Goodness knows we all have enough to do every day. So if you had at your disposal a tool or technique to get it all done more efficiently and effectively, wouldn’t you use it? Think of your life like your computer, running multiple programs at a time, doing more than one task at time, responsible for navigating, storing, dating, organizing, saving, automating—and everything in between. But leave it running for too long or overload it with too much all at once, and eventually it’s gonna crash. As you will if you’re running on too many cylinders at the same time, without adequate maintenance and reassessment breaks.

How to avoid this inevitability? It’s time for a reboot!

Just like your computer will run faster and better once you shut it down once in a while and let it start from scratch, so too will your life run more smoothly and productively once you hit the reset button to “declutter your headspace” and clean up your personal space.

Tips for Your Home & Life to Function at Maximum Capacity

Tip #1: Attend to unfinished projects. You know what they are and you know where they are: the bunches of yarn stashed in a corner for that sweater you’re not going to knit; the scattered wood and tools and hardware in the garage for that bookshelf you started four months ago; the piled boxes of old clothes and shoes in the guest room that you’ve been meaning to try on one more time before making a donation run; the craft supplies spread out all over the dining room table for that scrapbook you’re gonna start any day now. You’ve got three options when it comes to goals like these: (1) scrap ’em entirely, (2) get ’em done already, or (3) put all the materials back where they belong until you’re ready to actually tackle the project in a scheduled span of time.

Whether your pending projects are relatively small (going through your medicine cabinet or polishing tarnished silver) or relatively large (building a treehouse or creating a custom slideshow of all your travels), it’s time to just dive in and get it done or admit defeat and give in. Either way, you’ll feel infinitely better when unfinished business isn’t hanging over your head every day, weighing you down. Tie up the loose ends or just cut them loose. On the other side of either of those options lies freedom.

Tip #2: Clean up rooms to make room for order. Not just anecdotal experience but also research studies have proven that messy and disorganized living and working spaces hamper productivity, not to mention plain ole happiness. It’s worth the time it’ll take you to finally dust your office top to bottom, clean all the ceiling fan blades, reorganize the kitchen cupboards, empty the fridge and pantry of expired foods and items you’re never going to use, finally clear out the attic or storage shed. Again, some organizing tasks are more tedious than others—rehanging all the coats in the coat closet nicely is going to be far simpler than finally going through your own clothes closet item by item—but mix up the quick tasks with the not-so-quick ones to get as much done as you can in the shortest amount of time.

Here are some tasks you can knock out one-two-three to leave you with more free time before you know it:

• Fold up and put away all loose blankets, throws, rugs, and pillows you’re not using now or at least not using this season.
• Run the dishwasher and put all dishes away.
• Do every load of laundry that’s been patiently waiting for you.
• Go through the whole pile of waiting mail and sort through it as needed.
• Dust, clean, and polish all those surfaces caked with spills and smudged with fingerprints.
• Get small little thank-you cards so you can write the notes you’ve been meaning to send—just a few lines, just a few a day.
• Toss out or donate anything and everything in your home that you don’t use.
• Take out the trash and recycling.
• Dust the blinds and clean the windows.

As an added bonus, you’ll be sanitizing breeding grounds for bacteria and virus. Disorganized to organized and dirty to clean? What’s not to love about that?

Tip #3: Turn to your technology next. It’s not just tangible and touchable items that can benefit from some TLC. When was the last time you cleared out your DVR, emptied your voice mails, updated your contacts list, and—here come the biggies—sifted through your email folders and tidied up all your computer files? Give yourself the immeasurable peace of mind that comes from knowing your pipelines are cleared and that you can access what you need right when you need it without all kinds of obsolete and unnecessary data and information blocking your way.

Don’t have the time or inclination to do all this yourself? Home Services Enterprise can do it for you, whether it’s folding all your drawers or folding up your map collection and properly archiving it. Contact us today to meet any or all of your cleaning needs in the Metropolitan area, including DC, Rockville, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, and surrounding regions.

Home Services Enterprise  |  301-674-9564  |  www.homeservicesenterprise.com