Just 5 Things I Do Daily

What I wanted to title this was “Just Five Things I Do Every Day to Keep My House Under Control,” but that seemed a bit wordy. So I’m going to to hit my top five habits that I feel help our house not look like a hot mess every day.

Empty the Dishwasher Early

Until very very recently, I was guilty of unloading the dishwasher while I was making dinner almost every day. What I wanted to do was empty it first thing in the morning, but the motivation just wasn’t there. Now that we’re back in the school groove, I’ve been unloading the dishwasher while I make my coffee. Some mornings I only get halfway done, and other mornings I get the whole thing unloaded, but I try to at least start unloading it every morning so it’s ready for dirty dishes to come in.

Do Some Housework

I have a pretty solid cleaning schedule in place (more on that later), and most days I have at least two tasks I want to accomplish. For example, on Mondays I dust the living room, water all of my plants, and vacuum the whole downstairs. Do I always get them all done? No. Do I usually get at least one thing done? Yeah! I figure anything is better than nothing, so I do try to get some routine housework done every day.

Clear the Coffee Table

This one is really for the boys to do, but they need a lot of reminding and “encouragement” to get it done before dinner most days. Flat surfaces… they’re just begging for clutter, aren’t they? We have a large coffee table, and it’s the main drop zone for the boys to put things and work on things (drawing, coloring, etc). When it starts to drive me crazy, I swipe it all into a basket and put the basket on the coffee table. The rule is that anything left in that basket by the end of the day is garbage, and that if it’s important to you, you make sure it finds a home. This makes sure that my coffee table is completely cleared off every night.

Run the Dishwasher

No matter how full or empty it is, our dishwasher runs every night. I mean, let’s be honest, it’s usually so full that I have extra things I need to wash by hand, but once in awhile it isn’t completely full. Doesn’t matter. I run it.

Clean the Kitchen

All I really mean by this is making sure the counters are wiped down and all the dishes are done. After those are done, I put all towels and washcloths in the laundry room and put fresh ones out for the next day.

By doing these five things every day, my house generally looks pretty clean. For me, a clean kitchen is huge, and I can’t imagine going to bed with crumbs on the countertop or dishes in the sink. It would just stress me out in the morning and make me feel defeated. I’ve found that the clean living room really makes me feel content at the end of the day too. Knowing that we have a fresh start every morning is really rewarding and gives that element of calm that I crave on busy mornings.