5 Bad Housekeeping Habits I’m Breaking Up With This Year

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions because I think setting goals and forming new habits can be done any day of the year. However, I appreciate that a new year feels like a fresh start — and I desperately need a fresh start with some aspects of my housekeeping routine.

Aside from following Apartment Therapy’s January Cure to get my house in shape after the holidays, I’ve also decided to kick a few bad housekeeping habits to the curb. Don’t judge me too harshly, gentle reader. Here’s my plan for a cleaner, more organized house in 2025.

Bad Habit #1: Leaving Clean Laundry in the Basket for Days

I’ve often written about how grateful I am for the technology that prevents me from hand-washing all of my clothes. But even though the washer and dryer do the brunt of the work, I have gotten into a horrendous habit of leaving clothes folded in the hamper for too long (or, worse, leaving them in the dryer). It’s easy to multitask during a wash or dry cycle, but only if you actually finish the task. 

Tired of digging through a hamper for clean socks, I’ve decided that I simply won’t do laundry until I have enough time to put everything away. So far, it’s working. On some laundry days, I’ve even resorted to skipping the laundry basket altogether in favor of running the garments and towels right back to the drawers from which they came. Whatever works, right?

Bad Habit #2: Forgetting I Have a Roomba

I have some nerve not vacuuming my floors more often when there’s a Roomba just waiting on its charging cradle in the corner. Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense to me, either. Why would I push around an upright vacuum when I have a device willing to do the work for me? Perhaps it’s because I feel more control over a regular vacuum; I tend to “supervise” the Roomba to see that it doesn’t get stuck under the couch or fall down the stairs — even though there are smart settings that can help me with this, too. 

The solution is easy enough: Put the Roomba to work more often. While I don’t think the Roomba will ever replace an upright vacuum, I will resolve to use it more often; if not every day, then every other day. My dog won’t be happy about it — he’s a bit scared of it — but he’ll get a few extra treats while the floors stay extra clean.

Bad Habit #3: Scheduling a Whole Day for Cleaning

I’m a firm believer in Parkinson’s Law: A task will expand to fill the time allotted to it. I see proof of the law every time I set out to clean my entire house at once. If I say I’m going to clean on Saturday morning, it will take the entire morning to clean my house. But if I say I will clean my bathroom in just 10 minutes, it will also get done.

Now, I don’t advocate speed cleaning when a deeper clean is necessary. But for regular weekly cleans, setting time constraints pushes me to get more done faster. I like the Pomodoro method — 25 minutes of work followed by a five-minute break — but I usually go with 20 or even 15 minutes for cleaning. Combine it with some good music or a podcast, and the work gets done quickly.

Cleaning a little each day might not suit your fancy, but it works for me. I would much rather schedule 15 to 20 minutes of cleaning every weekday rather than attempt the whole house by taking a few hours out of a Saturday. When I give myself more time, I find that I take too many breaks — it is the weekend, after all — and then I wind up feeling resentful that I’m using a day to clean when I could be relaxing. Instead, I’d rather take a room every day so that when the weekend arrives, I can enjoy my clean house.

Bad Habit #4: Organizing/Decluttering While I Clean

This might not sound like a bad habit, but it happens to be one for me. It’s not that decluttering or organizing is the problem — it’s when I do it. In the past, I’ve done it while I’m cleaning — declutter and organize one surface, dust it, then move on to another surface or room. It’s not the smoothest process, especially when it comes to cleaning my home office.

To get our house back in shape quickly after the holidays, I made it a point to declutter and organize everything before I even picked up my microfiber cloth to dust a single surface. The result was a much easier, faster cleaning session. Of course, if I really wanted to establish better habits, I would try not to let my kitchen counter or desk get that cluttered to begin with. Baby steps.

Bad Habit #5: Not Emptying the Dishwasher Before Dinnertime

Similar to my lax laundry ways, I sometimes put off emptying the dishwasher. My husband is often the chef and I do the cleanup, which is always a longer task when I also have to empty the dishwasher to make room for the dirty dishes. I’ve made the same error when hosting a holiday dinner, which leads to an ugly, overflowing sink. To make cleanup easier, I always ensure the dishwasher is empty before the first guest rings the doorbell.

Again, because technology is doing most of the work here, I’ve made it a habit to take a few minutes during my lunch break (I work from home) to empty the dishwasher and put away all the dishes. As a result, dinner cleanup is much quicker. Now if I could only get out of the habit of leaving pots in the sink to soak.

I’m doing pretty well with my new habits so far because they’re so specific. I could have said, “I want to have a cleaner house,” but that’s a rather nebulous goal if it’s not broken down into smaller parts. Once I officially replace these bad habits with better ones, I’ll reevaluate my cleaning routine and see where else there’s room for improvement.

Further Reading

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