Seven Ways to Make Housework Easier

Most only do housework because they want their home to be hygienic, safe for their family so let's make it as quick and easy as possible...

Let’s face it… most people don’t do housework for fun. Most people do housework because they want their home to be hygienic, safe for their kids and nice to spend time in. Ok, ok, I admit there are some people who enjoy housework, but generally speaking to most people it’s a necessary evil. So let’s make housework as EASY as possible so we can get it done and move on to other, more fun things…

Here are seven simple housework hacks that can save hours each month and months in your lifetime...

Remove the rubbish from your house

It might be literal trash (pizza boxes, used batteries etc) or it might only be trash to you and treasure to other people (clothes that aren’t comfortable, books you won’t read again etc). Either way, if it’s trash to you it can go. In the garbage or out for donation.

Keep the tools with the task

Keeping the tools with the task means you are more likely to make the most of small pockets of time and to take action when you notice housework tasks that need to be done. For example, by keeping the bathroom cleaning supplies in the bathroom I can give the bathroom a quick clean while the kids are in the bath.

What tools can you keep with the tasks they are used for? (Keeping any chemicals out of reach of young children of course!)

Choose your battles

If you want a perfect home it might be best to pay a professional but if your goal is simply a healthy, comfortable and safe home for your family, identity what that means to you and prioritise those tasks each week.

I couldn’t care less if have a basket of clean, unfolded washing in the laundry (or even on the couch) but each night my children need to pick up enough toys in their rooms to make it safe if they need to come out in the dark or if I need to go in. (Maybe it’s a throwback from my days as a fire fighter, but a clear path on and out of rooms is a high priority to me.)

Another priority to me is having a house that’s relatively clear of dirty dishes. I don’t often let my kids eat in their rooms and I take my used coffee mugs out of my office each day. The kitchen bench gets cleared most nights and we have the kids trained to put dirty dishes straight into the dishwasher (it usually happens, and 'mostly' is better than 'never', right?!). Dishes is one of my family's priorities because we live in a neighbourhood that gets a lot of ants. Ants do a lot of damage to homes and keeping on top of dishes is a way of managing them, but that might not be your priority because we’re all different.

One of my husband’s top priorities is taking the trash out. He hates it when we miss the trash pick up because it goes smelly and attracts unwanted wildlife. So he has an alarm on his phone to remind him when to put the bins out at the curb.

Take a few minutes to jot down what YOUR priorities are and why. These then become your most regularly done jobs around the house and the ones you want to have a great system for. When the things that matter most to you are done, the things that matter least seem to either just happen naturally or not matter if they don’t happen.

Share the Joy

Who can help you with housework? Make it fun and heap on the praise and you’ll have a housework army backing you before you know it!

Even children as young as about two can help with things like picking up toys. By three they can make their own bed. At four most kids can start setting the table and unloading non-breakables from the dishwasher. At about seven or eight you can teach them how to sweep and vacuum the floors. And 10/11 years olds can be taught how to clean the bathroom. They might not do it as well as you would but the more effort you put into teaching them the ‘right’ way (whatever that is to you) the more likely you will be to be satisfied with the result.

As a side note, I don’t believe people should be rewarded beyond praise and approaction for doing things that are the basics of contributing to family life, but I happily pay my children pocket money for doing extra jobs around the house. (If I wasn’t paying them I would be paying a cleaner and this way it’s a win-win situation - they learn the skills or housework and get pocket money.)

Schedule It

Have daily tasks for each household member that ensure things don’t pile up too much.

Have routines that incorporate housework tasks so they come to happen naturally. An example of this in my household is that whichever adult so cooking dinner also puts a load of laundry on and takes out the frozen meat (if needed) for dinner the following night so they can defrost overnight.

Have a System for Paper

A high proportion of people - especially parents - cite paper items as one of their top three stressors in the home. Whether it’s school notices, kids artwork, appointment reminders, bills to pay or party invitations... create a system for this so it doesn’t build up and become ANOTHER thing that needs to be dealt with on housework day.

Have Less Stuff

To live your best life you should be taking care of the belongings you choose to have. By having less of them you can spend less time, money and energy taking care of your stuff and have more space, time, money and energy for the things you value most (belongings, activities, people etc).

Categories: Cleaning, Home Organisation, Home Organization, Housework, Time Management