10 Bad Habits That Are Making Your Home Messier...
...and how to break them! Tweak your mess-forming behaviours and help tidy up your interior
Jo Simmons
13 March 2022
Houzz UK Contributor. I have been an interiors journalist since 1995, writing several books on design and numerous features for glossy homes mags over the years. For Houzz, I cover decorating ideas and trends and interview designers and professionals for their insights. My favourite pieces to write, though, are Houzz Tours, as I love exploring and learning about real homes. Call me curious — or nosy!
Houzz UK Contributor. I have been an interiors journalist since 1995, writing several... More
Routine and habit are at the core of life. Much as we might like to think of ourselves as free spirits, most of us live to a set rhythm, dictated by work, family and sleep. We’re often creatures of habit, too, but not all habits are healthy! At home, certain lazy practices can lead to a messy home and an unhealthy environment. From not taking off your shoes by the front door to over-indulging the dog, here’s a run-down of common offences and how to resolve them.
1. You wear shoes inside the house
Rather than taking off your shoes as soon as you come through the front door, you get distracted and end up circumnavigating your home in mucky footwear before finally removing them.
Solution
Dedicated storage will encourage you to remove your shoes as soon as you get home. Specially designed racks near the front door are ideal, but a simple basket into which you can toss your footwear is a start.
Rather than taking off your shoes as soon as you come through the front door, you get distracted and end up circumnavigating your home in mucky footwear before finally removing them.
Solution
Dedicated storage will encourage you to remove your shoes as soon as you get home. Specially designed racks near the front door are ideal, but a simple basket into which you can toss your footwear is a start.
2. You let your pooch sit on the sofa
Letting your dog snuggle on the sofa inevitably leads to hair and sometimes mud transferring from hound to upholstery.
Solution
Create a lovely bed for your dog and encourage him or her to use it. If the message isn’t being received in your furry friend’s brain, then cover your sofa with a washable throw, which you can remove once it’s time for the humans to sit down.
Letting your dog snuggle on the sofa inevitably leads to hair and sometimes mud transferring from hound to upholstery.
Solution
Create a lovely bed for your dog and encourage him or her to use it. If the message isn’t being received in your furry friend’s brain, then cover your sofa with a washable throw, which you can remove once it’s time for the humans to sit down.
3. You pile up used teabags
If repeated trips to the kettle for your morning brew or a visiting bevy of thirsty friends lead to a mountain of used teabags piled perilously on your worktop, act now!
Solution
Treat yourself to an attractive – and here’s the trick – lidded container that you can place where you make hot drinks. Toss the bags in there, then compost them later.
If repeated trips to the kettle for your morning brew or a visiting bevy of thirsty friends lead to a mountain of used teabags piled perilously on your worktop, act now!
Solution
Treat yourself to an attractive – and here’s the trick – lidded container that you can place where you make hot drinks. Toss the bags in there, then compost them later.
4. You dump clothes
From throwing your coat over the banisters to shedding your clothes on the bedroom floor, dumping clothes makes a big mess – fast.
Solution
Anything you take off should go on a peg, in a drawer or wardrobe, or in the laundry basket. Remove any tempting dumping grounds, too, such as a chair in the bedroom, which can easily become a spot for long-term, messy clothes storage.
From throwing your coat over the banisters to shedding your clothes on the bedroom floor, dumping clothes makes a big mess – fast.
Solution
Anything you take off should go on a peg, in a drawer or wardrobe, or in the laundry basket. Remove any tempting dumping grounds, too, such as a chair in the bedroom, which can easily become a spot for long-term, messy clothes storage.
5. You store cleaning products badly
Yes, that’s right, it’s possible to do such a thing. If you keep your cleaning products in a mix of locations, a jumbled state or buried at the back of the cupboard, you’re putting up boundaries between yourself and cracking on with cleaning.
Solution
Buy a bucket or caddy for all your cleaning kit and keep it where it’s easily accessible. Try storing a separate cleaning caddy in the bathroom, where it’s handy for a quick clean-up, and one in the usual under-the-sink location in the kitchen.
Yes, that’s right, it’s possible to do such a thing. If you keep your cleaning products in a mix of locations, a jumbled state or buried at the back of the cupboard, you’re putting up boundaries between yourself and cracking on with cleaning.
Solution
Buy a bucket or caddy for all your cleaning kit and keep it where it’s easily accessible. Try storing a separate cleaning caddy in the bathroom, where it’s handy for a quick clean-up, and one in the usual under-the-sink location in the kitchen.
6. You don’t finish what you start
You cleaned part of the bathroom but couldn’t face tackling the shower enclosure… You hung up the laundry but now it’s sitting in a pile, waiting to be sorted… You vacuumed the living room floor but left the sofa alone…
Solution
Do less, and allow enough time for each task, so you can finish what you start. Not completing a job is almost as bad as never embarking on it in the first place. Half-finished tasks are also deadly for morale.
You cleaned part of the bathroom but couldn’t face tackling the shower enclosure… You hung up the laundry but now it’s sitting in a pile, waiting to be sorted… You vacuumed the living room floor but left the sofa alone…
Solution
Do less, and allow enough time for each task, so you can finish what you start. Not completing a job is almost as bad as never embarking on it in the first place. Half-finished tasks are also deadly for morale.
7. You can’t help collecting
If you’re one of those people with a passion for books or knick-knacks, you may have reached critical mass when it comes to collecting. This can create a messy home that’s over-burdened with ‘stuff’.
Solution
Have a clear-out. There are heaps of great advice on Houzz for doing a comprehensive declutter, but you can begin by sorting items into piles for charity, storage or the bin. Then aim to restrict your collecting habit, or schedule in another clear-out in six months’ time.
Can’t bear to part with your precious pieces? Order them instead. This vast shelving unit is stuffed with books but, thanks to some clever colour coordinating, it looks eminently organised rather than bursting at the seams. The same idea can work for ceramics and other collections.
Short on storage? Read on…
Smart Storage Solutions for All Spaces
Bathroom Storage: 9 Ways to Squeeze in More
If you’re one of those people with a passion for books or knick-knacks, you may have reached critical mass when it comes to collecting. This can create a messy home that’s over-burdened with ‘stuff’.
Solution
Have a clear-out. There are heaps of great advice on Houzz for doing a comprehensive declutter, but you can begin by sorting items into piles for charity, storage or the bin. Then aim to restrict your collecting habit, or schedule in another clear-out in six months’ time.
Can’t bear to part with your precious pieces? Order them instead. This vast shelving unit is stuffed with books but, thanks to some clever colour coordinating, it looks eminently organised rather than bursting at the seams. The same idea can work for ceramics and other collections.
Short on storage? Read on…
Smart Storage Solutions for All Spaces
Bathroom Storage: 9 Ways to Squeeze in More
8. You go to bed when you’re too tired
You know how it goes… You’ve nodded off in front of the 10 o’clock news again, and wake up only to blearily stumble up to bed. This creates mess. Any glasses, plates, papers or books you were using end up being left on the floor or coffee table. Throws are lazily cast aside in a heap, cushions tumbled onto the floor and crumbs scattered.
Solution
Go to bed 10 minutes earlier, before you’re super-tired. Before you go, clear the living room of all dirty dishes or glasses, quickly straighten up the sofa and turn off the lights. It’s never nice to be greeted by last night’s mess when you come downstairs in the morning.
You know how it goes… You’ve nodded off in front of the 10 o’clock news again, and wake up only to blearily stumble up to bed. This creates mess. Any glasses, plates, papers or books you were using end up being left on the floor or coffee table. Throws are lazily cast aside in a heap, cushions tumbled onto the floor and crumbs scattered.
Solution
Go to bed 10 minutes earlier, before you’re super-tired. Before you go, clear the living room of all dirty dishes or glasses, quickly straighten up the sofa and turn off the lights. It’s never nice to be greeted by last night’s mess when you come downstairs in the morning.
9. You hoard condiments
It’s very easy to amass a huge quantity of spices, sauces, pickles, relishes and spreads, especially if they’re stored deep within a closed kitchen cupboard. This can gobble up storage space and quickly become a sticky, tumbling mess of jars and bottles.
Solution
Edit your condiments. Bin anything that’s past its use-by date or hasn’t been opened or eaten more than once (a sure sign that you don’t actually like it). Then routinely clear out your condiment cupboard to prevent build-up or, better yet, relocate all jars and bottles to a neat rack, where they can be seen, used and kept in order.
It’s very easy to amass a huge quantity of spices, sauces, pickles, relishes and spreads, especially if they’re stored deep within a closed kitchen cupboard. This can gobble up storage space and quickly become a sticky, tumbling mess of jars and bottles.
Solution
Edit your condiments. Bin anything that’s past its use-by date or hasn’t been opened or eaten more than once (a sure sign that you don’t actually like it). Then routinely clear out your condiment cupboard to prevent build-up or, better yet, relocate all jars and bottles to a neat rack, where they can be seen, used and kept in order.
10. You’re a piler upper!
Piles of paperwork, magazines or books are not the enemy of a tidy home, but messy piles are.
Solution
Tidy and organise your piles – this home office is a perfect example of a relaxing kind of order at play. Stacking your books neatly can turn a jumble of reading matter into a beautiful library. If freestanding piles never stay put in your home, invest in a few simple pieces of storage. Shelves, baskets and box folders will impose order on any errant books, papers or admin.
Also read:
10 Shortcuts to a Happier and a Healthier Life
10 Ways to Make Your Home Vastu-Friendly
Tell us:
How have you curbed any messy habits in your home? Share your tips in the Comments below.
Piles of paperwork, magazines or books are not the enemy of a tidy home, but messy piles are.
Solution
Tidy and organise your piles – this home office is a perfect example of a relaxing kind of order at play. Stacking your books neatly can turn a jumble of reading matter into a beautiful library. If freestanding piles never stay put in your home, invest in a few simple pieces of storage. Shelves, baskets and box folders will impose order on any errant books, papers or admin.
Also read:
10 Shortcuts to a Happier and a Healthier Life
10 Ways to Make Your Home Vastu-Friendly
Tell us:
How have you curbed any messy habits in your home? Share your tips in the Comments below.
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i feel you
atw016: Gonna use that if I ever get a new house. Right now...it needs a complete gut job! :)
I'm about to join the limit shoes in the house camp after 67 years of never seeing this in action. It is a great idea.
I recently got a simple/non programmable Roomba. I love it so much. $200 has changed my life. I have a very big shedding dog who has a dog bed in the bedroom. My significant other objected to the hair. I did vacuum with an old fashioned vacuum but you can't do a good job if you have a lot of furniture low to the ground and it was just backbreaking and time consuming . And it did a poor job in the corners and along the baseboards. That Roomba scoots under everything with real dedication and has these little whirring brushes that make quick work of the edges and corners. It's a miracle.
The dog is not allowed on the beautiful ecru cotton mattlessae sp? couch. Dogs are trainable. Cats would ignore you certainly.
I don't get it about the teabags. Do people pile them up to reuse them ?
I'm a piler not a filer-enough said. It's the bane of my life because I think anything that I read is either interesting or important. I keep the file folder people in business. Someday I will rent a dumpster and set it all on fire. My children will be happy.
I make sure to go to bed in a clean peaceful bedroom and to do the dishes before bedtime. This hardly creates miraculous order though. I really think that some people are neat by nature and that for others it is an enormous effort.
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