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Last updated on April 8th, 2022 at 09:03 pm
“How do you have it stay organized?” keeps popping up as a top question in my reader surveys. “I don’t have a lot of time.”
First of all, I don’t either. I’m also busy trying to do other things like homeschool and run a business. I don’t have the capacity to spend hours …days …trying to maintain and organize my home.
Instead of constantly trying to get ahead, I go on offense and work to prevent extra work for myself. You might say I’m proactively lazy …or I’m just obsessed with daily rhythms.
I prioritize doing these rhythms, BUT they’re a combination of taking care of myself and taking care of my home. By blending these two things together, I feel whole, happy, and on top of things.
Read on to learn how to use these rhythms to stay organized, despite being extremely busy.
Evening Rhythm
The key to a successful day starts with the night before ← somebody said that somewhere I’m sure, but it’s true!
I don’t sleep well when my house isn’t somewhat decent. I stay up at night thinking of all the things I have to do to clean up. The next day I’m grumpy because I didn’t sleep and now I have to clean.
Unfortunately, that means everybody suffers.
To avoid all of this unpleasantness, I get to work.
After dinner each night, we do the dishes and set the dishwasher to run so we have clean dishes the next day.
If we’re getting up early the next morning, we have our stuff ready at the drop zone and outfits picked out.
As a family, we spend a few minutes before our bedtime routine picking up and putting things away around the house.
This puts us several steps ahead the next morning, so we can actually focus on our priorities instead of arguing about who’s doing the dishes or what to wear.
Morning Rhythm
Of course, your morning rhythm follows your evening rhythm.
You can find hundreds of articles and podcasts about different people’s morning routines. But for me, my entire morning has a rhythm to it that doesn’t stop at prayers and coffee.
I do all the things I need to fill myself up spiritually and mentally for the day. Then I integrate household tasks to my morning so that I’m looking out for myself a few hours later.
My morning rhythm includes unloading the dishwasher, doing the breakfast dishes, and making the beds.
Simple but extremely effective at making the rest of my day a little more peaceful.
Daily Rhythm
This rhythm takes a bit more effort to put into play but it’s the only way I’ve found to prevent HOURS of work later.
Around lunchtime, before quiet time, and before dinner, we have a quick cleanup session that I call the 10-Minute Tidy. We pick up toys and stray items, wash dishes, or vacuum up crumbs …whatever needs to get done.
It’s never the same thing every Tidy, which is why it’s a rhythm and not a routine.
This is the rhythm that keeps your home clean and organized. You work proactively instead of reactively to messes and clutter.
To get ideas of when to do and what to do during a 10-Minute Tidy, click here to download a free checklist.
I swear by the evening, morning, and 10-Minute Tidy rhythms. They’re the easiest things I can do to stay organized despite how busy I am.
Get started on your first rhythm by downloading the 10-Minute Tidy checklist here.
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