Don’t have time to read it now? Pin it for later!
There was a day, way back when I first got married, that I seriously moved the same pile of stuff about a million times in a single afternoon.
First it was on the kitchen counter and I needed to cook dinner. So I moved it to the table.
Then I needed to set the table, so I moved it to a chair. Well, I needed to sit in the chair to eat, so it got moved to the couch.
Then I wanted to watch a movie after dinner so it got moved…. Back to the kitchen counter!
Please tell me I’m not the only one to do this? What a waste of time and energy!
That day I decided that I was going to have to do something different. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life moving piles of stuff back and forth all over my house.
The first thing I did was declutter my whole house and get rid of tons of stuff that I just didn’t want or need. That by itself helped a ton simply because there wasn’t that much stuff left to put away.
The next thing I did was to find a home for the things that I did end up keeping. I didn’t just put it in a random cupboard either, it actually got put where it should go and that became it’s permanent new home.
And finally, I gave myself a rule that things were always put away in their home the first time you picked them up to move them.
I later saw this rule referred to as the “one touch rule”. Basically the idea is that you never touch an item twice between picking it up and putting it away where it belongs.
So instead of moving the toys from the living room floor to the chair to the couch and then to the bedroom toy box, they go from the floor straight to the toy box.
However, I have modified this rule a little bit so that it gives me some flexibility and works better with real life.
The Two Minute Rule
If something will take two minutes or less to put away correctly then I will do it right then.
These are things like wiping the counters down after making a sandwich, putting away the shoes that were left in the living room, or sorting the day’s mail.
This isn’t when you empty your cupboards and re-organize the entire kitchen.
I also use simple tricks to move more things into this category. For example, when the kids come in with snowy shoes and drip all over the floor it will take me longer than 2 minutes to fill the mop bucket and mop the mess of snow and mud off the floors.
But since I also have a terry cloth mop, like the picture below, and I keep some floor cleaner in a spray bottle, I can quickly spot mop the entry way. Because I set up a shortcut to reduce the amount of time and effort that it takes me to clean up the mess, I’m able to stay on top of it more easily.
The Ten Minute Rule
If it’s a 10 minute or less job then I will do it right then if I have time. Tidying that will take 10 minutes or less in general should not get moved to the daily or weekly to do list. There really has to be an unusual situation before it gets pushed back.
Folding a batch of laundry would be an example of a 10 minute job. I generally try to fold a batch of laundry right after I take it out of the dryer but if I legitimately don’t have the time then it can go on my to do list. It can’t be moved to the to-do list simply because I don’t feel like doing it.
Usually!
There are times when all I really want to do is watch Netflix and eat chocolate. And that’s ok sometimes. But since I always get the small messes cleaned up with the 2 minute one touch rule, not following the 10 minute rule for one afternoon won’t result in a huge mess.
This means that even though there might be a couple more things to put away, it never gets to the super overwhelming stage.
The Longer Than Ten Minute Rule
If it’s going to take longer than 10 minutes to do it or if I don’t have time to do it right when I see the mess, I will add it to my to do list for the day or week.
Any big projects or routine cleaning chores go on the to-do list. These are things like organizing or decluttering projects. I also put routine chores on my to-do list as well, mostly because I like checking them off the list at the end of the day!
Once a space has been decluttered and organized, I usually find that the 2 minute one touch rule is sufficient to keep it neat.
My modified one touch rule has been hands down one of the biggest game changers in the overall neatness of my house.
It has some flexibility built into it which is so important for me to be able to stick to an organizing or cleaning rule. Without that built in flexibility I’ve found that a lot of people (me included!) tend to give up on the whole plan once they make a mistake.
Since I’ve built flexibility right into the rule, there’s no such thing as a mistake! There’s just making choices that best fit your situation in that moment while being able to stay within the framework of the one touch rule.
What are your best tips to help you keep your house tidy? Or if you’re still learning how to keep a tidy house, what are your biggest struggles in keeping your house tidied up? Comment below and let me know!
