Do you have any bad habits? I certainly do. When we last talked about breaking bad habits, we had hundreds of comments from viewers sharing their bad habits. It seems like we all have habits we’d like to break, so we decided to make another video about it! Here are 5 really common ones that I highly recommend breaking.
Letting Clothes Pile Up
We all have That Chair, or even worse—the pile that becomes the “floordrobe”. This habit is truly counterproductive—it makes your entire room look messy, and the piling of clothes wrinkles everything and renders even clean clothes unwearable. Instead, clothes you take off should go to one of three places: The hamper, the hanger, or the drawer. Is it dirty? Easy. Right into the hamper it goes. Can you wear it again? Then store it on a hanger or in the drawer, wherever you typically keep that item. Done!
“I’ll get to it later.”
I’ve got news for you: No, you won’t. If you need to get something done, you’ve got two choices: Do it right now, or else schedule it to get it done later. When that appointment rolls around, honor it as if it were a lunch date or haircut appointment. You wouldn’t cancel one of those, would you?
Stuffing Everything in a Drawer.
I know, it feels good in the moment—look, instant cleanliness!—but you and I know that it’s just postponing the mess and the dread of having to deal with it. Drawers should have a designated purpose—only things that belong there should go there, not everything that’s out of place on your countertops, willy-nilly. It will be self-reinforcing—you’ll never want to mess up a neatly-organized drawer.
All or Nothing.
That feeling, that it’s not worth, say, cleaning off the countertop because the cabinets will still be disorganized, or cleaning the sink and toilet will not be worth it because the bathroom floor still needs to be done—it’s the enemy of a clean space. If you were to work just 1 or 2 items into your daily routine, everything would get clean eventually, and you’d never have that feeling of Seriously Big Jobs hanging over your head. So go ahead and start with 1 drawer, or 1 room, or whatever you have time for. You’ll be surprised and how good it feels to take care of even a small space.
“It’s just not worth the effort.”
It’s easy to get overwhelmed looking at a messy space and thinking that it would just be too hard to do what it would take to get it clean. One of our readers sent in the best motivating tip: When you get a room just how you like it, take a photo of it with your phone. Then, when you’re feeling uninspired to clean, use the photo as motivation to get it back to where it needs to be. You’ll remember how good it feels to have a clean, serene space.
Comment Question: WHAT ARE YOUR BAD HABITS?
** RECOMMENDED VIEWING **
- 10 HABITS YOU NEED TO BREAK! (CLEANING MOTIVATION)
- DECLUTTERING TIPS & HELP
- 10 HABITS YOU NEED TO BREAK! (CLEANING MOTIVATION)
- 10 HABITS YOU NEED TO BREAK! (CLEANING MOTIVATION)
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The junk drawer in the kitchen. I cleaned it a few months ago and it is now back to what it was. It contains pens, writing pad, batteries, iPad/cellular wires, matches, scotch tape, light bulbs and so much more. Small articles in a drawer become a large mess in no time . HELP Melissa????????
My desk. It’s like an ocean of paper. The filing pile,the action pile, Phone Numbers written on little pieces of paper. When I search for something in particular and cant find it, all the piles get undone.
My desk is the spot that I can’t seem to keep tidy! Help!
I’ve found if you have a space such as the garage that needs a good five our organise/throwaway/straightening and you just don’t have the time or just simply don’t want to use that much time all at once to do it, I say to myself, “ok lazy one, you will take care of five items in the garage a day (about ten minutes max typically) until it’s done. Most of the time I take care of these small chunks as I’m coming and going in the car and seldom even realize I’m working towards a nice, straight, tidy, no trash, beautiful garage!! Also let me, as a male, talk briefly about mail. You should have three inboxes, IMMEDIATE ACTION, TEMPORARY FILE, LONG TERM FILE, SPOUSE. As you get mail, put it in each of these boxes, and the rest in the trash.
IMMEDIATE ACTION is for those pressing bills, required correspondence, etc. You should be checking this box every day, as you pay bills, write paid, date, and method of payment and then put in temporary file if it’s a reoccurring monthly bill that’s been paid (and take out last time you paid that bills receipt and shred) or put it in long term receipt if it’s a receipt for a large one time or annual payment item, that you may need to use much later. The spouse file is for stuff that your spouse handles and gently impress on them your system. No leaving mail anywhere other that directly in front of your filing system and never leave it longer than end of day for filing.
Hi Melissa
Love your videos….I live in South Africa,
The one problem is paper work!! I just hate it so it just piles up in my study!! Then I have to scratch when I need something!! Any ideas??
Love the Clean My Space….. everything!
Wondered abt video above abt 5 Habits to Break….. saw a steaming device and circular unit behind it (in the chair blurb).
What are those?
Hi Melissa, I love your show.
I live in a home that is not “finished”. But that does not stop us from cleaning it and keeping it tidy. Friends and family feel welcome, and that’s our goal. I’ve been to homes where the occupants don’t care. It could be a “new” home or like ours “unfinished” but the atmosphere feels the same. If they could only understand that cleaning can greatly help improve the atmosphere, their guests would feel more comfortable! I don’t like having to carve out a space to sit on, when a couch is full of (clean?) laundry. I call our home Shabby Chic, like the genre represents. Our walls and fixtures are not the latest and greatest, or they are missing all together. BUT, we are clean and tidy.
Sincerely,
Shabby in Kingston
I never clean under my bed. It stays dusty. I have linoleum on my bedroom floors because I have puppies. Any hint on cleaning these floors? I LOVE your hints!