The 3-Step System for a Tidy Home (No Matter Who’s Coming Over)

Life in Chicago moves fast. Between work, family, and trying to enjoy everything the city has to offer, keeping your space clean can feel like a constant battle. You’re not alone if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by clutter or wished for a magic solution to maintain a tidy home. The good news? A clean, calm space is more achievable than you think, even for the busiest among us.

We all know the feeling: a surprise visit is announced, and suddenly every stray sock and pile of mail feels like a personal failure. What if you could have a system so simple that your home stays tidy all the time, letting you welcome guests—or helpful in-laws—with open arms and zero stress? This isn’t about perfection; it’s about creating functional habits that work for your real life.

Step 1: Create Smart Systems to Catch Clutter

The secret to a tidy home isn’t cleaning more; it’s preventing messes from piling up in the first place. Most surface clutter comes from just a few everyday items that don’t have a logical home. By setting up simple systems, you stop the chaos before it starts.

1. Design a “Landing Zone”

Think about what you carry when you walk in the door: keys, coat, bag, mail. If the “official” place for these items is across the house, you’ll naturally just drop them where you stand. The fix? Create a dedicated apartment cleaning command center right by the entrance. Install hooks for coats, a bowl for keys, and a basket for mail. This isn’t just organization—it’s designing your home to work for your habits, so tidiness happens on autopilot.

2. Tame the Paper Monster

Paper clutter is sneaky. It floods in daily—bills, school forms, invitations—and quickly becomes an overwhelming pile. The solution is a “good enough” system: a single basket or tray where all incoming paper lives. Sort it weekly, not daily. At the end of the year, bundle it up and start fresh. This simple method keeps surfaces clear and your mind at ease. If it ever feels like too much, remember that professional home cleaning services can help you establish and maintain these systems.

3. Corral Random Household Items

Every home has that “junk drawer” stuff: lightbulbs, batteries, tape, chargers, and random screws. Instead of letting these items scatter, give them a single, dedicated home. A bin, basket, or small cabinet labeled “Household Stuff” works perfectly. When everything has a designated zone, you’re not wasting mental energy searching, and your counters stay clear. This is a cornerstone of easy home cleaning service maintenance.

Step 2: Master Your Three Daily Non-Negotiables

Consistency beats intensity every time. You don’t need marathon cleaning sessions; you need three small, daily habits that prevent messes from ever becoming overwhelming.

• 1. Dishes: Commit to a clean kitchen once a day. Run the dishwasher or wash up after dinner. Waking up to a clean sink sets a peaceful tone for your entire day.
• 2. Laundry: Adopt a rhythm, not a rigid routine. For many, that means washing, drying, and putting away just one load a day. Find the time that fits naturally into your life—like while your bath runs or right after work.
• 3. The 10-Minute Tidy: Set a timer for 10 minutes (or even 5!) and race around returning items to their homes. Do this at night to wake up to order, or in the morning to start fresh. This habit trains your brain to put things away immediately.

These three small actions are the engine of a tidy home. They prevent the “panic clean” when guests are announced. And if your schedule is too packed, that’s exactly when a reliable cleaning service near me can be a lifesaver, handling the daily upkeep so you don’t have to.

Step 3: Commit to Three Weekly Resets

While dailies maintain order, a few weekly tasks keep your home feeling fresh and deeply cared for. These aren’t chores to dread, but small resets that bring satisfaction.

• 1. Meal Planning (The Helpful “Meh”): It doesn’t have to be elaborate. Just sketch out a rough plan for the week. It reduces daily decision fatigue and cuts down on kitchen clutter.
• 2. Paper Management: That basket from Step 1? Have a weekly “date” with it. Pay bills, file important documents, and recycle the rest. Five minutes now saves hours of searching later.
• 3. One Area Reset: This is the most impactful. Each week, pick one small area that’s bugging you—the fridge shelf, the pantry, a linen closet. Spend 15-30 minutes decluttering and wiping it down. This rotational deep cleaning help prevents any single space from becoming a disaster zone.

This weekly reset is the perfect time to schedule a cleaning for the bigger tasks you never get to, ensuring every part of your home gets attention over time.

Embrace “Good Enough” and Accept Help

The ultimate goal isn’t a picture-perfect showroom. It’s a home that functions for you and brings you peace. If a basket of “household stuff” is organized-ish, that’s a win. If you shove linens in a closet instead of folding them like a retail display, that’s fine. Your space serves you, not the other way around.

And most importantly, let people help you. If a family member wants to fold laundry or a friend offers to wipe down counters, let them. If you need more consistent support, there’s no shame in turning to a trusted Chicago cleaning company to clean your apartment. Seeking help cleaning my place is a smart way to reclaim your time and reduce stress. The best cleaning services in Chicago understand that a clean home is about creating space for your life, not judgment.

Follow these three steps—smart systems, daily habits, and weekly resets—and you’ll build a home that feels clean, calm, and under control, no matter what your Chicago life throws at you.

My mother-in-law will come and will fold everything in here. Why can’t I accept help? I’m going to show you a three-step system to have a tidy home all the time, no matter how lazy you are and no matter who’s showing up at your house. So, get ready. I’m going to walk you through the system, but also destroy my mother-in-law’s hopes helping with anything. It is going to be so perfect. She’s going to I dare her to find something to do. The first step is catching clutter at its source, especially that everyday clutter that contributes to almost 80% of surface clutter. And the most important thing you can do is create a landing zone. I know I’ve talked about this a thousand times. Obviously, I’m not great at explaining. Maybe you’re not picking up what I’m putting down because I’ve been to clients homes and they’re like, “I’m a huge fan. I’ve been watching you for years.” and their coat is hung on a knob or on the back of a chair. Because here’s the thing, yes, you have a place for this to go, but if it’s far away and you’re not using it immediately when you walk in the door, your home isn’t working for you. You need to make a change so that you can be lazy so that you can not think so you can just put your coat on the hook and your purse. Your purse needs a home and your keys. So, here’s my door and here’s my hooks where we just drop our crap. But guess what? We also added things that are super helpful, like a bag of socks for the entire family because everybody always forgets the socks. So, is it weird to keep socks in your landing zone? No. All those things that would naturally just for you and your family end up there need a home. Oh god, my mother-in-law. She will definitely look in here. My mother-in-law’s coming. I’m feeling a little bit of stress. I know I shouldn’t. My house is actually tidy, but I feel like she’s going to judge me. and then this is what I do for a living. And she’s going to see these little messes. And then she’s going to know that I’m a fraud. But I’m not panicking. I’m going to walk you through my three-step system while also showing my mother-in-law I have my life together and everything is perfect in every way. I don’t need her. She’s amazing. And I’m competing the Olympics of tidy homes. Okay, this is a shoe cabinet. Joe, a little cricket. He puts his shoes away real neat. My drawer has been broken for a year. That’s okay because I never really used it. I just kicked my shoes over here anyways. So, having just a pile for them to go in, that’s a little cubby. Totally works. My mother-in-law is going to probably peek in here, though. Should I tidy it? This is like the crap. It’s our sunglasses. It’s our driving glasses. There’s lots of candy wrappers. It’s ladybugged. Okay, it’s ladybug. It’s where we just toss all the crap. But I mean, it’s zoned. It’s organizedish. Even I have spots that aren’t perfect. And I tell you, it’s not about perfection. But something inside of me wants to make this drawer perfect, but I’m not going to. I’m going to embrace good enough. Judge as you will, Mrs. A. No, it’s fine. The candy. Moving on. Will my mother-in-law be going through my papers? Probably not, but you never know. She’s sort of nosy. Thankfully, my paper is totally in control because I have a command center. I have multiple little command centers. A place to put the bills, a place to put the papers that I have to deal with that are like referency, and a household management binder. She actually loves the crap out of this binder. So, I’m probably going to tidy it up because it shows her the addresses of my kids school, the names of their teachers, if there’s a medical emergency. All their medical information is in here. insurance if I get hit by a bus or Joe comes to his senses and veers onto oncoming traffic. We have everything she needs to run our household in one convenient place. I mean, this makes me feel like a real for real grown-up. And this always impresses her. I’m going to spend a few seconds and make it even better. Suck it, Mrs. A. Even though my paper is under control, most homes it is not. And that’s because paper clutter is sneaky. It’s coming into your house every day. >> Even if you’re paying your bills online, it’s the medical requisition thingy doodles for blood work. It’s that stupid insurance paper that has to go in your glove box that we all forget to do it. It’s the wedding invitation or the birthday invitation, the thing you have to sign for your kids so they can go on the field trip. I got a call to my podcast. You can call my podcast. Go to clutterbug.com/talkcast. Anyways, it was my one dude listener and he had a really cool story. He used to go full Cricut with a filing cabinet and then he would set things on top to file later. Now he puts things in a basket because the bottom is January, then February, then March. Piling can be filing when done right. Don’t put it in a drawer. Put it in a basket. That is good enough. At the end of the year, bundle it up. Slap a label that says 2025 and start fresh for 2026. Seriously, think lazy. Think where do I naturally put it down? And say goodbye to paper clutter for good. Here’s your binder, Mrs. A. Organization. The third thing you really need to focus on is that everyday household clutter. It doesn’t matter what home I go into to help. I always find the same type things. And this is where I store mine. Those type of things are like light bulbs, batteries, charging cables, the random screwdriver you use to change the remote control batteries. It’s all just piled and it’s all random. The little felt pads, the little command strips. I know you know what I’m talking about. Giving that a home where you naturally are piling it is so important. Voila. The secret to my tidiness is a random bin of god only knows what. It’s literally just I should call it random. It’s all that household stuff. The tape that holds my rug down that the Roomba keeps getting stuck on. I don’t even know what the half of this stuff is, but if Joe’s like, “Where’s that thingamabob?” That’s super important. It’s in the thingamabob basket. Plus, it’s a zone. So, light bulbs, all the neighborhood friends of anything you could think of all stored together. This maybe you’re like, “Cass, I don’t have a cabinet I can dedicate to this.” Is there something you can declutter to make room? Is there a little cabinet you can get to make room? Because I promise you, when you have a random household area, your house will be so much tidier all the time. I’m not too nervous about this area. The baskets make it look like I have my life together. I don’t think she’s going to look dig deep. And even if she does, it’s good. This is goodish. This is ladybug. This is This is fine. Except maybe. Nope. It’s fine. If I was to walk into any home, literally, I could go to my neighbor’s house and I know I will find these everyday household items that I’m talking about on their counter or just in a pile, I don’t have anything to show you. But they look like the things that you just naturally set down because you don’t have another place for them to go or the place is too far away. It’s the stuff that you have to pick up at the end of the night. It’s stuff you have to pick up before you can wipe and clean your surfaces. That is that everyday household crap that I’m talking about. And the reason I don’t have that is because these systems work. At the end of the night, I’m doing a quick tidy. It is not this random stuff. It’s the dishes that need to go in the dishwasher and the trash that has to go in the trash. The random household clutter always has a home. This is not part of the three-step system that I’m sharing with you. This is justification of why I’m insane. Okay? When I put away my kitchen things, I shove. I don’t fold. I shove. Every time my mother-in-law comes, she refolds all of this, which makes me feel like I’m not doing this right. She will like reorganize the fridge and go through my band-aids and make them all neat. You know, things that I am like away is all that matters. Toss it fast. So, normally I would refold all these things so that she doesn’t judge the fact that I don’t fold. Everything inside me wants to fold these and make it perfect. Everything inside me wants to go organize the band-aids. It wouldn’t really take that long. It’s only five minutes. But this is the point. It’s all these like five minutes making things perfect, doing it right that add up to hours. I got Christmas presents to buy. I don’t have time for this. And I’m teaching you not to do this. You do what works for you. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I have like imposttor syndrome. I’m supposed to be one of the leading organizing experts in the world for a living. I teach you how to have a house that’s always tidy. But the truth is, I’m not a tidy person. I’m a disaster. My house is tidy, but I still feel like it’s fake. Does that make sense? Because I don’t feel like I work a lot on it. I don’t know. I I got I got to see a therapist. You are not my therapist. But um I’m dealing with it. Also, I’m a ladybug, so I shove and hide. And that’s also embarrassing. I should embrace it. It’s fine. Things don’t have to be perfect. That’s the whole point of Clutterbug. It just needs to be functional. And yet something inside me says, “It must be perfect for your mother-in-law.” I want to accept help. The fact that she wants to do this for me is awesome. I just feel like she’s going to judge. That’s what it is. I can accept help from Joe. I wish Joe would do it, but outside people, I feel like they’re going to judge. And she is not a judgy person. I don’t know where this comes from. It comes from my mother. The second step is doing your three dailies. Three dailies. That’s all you have to do. Honestly, if you only do these three dailies, you will be able to maintain a tidy home. The first, of course, is dishes. And I’m not like crazy about the dishes, but every day after dinner, the kitchen has to be clean. So, once a day, all the dishes have to be done. I will never leave them till the next day. That doesn’t mean like we won’t have a few glasses when the dishwasher’s full in the sink, but you must do all your dishes at least once a day. The second thing is laundry. And this is where rhythm really comes in. So routine is great, but it’s also structured and maybe a little intense. A rhythm is more like working with your natural tendencies. So for me, I just have to wash and dry one load a day and put it away. And while my bath fills every single night, I just put away a load of laundry or I sort a load of laundry and put it in the kids’ rooms if it’s theirs. And this I’m doing without even thinking. I’m like on autopilot filling my bath and doing the laundry at the same time. And when you have this type of rhythm, you don’t have to force yourself to do it. Work with your, you know, when do you come home from work? When does it feel easy to do a load of laundry? At certain points of in your life, your rhythm might be different. When my kids all move out, I won’t have to do one load a day. Maybe Saturday is what my rhythm will be, like one laundry day a week. That totally is fine. There’s no rules here. The only rule is to pick three non-negotiables and make sure you’re doing them every day in a way that feels easy. The last non-negotiable is a 10-minute tidy. If you’re a morning person, do this in the morning. For me, I do this right before I go to bed so that I wake up to a tidy space and it’s pretty amazing. like you might only need 5 minutes, but set a timer. Don’t go over, run around, put things back in their home. This is actually training your brain to put things back. So, eventually, you won’t need the timer. And you might not even need the 10-minute tidy. Most of the time, I don’t have to do this at night because I’ve just tidied as I’m going. You know what I mean? This has trained me to be a tidy person. It’s a miracle. It’s these three daily things that prevent that like overwhelm. It maintains a tidy house so you don’t feel that panic. Oh my gosh, someone’s coming over. I’m totally feeling that panic right now, which is I see the irony. But I feel like it’s different cuz she looks in my hidden spots. Maybe it’s not different. Maybe this is all we need. It’s This is so therapeutic. I’m seriously concerned that this video is going to be so boring because I’ve said this so many times, but I really wanted to make it because right now is the most hectic time of the year. You’re stressed. You’re stressed. You have Christmas to like prepare for and presents. Maybe you’ve already wrapped them. Good for you, Susan. But the rest of us, we’re failing over here. And so, the last thing we want is to also have to deal with a messy house. We don’t want to have to do the dishes before we can Christmas bake cookies. I’m not even baking cookies, but I feel like I should. My mother-in-law said, “I’ll do your Christmas baking. I don’t even Christmas bake.” The point is, I want your life to be as easy as possible. And these three steps are the secret to like you don’t have to worry about it’s one less thing. You don’t have to worry about your house. It’s just done and tidy. And maybe not by this Christmas, okay? But definitely by next if you follow these steps, I promise you it doesn’t feel hard and you will get to a point where you’re just like you don’t even think about the dishes or the the mess and tidying. It’s just always clean. Step three to a tidy house are the three weekly tasks that you have to do. So, meal planning. I mean, this one’s a meh. If you don’t do it, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s helpful. I have a spot to meal plan. I’m not great at it. I’m still working on it, but you you should definitely do it. The second thing that I think is so important to do every single week is paper management, which just means set a date with yourself and pay your bills. like actually go through your command center, pull out the important stuff and deal with it. It will take five minutes, but it will stop the overwhelm. And the third, which I think is the most important thing to do, is a weekly reset of one area. It’s just whatever you feel like. Maybe it’s the fridge. You got to wipe down the shelves and clean it out. Or it’s the pantry. Maybe you refold the towels for some insane reason in your linen closet. There’s not enough shelving. I have way too many sheets and blankets. My mother-in-law will come and will fold everything in here. And that makes me feel so awful. So, I want to just quickly reset this. Do I know how to fold a fitted sheet? Absol freakingutely not. I also know that my kids are just going to rumage and undo anything I do. So, I need to embrace good enough, which is why I had these where I could toss. It’s okay. Yes, it’s okay. I think I’m going to pull everything out. I’m going to pair a top sheet. Even though I hate I should just throw out Nobody likes top sheets. Why do we have them? Should I just throw them out? I’m going to donate the top sheets that makes me feel there’s a wrongness there. You know what? This is going to be donated. These sheets I bought cuz I was like, “Oh, $40 that I sweat up. There was there was a pool in my butt crack. Oh, it’s a clown car of sheets. It’s a clown car of sheets. Why am I doing this?” Because she wants to do this. My mother-in-law wants to help me. This would make her so happy. This would make her so happy to be able to help. It would make me happy to not have to do it. Like, why can’t I accept help? I should just let her see it in all its messy glory. Next time. Definitely next time. This time, I’m going to reset it. Plus, it needs to be reset. It’s not going to be perfect. You know what I’ll do? I won’t fold. And I’ll let her fold because I don’t know how to fold a fitted sheet anyways. I’m not doing this just to stick it to my mother-in-law so she thinks that I’m perfect. I’m doing this because it’s part of the weekly reset and it needs to be done because it is out of control. And just like pick an area that’s driving you nuts, not just because someone’s coming over, but because for you for like therapy reasons. Okay, I’m feeling very overwhelmed. How do you fold a fitted sheet? I’m not folding, but maybe they’ll I’ll be able to fit more in. Where’s Martha Stewart when you need her? Donating top sheets. Oh, it feels so wrong and yet also so right. Put it with your foot. Put it in with your foot. Organization. I’ve realized that I’m a giant fraud. Also realized it doesn’t take that long to do the things like these little resets. Also, it’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay to not be perfect. If you need a set of sheets, you know where they are. That’s all that matters. Maybe you have to rumage to find two matching ones. That’s okay. Maybe you’re not a person who uses top sheets and you just want to declutter them. Also, okay. The odds are my mother-in-law will refold these and make them look awesome. And I’m going to let her because what a gift. If you have someone in your life that wants to help you, let them. And if you have someone in your life who judges you, let them. That’s more about them than it is you. If people are coming into your home and looking behind your taps and like judging and opening up drawers, they have issues, my friend. Let’s not give into their craziness and become neurotic ourselves. There, I said what I said. I’m going to let the rest of the house just be as it is. And you should, too. Three steps is all you need. Do these three steps and embrace good enough. At the end of the day, this is not a competition with my mother-in-law. She’s a wonderful person. This is me fighting that weird anxiety neurotic perfectionist, even though I’m not a perfectionist thing, and just realizing that good enough is good enough and being proud of the fact that my house is insanely tidy without me having to be an erotic person that cleans all the time. So, I want this for you. This three-step system will change your life. And then we stop there. We say it’s good enough and we walk away. Thank you guys so much for those of you who have stayed to the end. First of all, no, I’m not a Second of all, I’m a little bit of a The other day, I was driving home from dropping off Abby at school and it had snowed, so it was like slush. I could not see from my windshield at all. So, I get home and I’m like, I need windshield washer fluid. I open up our car cabinet, which I have meticulously organized, and I found a jug of washer fluid, but it was black and it looked a little chunky. But then in the on the outside, it said up to 40, like special winter, up to 40, 45°. So, my brain knows something ain’t right. But then I also say, maybe this is what special windshield washer fluid looks like. Also, maybe it’s old. Maybe it turns color the longer it sits. What’s the worst that can happen? And I take a funnel and I pour it inside my Tesla. And then I know, like, you know that feeling in your stomach when you know you’re doing something really bad, but you just continue on. Anyways, then I get in the car and I push the button and it’s squirting and it’s squirting and black goo out and it’s smearing and it’s very slimy and then it dawns on me. Could this be used motor oil? Did Joe change the oil in the lawn mower and then put it in a freaking container that’s washer fluid and not label it? Dude, you’re married to Clutterbug. We label things. But anyways, so it’s kind of his fault when I told him. I called him and I was like, “Listen, I know you’re upset because the kid crashed the other car and now your truck engine lights on your truck and we have no vehicles. We only have the Tesla. Don’t be mad, but it’s undrivable now because I can’t see out the windshield because I filled it. I didn’t tell him I couldn’t see out the windshield. I just said I filled it with used motor oil. And he he cried. I think this seemed like there was tears. And he said, “Whatever you do, don’t push the button, Cass. Don’t push the button and send it through all the lines because that’s a huge job.” I definitely did that, but I did not tell him that I did that. And then I had to think, how can I fix this beau before he comes home in an hour because he does not need more stress and I don’t have to deal with his whining anymore. I’m going to fix this problem. So I siphoned it through a hose into my mouth. I placed it in and I sucked the oil and then poured it in a bucket and then I lost the suction and had to reuck. I ate a lot of used motor oil. But at the end of the day, I siphoned all of it out, refilled it with hot soapy dish soap, sucked it again. I sucked and sucked and sucked and sucked and sucked. Swallowed a bit, too. It’s fine. It’s fine. I’m a genius. And now it’s completely fixed. So, moral of the story, even if you mess up bad, everything is fixable. suck at things. Nobody’s perfect. See you guys next time.