pexels pixabay 271711As winter winds down, there’s no better time to refresh your environment and bring a sense of warmth and comfort into each room. From a daily five-minute tidy-up routine to a weekend refresh of well-used spaces, these tips will show you how small, consistent actions can create an inviting atmosphere. We’ll also share sustainable ways to let go of items you no longer need and highlight local Calgary resources for responsible donation and recycling. Whether you’re preparing for a cozy day at home or simply want to start each day in a space that feels rejuvenated, these easy-to-follow habits will help you create a home that sparks joy and reflects your personality.

With spring on its way, now is a great time to start thinking about easy ways to make your home inviting - both for you and your family, as well as guests and loved ones. Just reading that may feel daunting, but small steps are the best way to achieve your goals. Let’s get into it!

Daily Five-Minute Tidy

If you’d like to transform your space in terms of ease-of-use, there are simple steps you can take to get the ball rolling. Instead of looking around your home at the end of the day and getting overwhelmed by all there is to do, start small. Pick an area of your home that needs attention, perhaps a high-traffic area that’s been driving you nuts, and just start tidying it. Put a timer on for 5 minutes and get as much done as you can in that area before it stops.

Five minutes may not seem like enough time to get much done, however, 5 minutes is better than zero minutes. If you were to do 5 minutes of tidying today, then again tomorrow and the next day, all those minutes add up.

Find a time in your day that allows you to tidy up without interruptions. Perhaps it’s when you get home from work, or after the kids go to bed, or even while dinner is cooking. If you manage to tackle this task every day at the same time, it becomes a habit. They say it takes 3 weeks of doing something for it to become a habit. Keep this in mind as you remember your overall goal of wanting a more inviting home.

Habit Stacking

If you haven’t read it yet, Atomic Habits by James Clear is a phenomenal resource that could change the way you structure your day - for the better. It introduces the idea of habit stacking, which is the practice of building new habits onto existing rituals to make meaningful changes in your day-to-day lifestyle. For example, I always take my vitamins for the day before I brush my teeth and do my makeup. I literally feel like I can’t brush my teeth until I’ve had my vitamins. It’s so ingrained into my daily routine that it's become second nature to me. I have a friend who won’t allow herself to have her first cup of coffee until she’s finished her morning workout. These are examples of habits stacked onto each other.

A good way to utilize habit stacking in home organization would be to insert your 5-minute tidy into an existing routine. For example, maybe you don’t allow yourself to sit down and watch tv (or wind down) until the tidy-up is complete. Or perhaps it works better to tidy up immediately after the kids are put to bed. However you choose to insert your new simple organizing habit, ensure it works with your existing routines and lifestyle.

Make it Appealing

Do you ever find yourself losing items constantly (cough car keys), or have family members who can’t seem to keep things where they belong? We’ve found that creating “homes” for items that are visually or aesthetically pleasing can be immensely helpful in creating good habits.

In more than a few homes we’ve organized, we’ve found that a colourful bowl or container (or wall hooks) placed close to the door is a great solution for never losing keys. Perhaps you’ve always got mail and paperwork on the countertop. A nice-looking wicker basket provides a home for paperwork, or even wire baskets mounted to the wall with labels. If you create a “home” for loose items that catches your eye, you’re more likely to utilize it.

Create Boundaries

For a lot of us, it can be quite difficult to create boundaries in our work/life balance. This can create a trickle down effect where work, family, and life in general take priority over our own mental wellness - including having a tidy and inviting home. In this way, our homes become our last priority each day, which is why belongings stack up and we create “catch all” areas.

One thing I’ve struggled with in the past is boundaries with work emails. Being a business owner, it’s very hard to NOT check emails outside of work hours. The potential to have a new lead, or a follow-up to an important email I sent earlier that day, or to just follow up quickly about something important I just remembered, is just too tempting.

Luckily, I’ve discovered a couple different ways to create healthy boundaries. I now have an auto-responder on all work emails, every single one, that says I only respond to emails during work hours and that I’ll do my best to respond within 48 hours. This alleviates the urge to “not let anyone down” by not responding immediately.

If you’re a mama with kids, it’s also very easy to put pretty much everything else before your own wants and needs. If you find you’re struggling, it’s so important for everyone in the family’s sake that you put on your own oxygen mask first. Set a boundary within the family that you absolutely need some time for yoga, meditation, reading, or any other activity that brings you peace.

Set a specific time block aside each week so that everyone knows - this is Mom’s time to herself and it’s important. As an example, my family knows that Monday nights are my time to go to yoga. It’s non-negotiable and is engrained into our routine so no one gets upset. My husband goes to basketball on Thursdays, which is also part of our routine. If we don’t take this time to ourselves, we can’t be our best selves- at home, at work, or anywhere else.

Weekend Refresh Sessions

Another routine we’ve found to be quite impactful in busy homes is a weekend refresh session. These sessions get everyone in the home involved and are aimed toward making the most impact possible in a relatively short time.

Start off by picking one day on the weekend where everyone in the family is home. Similar to the 5-minute tidy, set a timer for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. If you have small children, obviously a shorter time will be better for their attention spans. If everyone in the home is an adult, set it for an hour. Get everyone to start with an area that they have cluttered in the previous week (for kids, their room is a good place to start), and tidy as much as they can until the timer goes off. If a chosen area is finished prior to the timer going off, start on a second area that needs a refresh (bathrooms, closets, and smaller areas).

When everyone is involved, it makes the task of tidying much easier and also gives accountability to anyone who may leave belongings laying around. If they want the weekend refresh session to be easier, they may be swayed to make less of a mess through the week!

Let It Go - Sustainably!

Through the exercise of tidying, you’ll likely come across items you no longer want or need. We’ve found it very helpful to implement a “donation bin” somewhere in the home for unwanted items to go as soon as you discover them. This makes the process of downsizing or purging much easier in the long run, where even your unwanted items have a home. When the bin gets full, you’ll know it's time to take it to a donation centre. This also applies to items for recycling, shredding, hazardous household waste, and electronic recycling.

When the time comes to drop off donations, we highly recommend choosing a charitable organization that matches your values. In Calgary, we’ve discovered several charities who are more than happy to take gently used items and give them new life:

  • Goodwill
  • The Drop-In Centre (NE location)
  • Women In Need
  • Meow Foundation (does not accept clothing of any kind)

We very much appreciate these organizations efforts to re-home donatable goods and know they appreciate the support as well.

As for paper and cardboard recycling, there are a number of public green recycle bin locations - provided by the city - throughout Calgary where you can drop larger quantities of paper recycling.

Household hazardous waste can be safely dropped off at various locations, usually firehalls, that house appropriate facilities for these materials. These items may include household paint, chemicals, fluorescent lights, and other hazardous materials. For full details on what items can be dropped off, check the city of Calgary website.

Electronics recycling can be dropped off at designated areas throughout the city, including Eco Centre's and city partnered locations. For a list of drop off locations and acceptable electronic items, check out this page.