefers to hang things all over the walls and chairs while keeping her closets and dressers empty. In her city apartment, I never noticed this because it was a tiny space so you had to do these things. But now that she lives in a big house with 3 huge closets, I completely didn’t understand it for years. Then it donned on me…she never had dressers or closets growing up so it was like teaching an old dog new tricks. It seemed so simple once I figured it out. Usually there is always a simple answer for even the most puzzling of mysteries.
Here’s my go to method for picking up the house:
- Start with the easiest room first. This will either be the smallest room or the room that’s the least dirty already.
- Gather up all the things that don’t belong in that room and put them back into the rooms or places they belong.
- Clear all horizontal spaces and pick up things off the floor.
- Do the things that take the least amount of work but have the biggest impact first. Make the beds, clean off the counters, put dishes away, sweep the floor.
- Prioritize labor intensive things last. Don’t decide to tackle your paperwork pile or ironing pile til the very very end or better yet a completely different day altogether. Just stuff it in a folder or put it in a bag and move on. Consolidate those things in one area until you have the time to tackle them. I usually gather up my loose mail and paper and dump it all on my desk. My desk is always the last place in the house to get organized.
- If I was super organized, I’d ad a special task to every cleaning session. These are the things that never get done but should…like dusting blinds or washing windows. Theoretically if I washed one window a week, it wouldn’t be such a daunting task. I have yet to incorporate that idea into practice though, because once I start, I can’t stop. I’m like that vampire that can’t stop picking up sunflower seeds until they are all off the ground. You might as well call me in 2 hours when I’m done with the whole house. If you’re the type of person that can stop midway through a project though, it’s not a bad strategy.
- Sometimes it’s a good idea to time yourself and say “I’m going to clean for the next 20 minutes.” That way, you don’t have to feel like you’re spending all your free time cleaning, but 20 minutes is actually enough time to make a big dent in general messiness.
- Multi-task when possible. I find that I tend to unload our dishwasher while the kids are eating their breakfast. I’ll also clear off our drying rack when I’m waiting for tea to boil. Those little 5 minute tidying sessions really do put a big dent in the overall appearance of your home.
If you’re looking to get more organized, I hope these little tips were helpful. If all else fails, be like babci, get a 12 pack of hooks and hang it up on your wall.
Do you have any tips for the slovenly?
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