Tidy Home Tidy Mind*

It’s no surprise that I like to keep Baylyn House tidy & it’s one of those questions that I get asked every single day without fail. Keeping on top of housework with 2 children, an overgrown child (aka husband), 3 stinky dogs, a 3 legged fluff ball of a cat, 2 gerbils & up until recently 37 giant snails doesn’t come easily, but is something I prioritise as I know just how much my surroundings impact my mind.

Our well being is SO important, but never more so than the past year having spent a considerable amount of time within our homes under lockdown. Many of us have been (& still are…) working from home & having to homeschool to boot. Keeping everything tidy is a whole different ballgame when you suddenly have everyone home 24/7.

I suppose I’m one of the odd few that actually enjoys all thing the things needed to maintain a house. From cleaning, tidying & decluttering to DIY & decorating. A clean, tidy & organised home brings me so much joy!

That being said, I don’t have all the time in the world to spend doing it & it’s only been the past couple of years that I feel like I’ve finally found a good balance. I would say that a few years ago I would obsessively clean & use it as a bit of a release when I was feeling particularly wobbly. I would clean in waves & then feel overwhelmed when it all built up. Nowadays I am in a good routine & believe in a more ‘little & often’ approach.

Instead of dedicating large amounts of time to tidying, I maintain everything throughout the week & only every so often do I have to have a ‘big’ clean.

So what are the rules I live by to keep things looking spick & span?

1. Make your bed – this should be the first thing you do when you wake up. It sets the vibe for the rest of your day with something productive & puts you in the right frame of mind. A small accomplishment but it also ensures your bedroom stays nice & tidy. Make this a habit!

2. Do things as you see them – walked past a window that you can barely see out of & makes you think ‘Jesus that needs a clean!’? Go get that window spray & do it! It’s amazing what doing a little but often can do around a house.

3. DECLUTTER DECLUTTER DECLUTTER – nothing quite beats that feeling of decluttering! Getting rid of all the stuff which is physically, mentally & philosophically dragging you down. Not got a chance of fitting in that pair of jeans from 5 years ago? BYE. Lost the lid to that tupperware container from 2004? BYE. That lamp reminds you of your great aunt Helga? BYE. Clutter creates chaos so free your soul.

4. Clean as you cook – dinner time is one of the main times of day when mess is created, especially when you’re a 300 saucepan every meal kind of chef. Luckily for my rubber gloves though, we entrust our Miele G7160SCVI fully integrated dishwasher to do the hard work for us & it’s as simple as popping everything in & switching on to clean everything from stubborn burnt on pans to delicate glassware.

5. Have a home for everything – a basket or storage cabinet to keep all your shoes, hooks for coats, boxes for toys. As soon as you walk through the door, pop them where they live. Again, it’s all about setting yourself up in the right frame of mind & making life as easy as possible get into the habit of automatically doing things so that no effort or thought is required.

6. Grab as you go – don’t leave everything until the end of the day (or even worse, until you feel so overwhelmed you can’t face it!). A pair of shoes left by the door, a pair of headphones on the worktop, a shirt on the bedroom floor all add up & those tiny piles can soon turn in to big messes.

7. Put away glasses/plates/cutlery – once you’ve finished with plates/glasses/mugs/cutlery/utensils….put them straight in the dishwasher (which will also mean it forces you to unload it every morning first thing..). Nothing is worse than seeing a sink loaded high with washing to do or even worse, left on the side.

8. Don’t let laundry overwhelm you – this is a huge one for any mothers out there as I’m sure they can relate when I say that I feel like all I do in life is laundry. I make sure I pop a load of washing on every morning whilst I pop the kettle on for my morning cup of tea. Once dried in the tumble (or outside on the rare sunny day!) I immediately fold & put it away. I’ve gone through periods of leaving piles out & it’s ended up being sat there for days/weeks because it’s so easy to become complacent & ‘just add more tomorrow THEN I’ll put it away’.

9. Leave it how you’d like to see it – I don’t leave downstairs in a mess before bed. Dishes are put in the dishwasher, sides are wiped, cushions plumped etc. If I came downstairs in the morning to a mess, it definitely wouldn’t set my day on the best foot.

10. Daily tasks / schedules – lots of people swear by having a daily/weekly/bi-weekly/monthly schedule for cleaning. We all have jobs we have to do every day as part of our every day lives but dedicating even 15 minutes a day to tackle other chores really helps. Some people do a room each day e.g Monday bathrooms, Tuesday kitchen, Wednesday living room, Thursday bedrooms. Find what works for you then set a timer, blast some music & go for it.