I Don’t Clean — I Habit Hack My House (Here’s How)

The truth is, most of us don't have a messy house problem. We have a problem with tiny tasks piling up. A dish left in the sink, a laundry basket waiting to be folded, crumbs on the floor we tell ourselves we'll get to later, and before we know it, our house feels overwhelming again.

But what if keeping your house tidy was fully automatic? No long cleaning sprees, no constantly feeling behind, just simple habits that keep everything under control without you even thinking about it. Today, I'm sharing 21 quick one minute habits that make tidying up feel effortless.

No overhauls, no complicated systems, just a few tiny shifts that make a huge difference. Okay, now I know mornings are already a rush, but I'm going to show you how three simple habits can make your home feel clean and calm one minute at a time. Okay, so number one is to straighten your bed instantly.

I'm not a full bed maker, but I have designed my bed linens now to be something that I just literally straighten up, pull up, throw the pillows and the shams back on the bed. And we know that this feels good to our brain, but also you're probably going to find if you do straighten up your bed in the morning, you're less likely to pile stuff and throw stuff on it during the day. There's something about it being put in order that causes our brain to want to keep the order, and I don't even think it takes a full minute.

Number two is to wipe down your bathroom vanities daily. Now, there's two reasons that this is so important. One, if you're going to wipe down your full vanity, it forces you to put everything away that's on it.

Now, if you're putting everything away on a daily basis, you're going to find out the things that don't have a home or that are too hard to put away. You're like, why is this so hard? Why don't I want to put it away?

Probably because the doors and the cabinets are cluttered. So, it's going to force you to declutter as well. Now, when it comes to actually wiping them down, I usually just use a faceloth that I've just finished using, hand towel, bath towel, some kind of linen that already needs to be laundered.

It doesn't really matter what it is. Do a quick wipe down and then throw it in the laundry. And when the kids were little and I was wanting them to be more involved with this process, too.

I always kept a package of baby wipes in the bathroom, it was really easy for them to grab one of those and wipe it down, too. So, it doesn't all have to fall on you. You can definitely get your family involved with this as well.

Number three is to do a quick one minute reset before you leave for work and school. So, it takes 60 seconds to just go around and pick stuff up. Why does this make such a big difference?

Because clutter attracts clutter. So, if our tables and counters and flat surfaces even have one or two items left on them, then when everyone gets home from school and work, they have permission to leave all of their stuff on the counters and tables as well. But by taking a minute to tidy up, put stuff away quick.

You're going to feel more motivated to cook dinner and the other stuff that you have to do. And your family members will not feel enticed to leave all of their stuff around on the flat surfaces as well. Okay.

And we all know how clutter tends to follow us in the door, especially if you have kids coming in the house as well. So, let's talk about a handful of habits we can do as we come in that again once you get in the groove of these, they become second nature and you won't even think about it, but you are going to notice a huge difference in your entryway. So, habit number four is to put shoes and coats away right away.

Now, that means they need a designated spot. And we want to get stuff up off the floor whenever possible. I saw this meme the other day that I thought was so funny that it's something to the effect of if a burglar comes in, they're going to trip over all of my kids shoes and die, right?

So true, right? So, we need a home for shoes. And many of us have gotten some kind of shoe rack or shoe shelf, but then it becomes over full and then the shoes are still on the floor.

And so habit number five is to actually go through your shoe rack on a weekly basis. So we would always have a two pair of shoes rule in our entryway. So each person in our family was allowed to have two pairs of shoes there.

And then anything else, sports shoes or offseason things or dressier shoes that didn't get worn that often were stored in bedroom closets. And is that a little bit of a pain? Sometimes yes.

But better than having all these shoes in the entryway that everyone's tripping over. And again, clutter attracts clutter. So, if we have a bunch of shoes everywhere on the floor, then it's just a matter of time before backpacks and coats and all the other things join them on the floor as well.

And then the next tip is to have a designated spot for each person's backpack. So, we actually got to the point too in our house where we had labeled the hooks for coats. Each each child had two hooks for their coats and backpack.

And it was really helpful because then if it started to be overflowing, it was easy to see who the culprit was and who had too many coats or other things hanging up there. So going as far as to label hooks for each family member can be very helpful, too. And one habit I think we're all trying to instill right now is to eat healthier and take a little better care of our health.

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Okay, so now we have that habit under control. Let's go talk about some others, too. Now, the next tip is to sort your mail as you come into the house, right?

This is not a new tip. You've heard this before, but something that has been especially helpful in our household is to have a time will tell bin because what about the stuff that comes in that you just don't know about? Are you going to order from the catalog?

What about the paint samples you got or the quote from the contractor or a business card of someone you may or may not call? Where does that stuff live? And for most of us, we have not has it had a designated spot which causes it to float around all of our flat surfaces until we introduce the time will tell paper bin.

And so this has taken many forms, different forms in our house over the years. It was just a dollar store basket for a long time. Now I have a little fancier container.

I have one of these for action and one for time will tell that works great. I like that it's contained. Nothing accidentally gets put in here like you have to take off the lid and put it in, right?

But if you have had random papers floating around your flat surfaces, if you will get one of these, again, just use something that you already have, it is a complete game changer. And then lastly in this area is to contain any kind of visual clutter. So, if you have a flat surface in your entryway or counters and there's just always random things piling there, contain it.

If we will contain it, it is such a kindness to our brain. Our brain loves boundaries. So, grab a tray or a shallow basket, toss it in.

What else this does is it helps us to realize what things don't have a home. And so, if it's constantly getting put in there and and floating around, then we can be like, "Oh, hey, maybe we need to create an actual home for this. " But at a minimum, if we were just gathering the stuff up, putting it in a basket, it's going to feel so much better to our brain and these areas.

They're not going to feel cluttered, and they're not going to continue to attract more clutter, which is the name of the game. All right, next, let's talk about a few habits to hack our kitchen and save time and money in here as well. The first has to do with the fridge.

Now, none of us can afford to waste food right now, right? So, a long time ago, I got in the habit of organizing our fridge pretty much every time I would make dinner. So, I'd look in the fridge for anything that needed to get eaten up.

I would pull leftovers to the front. I would put the fruits and veggies that needed to get eaten up right at eye level so they were more likely to be used before they went bad. And it only takes a minute to rearrange and organize your fridge.

But if you will do this, I think you will find too that you are going to cut food waste by like 99%. Most of the time, the reason we're wasting food is cuz we've forgotten about it. Now, I've also reduced the amount of food inventory I keep in the fridge, and that is helpful as well, but I go into more depth in that in other kitchen videos, and I'm sure you've heard this one before, but it makes a huge difference, and that's to run a sink of dish water every time you start making dinner.

We all know this. Washing dishes right after you've used them are so much easier than once they've sat by the sink or are a day or two old. And isn't it so funny how if you if you just run the sink of water, you're just going to do it.

Like, you don't even think about it. Like it really does cause this to be automated. So the habit is simply running the sink full of water and then what follows is this automation of just washing up the dishes because it's so easy and it's actually kind of enjoyable.

You know, a lot of times we didn't even use our dishwasher because it it kind of feels nice to put your hands in some warm water and just wash the dishes up quick and be done with them. If you're diligent about running your dishwasher and it works well, do it. But for us, having a a sink full of water, especially for things that you don't want to stick in the dishwasher, like your frying pans and whatnot, and also having it ready just to wipe down all the surfaces, makes such a huge difference.

The next one minute habit in the kitchen is to use the awkward gaps of time to tidy up. So whether you're waiting for water to boil or your coffee to brew, to just take a second to tidy up. And this is the habit that has completely transformed our entire house.

Now, I've said before that I've always been a very messy person. You know, I would sometimes hear these like mantras or whatever you'd call them, like don't put it down, put it away. And I was just like, you know what?

Like, if it were so easy, I would do it right. And it was just like I could never actually get into that groove. But then once I started telling myself like, I'm no longer a messy person.

I'm a tidy person. And a tidy person just picks up stuff as they go all the time. I did find out that this is something that can be learned.

And it is something that once you practice it a little bit can be fully automated to the point where I don't even think about it anymore. It is just automatic, which is again what we're trying to get to with all of these habits. But I will say this, what has made the biggest difference when it comes to that is highly simplifying our house.

And so if as you're going through these and you're trying to reinforce these habits and they still feel so hard, it probably means that you haven't decluttered your house enough yet. And so permission to go much further with simplifying it so that you can get to the point where these simple habits really do maintain your house. They go on autopilot without you hardly having to think about it at all.

But just know like if you if you still just feel like you're like having to like work so hard and use so much like energy and bandwidth to like get these habits in place, it there's nothing wrong with you. It probably just means you haven't gone far enough with decluttering yet. And good news, I can help you with that, right?

Like I mean we literally have videos to declutter every single area of your house. So if you haven't done so already, I hope you subscribe so that we can spend more time together. All right.

Now, this next one might be a little controversial, so you're going to have to tell me what you think about it. and that is to take out the garbage every single day whether it's full or not. Now, it depends how many people you have in our household, but most days our garbage is half to 2/3 full by the end of the day, but we still take it out.

And by having it systemized like that, we never get to the point where it's overflowing or you have to do that thing where you push stuff down to get more garbage into it. And the reason that's important is because if it's too hard to put stuff away and to throw it away, people aren't going to do it. and then they're going to set it on the counter or on the table or leave it out.

So, I want the garbage to function well so people use it and throw stuff away. Similarly with the recycling. And then next is to sweep the floor every single day, but it's not why you think.

Like, yeah, it's nice to get the crumbs up off the floor and everything, but the main reason is because it forces you to pick up any clutter or things that have fallen on the floor. The other thing you're going to find too is if you are sweeping every day that you're going to get really annoyed with stuff that's living on the floor or sitting on the floor. So, I mentioned this in the entryway, but if at all possible, do not store things on the floor.

Cases of water, extra pet food, you know, you go to Costco and stock up and then there's nowhere to put it. Things should not live on the floor. It makes it harder to sweep.

It makes it harder to mop. And clutter attracts clutter. I'm going to say that a gazillion times.

So, as soon as there's stuff on the floor, it's like it's giving our brain permission for more stuff to accumulate on the floor. And none of us need that. And you might just be very surprised at how much cleaner your entire house stays.

All right, we're going to head to the laundry room and talk about some laundry hacks. But of course, you know, another one you've probably heard of before is to never leave a room empty-handed. So, get in the habit of scanning.

Again, you will be very surprised how quickly you can develop this habit, especially once your house is more decluttered because when when your house is still kind of cluttered and messy, you do a quick scan of a room and it's like there's too much. Like, it's too hard to decipher like what doesn't belong in here, what needs to go somewhere else. But as you get your house decluttered and you really like how it's feeling and how great it feels when it's picked up and tidied up, you want to preserve that.

So making a quick pass and and you know looking for stuff that needs to go to the laundry room with you as you're heading that way uh it just becomes second nature and it feels good to maintain the space and the piece that you've created. So let's go throw these in the laundry. All right.

Now another controversial tip and I I fully expect you to have strong opinions about it and that's fine is to fold everything directly as it comes out of the dryer. So, we could, you know, gather up our laundry, put it in a laundry basket, bring it out to the couch, fold it while we're watching TV or whatever. Or if you have a laundry room like this or space, we could fold it directly as it comes out.

And what you're going to find is that when you're only processing one load of laundry like this, it does not take long at all to fold it, especially if you don't necessarily fold everything. And so, you know, I've shared before with my laundry system, there's a lot of things that we don't fold, especially kids clothing, underwear, socks. We don't match socks.

They all go unmatched into bins. So, what you're going to find if you time this is it literally takes a couple minutes to fold. Even if you fold everything for a full load of laundry and now I just go put it away quick, rather than putting in baskets or bringing it out to the couch or all that, and then it sits there and then people pull through it and then it gets messed up and all that.

I'm telling you, you can do that if you want to. But if you would just try this out, I almost guarantee that you will never go back. And we even got to the point where we got rid of all of the laundry baskets in our home because they were just like this holding spot for unfolding laundry and then it, you know, other stuff would get in it and mixed up and and whatever.

We didn't need them anymore when we got into this habit. So, try it. See if you like it.

If not, that's fine. Then you can just keep using your laundry baskets. It's fine.

All right. Next hack. Make sure you have a donation bin in every single closet.

This can take different forms or shapes, whatever. Grab a box, a bin of whatever you have around. I would preferably put a donation label on it.

Have one in each closet. And then also along with that, give your family members permission to use it, to put anything in it that doesn't fit, they don't feel good in, they don't like wearing. Now, this was hard for our girls.

They're now 13 and 15, and they've gotten so good. like seasonally they just bring me bags of donations now. It was hard to see things that they were getting rid of that either I liked a lot but they never wore things that still had the tags on them that just I don't know that I was like are you sure you're not going to wear that like you're donating it already?

But I had to get over myself and just be like you know what I'm glad they're not clinging to things. They're not hoarding and keeping tons of extra inventory around clothing like they're getting into this habit of letting go of stuff they don't like and they're not going to wear. Yes, it does suck sometimes, but no judgment, safe zone, whatever.

Things that go in, no questions asked, and over time it gets easier and it's not a big deal, but everyone's closets and dressers feel a whole lot better. And we've also heard the habit, if it takes 1 minute or less, do it now, right? But I love Amy from the Art of Decluttering.

She calls it the might as well rule. She's like, if I see a sock on the floor, I just say to myself, might as well pick it up. And I thought it was kind of a good reframe because sometimes we could grumble and be like who left it there and why is it always there and why is you be like you know what might as well.

It's gonna have to get done at some point, right? Whether we do it or we have to find someone else and track down the owner to do it of the sock, it has to get done. So by just saying might as well.

And I know many others too after I did a podcast with her and she shared that they were kind of like that's fun. I like that. Right?

So I think it fits my personality maybe a little bit better. Maybe that's what it is. All right.

And then lastly, let's just talk about a few end of the day habits that can make a huge difference for starting the next day. Well, and again, I know by the end of the day, we don't have a lot of extra energy or motivation or bandwidth or any anything any kind of reserves, right? So, they have to be simple and easy.

And I think these are so the first is just to do a quick reset of your living spaces. Isn't it amazing when you just straighten up the couch cushions and the pillows if you have throw pillows, right? Fold up the blanket.

How good it feels. Again, there's something about it. I think we're meant to like keep our environment in order to do these things.

It it actually feels really good to bring things into order, especially if we've had kind of a chaotic day. There's something to just be able to look back before you go to bed and be like, "Yeah, that actually feels really good and I fully completed the loop for the day. " And then the next is to set out your outfit for the next day.

Now, I'll be honest, because I have so highly simplified my wardrobe, I don't need to set out an outfit for the next day. I mean, right now I pretty much just wear the same thing every single day. Unless I'm like going somewhere nicer and then I have like three tops that I choose from.

It is so simplified that I don't feel a need to. But if you haven't gotten to that point, definitely you should be setting out your outfit for the next day. But also our kids, you know, mornings again, we started at the morning.

They're a little stressful. even when we get the best systems in place. And so by having outfits set up, having our bathroom streamlined, easy to get to the things we need, it is amazing how taking like that those things off of our plate in the morning can really help the morning to go so much more smoothly.

So, we set out our outfits the night before. And then I have one last habit that makes all the difference in starting your day well tomorrow. All right.

And then the last habit is to set your calendar and your task list for the next day. Now, I've talked before, I love the To-Do app, Teuxdeux. I have a video on it.

And in our membership group, we have well, we've started doing household planning meetings every Sunday. Running your household is like running a small business. And for many of us, we're running this small business.

And then we still have work and school and kids and caring for loved ones and and all the things, right? And so, it's a lot. And so, we've been working together to meal plan and and to manage our to-do list and our calendar.

and it has been so good. Sometimes I think we think like, oh, if I get into my task list in the evening, it's going to pull me into work or it's going to be stressful. The opposite is true.

If we will take a minute to look at our calendar to be fully prepared for what is happening tomorrow and to also set our task list for the next day, you are going to feel less stressed, less anxious, and more prepared for the next day. In fact, we were just actually referencing a study that people who write a to-do list before they go to bed fall asleep faster and sleep better. Isn't that wild?

It was even better than journaling. What? So, take a second, set your task items for the next day and it just gets it off of your mind.

And if you find that you're trying to fall asleep and these things pop into your brain, I like to use my phone to enter things onto my to-do list or my task list and then the next day I can organize them and slide them around and whatnot. So, there's kind of a a a fair amount to the full system. So, I'm not going to get into all of that.

Right now, this is actually the planner that we've been working on creating together as well in our membership group, which has been really fun, but I'll put details for that down below if you need a little extra accountability and some better tools to manage your home. But, nonetheless, uh, get in the habit of setting your to-do list for the next day before you go to bed. You're going to fall asleep faster and sleep better.

I mean, what more do we need to say? Okay, so there you have it. a bunch of little habits that add up to a huge massive difference in how your house feels, but how you feel as well.

Because when we're staying on top of our house, it changes everything. You feel successful. You feel confident.

You feel like you can handle the things that come. If we can control the things we can control, like our physical environment, then when the other things that come up that are way more outside of our control, we feel better able to handle them and to navigate them. And so we control what we can.

so that the other things are easier to manage. Well, I would love to help you continue to declutter your house because like I said, that's kind of the foundation for all of these habits working. So, we have a gazillion videos to help.

So, I'm going to link to our long format decluttering playlist if you a lot like to just put that on in the background while you're working and another favorite as well. But, I love you.