AFTER A LONG summer the kids are finally going back to school.
While it may seem like a blessing at first, you soon realise the chaos and destruction they've caused to the house from being home for six weeks, and who's going to have to clean it up.
Rachel Hoffman, 43, from Rhode Island, US, speaks to Fabulous about how to get your house back in order after the summer holidays.
The organisation and cleaning whizz is a self-confessed messy person by nature who was sick of her own mess and wanted to get it under control.
After over a decade of finding tips and tricks that worked for her, Rachel has put together her solutions in a book, Less Mess, Less Stress to help others make cleaning more manageable.
Here, she reveals her top five tips on getting your house organised after the kids have gone back to school.
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Tidy Tip: Take the pressure off
While there are plenty of people with spick and span homes on social media and an endless supply of specialist cleaning products, that isn't the reality for most.
But seeing it every day on our TikTok feed does put a copious amount of pressure onto people whose homes aren't pristine.
Expert Rachel says
"For a lot of people who stay at home, there's a lot of pressure to have a perfect home."
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She adds: "Reframing the way you think cleaning and housekeeping tasks, a lot of the time your own standards and expectations get in the way."
"It's something people get held up by, I can't do X, Y or Z because I don't have the perfect tool/product."
But that isn't the case, in her book, Rachel writes you really just need dish soap, white vinegar and water to clean most things in your house.
Tidy Tip: Start with what's annoying you the most
If toys, clothes, and arts and crafts have been thrown around your kids' bedroom then the whole aspect of cleaning it can feel overwhelming.
But it doesn't have to be, Rachel recommends starting with the mess that annoys you the most when you walk into a room for immediate results.
Expert Rachel says
"I start with the biggest, most visible stuff so that it makes the most difference right off the bat.
"Do what will make the most difference or the thing that is bothering you the most when you walk into the room."
Tidy Tip: Pick your battles
Cleaning and organising are two jobs that you're never really going to finish, so you may as well accept the fact you'll be doing them again and again.
But, that doesn't mean you have to tidy every corner of your home that's out of place.
Expert Rachel says
"Put all the stuffed toys into the bins they go in, even if you don't get the entire room done, it's still made a visible difference.
"Give yourself a set number of things to complete, take ten things that aren't where they belong and put them away, and tell yourself you can stop after.
"Most people will carry on after that but an endpoint is really important to stop you feeling overwhelmed."
Tidy Tip: Make a home for everything
Tidying your house without the proper storage solutions can prove to be futile.
As soon as you've used it again, you realise you have nowhere to put it, and it ends up back on your kitchen table for the rest of the week.
Expert Rachel Says
"My philosophy is that if you've got stuff without a home then you've got more stuff than storage.
"There are only two solutions to that problem, one is less stuff and one is more storage.
"Less stuff is almost always the easier and better solution."
Tidy Tip: Make your storage work for you
Finding storage solutions that work for you and your family is key to keeping on top of the mess and keeping your home clutter-free.
If you find you always have stuff out where it shouldn't be then it probably means you don't have storage in the right places or enough of it.
Expert Rachel says
"Figure out what you need and where you need it, where is just as important.
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"If it's inconvenient to put away then you're not going to, so make sure storage is near where you use the item.
"There's no one solution, many families find they have piles of laundry in random places, so put a hamper there, there are no rules on where you can put a hamper."
Less Mess, Less Stress is available to buy now on Amazon, published by Bluebird and One Boat.
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