Organizing Your Home in the New Year: Part 2

Part 2 in Art Van Clean Team’s series: Organizing Your Home in the New Year.

In the first part of the series, brought to you by Art Van Clean Team, we defined clutter and outlined its negative effects on your health, and suggested you start de-cluttering your home consistently and in baby steps. We’ll pick up where we left off with this post on developing and maintaining a schedule to keep your home clean and organized.

Develop and maintain a cleaning schedule

Think of all the gifts you’ve received over the years. Wouldn’t the gift of a sparking clean home have been a fantastic surprise? Here’s the good news: You don’t have to wait for someone to get the bright idea to surprise you with a professional cleaning; you can treat yourself!

Start the year off right by hiring professional housecleaners to give your home a good cleaning, taking care of jobs you haven’t had the time or heart to get to over the past year. There’s nothing like starting with a fresh slate to keep you motivated: a fresh mattress, sparkling, like new floors, and clean carpets will make your home look and feel fantastic.

Once your home has had its once-over, make a cleaning schedule to keep it looking fantastic all year long. Here’s a simple schedule to get you started that is straightforward and easy to follow:

Develop Daily Habits

Starting with a clean house is important, but strong daily habits are a must if you want to keep your home organized. Don’t treat organization like one big project that happens once in a while. Organization begins with changing your mindset and daily habits. A weekend spent throwing away and donating unwanted items is great, but if you don’t change the underlying thinking and behaviors that led you to a disorganized home in the first place, you’re almost sure to end up right back where you started; with a mess!

If you want to change your habits and learn to maintain an uncluttered lifestyle, spend time every day moving towards your goal. Make organization part of your daily routine. The easiest way to accomplish this is to address problems as they occur. When children’s papers, new clothing, mail, or anything else comes into your home, find a home for it immediately. If it sits out on countertops or tables without a designated home, it will soon become more of the clutter you fought so hard to eliminate.

Some people do well to handle items as soon as the come through the door, others by setting aside 15 minutes at the start or end of their day devoted to organization. A small time investment will quickly pay off in the form of a habit – and once you develop good habits you'll stay organized effortlessly!

Know there will be setbacks in your journey towards a clutter free, organized home. But setbacks are only temporary. Once you get back on track, you’ll soon find the peace and calmness you first yearned for, and that magical feeling will keep you going.

Take inspiration from professional organizer, Ramona Creel, “Just set aside a day or two to regroup – go systematically through the piles, create a list of to-do's in order of urgency, and tackle each task one step at a time.”

When you’re ready to tackle the extra tough projects in your home, or give yourself the gift of a top to bottom professional clean, call the experts at Art Van Clean Team. We look forward to helping you keep your home beautiful, clean, and organized.