Here’s a really simple thing a lot of messy people never learned: clean people are clean people because they do little household tasks as soon as they need to be done. Messy people? We leave it for some undefined future time, which often ends up being never. It’s much, much easier to wash one meal’s worth of dishes, or put away one load of laundry, or clean off a countertop with only a day’s mess on it than it is to handle those things that have been left for days or weeks or months.
Becoming a less messy person is about doing the little stuff more often. Put everything away when you get home from the store. Clear off the coffee table once a day instead of every few weeks. Over time, those little tasks and habits will become instinctive, and you’ll be on your way to being a recovered messy person. You’ll also find you have no need for intense, whole-house marathon cleans.
If you’re a messy person, you can change. You’ll probably never be an effortlessly neat person, but that’s fine! You’ll be a kinda messy person who cleans up after yourself, and who has a not-messy home. And that’s a great goal to have.
And spare us the comments like, “Who doesn’t know this already?” Lots of us, so hush. If you already know and do this, congratulations on your immaculate home. This advice isn’t meant for you, so feel free to take a seat on the nearest (undoubtedly spotless) chair or couch.
I see your “do a little cleaning every day so you you don’t have to do a big clean every few weeks” and raise you “one big clean when I move house, because things can only get so bad.”
