10 Areas of Your Life to Clean Up Every Single Day

Make today a cleaning day!

That thought probably doesn’t excite you. Most people avoid cleaning at all costs.

Ironically, the best strategy to avoid large clean-up tasks is to make cleaning a part of your daily activities, rather than a last resort after things have piled up.

Let’s look at 10 areas of your life that you should clean up each and every day.

Always Be Cleaning

Most people don’t like cleaning up.

They put it off, and off, until it becomes a huge task. Then, it is a cleaning event rather than a simple task.

I was recently working with a manager whose desk was piled so high that it must have been years of accumulated clutter. While an impressive gravity defying stack, it was still a mess that needed to be cleaned up. (Remember: Piles are not productive.)

Now, instead of facing a simple few moments of putting things in their place, this manager was looking at several days of clean up and clean out.

Put It Away Now, or Clean It Up Later

Putting things away daily is always better than cleaning up a big mess later.

Doubt it? Try cleaning the dishes in your kitchen sink each day versus letting them accumulate for a week. (Not that anyone ever does that…)

“Keeping things clean is always easier than cleaning it up later.”

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When you clean things up regularly, it only takes a few minutes. When you put it off, you create more work for yourself.

Decide to make cleaning a daily habit.

Here are 10 Areas of Your Life to Clean Up Every Single Day:

1. Your Car – I always say that a thumb-rule for someone’s overall organization is to look in their car. It is littered with stuff? Is the trunk full of items that have been there forever? Take 5 minutes to clean out your car every single day. And while you are filling up with gas, that’s a great place to clean out the trash. (There are trash cans at every pump!)
2. Your Desk – Only second to your vehicle is your workspace. Clean up your desk each day. A good method is to start and finish each day with a clean desk. Piles are not productive. Keeping it clean lets you get more work done.
3. Your purse or wallet – When your purse or wallet starts to “weigh you down,” it’s time to clean it. Get out the odds and ends, the old receipts, and keep only what you absolutely need each day.
4. Your Mail – Where does your physical mail end up each day? If you are like most people, it is piled up on a table or countertop somewhere. Have one place for your physical mail. Make sure to throw out the junk mail immediately upon arrival and put the bills in a “bill box” each day so that you know where they are.
5. Your Bedroom Floor – OK, so now it’s getting personal. When was the last time you saw the floor in your room? If laundry and clutter are covering your bedroom, it’s time to pick it up. Spend a few minutes each day picking up. A good time to do this is after you get up, right after you make the bed.
6. Your Closet – While we are talking about the bedroom, can you get in your closet? Is it a pile instead of an organization center? A little pick up each day will keep it clean, as well.
7. Your Inbox – Is your inbox overflowing? It’s hard to keep on top of your important email communication when it’s swimming in 10,000 other messages. Clean out your inbox daily (or at least weekly). There are great tools like Sanebox to help, and great email apps like Spark to keep email under control.
8. Your Phone – You carry it with you everywhere, when was the last time you cleaned up your phone? Is it littered with apps and useless info that you don’t need? Delete those unused (or time-wasting) apps. Keep only needed information on your device.
9. Your Computer – Does your computer desktop look like one of those puzzles made up of thousands of tiny images? Keep that clutter off your desktop and properly file it. As well, make sure that you are automatically backing up all of your files.
10. Your Todo List – When was the last time you looked at your todo list? It is there to help you get tasks done, but is most effective when you keep it groomed and clean.

Make Cleaning a Daily Habit

Cleaning should be a habit, not an event.

If you take care of it each day, you won’t have to deal with large messes later.

So, keep it clean, so you won’t have to clean it up.

Question: What do you need to clean up in your daily life? You can leave a comment by clicking here.