How To Stop Your Home From Taking Up So Much Of Your Spare Time
Most people want to live in a property that doesn’t require an enormous amount of work every week. But, unfortunately, that doesn’t always become reality. Many homes need constant attention to look their best (otherwise they start falling apart at the seams).
Because of this, many homeowners (like you) have to work on their properties for hours every day, just to keep everything ship shape. It’s a nightmare. You want to spend your evenings and weekends entertaining yourself or engaging in hobbies, not constantly cleaning and tidying.
Fortunately, there are lots of ways to prevent your home from taking up all your spare time. And they’re more intuitive than you might think.
Put Limits On Your Perfectionism
The first step is to ask yourself whether your home really needs as much time as you are giving it. If you cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom last weekend, do you need to do the same again this Saturday? Probably not.
If you are dealing with perfectionism, allocate time for chores and set a timer. Then work through as much as you can get before the buzzer rings.
Reduce Paperwork
Another approach is to reduce your paperwork. You can do this by opting for paperless billing (getting your statements online).
This approach is extremely helpful in a lot of situations and allows you to organize your documents using the cloud. You don’t have to worry about clearing up incoming mail. And if you do get junk mail, you can just put it in the recycling (or use a box to capture mail as it comes through the door.
Share Responsibilities
Looking after your home might be taking up so much of your time because you’re not sharing responsibilities with other people. It might just be you doing all the work instead of other family members.
You can sort this out by enlisting people to do various jobs. For example, you might get your kids to sweep the floors while your spouse does the dishes. This work allocation can be an excellent way to divide everything up and prevent you from feeling so overwhelmed.
Make Meals Simple
Another option is to make your meals simpler. Instead of cooking something homemade from fresh ingredients every time, you opt for convenience.
These days, there are more healthy convenience foods than ever before. These options cut down on preparation massively, and some just go straight into the microwave.
You can also save time by ordering groceries online and taking repeated deliveries for your meal plan (cooking the same items on weeknights).
Finally, you could batch-cook items and freeze them yourself when you have a spare evening. You can often prepare a whole week’s worth of evening meals in a single session and keep them in the freezer.
Get Someone To Help You
Another approach, recommended by companies like Dust B Gone, is to get someone to help you with all the cleaning and tidying you need to do.
The idea here is to take some of the pressure off, especially if you have a busy work life. Getting someone else to take over some of the responsibilities frees you up during your spare time, allowing you to enjoy your home and everything else you do.
Organize Everything
Getting better at organizing everything can also be enormously helpful for people wanting to cut down on chores. When everything in your home has a place, managing it all becomes so much more straightforward.
Opt for a range of storage solutions for the various objects in your home. For example, you could use jars in your pantry, baskets for kids’ toys, and boxes for books. You could also invest in built-in storage if you have the budget for it.
Once you’ve organized everything, the next step is to label your containers so people in your household know where everything is. This tactic can reduce the risk of rummaging and directs you to the things you need without having to dig for them first.
Clean As You Go
Another strategy is to clean as you go, something that works for a lot of people. Instead of letting everything build up throughout the week, you deal with it immediately.
For many people, this approach is better psychologically. You’re not building up a mountain of work for yourself that feels impossible to face.
Use Multi-Purpose Cleaners
Lastly, you could experiment with using multi-purpose cleaners instead of a separate option for every surface in your home. These products save time and prevent you from constantly wondering whether you are using the right cleaner.
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Help is a must!
And I do have cleaners. They also are a big help to keeping everything clean. It can get overwhelming.
I need to do some of these more. There is always so much to do around the house. I feel like it is never ending.
I sometimes feel I have so much going on my plate, having someone to help is a big plus!
When you have kids, everyday is a cleaning day for sure. Sometimes it can get overwhelming with all the work to be done but I’m glad I could still work through it. Those are some great points to keep in mind.
Great tips! Streamlining home maintenance really does free up valuable spare time. Thanks for the helpful advice!
Such great advice! I truly believe in sharing responsibilities, this makes life so easy 😉.
I do struggle to keep up with my house. I feel bad about it. But after working all week, with my health issues, I am just too tired to mess with it or my feet hurt too bad. I do need to dedicate a few hours to get it cleaned up again. I do a deep clean every few weeks.