Do you have a messy house and you can’t figure out why it’s always that way? Here’s why your house is untidy and what you can do to prevent it.
Would you say your house is always a mess?
Be honest.
It’s hard to have a clean and tidy home when it’s cluttered. Even if you’ve dusted, mopped and vacuumed, the mere fact that you have stuff everywhere makes your house look untidy.
There are some common reasons why your home becomes cluttered. Knowing what these are can be really helpful if you’re wondering where to start cleaning up your messy house. I’m going to offer simple solutions and strategies for tackling each of the items on this list. If you realize you’re doing any of these things, then it’s time for a change.
Why You Have A Messy House and How To Organize It
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1. You Have Bad Habits
Do you come home, change your clothes and drop the ones you’ve been wearing all day on the floor or drape them over the back of a chair?
Bad habits are one of the reasons why your house is always so messy and it might be the hardest problem on this list to tackle. Why?
Because, you do things that cause clutter without even thinking about it.
My suggestion for this particular issue is to be aware of where your clutter hotspots are and then think about what causes them. If the reason for the clutter being there is because of a bad habit, work on changing it.
Start really small. If you have several habits, pick one and work on just that. When you try to change too many things at once, it can be really overwhelming. You might stick to it for a few days, maybe even a few weeks but ultimately, you’ll slip back into your regular routines because it’s all too much to keep up with.
Going back to my clothing example—practice hanging up your clothes in the closet or placing them in the laundry basket after you take them off. Do this every single day. After a while, it will become second nature to you. Then, and only then, should you move on to breaking your next bad habit.
2. You Don’t Put Things Back
Laziness is another big cause of an untidy home. You know you should put things back when you’re done using them but you just can’t be bothered. So, what happens?
A big fat mess.
After you’ve completed a project or task, clean up after yourself. Be sure to return things to their rightful homes and don’t leave them lying around. Wash the dishes after you’ve finished eating instead of leaving them where you were sitting or piled up in the sink. There are a million other examples I could give you.
If you have a house with multiple levels and you realize that things from one floor are strewn around because people don’t want to go up or down stairs, place a basket by the stairs. Put everything that belongs on a different floor in that basket. At the end of the day, or when the basket is full, grab it and return all the contents where they belong.
3. Your Possessions Don’t Have Homes
If you don’t know where to put something, odds are it’s going to get thrown anywhere. You’re just going to set it down in any drawer, cupboard or on any open surface because you don’t know what else to do with it.
Solution? Find a home for everything you own. It doesn’t matter how tiny it is, it must have a place to put its head for the night (metaphorically speaking, of course).
If you’re struggling with this, ask yourself where you would look for an item first? Then, put it there. If you’re accustomed going one specific place for something, it doesn’t make sense changing that as long as it works for you. The whole point of this is to make your home more functional for YOU.
4. You Have Too Much Stuff
You will always have a cluttered house if you have too much stuff. No amount of organizing and shuffling things around will change that.
If your closets are bursting and you can’t get another thing in there, clothes are going to end up on the floor or on the back of a chair because it’s just too much hassle to put them away. If your bookshelves are about to collapse under the weight of all the books and knickknacks you have jammed in there, it doesn’t matter how many times you rearrange them, they will look cluttered.
When you have too much stuff, then you’re not really using and getting the most out of all those items anyway. So why not get rid of the things you don’t love?
I guarantee when you start decluttering your closet, you’re going to find things in there you didn’t even know you still had. You’re going to find items that no longer fit, are no longer in style and things you don’t even like! You’re probably going to ask yourself why you’ve held onto some things for so long?
Purge and get rid of anything you don’t need and then try organizing. It will go a lot better this time around.
5. You’re A Perfectionist
I know it might seem strange that a perfectionist could have a messy house, right? But, if you’re always waiting for things to be perfect, then you probably haven’t done a whole lot. Because life is hardly ever perfect.
Don’t wait to find the perfect organizers to declutter your office drawers. Don’t wait for the perfect time when the house is empty, you have nothing to do and you can dedicate a whole weekend to clearing out the garage. It’s just not worth waiting.
Start now with the organizers you have and the time you can spare. Use cheap organizing hacks like empty cereal boxes, jars and old food storage containers to stash items. I’m sure you have a ton of things in your home that you can use. After you’ve organized a space and you see exactly what you’ll be storing, then go out and find the perfect organizer.
Declutter your home in the time you have. The next time you go to clean, set aside any cleaning supplies you don’t use. Throw them out or donate them. Just spend 10-15 minutes decluttering a space. Keep working on it whenever you have a chance. It will go slowly but it’s one small step towards where you want your home to be.
So, those were my top five reasons why you have a messy house and suggestions to address each. Can you relate to any of them? Tell me in the comments below!
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Great article…thanks so much.
I’m so glad you like it, Lynn!