3 Quick Tips to Improve Your Busy Homelife
Written by Elaine Tan Comeau
Are you looking for quick tips to improve your busy family’s home? You can use these easy strategies right away to get your family to communicate better, and have a cleaner, more organized home.
1. “The Busy Board”
If your family is so busy that it feels like no one knows where anyone is going and coming from, having a family centre where everyone can see what everyone is up to can be very helpful! Make a quick and easy “Family Tweet Board” (DIY white board where one person starts off with a 140 character or less statement about the day and everyone else can walk by and comment) so that everyone in the house can quickly communicate to each other in a fun and easy way. It is so important to keep communication open.
2. “The Ten Minute Tidy”
Who doesn’t love a clean house? Here is a fun strategy to get everyone up and cleaning each week to make it a tidy home all year long; an easy ten-minute block you can include in your family routine every Saturday morning for the whole entire year! The strategy here is to do a little each week so that it does not pile up to be a big unbearable job.
a) Create a ten minute playlist for the whole family to shake their booty to while cleaning
b) Create a personalized clean up bin for each family member with everything they need for their tidy
c) Choose a consistent time and day each week for this ten minute tidy to occur
When something becomes a consistent routine, it is easier to get everyone in the family to cooperate and do it regularly because they know it is going to happen and is expected of them. When the whole family is doing it all at the same time, it is easier to be motivated to do it as well!
3. “Everything Has A Place” with E.H.A.P. Bins
Everything Has A Place… and now is the perfect time of year to get organized and start decluttering that home of yours. It is also a great time to start new habits! Start with “In” and “Out” bins. These bins are to help sort and organize all the paperwork that comes into the house, whether it is bills to pay or permission forms. Empty your purse and have other family members empty their day’s collection of important papers as soon as they come home. Put items in the “In” bin, and when papers are signed or ready to be mailed, put them in the “Out” bin.
Continuing with this theme, each closet should have a “laundry bin” and a “give away bin”. This makes it easy to immediately sort out and declutter right away those clothes that automatically get shoved back into the closet or drawer that we just can’t wear or don’t like any more. Other household items can go here too; you will love this quick strategy all year long. When bins are full, it is time to drop off or call for Big Brothers or Salvation Army pick up or drop off bins.
Follow these three steps and enjoy the happy and decluttered home you always wanted!