Are you struggling to keep your home clean after growing up in a messy house? Here are 7 cleaning tips if you grew up in a messy home.

Growing up in a dirty home is something that can be a challenge once you become an adult and try to keep your own house clean.

For my own experience, I definitely wouldn’t say I was raised in a ‘dirty’ house; it wasn’t gross or anything. But there was almost always a low level of clutter.

I also struggled with keeping my room clean as a child. And I definitely didn’t understand the concept of keeping an area or room clean so that it didn’t get messy.

If I cleaned up my room for company that came, I wouldn’t maintain it. So it would just gradually get more cluttered and messy until finally I cleaned it again.

Unfortunately, I maintained this pattern as an adult for many years, not only with my own bedroom, but with our home as a whole. I also felt overwhelmed cleaning a messy house.

These tips in today’s Podcast or Post are things I wish someone would have shared with me over a decade ago. And they’ll be helpful for anyone who did grow up in a really messy house.

⬇⬇Below you can read the post or play the podcast version- about 10.5 mins.

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QUICK LINKS FOR THE HOUSE GONE SANE PODCAST OR POST #24

➡ Grab our Calm Kitchen Clutter Course here while it’s still on sale and available for purchase.

✅ Download our free Daily Cleaning Roadmap here. This will help you develop a daily cleaning routine for your home so it looks clean and tidy.

Books I Recommend in this Podcast or Post:

➡ Get the book Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern on Amazon here. When I read this book, it was the first time I believed I actually had the potential to be clean and organized.

➡ Grab the book How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing With Your House’s Dirty Little Secrets here. This book by Dana K. White is great if your house is a disaster and you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start.

➡ Check out the book Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff. This book is great for helping you develop the right mindset to declutter. And it gives you practical tips for doing it.

 

⬇ PLAY THE PODCAST ⬇

 

1.) Understand that your past circumstances don’t determine your future circumstances.

 

 

It’s certainly true that the environment we are raised in will affect and influence us in different ways. 

But that doesn’t mean that if you were raised in a messy home that you’re doomed to always have a messy home. 

Just as children who grew up in a really clean and clutter-free home may not keep their homes clean, someone who grew up in a cluttered or dirty home is not guaranteed to keep their own home the same way.

 

2.) Reflect on any areas that your childhood home was organized.

 

 

You might be thinking to yourself that this is a silly concept. After all, if your childhood home was messy, how could it be organized?

I hear you, and I want to share something that was a light bulb moment for me.

She mentioned that even the most disorganized people still have at least some areas of their home or life they are organized in.

For example, even if your childhood kitchen was really messy, and there were always dirty dishes, your parents likely had a cabinet or shelf where they kept clean dishes. 

Even if everything wasn’t clean and organized, and maybe most things weren’t, chances are there were at least some things that were.

And the reason I think this is important to recognize is because it can change your mindset. 

It helps you to realize that even people who are messy or disorganized have the potential to be clean and tidy. 

And for this next tip- you’re going to take this same principle and apply it to yourself. 

 

3.) Acknowledge the areas in your life where you are clean & organized.

 

 

When I was reading that book Organizing from the Inside Out and I got to where she talked about how even disorganized people are still organized in some ways, it gave me hope.

For the first time- ever- I began to believe that maybe I could be organized.

Granted, it would still be a few years before I would begin to really get my home together. 

But this moment put my mind in the right place to make those changes later.

I realized that the author was right.

Even when our first apartment was a complete disaster, there was evidence I was organized and clean.

If you looked past the dirty dishes, clothes, toys, and papers that were everywhere, I had a cabinet where all of our towels and washcloths were perfectly folded. 

At the time, this was really the only thing I thought of. But there was even more evidence than that cabinet that proved I was organized and clean. 

I had cupboards with clean dishes put away and cabinets with food put away.

I always put things back in the fridge. 

And I had clean clothes folded and put away in my dresser and clean clothes hanging up in the closet. 

Imagine for a moment if I didn’t tell you about the mess in my house- the clothes, toys, papers, and dirty dishes that were out.

If you didn’t see my apartment then, and I only talked about the areas of my home that were under control, you would think my house was clean. 

Because when I say my cabinets are filled with clean dishes and I have towels neatly folded and put away, and my clothes in my dresser are folded and put away, it sounds like a clean home. 

And while yes, the apartment did look messy because of the things that weren’t under control, there were parts of it that were actually clean.

But what happens is that when part of our home is messy, it overshadows the parts that are clean and organized.

And so instead of acknowledging that we are doing a great job in some areas staying clean and organized, we tend to focus on what’s wrong. 

When we focus on what’s wrong, it seems like everything is messy. But the truth is that it’s not.

So if you’ve been feeling down about your home, I want you to grab a pen and paper and start writing down the evidence that your home is clean.

Whatever areas are under control in your home, write them down. Remind yourself that you are clean and organized.

You just need to take what you’re doing right in the clean areas and apply that to the places in your home that need work.

You’re not doomed to be a messy person just because your childhood home had clutter or because your current home does.

There is evidence you are clean and organized. And you can do this.

 

4.) Do a daily cleaning routine and stay consistent with maintaining your home.

 

 

A daily cleaning routine will be what keeps your home clean after you fix a messy area. 

Being consistent makes all the difference. And chances are you will spend less time physically and mentally cleaning when you stick to a routine.

✅Download our free Daily Cleaning Roadmap. It shows you how to do a daily cleaning routine in your home- what tasks to do and in which order to clean.

 

5.) Learn from other people with a natural tendency to be messy who have overcome the clutter in their homes.

 

 

Someone who has never been where you are doesn’t really understand the struggle of overcoming messy habits and disorganization the way someone does who used to be in a similar situation as you. 

I am one of those people who has had to overcome many of my own bad habits and limiting beliefs.

I used to be inconsistent with my home and a huge procrastinator. And I also used to believe I wasn’t capable of maintaining it.

And you know what? There are times I still struggle and fall behind when we have a change in circumstances, such as a new baby or there’s sickness or we’re going through a busy season in life.

But now I know how to get my home to the state I want it to be in and how to maintain it. Because I now have the right mindset and skills to do it.

And that’s why I do these Podcasts or Posts. I know that what I’ve learned can inspire others.

➡That’s also why I’ve made my Calm Kitchen Clutter course.

It will help you get started decluttering and keeping clean the room in your home that will make the biggest impact- the kitchen. 

It will teach you how to unclutter each area and category of clutter in your kitchen step-by-step.

And in the course, I also teach you habits going forward that will prevent your kitchen from getting messy and cluttered again. There are a ton of actionable tips in there that you won’t want to miss.

Just in case you’re afraid to commit, there’s a money-back guarantee. But I believe 100% if you’re struggling with kitchen clutter, you’ll succeed by following the steps in the course.

✅The Calm Kitchen Clutter Course is on sale right now- grab it here for only 17 dollars for a limited time.

Other Women Who Lived in Disorganized, Messy Homes & Learned to Be Clean & Organized

Someone else I recommend is Dana White from A Slob Comes Clean. She also has the natural tendency to be- in her words- a slob.

There are a lot of great podcasts on her website.

She also wrote 2 books that I have read and recommend.

So you can definitely learn from women like these who’ve been where you were. And you too can get out of the rut of having a messy home.

 

6.) Take care of yourself & get help if you’re dealing with the physical, mental, or emotional effects of growing up in a dirty home.

 

 

The environment we were raised in affects both our physical health and our mental health.

It affects how we view ourselves and other areas of our life.

So if this is something you’ve experienced with being raised in a messy home, going forward you want to make sure you are taking care of your health in every way- physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. 

It’s really important to take time for self-care, (even though you’re busy.) You need to do things that bring you joy and fill you up.

If necessary, you may want to look into going to therapy if you are still struggling with your past experiences.

 

7.) Celebrate and reward yourself when you make progress.

 

 

When we have several areas of our home that aren’t together, sometimes this overshadows the progress we’re making.

But it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate the smaller wins and reward yourself. Even smaller areas that become clean are important because they affect your home as a whole.

As a result, each area you get under control and keep clean is more proof that you can keep your house clean, despite your upbringing of growing up in a messy home.

So those are 7 cleaning tips to help you keep your house clean after growing up in a messy house.

➡Don’t forget to download our free printable Daily Cleaning Roadmap. It will help you develop a cleaning routine to keep your house clean.

➡ And remember to grab our Calm Kitchen Clutter Course here while it’s still on sale and available for purchase.

 

If you found this Podcast or Post helpful or think it could help someone else you know, please share it.

On our next Podcast or Post we discuss how to make a daily cleaning schedule.

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Thanks for reading and have a great day!

 

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How to Motivate Yourself to Declutter

 

How to Keep Your House Clean After Growing Up in a Dirty House