These are also known as Hot Spots, and all messies have them. If you are new to messie recovery, you might think your whole house is a hot spot, but you can break the mess down and take it one Trouble Spot at a time.

A Trouble Spot is a place where things just seem to accumulate… sometimes it seems like stuff accumulates even faster in Trouble Spots than in other spots. Trouble Spots in my home include the kitchen sink, the dining room table, the low wall between the dining room and the living room, the hallway (laundry!), and one of the couch tables. Since I backslid after getting a job, right now I’m only working on two Trouble Spots: the kitchen sink and the dining room table.

In the first stage of messie recovery, don’t worry about Trouble Spots until you are getting your 5/5 list done every day. Once you have conquered your 5/5, then you can start evaluating your Trouble Spots.

Start with one Trouble Spot. I suggest the kitchen sink. Make sure you clean it at least once a day. Work your way up to checking and cleaning it three times a day before adding your second Trouble Spot. I suggest the dining room table.

If you backslide, never worry, because the Trouble Spot will wait for you. Just get back to cleaning it at least once a day. Never push too far out of your comfort zone… your comfort zone will expand if you don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. A Cleanie can clean a swamped home in a matter of a day or two. We can’t. We have to accept that and work within our limitations.

A lot of forces conspire to create messies. Sometimes we’re messie because we lack good habits. Sometimes we feel like we’re too creative to “waste” any time with mundane tasks like cleaning. Sometimes we just don’t like to clean, and sometimes, we don’t know how to clean, or we don’t know how to do it efficiently. But if you used to be a cleanie before becoming a working parent, or before taking on a demanding job, maybe your messiness really springs from a lack of time management. If so, consider yourself lucky, because that can be relatively easy to fix. Proper time management can benefit every messie.

Have you mapped out every moment of your day? I did this
when I was in the Air Force, and it really showed where my time actually went. I took a planner page and wrote down what I did every 15 minutes. You could do this on a plain sheet of paper, it doesn’t have to be very fancy- just write down what you do every 15 minutes. You may see times you can multitask. Put this sheet in your notebook. You may like to refer to it later to see how far you’ve come.

Some household chores eat up more time than others. The one you dread the most could be the biggest time-sucker. I don’t mind cleaning the kitchen, because it rarely takes me more than half an hour (I have a dishwasher), yet I always dread cleaning the master bedroom or catching up on laundry.

Laundry timesavers:

• If you spend an hour every day doing laundry, could you take it to the laundromat instead and do it all at once (and write or read or do something else for yourself while you’re waiting.)?

• Another way to ease up on laundry is to start a load in the morning, throw it in the washer when you get home from work, and it’ll be ready to fold when you put the kids to bed.

• Keep hangers by the dryer and put clothes for the closet directly on the hangers, instead of in the basket. Hang as many things as you can.

• Always buy the exact same kind of socks for your
  kids (different kind for each) then you don’t have to match- you just throw their socks into their drawer and let them pick them out. Depends on how organized you are, though- some people couldn’t handle that– too messy.

• One thing I have found is that clothes sneak into my current laundry that have no business being there. Out-of-season clothes, clothes that don’t fit anyone, clothes that are torn or stained, that no one wears, yet that seem to show up every week in the laundry room. Crack down on these rogue clothes by:

  • Ruthlessly paring down your clothes (and the kids’ and spouse’s) to clothes that fit.

  • Only put away clothes that fit and are in wearable condition. Since we iron our clothes right before wearing them, we do think it’s okay to put away wrinkled clothes.

  • Store out of season clothes in closed boxes. Not on the floor of the laundry room.

  • Keep a large trash bin or trash bag by the washer and dryer. If a piece of clothing is completely ruined, throw it right away. Don’t let it get back into circulation.

  • Keep a large plastic bin with a cover in the laundry room. When you capture clothing that don’t fit or that no one likes any more, fold them neatly and put them in the bin. When the bin is full, take it to Salvation Army. Don’t bother to save it for a yard sale unless you KNOW you will follow through. Only you know what kind of follow-through you have.

With proper time management, you can have time for cleaning, play with kids, and your exercise. Dh and I figured out a way to fit in my evening run- we all go to the park and he plays with our son while I run or walk
around the park. When our older son gets back from vacation, he’ll play with Nick while John and I run/walk

together.

Is there anything you can cut back on? Do you vacuum every day when you could get away with vacuuming every other day? Do you have and use a dishwasher? Do you wash dishes as you make dinner? If you don’t have a dishwasher, try running a sinkful of hot soapy water as you begin dinner, then while cooking, wash everything you’re done with. You can do the same thing at breakfast time- start a sinkful of hot soapy water when everyone starts eating, then it’ll be simple to wipe and rinse. (Air drying is healthier than towel drying, so let the dishes drip dry while you’re at work.)

Try preplanning your meals. I try to cook a month’s worth of meals over a weekend and then freeze them– that way there’s always something relatively healthy in the freezer (if we remember to defrost!) That eases up on dirty dishes, as well, since all the prep is done and cleaned up on that one weekend. It sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but when you’re done, you don’t have to worry about meals or major grocery shopping until the next month.

How early is bedtime for your kids? Do they go to bed right on time? Or is there foot-dragging? (that could waste time for yourself.) Remember, especially if you’re a working parent who doesn’t want to “waste” quality time by cleaning, it’s good for them to see you do chores. I know people whose parents did all the household chores after they went to bed, and as adults, they were clueless about what needed to be done. (I never saw my Dad clean. I know he must have, but I don’t remember ever seeing it.) Your kids might even pitch in and help out, like with putting away their own folded clothes and putting their own toys in the toy box. Both of my kids, 4 & 11, can get their own dirty clothes to the laundry room and both of them can make their own bed neat enough to suit me. Please, if you’re a perfectionist, do lower the standards to your kids’ abilities. You probably can’t bounce a quarter off their bed, but if the sheets and comforter are neat, that’s good enough. My kids would prefer a comforter with a duvet cover that is washed weekly over the traditional sheets and comforter set up. Consider that if it would make things easier for you.

If you’re a night person, like me, maybe you can do some of the morning tasks the night before, like setting up the coffee pot and cereal bowls for breakfast, helping your kids pick their outfits, packing their daycare bags– you might even be able to get away with washing your hair at night and styling it the next morning. If your morning routine is very smooth, you may be able to sleep in a little, and use the extra time at night for yourself and time with your spouse. Sometimes, things that take you 20 minutes in the morning will only take 5 minutes at night, if you’re a night person. If you’re a morning person, you can still do tasks the night before, but then use that free time in the morning when you’re fresher.

Can you walk and get some exercise during lunch at work? You could pack a sandwich and some fruit and use your lunch time for a walk and quick lunch. Exercising at lunch time can free up your evening if that’s when you try to get in a workout. It can also refresh you during a stressful day.

Do you watch any TV? TV is a huge timewaster, even when
it’s just background noise. If you have the TV on in the
morning, try getting ready without it, just to see if it
makes things faster. If you have TV on in the evening, try turning it off unless the show is a favorite. It’s so easy to lose time in front of the TV (or computer).

Don’t be afraid to putter at your chores in the evenings, even if you’re a working parent. Sometimes your kids won’t mind just playing by themselves, too. They probably would appreciate the chance to just chill after a structured day care day. Sometimes working parents feel like they have to be entertaining every moment they spend with their kids, but the kids just like being with you, even if it’s just a trip to the store or the laundromat, even if you’re all hanging out reading or coloring or watching TV.

Speaking of stores, do whatever you can to avoid that after-work run to the store. Always make sure you buy enough milk to last between shopping trips, and always make sure you have something in a can or box or in the freezer that you can put together to avoid the after-work trip to the store. The military requires that families overseas have at least three days’ worth of food in the house in case of emergencies, so that’s a good habit to adapt for your family. Milk freezes really well, just pour a little out (drink it!) and then freeze it, but remember it takes 2 days to thaw. If you always have one in the fridge, one in the freezer, and one thawing, you’ll be fine. Keep a box of spaghetti and a jar of spaghetti sauce handy always. Spaghetti and sauce is a fine meal for one of those hectic days. Before you run to the store after work for anything, ask yourself if there is any way you can do without until the weekend. On the same token, avoid going to the store on paydays, and on Fridays and Saturdays before holiday weekends. Go to the least crowded store in your area. When we go to the WalMart SuperCenter, it’s a stressful hour and a half, at least, but if we go to the tiny Hy-Vee, it’s less than 45 minutes. Needless to say, making lists makes things go MUCH faster.

All of these are just suggestions, and maybe none of them are useful to you, but I hope they help. I came up with most of them while my husband was in the military, so I often found myself a “single parent” for weeks at a time. I refined them when we both had time-consuming jobs. Any little bit helps.

Of course, remember that everyone who lives in the house must pitch in. If one spouse works longer hours than the other, be flexible about what they have to do, but do try to negotiate so that everything is not on you. Even stay at home parents deserve a break on some chores. My dh cooks dinner on the nights we’re not reheating frozen dinners, and he usually handles the laundry. He also coordinates and supervises the bathing of the kids.

If you do nothing else, I suggest you write down what you do every 15 minutes of the day, from the time you get up until the time you go to bed. (Not from memory, but while you’re doing it.) Write down every phone call, every potty break, everything, for a full, typical day. It’s very eye-opening.

One technique that helped me get my mess under control is the “one room a day technique.”

 I target one room per day of the week, and I break that down to a manageable hour or so. For instance: 

• Monday: Kitchen & Dining Room

• Tuesday: Bathrooms

• Wednesday: Rec Room

• Thursday: Bedrooms

• Friday: Living Room

• Saturday: Once a Month Cooking/ Kitchen again

• Sunday: REST 

This gives me focus. Instead of being overwhelmed by all the big jobs in my house, I can be overwhelmed by the big job in one small room.

The Right Tools

Cleaning is so much easier when you have the right tools (and if you have decluttered first… but don’t sweat it if you haven’t.) Here are some of the tools I have tried and like, and since I am a bit lazy, these get the job done with a minimum of effort:

• A good vacuum cleaner: I use a Panasonic canister vacuum. It’s quiet and sturdy and really does the job. It doesn’t have a beater brush, but with as much hair as three pets and one long-haired human put out, a beater brush would burn up pretty quickly. A good vacuum cleaner is very important: it should be quiet, comfortable, and easy to use. I consider mine the backbone of my cleaning supplies.

• A broom: I prefer plastic bristles. The wood ones lose bristles. I use my vacuum on hard floors, so the broom isn’t used as often.

• A good cloth mop. I use a Libman head with a Libman handle, but it doesn’t have a wringer on it. It’s fine, because my mop bucket has a wringer. The cloth head can be thrown in the washer, I’ve heard. I don’t like yarn mops or sponge mops.

• A mop bucket. I use a rectangular mop bucket with a wringer-strainer attachment across the top. If you don’t have a wringer on your mop, this is a great accessory, so you don’t have to wring the mop out with your hands.

• Cloths: I use flat cloth diapers. I don’t use t-shirt rags or anything like that. A couple packages will fit you out for a while. (I also try to have at least 7 dishcloths and about 10 towels so I can change them out every day and have extras.)

• Feather duster: I just use a cheap one from a discount store

• Cleaners: I’ve gone through periods where I have had a LOT of cleaners around, but I have pared down my list to just a few items.:

  • General cleaner: I use lemon-scented Pine-sol diluted in a spray bottle for messes. I also use the same product for cleaning floors.

  • Glass Cleaner: I use windex or diluted vinegar in a spray bottle

  • Wood cleaner: Lemon oil or Murphy’s oil soap

  • Febreze: I use this mostly in the living room. I prefer to steam clean the carpet when it’s dirty over using Febreze, but Febreze does come in handy for some of those mysterious little smells.

  • Scouring powder: I don’t use this often because I try to hit trouble spots with the lemon-scented cleaner and a toothbrush before stuff gets too stuck on

• Swiffer: this is expensive, but can be useful. I haven’t tried the Swiffer wet, but some of my messie friends swear by it.

• Dishpan: I use these to collect things that don’t belong in the area I’m cleaning. I have to discipline myself to put all these things in their proper places when I am done cleaning. (This can also be used to hold the cleaning supplies in a cabinet.)

• Plastic bags: I use the bags that come from grocery or discount stores to collect trash. I either hang them off a chair or knob in the room, or hang the bag off my wrist.

Jenne’s Helpful Homecare hints for reluctant Homecarers 

(I made a few of these myself, but most of them came from my online messie friends or were distilled from the many books I read on the subject.

• Think of cleaning as home-care, not “housework.” Think about how nice the phrase “homecare” sounds.  Be mindful while you clean, and figure out a way to make it pleasant for you.

• Make a list of 5 things you can do in the morning to make your day go smoother, and 5 things you can do at night to make the next day go smoother. Even if you don’t do anything else all day, these 10 things will make a big difference. 

• My messie friends also Mt. Vernonize: You can find an explanation for that on the Messies Anonymous homepage. The gist is, you start at the door of whatever room you’re in, and work around it clockwise (or counter clock-wise,) cleaning as you go. It gets more advanced, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten with it. It’s a great way to start when you feel overwhelmed. Try grabbing a plastic bag and starting right at your computer, throw away trash, working methodically around your room until the bag is full. When you’re cleaning, work methodically around the room, and work from the top down. (Vacuum or sweep and mop last.)

• Many messies realize that we’ll never be Cleanies, but we do set minimum standards for the day: I feel best when my dishes are washed and put away, the vacuuming is done, and the laundry is put away.  (Maybe this is why these three chores are the ones I put off the most.)  Everyone has her own threshold, though. 

• Ease into cleaning by developing a habit of the month. This could be something as small as making your bed every morning or as large as cleaning the kitchen thoroughly every night. Set yourself up for success, though. Pick a habit that you know you can do every day for a month, but that you don’t already do. You’ll find that the little daily habits make a BIG difference! (Of course, on the new month, you need to ADD a new habit, NOT replace it!) (Claire’s idea, but JenJen reminds us of it each month.)

• Puff’s 5 POP.  That stands for 5 pieces of paper.  When you sit at your desk and you have a couple of minutes, pick up five pieces of paper and do something with them. File them or toss them. Only plan to do five at a time.  Five’s not overwhelming at all, is it?  (Maybe that’s why it’s the Messie Magic Number.)

• Another tip from my Messie friends: 15/15: Set your timer for 15 minutes. During those 15 minutes, clean as much as you can. When the timer goes off, reset it for another 15 minutes and reward yourself. Go on-line and chat with your friends, read, crochet, do something fun and rewarding. Keep cycling through those 15 minute bursts. You can use the working time for any chore you tend to put off. 

• Play music and have fun! I have a cleaning CD–a CD I really like, but only play when I’m cleaning. Whenever I hear the music, it inspires me. My favorite cleaning CDs are Curtis Stigers and Steely Dan. One messie friend wears a walkman and listens to books on tape. 

• If you’re getting pressure from others who live with you, a quick tip is to clear off as many horizontal surfaces as you can. That helps things look less cluttered. You can also rearrange pictures and knick-knacks. You could clean all day, but that other person might not notice unless something is different. 

• Don’t forget: you are not alone. Develop a Messie Support System with other messies in your town. You can also check out online forums, including the one here at My Messy House. Other sites also have messie forums… in fact, Claudia has one on her website, I have one on my website, so shop around and see which one you like best. On-line forums are like “real life” groups.  You’ll fit into some better than you will into others.  If one doesn’t work for you, keep looking! 

• Spend some time with Cleanie friends.  Not only will you pick up some great tips, especially if you admit you’re a slob and ask for specific hints, but you may also find that while you envy your Cleanie friend her home, she may envy the time you “get” to spend rubber-stamping, or sewing, or drawing, or writing,or going to college classes.  She may help you to become neater while you may help her to learn there’s more to life than a clean home.  (Stay away from the ones who “have it all together,” at least at the start, because they may make you feel worse.)

Back to top of page.

If you’re lucky enough to have a storage room, you’re also “lucky” enough to know how easily clutter can build up. The storage room doesn’t necessarily need to be cleaned every week, but you should probably do some work on it at least once a month. If you can’t remember when the last time you worked in your storage room was, this weekend is the time to work on it.

This is the perfect room to use the four-box method, because the boxes can stay there and wait for next time you’re working in the storage room. You’ll need at least four boxes: keep, give away, undecided, another room. You’ll also need a garbage bag (I just take the whole box when I’m working in the basement) and a vacuum cleaner. Sorting boxes kicks up a lot of dust. In fact, if it’s been more than six months since last time you did anything in your storage room, you might want to consider wearing a mask or a bandana to keep the dust out of your lungs.

A storage room can be overwhelming. Unless you’re on a deadline, such as an upcoming inspection, take it slowly. Set your timer for a half an hour and start with the pile or box closest to the door. Sort out the items and place them in the appropriate box. If the item is severely dirty or mildewed, and it doesn’t have a historical or emotional meaning, throw it away.

Work until the timer goes off. Set the timer again to give yourself a 15 minute break. After your break, start where you left off. Work for about two hours total. It’s tempting to try to finish the basement in one day, but you’ll get burned out. If you really have momentum, plan to do another two hours in the storage room tomorrow.

Take the trash bag out to the trash. If the give-away box is full, put it in your car to take to a place to give the stuff away. If you have room in other rooms for the stuff in the “other room” box, then put that stuff away. Keep the “keep” box. You’ll want to organize that stuff into proper categories once you have more room. Keep the “not sure” box as well.

When you’ve gone through every box and pile in your storage area, you can begin to recategorize everything.

Some people like to organize their storage rooms with matching boxes you can get at an office supply store. You can also organize using plastic totes. It’s a great idea to have consistent sizing in your storage boxes, but it would be cheaper to wait until you’ve thrown away the trash and given away everything you can give away. Then you’ll be able to buy the exact number of bins you need.

Click here for Cleaning 101: pet stain cleanup.

We messies love our pets. But pets can make our houses messier and dirtier. There are few things worse than walking into a house that a dog or cat has “marked.” Here are some tips for keeping your house smelling fresh when you have pets.

The first, most important thing is good housebreaking. It’s much easier to deal with pet odors when pets never learn to use the house as their toilet. (Of course, there will be accidents. We’ll deal with that in a minute.) With puppies and dogs, your best friend will be a pet taxi or home kennel. Put the puppy in the kennel and close the door at night. As soon as you get up in the morning, carry the puppy to the designated potty place and wait for the puppy to go. Praise the puppy like crazy when he does go. Take the puppy out after every meal, after every nap, and whenever the puppy starts to sniff the carpet suspiciously. While you’re away from the house, the puppy should be closed into his kennel. If the puppy has an accident in the kennel, wash the bedding immediately in the washer, and wash out the inside of the kennel so the puppy doesn’t get the idea that the kennel is his bathroom.

With an older dog, follow the same procedure. If the dog has accidents, never let it have the run of the house. Always supervise the dog. Close off any room the dog uses for his accidents. Use a baby gate if you need to. Rarely will a dog “have an accident” with you watching, so if you can stay with him, he’ll do better.

If you have a dog or cat who has always been reliable but is suddenly having accidents, see your vet. He could have an infection or an illness.

Cats are easier to deal with… every cat I’ve had has littertrained himself. The most important thing to remember with a cat is to keep his litter clean. Many cats will tell you they’re upset with the condition of their litter boxes by leaving surprises around the house.

For litter boxes, I like the enclosed ones (I have dogs who consider the contents of a litter box to be a rare treat, so I have to limit their access.) The enclosed boxes have a filter on top to keep the air fresh. Get the litter liners that are like a bag. You put the bottom of the tray into the bag, then set it flat and pour the litter in as if the bag weren’t there. This keeps stuff from clinging to the box and it makes it easier to get rid of old litter.

I use clumping litter. The litter clumps capture all the stuff and you can scoop it out daily and reuse the rest. Do scoop it out daily, or your cat will become unhappy with you and you know what happens then. Replace the scoopable litter as often as recommended on the side of the container. If you use the old-fashioned kind, completely replace it once a week.

If you have more than one cat who share a litter box that you keep clean… but there are still “surprises,” get each cat his own litterbox and see if that changes things.

Cleaning 101: Pet Stains

So you’ve done everything you can, and your pet has had an accident. It must be cleaned up as soon as possible. I like to pour water on the stain and then blot it up with white towels or diapers (you might go through all of your white towels and diapers doing this… hint, save retired bathtowels for this… don’t use towels you currently use in the bath.) Blot really well, then use a pet odor cleaner from a pet store according to the directions in the bottle. (Be sure to smell the cleaner first… some of those enzymatic cleaners smell worse than the pet odor!)

Be sure to wash your blotting towels with detergent, warm or hot water, and a chlorine or non-chlorine bleach.

Cleaning up old stains is a lot more difficult. We’ve had luck using Rug Doctors or a Hoover Steam Vac with cooler water and pet odor remover. We go over the area several times. After it dries, spray Febreze liberally over the site.

If the odor has penetrated to the padding, you’ll probably have to take up the carpet. I recommend replacing it with linoleum or sealed tile. Much easier to clean, and all around better for people with allergies, as well. I would also recommend wood if you seal it very, very well.

Even if your pets don’t have accidents, they can make your house smell less than fresh. There are several things you can do to make your house fresher. Brush your pet regularly and bathe him about once a month. Vacuum as often as possible. With dogs and cats in the home, you should aim to vacuum at least once every other day. Use carpet freshener powders at least once a week. Use a steam cleaner every month or so, at least in the areas your pets hang out (vacuum thoroughly first). Use plug-in air fresheners in most of the rooms in your house. Open your windows regularly to let fresh air circulate through the house.

More Pet Stain Links

Denver Dumb Friends League tips for removing pet stains.

Animal Planet’s Guide to Cleaning up Dog Stains

Animal Planet’s Guide to Cleaning up Cat Stains