At its essence, the "clean thinking" philosophy to clean things immediately or on a regular maintenance schedule, so that you almost never to do any remedial cleaning. Here are some of the easiest ways to achieve this.
Always focus on the benefits of cleaning: There are many
Need a Hired Gun? >
If you love being well, organized but just can't seem to get there, a pro can set you firmly on the right path. Professional organizers help people with closets, files,kitchens, basements,garages, entire houses, offices, and businesses.
How can an organizer help you? Organizers are flexible and work in various ways. They may help you make a plan and leave you to carry it out, work with you for as long as you like, or even do the job for you. They charge from $35 to $200 per hour, depending on the nature of the job and the experience of the professional. Prices vary from city to city, too.In an initial visit, the organizer will estimate how long the job will take and how much it will cost.
The National Association of Professional Organizers, founded in 1985 and now with about 1,800 members, has a website, www.napo.net, that can help you find an organizer.
Build cleaning routines and procedures into your everyday life. This may be the single most important thing for achieving the spick-and-span home of your dreams. It means
making your bed every morning (and teaching your kids to do it too). It's always wiping your feet at the door; putting dishes directly into the dishwasher; having a mail-sorting routine that puts bills, catalogs, coupons, and correspondence immediately into their right place. With routines like this, you can keep the time spent housecleaning to a minimum.
Have strategies for keeping your home both clean and neat. Neat means counters are clear, coats are hung up, clutter is under control.Clean means the floors aren't muddy, the corners aren't cobwebby, the doors aren't smudgy. While the two often go hand in hand, it is possible to have a messy home that's clean, or a neat home that's dirty. Neatening and cleaning and cleaning need not happen together.But it's certainly easier and faster to clean a neat room that is neat.
Understand the special cleaning requirements of the things you own. What materials are your carpets, furniture, appliances, curtains, and clothes made of? The more you know about materials, the better you'll be able to clean them. When you make purchasing decisions, take into consideration how the items should be cleaned.
Don't despair at messes, but rather, see the order and cleanliness that can emerge from them. Visualizing, the result in advance is one powerful tool for clean thinking. "Before-and--after pictures are very motivating," says organizing.com and author of Let Go Of Clutter. But when you're still in the "before" stage, you have no "after" picture to inspire you. By visualizing, you can make one.
Pick a spot in the house that bothers you because it's dirty or disorganized. Conjure up an image of order or cleanliness. You might even draw a picture, Schechter suggests, or write a description.
Take visualization a step further and create a small clutter-free area, just to see how it feels. Pick a desk or table that bothers you and put all the stuff on it into a box.For the moment, don't worry about sorting it. After the table or desk is clear, dust it, wash it if it needs it, and just savor the feeling: clean and orderly!
Always focus on the benefits of cleaning: There are many
- A feeling of being in control instead of out of control
- Renewed pride in your environment
- A healthier, safer home
- More and better time with your family
- A more active social life
- Reduced stress
If you hate cleaning and organizing, why not try to change your attitude? Look for the beauty and value in those activities. That's the advice of Bruce Van Horn,who writes and teaches about living more simply. Yogis have long taught the value of doing simple chores such as cleaning, Van Horn says. Yogis describes the benefits of "karma yoga," or being in a meditative state of awareness as you clean or garden: It is calming, focusing, and centering. The idea is to let go of your mental clutter-the
bills that need paying, your dispute with your boss--and focus on the job at hand. Be in the moment.
Barry Izsak, ownere of Arranging It All, a consulting firm in Austin, Texas, finds similar results without the yoga. Izsak says cleaning helps him be more serene. "When I'm under a lot of stress, doing something mundane and methodical is therapetutic and claiming," he expalins. "It's a back-to-basics kind of feeling."
bills that need paying, your dispute with your boss--and focus on the job at hand. Be in the moment.
Barry Izsak, ownere of Arranging It All, a consulting firm in Austin, Texas, finds similar results without the yoga. Izsak says cleaning helps him be more serene. "When I'm under a lot of stress, doing something mundane and methodical is therapetutic and claiming," he expalins. "It's a back-to-basics kind of feeling."
Treat cleanliness as a value that your whole household shares. If you are always the sole cleaner of the home, then what are you teaching everyone else? That they can be messy, and someone else will take care of it. Instead, make it a family wide job to keep your home clean. And make them proud of it.
Part of this means giving children cleaning chores beginning at an early age.When they're very young, they'll enjoy it because they're working with you. Later they may come to see the chores as onerous, but if they've been properly trained, they'll do them anyway.Explaining how to train children to do chores is simple; the actual training process is less so. But it comes down to this:Insist that the children do what you've asked them to do: no excuses from them, no idle threats from you. One day they'll thank you for the training and discipline.
Part of this means giving children cleaning chores beginning at an early age.When they're very young, they'll enjoy it because they're working with you. Later they may come to see the chores as onerous, but if they've been properly trained, they'll do them anyway.Explaining how to train children to do chores is simple; the actual training process is less so. But it comes down to this:Insist that the children do what you've asked them to do: no excuses from them, no idle threats from you. One day they'll thank you for the training and discipline.
Simple Solutions
Need a Hired Gun? >
If you love being well, organized but just can't seem to get there, a pro can set you firmly on the right path. Professional organizers help people with closets, files,kitchens, basements,garages, entire houses, offices, and businesses.
How can an organizer help you? Organizers are flexible and work in various ways. They may help you make a plan and leave you to carry it out, work with you for as long as you like, or even do the job for you. They charge from $35 to $200 per hour, depending on the nature of the job and the experience of the professional. Prices vary from city to city, too.In an initial visit, the organizer will estimate how long the job will take and how much it will cost.
The National Association of Professional Organizers, founded in 1985 and now with about 1,800 members, has a website, www.napo.net, that can help you find an organizer.
Build cleaning routines and procedures into your everyday life. This may be the single most important thing for achieving the spick-and-span home of your dreams. It means
making your bed every morning (and teaching your kids to do it too). It's always wiping your feet at the door; putting dishes directly into the dishwasher; having a mail-sorting routine that puts bills, catalogs, coupons, and correspondence immediately into their right place. With routines like this, you can keep the time spent housecleaning to a minimum.
Have strategies for keeping your home both clean and neat. Neat means counters are clear, coats are hung up, clutter is under control.Clean means the floors aren't muddy, the corners aren't cobwebby, the doors aren't smudgy. While the two often go hand in hand, it is possible to have a messy home that's clean, or a neat home that's dirty. Neatening and cleaning and cleaning need not happen together.But it's certainly easier and faster to clean a neat room that is neat.
Understand the special cleaning requirements of the things you own. What materials are your carpets, furniture, appliances, curtains, and clothes made of? The more you know about materials, the better you'll be able to clean them. When you make purchasing decisions, take into consideration how the items should be cleaned.
Don't despair at messes, but rather, see the order and cleanliness that can emerge from them. Visualizing, the result in advance is one powerful tool for clean thinking. "Before-and--after pictures are very motivating," says organizing.com and author of Let Go Of Clutter. But when you're still in the "before" stage, you have no "after" picture to inspire you. By visualizing, you can make one.
Pick a spot in the house that bothers you because it's dirty or disorganized. Conjure up an image of order or cleanliness. You might even draw a picture, Schechter suggests, or write a description.
Take visualization a step further and create a small clutter-free area, just to see how it feels. Pick a desk or table that bothers you and put all the stuff on it into a box.For the moment, don't worry about sorting it. After the table or desk is clear, dust it, wash it if it needs it, and just savor the feeling: clean and orderly!
expert advice
How Little Squirts Learn to clean >
Regina Leeds, an organizing expert based in Los Angeles and the author of The Zen of Organizing, tells of a client who has seven children. The children have been raised to pick up after themselves, clean their belongings, do laundry, and clean house.
How does the mother do it? When a child is about 18 months old, she puts a rag and a spray bottle in the tyke's little hands and teaches him or her how to clean something a child can easily reach and appreciate--say, a toy truck. As her children grow, their cleaning reach is extended until eventually they know how to clean the clean house. By the time they are 18, they know how to take care of themselves.
How Little Squirts Learn to clean >
Regina Leeds, an organizing expert based in Los Angeles and the author of The Zen of Organizing, tells of a client who has seven children. The children have been raised to pick up after themselves, clean their belongings, do laundry, and clean house.
How does the mother do it? When a child is about 18 months old, she puts a rag and a spray bottle in the tyke's little hands and teaches him or her how to clean something a child can easily reach and appreciate--say, a toy truck. As her children grow, their cleaning reach is extended until eventually they know how to clean the clean house. By the time they are 18, they know how to take care of themselves.
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