Imagine you just got home from work. You walk into a house of chaos: dirty dishes in the sink, half-eaten oatmeal bowls on the counter, and an unmade bed. You have no idea how to keep your house organized—especially during your busiest weeks.
Netflix, pajamas, and a glass of red are calling your name, but you feel a nagging guilt to tend to the clutter. Sound familiar? If so, we’re here to help!
Yes, it’s important to build the foundation for a clean home when you have the time (think of major organization tasks you’d do over a weekend). But during the week, it’s okay to want to spend time with loved ones, relax, and keep cleaning to a minimum.
It doesn’t have to take hours to maintain an organized home. So, I’m going to show you how you keep your home organized with a few daily habits. When these quick and easy tasks are complete, you’ll find you can keep it organized and still enjoy your evenings!
Ready to get started? Here’s how to keep your house organized all week long.
4 Home Organization Task to Complete Daily
1. Declutter the counters.
This may seem like an obvious task, but it can be daunting—especially the longer you’ve gone without doing it.
For that reason, the key is to tackle your counters once and then maintain them as best as you can each morning or evening.
Choose a five-minute window in your daily schedule, and stick to it. (Trust me: I know those free minutes are few and far between, but it’s worth it!)
Here’s what you’ll do during those five minutes:
- Put the dishes away and load the dishwasher. If you don’t have a dishwasher, rinse off the dirty dishes to make your life easier when you have more time to wash them.
- Declutter your space. Mail? Go through it as soon as it comes in, and file items where they belong. Knick-knacks? Store them where they’re out of sight, out of mind. (I use a “junk drawer” to store odds and ends.) The less stuff on your counters, the less messy it’ll feel.
- Add little personal touches that make you smile. Whether you treat yourself to a small bouquet of flowers, buy a pretty frame to hold a special family photo, or show off a MacKenzie-Childs piece, little touches help keep the counter bright and happy.
Save this one for the weekend: How to organize your entire kitchen!
2. Make your bed.
My mom always told me, “A messy bed equals a messy head.” I may have dreaded the task then, but today, I know it’s an easy task that sets the day up for success.
Don’t put off making your bed. Do it right after you get out of bed so you can’t create excuses to put it off. Get in the habit of making your bed every single morning, and watch as the momentum spills over into other areas of your home. When you start with a small win, everything else follows!
Plus, you’ll have a clean, relaxing space to come back to at the end of the day.
3. Make sure all your belongings have a designated place.
As you go about your day, it’s natural for items to shift around your home. When you know exactly where those items are supposed to live, it’s easy to put them back throughout the day. When you don’t, you’ll be overwhelmed as your things pile up.
Odds and ends can be the trickiest to organize. Look for inexpensive baskets for those small, difficult-to-organize items. Every day, I make sure my makeup makes it back into the “cosmetic” basket, the shaving cream gets put in the “husband” basket, and my 400 bobby pins find a home in their “hair accessory” tray. It only takes a few minutes to put things away when they have a specified home.
When it’s easy to put things away throughout the day, avoiding having a big pile of clutter by the end of the week is more manageable.
4. Keep a home organization to-do list.
You’re busy. I get it. It’s not realistic to keep your home spotless on a daily basis. Even if you have the best intentions, there are going to be other tasks that need your time and attention.
That’s where your home organization list comes in. A home to-do list outlines the tasks you can’t get to right away but don’t want to forget. Then, when you have a little free time in your schedule, you can pick up where you left off.
Have fun with the paper you choose for your home organization list. I love cute stationery. Whether it’s monogrammed or features a print you love, find something visually appealing so you’ll enjoy referencing your list throughout the week.
Related: 10 Areas You Need to Add to Your Spring Cleaning List
Keeping things organized can be simple with daily home habits. The hardest part is just getting started! As you complete these quick tasks throughout the day, you’ll build momentum. And the cleaner your space looks, the more excited you’ll be to keep it up.
If your problem is more about “how to keep your house clean” instead of “how to keep your house organized“, we’ve got those tips for you, too: How to Keep a House Clean Every Day of the Week.
No matter what your home organization goals are, we believe in you!
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 1, 2018. It was revised on November 27, 2020 & July 11th, 2023 to provide fresh information.
