A while back, a friend of mine asked if she could borrow an egg for baking. Of course, this was totally fine since she lives in my building and has a key to my place for emergencies. However, all I could think about was how messy my apartment was. There were dishes in my sink, the counters were a mess and my coffee table still had the previous night’s dinner mess on it. I cringed a bit when I told my friends she could go to my apartment and get an egg. That night though, I came home and realized I need to do a better job of keeping my place neat.

That upcoming weekend, I woke up at 5am  on a Saturday and could not fall back asleep. All I could think about is all the things that I needed to get done that day and knew I wouldn’t be going back to bed anytime soon. So I got up and OCD cleaned my kitchen: unloaded and then filled up my dishwasher again, cleaned the fridge out, mopped my floors and put everything away on my counters. Finally, I Clorox wiped everything in my kitchen before heading to my coffee table to clear that off and fix my throw pillows on my couch before heading back to bed around 7am. I was exhausted!

I knew I had to come up with a plan that kept me on track and prevented my sink from overflowing with dishes again! My apartment isn’t dirty…just messy because I am too lazy to put anything back after I use it. In an effort to make things look better, my goal is to just spend 5 minutes in each room to tidy it up. Quickly vacuum, clear off the coffee table, fold up blankets and fluff the pillows on the couch, and spend a few minutes putting things away in my living room.

My apartment can be kinda clean, but my kitchen is always a disaster. I am to blame though because I cook and never put dishes in my dishwasher right away and my countertops are covered with my purse, junk mail, and all my snacks. If only I could get myself to put things back and not throw everything on my kitchen counter the minute I get home! One tip my mom gave me before I moved in was to have my garbage under my kitchen sink so I’m not tripping over a garbage can and the room just looks neater. I purchased a small garbage can with a lid that closes that fits perfectly under my sink and since it is not large it fills up quickly making me empty out my trash more often than I would if I had a larger garbage can. Before I take out the trash before going to work, I will walk around and empty out other garbage cans around my apartment.

My bathroom is the easiest room for me to keep clean during the week because I have a system. While I brush my teeth, I can easily wipe down the sink, put products I used away and spray cleaner into my shower or toilet while I brush. I also got good at washing my bath mats weekly giving me an opportunity to vacuum my bathroom floor as well.  I keep a small garbage can in my bathroom and when it looks full, I will dump it in my larger garbage can in my kitchen and then bring it to the garbage chute down the hall.

I hope all of these tips were helpful and inspire you to keep your home tidy!