It’s almost spring time and that means opening up the windows, clearing out the stale winter air, going through old clothes to donate or purge, and sprucing up your home. It’s not easy tackling the constant chore of cleaning so we’ve asked the librarians for their tips and tricks.
This month’s question is:
Do you have any cleaning, de-cluttering, or organizing tips that you’ve discovered over the years? What are some products that you love or books/resources that you have found helpful when cleansing your space? Are there areas in your home/car/workspace that you’ve found more difficult to keep tidy?
Shane, Public Support Services: One tip I have is have homes for items and always put things back in their home. If you put something somewhere just “for now,” that’s going to become its new home. My desk is my hardest place to keep tidy because it’s where I put my “deal with later” mail, and I don’t have a trashcan nearby to get rid of it when I do deal with it so it often stays on the desk. Bonus tip: I also like to have bags or baskets for work-in-progress crafts, crochet, and knitting so they can be put away or even left out in a way that doesn’t look like clutter.
Tabbitha, Youth Services: Every evening after dinner, our family shifts into ‘tidy-up mode.’ We set a timer, crank up the music, and work together to clear the day’s clutter. It’s our favorite way to hit the reset button so we can wake up to a fresh, organized home the next morning. To finish things off, I love using essential oils while I clean. It’s a simple, natural way to make the house smell amazing and adds a calming touch to our evening routine.
Annalise, Public Support Services: I think it’s vital to find tips that you can see yourself actually using in your daily life. For me, keeping my hobby room tidy is difficult because I have too many hobbies! For that room and all of my spaces in general, I use the “cousins and coworkers” method. I found this tip on iOrganize’s social media page. It’s helpful for me because it gives three simple categories to decide where an item should go: whether it’s cousins, coworkers, or family (which is a bit more general than cousins for those hard-to-sort things).” It’s made de-cluttering and cleaning much easier, and led to a cleaner space for myself to enjoy hobbies in overall!
Maycie, Public Support Services: My favorite cleaning tip is to make a sticky note wall. I’ll take a minute to walk around and assess what all I think needs done (or what I can realistically do) and each task gets it own sticky note. Then as I go along, I get to rip a note off of the wall after I complete each task. It’s a really nice physical representation of my progress on a deep clean day.
We have two big big dogs who were both grave diggers in their former lives so it is impossible to keep up with the amount of dirt that gets brought into our home. My best advice, and I know this is bougie, but get a robot that will mop for you. Not having to think about sweeping and mopping on top of other chores is a life saver. I can be doing the dishes while Niles (like the butler from the Nanny) mops around me. It’s so worth it!
Megan, Outreach Coordinator: I have found that doing a “Sunday Reset” has been helpful! Nothing feels better than starting the week off right.
Also, alternating household chores every week with your partner. This gives you one goal everyday for a week to focus on, instead of trying to do it all.
Finally, a 5 minute clean-up every night. Set a timer (either on your phone, or Youtube has fun ones) and everyone in the house tidy’s up. It’s especially fun with kids!
Dawn S., Youth Services: What I’ve had to do is change my mind set when de-cluttering. I used to be really bad at saving stuff. I would say to myself, “I might use this later.” That was my mistake because all I was doing was cluttering more. Tip: Throw it away if you don’t have an immediate use for it! I love using the Pink stuff to clean my shower and a magic eraser. My car is by far the hardest place to keep tidy. I want to say it’s due to shuttling kids from place to place, but it’s probably due to just being lax at cleaning it more often.
Ashley, Interlibrary Loan and Cataloguing: My biggest tip for cleaning is to clean as you go. Put things back where they belong as soon as you’re done with them. I use this to keep my apartment tidy but it is also my strategy when cooking/baking. If I put away supplies, wipe down work spaces and throw away trash, it feels like I finish quicker. I can enjoy the smell of the food cooking/baking faster rather than focusing on the cleaning process at the end.
Now it’s your turn! Share your tips and tricks for cleaning and organizing in the comments below.
