Clean and tidy house is guaranteed: organization rules that will make your life easier

Look at a picture in the catalog of a mass-market furniture brand. It looks like the same inexpensive and functional furniture you have at home but the order and comfort are simply incomparable. Some say that this is because a lived-in interior cannot look so sterile. Well, we can agree with this, but only partially. In fact, keeping your home looking "like a picture in a magazine" or close to it is not that difficult.

There are rules for organizing and filling the space. They are very simple and help to avoid clutter and clutter. OBOZ.UA tells about them in more detail.

1. Bringing one thing into the house means getting rid of another

The first rule of keeping the house tidy is this: if you bring one thing home, you need to get rid of another. A simple example is jars of cosmetics. When you run out of shampoo or shower gel, you bring a full bottle into the house and dispose of the empty one. However, this rule should be applied not only to identical things. You can exchange clothes for decor, books for dishes, small appliances for shoes, and so on. When you buy something for your home, find an unnecessary item and give it away/donate/gift it to someone who will use it. Or throw it away if it is really no longer functional. If you want to really declutter, you can change the rule to "one item in, two items out," and even three, four, and so on, depending on the amount of junk you have accumulated.

2. Everything should have its place

A thing that does not have a clear place in the house is likely to wander back and forth and lie around. Instead, when you have a place for everything, you no longer have to wonder where to put it every time. And such structured organization makes cleaning much easier. And it's easier to do something that doesn't require effort. Therefore, putting things in order will become much less burdensome for you.

3. If it takes less than 5 minutes, do it now

Procrastination is the most common source of clutter. We promise ourselves to do a task later, and as a result, we never do anything. We end up with something like an exhibition of cups near our workplace or a whole pile of books on our bedside table. Meanwhile, taking a cup to the sink takes at most 2-3 minutes, and that's if the apartment is really big. It takes even less time to put a book on the shelf. The same applies to hanging clothes, sorting mail, putting away groceries, wiping crumbs from the table, collecting water from the bathroom floor, wiping the mirror from dust, and so on. So, if you see a chore that needs to be done and won't take more than 5 minutes, just do it right away. You won't notice the effort, and it will be much easier to clean up afterward.

4. Keep horizontal surfaces clean

Nothing creates the impression of disorder more than cluttered tables, nightstands, and floors. Moreover, putting them in order often comes down to simply putting things in their places. Therefore, if you see an item lying idle on a flat horizontal surface, simply return it to where it belongs.

5. Always return things to where you took them

This rule is a logical extension of rules 2 and 4. If you have a designated place for everything in your home and have trained yourself not to clutter surfaces, it will be easy to follow it. When you use a certain item, don't leave it lying around but immediately bring it back to where you took it. It will take a few seconds, but the effect will be impressive.

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