We have a collection of tips for general organising around the house.

Around the house

Keep up to date. Tidy up daily, you don’t need to do a big spring clean every day but keep everything tidy. Fold and pack the washing away every night. Pack the dishwasher or wash the dishes every night so you start the day with a clean kitchen.

Find a landing strip. This is a place where bags can go daily – school bags, gyms bags, laptop bags and work bags. Leaving all the bags there will make it easier to find them and will also prevent bags lying around the house.

Clear the clutter. Do not keep anything you do not need! Make a date every three months to clear out cupboards. Throw out everything you don’t use regularly, all it does is create clutter and disorganisation.

Set a schedule. Set aside time to do the laundry, deep clean the bathrooms, change linen etc. Unless you have full time help you cannot do it all every day.

In the kitchen

Keep your groceries to a minimal. Meal planning will help to keep your cupboards organised and streamlined.

Only kitchen items allowed in the kitchen. If it doesn’t get used in the kitchen, it doesn’t belong on the kitchen.

Keep recipes in one place. Have one place in your kitchen where your recipes books and files are kept.

In the bathrooms

Keep a basket in each bathroom with it’s own cleaning material and toilet rolls.

Make sure there are enough hooks to hang up all the towels.

Keep the laundry baskets out of the bathroom. Put a basket in every bedroom instead.

Separate everyone’s toiletries. Get plastic cups for everyone who shares a bathroom, right their names on and let them keep their toothbrushes, toothpastes etc in there.

In the bedrooms

Make the beds daily. Older children can actually make their own beds, make it part of their daily routine.

Label duplicate items. If you have same sex siblings label items like towels, gowns etc if they have the same so that you know where they belong.

Keep linen sets together. Fold up the duvet, pillow cases and sheet and place inside one of the pillow cases so that the set is together and easily accessible.

In the lounge

Keep the clutter out! Whatever does get brought into the lounge must be taken out again.

No food. Empty glasses and plates left in the lounge create an untidy environment.

Throws over couches help to protect the couches and can be washed easily and regularly.

“A place for everything and everything in its place” says Mrs Beeton and she is very right. If everything is where it is supposed to be there will be no searching for keys when you should already be in the car trying to figure out what is finished in the cupboards and what is not.

Author bio: 

Laura is a mom to four which means she spends most of her day driving kids from one activity to the next. She lives in Pretoria with her husband, the kids, a dog and a bird. Laura blogs over at HarassedMom (www.harassedmom.co.za) and runs a small party planning business (www.journey2joy.co.za), Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Journey2Joy/10150128530740425 and twitter https://twitter.com/Journey2Joy

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