Starting and ending the day well are top priorities of mine. My daily rituals regularly evolve, but one that I established 15 years ago and still remains today, is resetting my living spaces. 

What Does It Mean and Why It’s Important

When you reset your living spaces, you are essentially tidying up––you put items away and get everything back to square one. It should only take a few minutes to reset each space, and this small investment of time has big returns. 

Building this daily habit is helpful for two reasons:

1. You stay on top of clutter.
2. You create a calming space.

Resetting your spaces should occur at transition times. These resets can happen once or multiple times a day depending how frequently you use the space and for what purpose. For example, a natural transition moment for a toy room may occur once before school and once before bedtime. A mudroom reset may be at the very end of the day before bed. 

How to Reset Your Living Spaces

Living Room | At night before bed

• Fluff pillows 
• Fold blankets 
• Clean up stray dishes  
• Clear off the coffee table

Family Room | At night before bed or first thing in the morning

• Fluff pillows 
• Fold blankets 
• Put remotes in their home 
• Put away devices and notebooks
• Clean up stray dishes
• Clean up any extra toys

Primary Closet and Bathroom | First thing in the morning

• Rehang / straighten hand towels 
• Wipe down vanity countertops 
• Shut all open vanity and dresser drawers 
• Pick up clothing – rehang or toss in hampers

Primary Bedroom | First thing in the morning

• Make bed 
• Put remotes away 
• Put away devices and notebooks
• Clean up drinking glasses

Kitchen | Multiple times a day: before bed and after meals

• Take care of dishes (wash, put away, load/unload dishwasher) 
• Wipe down countertops
• Straighten and rehang kitchen towels 
• Vacuum (words cannot express how much I despise walking on crumbs) 

Mudroom | First thing in the morning or mid-day

• Straighten shoes 
• Hang backpacks and jackets that weren’t already taken care of
• Vacuum dirt and leaves – this helps them from being tracked through the house