Have you ever felt overwhelmed by all the little daily chores you have to accomplish in your life? Do you feel that they are weighing you down, pulling you back, and preventing you from accomplishing the big goals that you have set for yourself? It’s time to identify some smart ways to do housework so that we can move on from what we “have to do” in order to get to what we want to do.
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Smart Ways to Simplify Housework: Cleaning
How to Do Laundry from Start to Finish
I have to confess, laundry is probably the one household chore I really don’t mind.
I think it’s because I have a pretty efficient system, and it’s a project with a clear ending.
If you tend to get bogged down with laundry and feel it’s a never-ending chore, there’s probably a very specific reason. You don’t finish. If this sounds like you, head over to How to Do Laundry from Start to Finish and learn the simple change you can make that will allow you to really finish your laundry.
How to Choose the Best Laundry Detergent
On the topic of laundry, I hope you are not still using plastic jugs of liquid detergent – which is mostly water!
Learn about the benefits of laundry sheets – they look like dryer sheets, only you toss them in the washing machine and they dissolve into detergent! Earth Breeze is the leading brand of laundry sheets, and I explain the many, many reasons why in the post Why Earth Breeze EcoSheets Should Replace Your Laundry Detergent.
How to Make Air Fresheners Using Essential Oils
If your house is not smelling its freshest – probably because we all spend too much time indoors – this post offers two simple ways to make air fresheners using essential oils. One is a spray, one is in a jar. Both can be used with a variety of essential oils tailored to your fragrance preferences. DIY Homemade Air Fresheners Using Essential Oils are quick and inexpensive to make, too!
How to Make Air Fresheners in Your Crockpot
The crockpot is one of the handiest kitchen appliances ever, and you can use it for so much more than food prep. In this post, I explain how to use your crockpot as a fragrance diffuser. There are plenty of suggestions for fragrance combinations, too.
How to Complete Spring Cleaning in 10 Minutes a Day
I originally wrote this post as a 31-day challenge. Feeling unmotivated myself, but knowing how badly the house needed some work, I came up with 31 things to clean. Not your everyday cleaning, mind you, but focusing on things like fireplace screens and light switches and such that need attention, but not every day.
There are 31 housecleaning chores that take less than 10 minutes each but have a big impact at the same time.
How to Prioritize Cleaning Before Winter
Fall house cleaning differs from spring chores in that the goal is to prepare the home for winter when it’s closed up tight to keep the cold out. There are 4 basic areas of focus in fall housecleaning: windows, floors, fabrics, and kitchen. Read why these areas get top billing in the fall at Fall House Cleaning: 4 Areas to Focus On.
How to Clean Your Home Before You Go on Vacation
It may be surprising to learn how much there is to do before leaving for vacation, in order to come back to a stress-free home after vacation. Again, it’s just a matter of planning and following-through. Learn the steps at What to Do at Home Before You Go on Vacation.
Bad House Cleaning Habits You Need to Break
If you’ve been cleaning houses for a long time (seems like forever, right?), chances are you have unknowingly developed some bad habits around the way you get these activities done. And you are making things harder than they need to be! No one needs to make things harder!
Get back some simple sanity by identifying your housecleaning bad habits, and breaking them right away!
Smart Ways to Simplify Housework: Organization
How to Organize Your Closet in Under an Hour
Clothing closets are probably the number one location in the home where people struggle to keep things organized. There’s a very simple method to organizing your closet, regardless of size or basic layout, that keeps everything displayed in the most efficient way possible.
No more searching for sleeveless tops in an ocean of long-sleeved blouses, grabbing winter items when it’s 95 degrees in July, or pushing aside formal wear looking for something for lounging in at home.
When you are ready to take control of your clothing closet, read How to Organize Your Closet in Under an Hour.
How to File Fold Clothes to Keep Them Organized
As a companion to organizing your closet, learn the KonMari Method (from Marie Kondo, of course!) of file folding clothing for storage in drawers. Once you get the hang of how to fold clothing her way, you’ll never go back to anything else. That’s the beauty of How to File Fold Clothes to Keep Them Organized.
How to Increase Your Kitchen Storage
Second only to clothing closets, everyone always wants to find the best way to organize their kitchen. We all have so many cooking gadgets and appliances, and even the biggest kitchens feel too small to hold everything!
If you are short on kitchen storage, you’ll want to consider adding an open pantry – essentially, a shelving unit designed for kitchen storage. An open pantry is A Smart and Simple Way to Increase Kitchen Storage.
How to Organize Pet Supplies So You Can Always Find What You Need
Sometimes I think my dog has at least as much stuff as my kids when they were small. Fortunately, dog supplies are really pretty easy to organize! Read how I do this with Ozzie’s toys, leashes, meds, and more at How to Organize Pet Supplies So You Can Always Find What You Need.
Smart Ways to Simplify Housework: Shopping
How to Save Time, Money, & Sanity Shopping at Costco
Costco and Amazon Prime are my two top time-savers when it comes to basic shopping, such as groceries or home products.
Costco has such an incredible inventory of items for every conceivable need, from bagels to Christmas trees to sweatshirts to childrens’ books. The prices are great, the quality of almost everything is tops, and it’s really efficient to shop at the warehouse.
That efficiency is assuming you follow some basic shopping strategies. Otherwise you may find yourself spending hundreds of dollars on things you don’t need and won’t use before their expiration date arrives! It’s easy to overspend at Costco (or any other warehouse store).
Before you go, read the post How to Save Time, Money, & Sanity Shopping at Costco so that you are prepared for your shopping trip.
How to Shop From Home with Amazon Prime
One of the drawbacks of Costco is that you actually have to go there in person and brave the crowds. That’s not an issue with Amazon Prime. Relax on the couch and shop in your pajamas.
Once you click that buy button, you know your order is going to arrive super-fast – generally, in two days or less. Some items you can get in two hours! As we all know, if an item exists, it’s probably available at Amazon.
Be sure to check reviews to make sure you are getting exactly what you are looking for – there are some sketchy brands, and even some counterfeits, on Amazon. By and large, it’s one super-easy, efficient shopping experience.
Read about all of the other benefits of Amazon Prime, and get a 30-day free trial, in the post What’s So Great About Shopping With Amazon Prime?
Read Next: 5 Ways Simple Living Can Make You Happier
When your home works for you, you’ll enjoy more time for the things that make you smile.
Chrissie Halton, Organize My House
Final Thoughts on Smart Ways to Simplify Housework
Housekeeping, home organization, shopping…these are three huge time vacuums that can get in the way of achieving goals and creating a bigger life. But, they must be done!
I hope the tips presented here have given you some ideas on how you can streamline these processes and make them work more effectively for you.
What tips do you have for everyday living projects?