Hey there, fellow moms! Let’s face it – keeping a home tidy with little ones running around is no easy feat. As much as we try to stay on top of the clutter and mess, some areas always seem to be in chaos no matter what we do.
Hello kitchen
Hello entryway
Let’s not even mention the kids bedrooms, yikes!
There are certain areas in your home that are like magnets for disorganization and can make your entire home look messy even when the rest of it is spotless.
Life happens when your a mom, life is messy, but I am going to show you the top 10 messy areas in your home AND I’m going to share my best ideas for tidying up these spaces!
Are you ready?
Okay, so today I’m going to share with you 10 of the worst offenders and share quick fixes that’ll turn your home from chaotic to cozy.
1. The Entryway
This is the first thing guests see when they walk through your door, so it’s crucial to keep it neat and tidy. Shoes strewn about, coats hanging haphazardly, and piles of mail can all contribute to a cluttered look. But let’s be real, the entryway is one of the areas of a home where it gets messy and tidy so easily. One day it’s spotless, and the next it looks like a tornado swept through. There’s just something about this little space that seems to attract clutter like a magnet.
How can we fix this issue?
- Get Shoes Out Of House: I highly recommend that you keep shoes out of your home, but if you can’t, try something like this so you can essentially hide any shoes from prying eyes or something like this works for coats and hats etc.
- Have a Place For Keys to go: This works well to keep your mail and keys organized, and it looks super cute too.
- Remove Items That Don’t Belong: Sometimes we have items that just don’t belong in this area. Spend 5-10 minutes and get rid of items that shouldn’t be here!
2. The Kitchen Counters
With meal prep, snacks, and dishes constantly being used throughout the day, kitchen counters can quickly become overwhelmed with clutter. Clear off unnecessary items and create designated spaces for essentials to keep things looking clean. I just did this myself yesterday. As much as I love my air fryer, I felt like it was taking up too much room on my kitchen counters, so I moved things around and now it sits in my cabinet and I only take it out when I actually need it! It has cleared up some nice space on my countertops, which feel much less cluttered!
How can we fix this issue?
- Appliances Away: Only keep the essentials on your counter. Items like your toaster can be stored when not in use, freeing up valuable prep space. So take a look at your countertops and get rid of appliances you don’t absolutely use every day.
- Use Your Walls: A pegboard or wall-mounted shelves can store pots, pans, and utensils, leaving the counter clear.
- Keep It Clean Daily: After each meal, make it a family habit to clear all surfaces. If you have bread sitting out, put it in the fridge, or keep coffee mugs in your cabinet when you are not using them.
3. The Living Room Coffee Table
Remote controls, magazines, toys – the living room coffee table tends to attract all sorts of odds and ends. Take a few minutes at the end of each day to declutter this area and put things back where they belong.
It also helps when items have a place to go, which is why I love sofas that have a built in storage area for remotes etc. However if you don’t have a sofa with a storage unit (like me), check out the ideas below to declutter things for yourself.
How can we fix this issue?
- Utilize Trays: A decorative tray can corral items in an organized and visually pleasing way.
- Shelf or Basket for Magazines: If you’re an avid reader, a dedicated shelf with a cute holder or basket keeps your beloved literature from creating visual chaos.
- Boxes With Lids: These are genius for hiding remotes, and so many other items, the best part is they look super cute and no-one knows what’s inside.
4. The Bathroom Counters
Hair products, toothbrushes, makeup – the bathroom sink area can easily become crowded with personal care items. Keep only what you use daily on display and store the rest away – the only thing I have on my countertops are my electric toothbrush, flossers in a cute container and that’s it. Everything else is stored elsewhere!
How can we fix this issue?
- Utilize Drawer Dividers: Keep your makeup, hair tools, and other products organized within drawers using dividers.
- Storage Containers Keep Things Organized: I like to store my extra soap in containers, as well as shampoo, creams etc.
- Makeup Organizer: Makeup all over your bathroom counters makes the room look really cluttered. Try using a makeup storage container that keeps everything in one place!
5. The Dining Table
Whether it’s homework assignments, mail that needs sorting, or just random items that don’t have a home yet, the dining table often becomes a catch-all surface for clutter. Make it a habit to clear off the table after each meal to prevent buildup. I would also recommend taking 5 minutes at the end of the day to clean anything off the table that doesn’t belong, so it is ready for breakfast tomorrow morning.
How can we fix this issue?
- Clean Everything Off: My husband uses our dining table as his home office, but I have a rule that everything needs to be cleaned off before dinner time!
- Remove Items That Don’t Belong: It seems that many different items get left on the dining table, so if you have a little one who loves to craft and this is where she does her crafting, keep a designated caddy with all crafting essentials, so the table can be cleared for meals in a jiffy.
- Set the Scene For Your Next Meal: After dinner, take a moment to set your table with placemats, I find when I do this, it rends to remind the rest of the family that this is the dinner table and NOT A play area!
6. The Bedroom Floor:
Clothes tossed on the floor at the end of a long day or toys scattered about by little ones – the bedroom floor can quickly turn into a disaster zone if left unchecked. Encourage everyone in the household to pick up after themselves regularly.
How can we fix this issue?
- Daily 5-Minute Clean: Take 5 minutes every day to pick everything up off the floor that doesn’t belong! Have your kids the same thing.
- Teach Tidy Habits: Start young with teaching your kids to put toys and clothes away. Practicing cleanliness from a young age can instill lifelong habits.
- Buy Hooks: If you find that clothes are ending up on your bedroom floor more often than not, buy yourself some hooks to put inside your closet, this gives you a place to put items so they won’t end up on your floor!
7. The Home Office Desk
Your home office desk is where dreams (and taxes) are made. Don’t let it become a dumping ground for bills and miscellaneous paperwork.if you work from home or have kids doing homework at the desk, it’s easy for this area to become overwhelmed with clutter Try some of the easy fixes below.
How can we fix this issue?
- File Away: Use a two-tray system for incoming and outgoing paperwork, and file away important documents regularly.
- Tech Tidy: Invest in desk organizers to tame charging cables and keep small tech items like USB drives and memory cards in check. I also use this to charge all cell phones, the kids are not allowed to keep their phone in their room at night
- Go Digital: This was one of the best things I ever did for my home office. Go online and check every single statement to see if you can switch from paperless to an online statement. This will make a huge difference in your life and help you to get rid of all that paper!
8. The Laundry Room
Dirty clothes waiting to be washed, clean clothes waiting to be folded – laundry rooms are notorious for looking messy no matter how hard we try to keep up with them.I am going to help you to fix your laundry room issues TODAY!
How can we fix this issue?
- Laundry Hampers Galore: Make sure every member of your household owns a hamper. Then make sure no clothes come into your laundry room unless they are in a hamper. When a hamper enters the laundry room, the clothes get washed and dried on the same day, and are back in that person’s room, and NOT the laundry room. This is what I do and it works super well.
- Mismatched Socks: mismatched socks were the bane of my existence until I started to buy the same color socks. My husband and son have the same color socks, so they never lose one, because you can always find another black sock, right!. My daughter has several pairs of all pink, all white, all purple. If we find 1 purple socks and no other ones – it get thrown away, I just don’t have time in my life to spend looking for 1 missing sock!
- No clothes left behind: My laundry room is right by the stairs, so I will have the kids take up any clothes of theirs in the laundry room, otherwise they will live there. All I want to see is a nice empty laundry room!
9. The Kids’ Play Area
Kids’ play areas often toe the line between joyful chaos and a toy-induced anarchy that could make even the most carefree mom twitch. When my kids were little, we lived in a house where the first thing you would see as you entered was my kids playroom! Can you even imagine! We had a wall of cube organizers and stuff would get thrown in at the end of the day, it wasn’t guest tidy, but it was clean(ish). Theyw ere 13 months apart, so if anyone was looking for a clean home, they were sadly mistaken, and I was just fine with that. Here are some quick tips to help keep this spot clean!
How can we fix this issue?
- Clear the Excess: Regularly go through toys with your kids. Donate or store toys that they’ve outgrown, toys that are broken, or toys they simply don’t play with!
- Vertical Storage: Wall shelves for books, cube organizers, and easy toy organizers can make clean-up easier, aka it might actually get done!.
- Daily Mini Clean-Ups: Before bedtime, take 10 minutes and make a game of who can pick up the most toys. This gets the kids to clean up, and makes it fun for them.
10. The Garage Entrance
As one of those areas that often gets neglected in terms of tidiness but sees plenty of foot traffic from family members coming and going daily – keeping this spot organized makes all the difference in maintaining an overall clean appearance in your home.
How can we fix this issue?
- Keep It Seasonal: Rotate seasonal items so only what’s needed is easily accessible. Pack the rest away.
- Contain the Chaos: Use stackable bins to store misellaneous items, get yourself a sports equipment organizer (I love mine), get your bikes off the garage floor, and make space.
- Clearing a Path: Always ensure there’s a clear path into the house. I have a handheld vacuum on my wall in the garage so I can give the mat outside my kitchen door (into the garage) a quick clean so dust doesn’t come inside. I keep all our shoes tidy and organized because I use one of these!
There you have it – 10 high traffic areas that could be making your home look messy without you even realizing it! By identifying these trouble spots and implementing some simple organizing strategies into your daily routine, you’ll be well on your way to creating a more organized and visually appealing living space for you and your family. By making use of storage containers and organizers, you can create a more organized home that will make your life much easier.
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Other Organizing Articles You May Enjoy:
- 20 Brilliant organizing hacks for a kids bedroom
- Under 10 minute decluttering tasks for your home
- How to declutter a bathroom and get it more organized
- How to create a family chore chart that gets everyone involved in cleaning
- 130+ Things to get rid of in your home
- Getting rid of these kitchen items makes a huge difference!
Grainne Foley
Grainne Foley is a wife and mother of 2 great kids. During her 5 years of full time RV travel, Grainne learned to become very efficient at household chores, in order to make time for family adventures. Now, back in a house, she has continued to create tools and techniques to help others lighten the load of household organization and cleaning.
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