#1 Key To Having A Tidy Home

That may seem like a big claim. The NUMBER ONE key to having a tidy home? Who are you to claim you know the number one answer? Well, I’ll tell you. I’m not much of anyone actually. I’m not a minimalist, Marie Kondo or a mom blogger or influencer who has made it big. I am a mom. Plain and simple, that is me.

I’m a mom that was often times overwhelmed by my home. I’ve gone through (many) seasons where I never felt I could keep up with all the cleaning and laundry to be done in my home. I would sometimes break down and cry to my husband because I didn’t feel adequate as a mother. I mean, if you can’t keep your home clean, are you even a good mother? (The answer to that is yes). But, if you feel like you are always living in a dirty, cluttered home, you can often feel like the answer to that is “no”.

Maybe we moms don’t give ourselves enough grace. We are our worst critics. But I know all-to-well that feeling of always working but never having a clean home. That feeling of not wanting any guests to drop by because they house is a wreck. And I know how to change that. I know what worked for me, and I stand strong that this can work for you too.

#1 Key To Having A Tidy Home

So, spill the beans already. What is the #1 key to having a tidy home? While there are many aspects that go into KEEPING a tidy home, the key to getting there is to DECLUTTER! Now, I already told you above, I am not a minimalist. I’m not against those that are minimalist. In fact, I’m inching closer that direction each day, but I don’t think I will ever get to where I am a full fledged minimalist. However, I have already started reaping the benefits of having less stuff.

Laundry

Less stuff means that there is less to clean! I know it’s hard for our brains to comprehend this. If you have less clothes you’ll have to do laundry more often. NO. If you have more clothes you’re still doing laundry just as often as if you had less, however, you are also throwing loads more clothes on the pile and you can never get to the bottom of the pile!

You may be asking, don’t you wear the same amount of clothes no matter how many you have in your closet? One would think the answer to this is yes, but somehow the math never seems to work out that way. I don’t exactly know how it happens.

Maybe when we have more clothes we have a tendency to throw items in the laundry that aren’t actually dirty. My almost teen is guilty of this. Maybe we have that one week when we just can’t get to the laundry. We have enough clothes to get us through to the next, and then that never ending pile becomes insurmountable. If we have less clothes, we don’t have the option to choose not to wash a load, and then that pile stays smaller! Again, I don’t know exactly how the math works out, but I can tell you, it’s just the way it goes. Give it a try and see for yourself!

Dishes

The same as with laundry, you may be thinking if you have less dishes you will ALWAYS be washing dishes. Don’t you already feel like you are ALWAYS washing dishes? So, the fact that you will always have dishes to wash probably won’t go away, but the overwhelm can.

Let me give you an example. If you have 10 cups for your children to use in the cabinet (let’s be real, for many of us it’s more like 20), then guess what. They will use all 10 cups! And you will end up washing all 10 cups. However, if you only have 5 cups available, then you only ever have to wash 5 cups!

Now, maybe you have to wash those 5 cups a little more often, but it’s still only 5 cups. It is less dishes to wash, and it is less overwhelming. Anyone besides me ever find a cup with old milk sitting around the house?! No, just me? This is a good indication that I have too many cups! If you have less cups, you don’t have the “luxury” to leave those dirty cups sitting around the house. Instead you have to go find them so you can wash it and reuse it, and guess what? It keeps your house that much more tidy because you don’t have dirty dishes laying around everywhere!

The Proof That Decluttering is the #1 Key to Having a Tidy Home

Less stuff, less mess. It’s really as simple as that. If you have less stuff in your home, then you have less to clean. Now again, I’m not talking about throwing every single thing out of your home and living with a bed, a night stand, and one chair. As I told you, I’m not exactly a minimalist. But I can guarantee that we all have plenty of items in our home just taking up space.

Let me give you my personal life example about how decluttering has been the #1 key to having a tidy home in my own home. Go back to square one when I was in overwhelm mode. I decided to do a 30 day challenge with Allie Casazza. Everyone in the challenge decluttered 30 minutes a day for 30 days. In just those 30 days my home life completely changed!

I got rid of dishes and had less to clean. I got rid of small appliances I never used and had room in my cabinets to clear off all the stuff always sitting ON my counters. My house was looking clean for more than just one day. In fact, my house could stay mostly clean most of the time! I didn’t feel bad about having people drop by. I could do a quick pick up in just 10 minutes.

AND, I had people noticing! I would have people drop by for one thing or another and they noticed. They didn’t know exactly what it was, but they would say things like “something seems different in your home.” Or, “it seems so tidy when I walk in your home. Did you do something different?” I would then explain what I’d been up to, and they would reply with, “I like it!”

How Do You Declutter?

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Thank you for supporting me!

I don’t have the time in this post to get into all the nitty gritty, but I do have some resources for you. First of all, I don’t think I can stress this enough. I GUARANTEE that decluttering is the #1 key to having a tidy home. Of course there are all sorts of cleaning tips that can help and other supporting things that go along with it, but decluttering is the key. It is the place to start.

• If even the thought of decluttering your home feels overwhelming and you don’t know where to start, check out my blog post on How to Start Decluttering Your Home.
• If you’re a mom that is feeling overwhelmed with life in general, subscribe to my email list to get tips on how to manage your busy mom life.
• Join me on my journey in taking Allie Casazza’s online class, Your Uncluttered Home. She has the step-by-step advice you need to declutter your home. Use my link and receive $30 off the cost of this course.

I believe in you mama. I know you can do this. And I know from experience that you don’t have to live in overwhelm every day because of your home. It may not be perfect. I still have a long ways to go in my home. But this is definitely the place to start. I’m here for you mama, and I’m cheering you on. You got this!