The Accidental Nanny: An organised house

Here's something I've learned: children, teenagers, some women and a lot of grown men do not notice mess. They tend to create it, and then walk away oblivious to the fact that the space they have left behind is no longer comfortably useable by others.

But, here's something else I've learned: they don't notice if you've not vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the oven, scrubbed the kitchen bench or cleaned the shower either. So from this day forward: only do those type of chores for yourself, or if your mother in law is coming over. She will notice.

Sharing a house with other people can be challenging when one likes organised living and dislikes mess. Especially if those other people are children, teenagers, certain women or grown men. Training your housemates to do as you want them takes effort and persistence and sometimes stealth. I speak from experience when I say training 3 little kids to do as you wish is much harder than training one stubborn 69 year-old. You know it's true, mum.

So, I have come up with some simple tricks I like to use. It can be a serious challenge, but persistence is key. You are, quite possibly, the captain of the ship called home and all benefit if it sails smoothly!

Start right now. Only tiny babies are unable to understand the concept of tidying up. The moment a child grasps the concept of putting something 'in' something else, they are ready for training. Honestly! Don't think their tiny cuteness is a reason for you to do all the boring chores. They are willing and able at this early age. But they need guidance, obviously.

Small kids love helping, use it to your advantage. After a play with anything, make a big affair of 'tidying up'. Lots of praise when this is done is key. Have clear locations for things, so they know where things go. You letting them do tasks like tidying up shows them you trust them to be able to do these tasks that you normally do. They get confidence out of it. Everybody wins!

Also, very importantly: teach them to put one toy away before they grab another from the toy chest/cupboard/whatever. Have a maximum amount of toys that you're willing to have out at any one time and make that clear.

Having an organised house is key to easy tidy-up rituals. You need clear, easy locations for the things your housemates use. For kids, it's good to have baskets, boxes, cupboards with drawers and doors. Mark them with labels and have kids who don't read yet draw pictures themselves to stick on for their reference.

Go to your local Ikea, storage place, wherever, and get lots of boxes and containers for inside cupboards and drawers. Get drawer dividers. Be over zealous, go nuts, you will always find stuff to put in that container you didn't think you needed in the store! In Australia I also suggest visiting a shop called Store, or Howard's Storage World.

Teach kids from as young as possible to put things away before they move on to something else. Don't feed them dinner until they've tidied up their games/homework/toys. Do not allow random piles on your dining table! I know that's a hard one. I struggle with this one myself. But it's so nice to have space to always be able to sit down at it and spread out the paper/ eat/do a puzzle/fold the laundry.

Oh, speaking of laundry: that is not only your task, either. Kids can help with this. So can teenagers, women, men and even stubborn mothers. Give each bedroom in the house a laundry basket. Set the rule that if they take it off and it's dirty, to put it into threir laundry basket, if it's not, back in the drawer.

A friend (the same one who suggested I write this blog) recently had a complete revelation when she decided to no longer fold her kids' clothes. I suggest getting drawer boxes and just giving different items of clothes its specific box. Ikea have some awesome in-wardrobe, cupboard and and in-drawer organisers called SKUBB, like these, and these. They work all over the house, not just for clothes.

Skubb in action in my wardrobe

If you are low on cash, which I was when I was a student, use empty cardboard containers or boxes cut down to size. For example, I used to cut the ends of my cereal boxes to the same height of my drawers and put wide sticky tape on the bottom of them for my pens and paint brushes. Also, empty shoe boxes, cotton tip containers, Ferrero Rocher containers and the like are perfect for organising craft materials, just label them so you know what's in them.

Some cut up cereal boxes used in my studio drawers

Shoe boxes and cereal boxes used to organise my studio

More Ikea storage boxes in my studio (and those are my handmade creatures on top!)

More shoe boxes and empty other containers in my studio

When the washing is done in your house, get each person to take their washing to their room, and put it away themselves. It's easy when there's no folding and there are specific drawer boxes for their shirts, shorts, undies and whatnots.

Of course, you can still be in charge of delicate things that need ironing or hanging, but for simple items of clothing, kids can take their own responsibility. And they should!

Do I need to mention dirty dishes do not belong in bedrooms or lounge rooms? Have kids put their dishes in the kitchen when finished eating. And try as hard as you can to have them sit at the tabe when they eat. This can be tricky, but it saves you so much vacuuming!

One of the things that I also suggest is to give each member of household a reasonable size but nice looking basket/drawer/box in the lounge room in which you can deposit any items that they might have left lying around, and is in your way. That way, whenever you hear "Mum/Honey, where is my ..." you can always say "Did you look in your basket/drawer/box?"

An organised house is a joy to live in. It is easy to find the things you need and it's easy putting them away. I love my house, despite the fact it's been a building site in several stages of renovations for the last seven years, I've managed to keep it tidy and organised.

See below some photos of my house. I have not tidied anything before taking the pictures. This is how it actually looks at all times! Of course, I do not have children and have a rare species of husband who folds his clothes and puts them away before hopping into bed, something I don't even do! So I am lucky. But it's not too structured, there's a bit of mess and untidiness around, but not so much that it annoys anyone. As a tile says that used to hang in my grandmother's house: "This house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy. "

The Kitchen