Clean and Tidy - April

You may have noticed there are a few words I like use when I talk about taking care of my house: clean, tidy, organize and declutter. For fun (because I really am a nerd like that) I thought I'd give you my own definition of the words clean, tidy, organize and de-clutter. :)

Clean/Cleaning: This is the aspect of housework that typically involves water and soap or cleaner and some sort of cleaning "tool" like a cloth/mop/broom. This was always my favourite, until more recently when I discovered a love for organizing simply because it has made both cleaning and tidying more enjoyable. There's a greater sense of accomplishment for both then there used to be.

Tidy/Tidying: Putting things back where they belong. Ideally this would happen immediately after an item was used every single time. But hey, we're people not robots! ;) Even though I continue to work on this (and I'm training my children in this as well) I don't expect perfection from myself (or my children).

De-clutter/De-cluttering: Sorting through the things you don't want, can't use, don't fit into, or are broken and then either recycling, fixing, disposing of, selling, donating or giving away these things. Keeping only what you need, want (sometimes we keep things because they're very sentimental) and know you will use.

Organize/Organizing*: This (along with de-cluttering) is what makes the first two more manageable! It's about decluttering and finding permanent "homes" for your things. This is the aspect of housekeeping that saves a lot of time and effort! Tidying can be an endless, stressful and exhausting job when things aren't organized, because you're constantly in a state of flux moving things around (into temporary homes) trying to figure out where they should go.

So there you have it. This is how I define the words clean, tidy, organize and declutter. Each one plays an important role in keeping things "clean and tidy". :) Any thoughts?

*This was the missing piece to the puzzle for me. I mentioned in another post about the "aha!" moment when a friend shared this with me and I thought, "how have I never figured this out before?!". It's the reason I love talking about organization so much! And even though organizing in a way is "never ending", you can get to a stage where it becomes about tweaking what you have or setting up new items as you bring them into your house.