My grandmother always said that to have a house in showroom-ready condition the most important thing is that it be tidy. «Nobody is going to run a finger along the furniture to check for dust,» she insisted. Spoiler alert: like a good grandmother, in hers there was never a speck. Her secret? Dedicate five minutes to small, routine domestic organizing tasks that helped everything always look impeccable.
Here the key is what my parents have repeated to me a thousand times throughout my life: «What matters for things to be in order is not making a mess first». As faithful followers of my grandmother’s school, we have all been incorporating into our routine those habits she taught us. I always saw my father picking up even the last utensil from the counter while cooking, and my mother doesn’t go to bed until the sofa cushions are in their place. It is those small details that, with hardly any effort, make life at home easier and, above all, organized. Of course, I also apply them in my day to day.
And when I talk about habits that require little effort and that take no more than five minutes each, you may think I am exaggerating, but nothing could be farther from the truth. They are so simple and they fit into our day-to-day life so naturally that once you start putting them into practice, you hardly notice. And if you don’t believe me, time yourself on each task or put on a favorite song and see how far you have gone with your chores when it ends. You’ll be surprised.
1. The table is cleared right away (and the kitchen too)
We are a nation of after-dinner conversations, that much is undeniable. But who doesn’t feel lazy about picking up dishes after two hours of lively chatter? That leads to chaos, so the best is to do it all at the moment. While you are cooking, we put away the utensils we no longer need into the dishwasher, and the ingredients are returned to their place. As soon as we finish eating, we clear the table (and put all dirty items to wash) before serving coffee. If we do it this way, we will avoid accumulation and clutter and when the feast is over, we will have the kitchen and dining room so tidy that our mother-in-law could drop by unannounced without us blushing.
2. After a party at home too (even if it’s 5 a.m.)
This same habit I apply to those bigger celebrations that go on until the early hours. There is nothing worse than waking up after a gathering of family and friends at home and seeing that it seems the Seventh Cavalry has swept through the living room. So I am the kind who does not go to bed until I have picked up. At least, the heftier stuff. Here too I have my tricks for organizing on the fly. Placing baskets at various points so guests deposit the used crockery and keeping dishwashers running as you go helps to go faster after everyone has left, as well as trash bins to throw away waste. When leaving, everyone takes a bag to the appropriate container. In the morning, though, it’s time for a proper cleanup: vacuuming, mopping, bathrooms, changing towels in the bathrooms… And here it’s not five minutes anymore, but it saves a lot of time, effort and laziness.
3. Leave everything as it was
I always try to apply in my life the philosophy of “leave everything as you arrived or, better, as you found it.” On the beach, in the mountains, and, of course, at my home. So if you have used something and end up with it, you return it to its original place right away, thus avoiding the accumulation of things out of place. That includes toys, a book, your desk in the office, a coffee mug, the sweater you wore at home because you were chilly, or the cushions on the sofa. Because, oh, the sofa! When you get up, organizing blankets and textiles or putting the TV remote back in its place will help keep that space always tidy. Believe me: this task will finish before the chorus of your favorite song starts.
4. No more leaving the chair full of clothes
One of the things that makes my hair stand on end when it comes to the house is that famous chair full of accumulated clothes that you see in many bedrooms. Your home isn’t the Zara changing room entrance, so if you’re not going to wear that seat to put on your shoes, remove it to avoid temptation. Clothes go in the wardrobe. Period. When you’re not going to wear them that day, when you just took them off the line (which, by the way, is folded as soon as it’s dry, not a week later), when you finish ironing or when you unpack your suitcase as soon as you return from a trip. It takes less than a minute to hang a dress, but if what you have there piled up (and now wrinkled) are twenty more jeans, seven T-shirts, five blouses and three pairs of shoes, you’ll waste at least an hour of your precious time. If, at the same time, you organize the dressing area by colors and garment types, it will look much more organized, and you’ll save time and money every day.
5. The bed must always be made
If there is one thing that disturbs the order of a house, besides a sink and countertops full of dirty dishes, it is a bedroom with an unmade bed. Note: as soon as you get up, fling open the windows and pull toward the foot of the bed the sheets and the duvet. In the time it takes you to shower, the room will be well ventilated and before you get dressed you can make the bed and arrange all the cushions nicely so that when you return you find it as if it were a hotel suite. Three minutes, I’ve timed it.
The truth is I doubt my grandmother Maria, from Robledo de Chavela (Madrid), would have heard of the ancient Japanese ordering methods in her 101 years. Nor of the five rules of Dan Sha Ri, nor of the ritual of Oosouji or Koromogae. Nor of FlyLady, Kaizen or Bisou. She also never heard of Marie Kondo, nor did I ever see her hugging socks. But her five minutes of rigor to keep everything in order may deserve their own space in the organization manuals. The ones that truly work.
