Your Guide to a Spotless, Beautifully Organized Home
Your Guide to a Spotless, Beautifully Organized Home
Use our 7-day plans to bring order and cleanliness to each room of your house
Clutter getting out of hand, or just feel it’s time for a deep clean? Our seven-day plans for cleaning and organizing your home, room by room, offer a flexible blueprint for bringing serenity to your space. Each plan is organized with the first few days requiring the most work, so you can get started on a weekend. This will allow you to get a jump start and finish up smaller tasks in the evenings during the week — but you can always pick and choose among tasks to better fit your needs (and your time). Jump to the room that needs the most help or start at the beginning and do them all.
Entry hall. The entryway is the first place you (and your guests) see, and it also tends to be a magnet for dirt, mud and clutter. Tap into this weeklong plan when you’re ready to make a clean sweep and set up new systems to keep it looking fresh and orderly.
Getting started: Get in the habit of opening your mail as soon as you walk in the door, while standing over the recycling bin. At the end of each day, put away anything sitting around in the entry that doesn’t belong.
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Getting started: Get in the habit of opening your mail as soon as you walk in the door, while standing over the recycling bin. At the end of each day, put away anything sitting around in the entry that doesn’t belong.
Get the 7-day plan
Kitchen. The kitchen is one of the hardest-working spaces in the home — is it any wonder it can get pretty grungy?
Getting started: Start fresh by deep cleaning your kitchen, including those hidden spots that get missed in a quick weekly clean, and organize your cooking tools for smoother meal prep. Take everything out of the fridge and freezer, one shelf at a time, and toss anything that has gone bad or that you know you won’t eat. There is no reason to let that salad dressing you tried and hated sit there for another year.
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Getting started: Start fresh by deep cleaning your kitchen, including those hidden spots that get missed in a quick weekly clean, and organize your cooking tools for smoother meal prep. Take everything out of the fridge and freezer, one shelf at a time, and toss anything that has gone bad or that you know you won’t eat. There is no reason to let that salad dressing you tried and hated sit there for another year.
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Dining room. Whether you use your dining room constantly or wish you used it more, devoting some time to getting this space refreshed, dusted and organized is sure to inspire lively dinners.
Getting started:
Getting started:
- Remove anything that belongs in another room: shopping bags waiting to be unpacked, library books that need to be returned, kids’ toys, piles of mail, laptops — whatever you’ve got.
- Completely clear the stuff off the dining table, floors and other surfaces. Most decor can stay (for now), but if it has a home in another room, out it goes.
Living room. The living room can be a hangout zone, library, cinema and playroom, and even an impromptu dinner spot. And because it serves so many purposes, it often gets crammed with tons of things that belong elsewhere.
Getting started: If you have a good vacuum with attachments, that’s the fastest and easiest way to banish dust in the living room. There’s no denying this is a lot of work, so consider this your official excuse to skip the gym today.
Getting started: If you have a good vacuum with attachments, that’s the fastest and easiest way to banish dust in the living room. There’s no denying this is a lot of work, so consider this your official excuse to skip the gym today.
- Vacuum the room from top to bottom, starting with cobwebs on the ceiling and working your way down to the floor.
- Window treatments like blinds and shades can be vacuumed using an attachment.
- If your curtains are washable, take them down and toss them in the wash on the gentlest cycle.
- Vacuum or dust light fixtures, the tops of bookcases, picture frames and the mantel.
Bedroom. If you’ve been having trouble getting a deep and restful sleep at night, cleaning and busting clutter in your bedroom might help. Create a healthy, peaceful space by cleaning the air, banishing dust bunnies, streamlining your wardrobe and more.
Getting started: Streamline the wardrobe. Take everything out of your closet and drawers. Assess each item by looking it over for damage and trying it on. Put clothes that no longer fit or that you do not like in a pile to give away or sell. Put out-of-season clothes and accessories in a separate pile for storage. Put clothes you love that need alterations or repairs in a tote bag to bring to the dry cleaner.
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Getting started: Streamline the wardrobe. Take everything out of your closet and drawers. Assess each item by looking it over for damage and trying it on. Put clothes that no longer fit or that you do not like in a pile to give away or sell. Put out-of-season clothes and accessories in a separate pile for storage. Put clothes you love that need alterations or repairs in a tote bag to bring to the dry cleaner.
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Bathroom. Damp towels and soap scum putting a damper on your fantasy of bath-as-home-spa?
Getting started: Work your way through your medicine cabinet shelf by shelf and examine each product. Toss out anything expired as well as products you no longer use or that you’ve tried and don’t like. Just because you paid money for something doesn’t mean you have to pay again by giving up precious space for it. Don’t get caught up in organizing just yet; focus on purging.
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Getting started: Work your way through your medicine cabinet shelf by shelf and examine each product. Toss out anything expired as well as products you no longer use or that you’ve tried and don’t like. Just because you paid money for something doesn’t mean you have to pay again by giving up precious space for it. Don’t get caught up in organizing just yet; focus on purging.
Get the 7-day plan
Kids’ room and playspace. If you crave a simpler, cleaner and better-organized space for your child, this can help. Learn how to tackle a big mess, rotate toys, start an art portfolio and deep clean — especially important for kids with allergies or asthma.
Getting started:
Getting started:
- Remove clothes and shoes your child has outgrown and set them aside to give away, sell or store.
- Remove toys that are broken or have missing pieces and can’t be fixed.
- Remove toys that your child has outgrown and decide whether to store, give away or sell them.
- If your child has a lot of very similar toys, remove enough so that what’s left can be easily stored and enjoyed.
Home office. Staring at piles of paper and overstuffed files acts as a visual reminder of work, even when you’re trying to relax with your family — and who wants that? Roll up your sleeves, brew a big pot of coffee and get in there to stop the paper madness once and for all. And perhaps even more important, pick up a few strategies to tame the pileup going forward.
Getting started:
Getting started:
- Pull every (nonpaper) item out of your desk and office storage and sort it into piles, placing like with like —for instance, all letter writing supplies in one pile; everything computer related in another.
- Now take a closer look at those piles, removing unneeded duplicates (do you really need three staplers?) and anything that doesn’t belong in your office.
Laundry room. The laundry room works hard to get your clothes and linens clean, but it’s often the last place in the house that gets cleaned. Change that now by making your laundry area — whether it is in a dedicated room or tucked in a corner of the basement — clean, well lit, functional and a pleasure to be in.
Getting started:
Getting started:
- Use a damp sponge or microfiber cloth to clean the exterior and inside the lid of your washer, paying special attention to rubber seals.
- If your washer has a lint trap or removable detergent dispensers, take them out and clean them with warm, soapy water in the sink. If not, use cotton swabs to get the gunk and grime from the corners.
- Pour a cup or two of white vinegar in the washer and run it on the hottest setting, without any clothes in it.
Getting started: Take a moment to set up several areas for hazardous waste, garbage, recycling, things to donate, things to sell and things to keep. Rent a Dumpster if you need it, but keep in mind that you should be able to recycle, donate or sell most of what you no longer want or need.
Once you have your zones in place, begin pulling things out of your garage and sorting them. (Don’t try to sort stuff in your garage — you won’t be able to really clean or organize your garage if you try to sort it in place.)
What to keep:
- Important memorabilia
- Things you have used within the past 12 months
- Things you have a definite plan to use in the near future (such as workout gear you forgot you owned)
- Spare materials for your home, such as paint and tile