An Ounce Of Mess Prevention
Comedian Phyllis Diller famously once said, “Housework can’t kill you, but why take the risk?”
Our homes are for living, and living is a messy business. But preventing messes before they become unmanageable is indeed possible, and seasoned minimalists often rely on tried-and-true prevention techniques to reduce both housework and overwhelm.
Read on for 5 tips to help you fold, dust, and vacuum less so you can enjoy life more.
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1. Take your shoes off when you enter your home (and make sure everyone follows suit!)
The Carpet And Rug Institute estimates that 80 percent of the dirt in our homes comes in on our shoes.
Scientists at the Southwest Research Institute found 16 different toxins including pesticides and lead dust on the soles of shoes.
Countless cultures around the world have caught on to the fact that prevention starts by taking off your shoes at the door or even better, outside (or perhaps in the garage). These cultures have better looking floors, and less indoor mess with half the work.
Here are some tricks to make the transition to shoe-less living easier:
- Put a chair by the door for guests who need to sit when removing or putting their shoes.
- Embrace room shoes (aka slippers or socks) and keep them by the door. so you come home, you take off the dirty shoes and you put on the room shoes.
- Put a boot brush or an old toothbrush or something with bristles by the door so when your shoes are extra dirty you can quickly and easily remove the grime and leave it outside.
What about when you have guests over? What about those instances where shoes are part of the outfit?
I’m so beyond ruthless about this, and I own it. I just nicely ask that people take their shoes off when they come over, and I don’t feel guilty about it. I also automatically take my shoes off when i go to other people’s house because, HELLO, courtesy.
When I’m hosting a gathering, I always remember to remind guests them that my house is cold (so perhaps bring a pair of warm socks or slippers!) when I invite them.
If you have pets, perhaps wipe their paws when they come inside after a wet or muddy day.
2. Prevent excessive dust by investing in an air purifier
Have you ever entered a museum, art gallery, or fine antique shop and wondered how on earth they keep all the artwork dust free? Their secret is an air purifier.
Some purifiers – such as the panels that fit the return duct of your furnace and air conditioner – are cheap and effective as long as you change them twice a year.
3. Confine eating to just one room (the kitchen!)
When every room is a dining room, every surface is susceptible to splatters, crumbs, and stains. By confining meals and snacks you drastically reduce the scope of which you have to clean up food remnants.
Of course, special occasions and movie nights are still possible and still fun, but make them the exception to the rule eating-happens-in-the-kitchen rule.
If you have this rule in your home but you’ve been lax about it (like me), it’s time to reign in the troops. I’ve spotted my kids munching on snacks as they traipse around the house. My husband, too, is guilty of this. He’ll go the cabinet and grab a snack (it’s always a crumbly snack) and then he’ll stand up and eat it.
Sitting down and eating meals, snacks, and everything in between is a central principle of the slow food movement, so this is my reminder (and yours) to re-teach this house rule if necessary.
4. Tackle paper clutter the second it enters
People tend to report paper as the hardest clutter to manage and that’s because it accumulates so quickly.
when it comes to paper clutter, you have 3 options: Do It, Delegate It, or Dump It.
Create a great (but simple) filing system. In my house it’s a file cabinet with manila folders. Each one is labeled with the name of the company or billing service for those pieces of mail we need keep.
Have some sort of Do It pile. School forms to sign, rsvp card to mail, bill to pay, and more: put them all somewhere in sight and arrange them in a somewhat attractive way so you don’t forget about them but they also don’t stress you out.
In my house we have a filing organizational thingamabob. I stick the Do It items vertically in there so they’re in sight but also not in a hideous, messy pile.
Other tips:
Get off the lists. Catalog Choice is my favorite service to get off unnecessary mailing lists. This alone will reduce a significant amount of volume of mail that comes to your house.
Chuck junk mail immediately. (Don’t even bring it into the house!) Recycle catalogs too, especially if you don’t need anything. Why peruse if you don’t expressly need something? Perusing is just a step away from buying.
If you still get paper bills. open them immediately and toss out the extra stuff in the envelope.
For periodicals that you subscribe to but somehow never get around to reading: Rip out the articles you’re interested in, get rid of the rest of the magazine, and keep the articles in a bag in your purse or car for when you’re out and delayed somewhere.
5. Reduce your laundry load
Laundry is a task that bemoans all households, but we can work smarter, not harder the front end to lessen our loads.
First, a list of don’ts:
- Don’t let your children change their outfits 4 times a day
- Don’t allow towels to be placed in the laundry basket after one shower.
- Don’t put clean clothes away for anyone over age 5.
- Similarly, don’t change the bedsheets of anyone over age 5 except your own.
- Don’t wash pajamas after one wear.
Do:
- Do wear an apron when cooking.
- Do encourage your children to wear smocks when doing messy projects.
- Do make use of the sun by turning slightly sweaty but not yet dirty clothes inside out and deodorize them in full sunlight.
- Do avoid the continuous folding of sheets by putting them back on the bed after they’re clean.
- Do have enough clothes for everyone to get through a full week, but not much more (hello capsule wardrobes!)
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