Start Doing a Closing Shift for Your Home

There’s something about waking up to an organized home that sets your mood and day up for success. Creating and following a closing shift routine is a great way to accomplish a fresh restart for the following day.

You may have a busy life all the time or seasons of life where you feel like you can’t get everything you want done in 24 hours. Having a messy house tends to make people feel overwhelmed in the space that is supposed to be their peace and resting place. This adding on top of the daily stressors is not ideal. So why not try a solution to managing and maintaining the home in an easy and simple way?

Creating rhythms to help keep up with the day-to-day mess is an absolute game changer and is worth a try to keep your home tidiness afloat.

What is a closing shift?

A closing shift for your home is the time you set aside for all the things that will make you feel like you have a clean start in the morning. This routine can include tidying up the living room and kitchen, starting the dishwasher or putting away the dishes, cleaning high-traffic surfaces, mopping or vacuuming high-traffic areas, etc.

Whatever you need to do to feel like you have a clean start to the day should be added to the routine. This should be a convenient way to keep up with managing your household and its clutter that accumulates throughout the day. Try not to overcomplicate things.

How to implement

I know it’s easier said than done, but being intentional about integrating this routine into your life can really help it flow naturally into your daily life. Think about when to incorporate your closing shift routine that would work best for your home. Setting up a specific time you know you should be doing it will help with it not getting pushed off or forgotten about.

If you can make yourself do it consistently for a few weeks it will become a habit that you naturally do and won’t seem like such a hassle to complete. The feeling you get when you wake up to a clean and neat house can also drive you to make this a habit and a priority.

Ideas for when you could do your closing shift are:

After dinner- The pro for after dinner is your space will feel clean and peaceful for most of the evening as well as the morning. If you choose to do this you will need to keep up with what mess you are making throughout the night. If you have kids, this might not be the best option as you will likely need to clean up again what you just cleaned.

Once the kids are in bed- If you have kids, this could be a great transition to your evening. Cleaning up after they’re in bed can really set the mood for a relaxing rest of your evening. Since you are already up from putting your kids to bed you might as well get your closing shift routine done for your home before sitting down and losing motivation.

Before you relax for the evening- If you are one that once you sit down to relax you want to be done with any other responsibilities for the evening setting up your closing shift to be right before you relax is a great option. It’s a routine that can flow really well. Once you’re done with your closing shift it’s a clear start to being able to relax and wind down for the evening.

Right before you go to bed- This is a great option if you do not want to keep up with the clean environment you created and just clean once and be done. If you do your closing shift right before bed you won’t have any dishes to clean later on in the evening or any other messes you could’ve created throughout the night. If you’re one to be motivated enough to not go straight to bed when you’re tired and ready to sleep. If you know you’ll still do your routine before going to bed this might be the best option.

An example of a closing shift:

• Once the kids are in bed you head out to the kitchen and start doing the dishes.
• After the dishes are done you clean and declutter the kitchen countertop and dining room table
• Next, you pick up your living room
• Once everything is decluttered you vacuum or sweep the kitchen, living room, and entryway
• Now that everything is reset for the morning you can go relax on the couch or do your normal unwinding routine

Closing shift for your home shouldn’t be difficult

Some days make bigger messes or are busier than others, but this should be a simpler project for you. A quick pick up and clean to help you feel reset and start fresh in the morning instead of building off of the mess from the days prior.

This should be more helpful than stressful for you so if sometimes you just don’t get to it. That’s okay! Try again the next day or set aside some time in the morning to help yourself still feel fresh and prepared for the day. The goal is to help you feel like you are starting on the right foot for the day.

Time to plan out your closing shift that works for you and your home!

Make your own routine and try it out. This is such a simple way to make tidying up your home feel easy and like it flows in your daily life. So feel free to adjust the routine and timing of things until you feel like you found the perfect match for you and your family. Your future you will thank you for making this a routine for your home.

If you like this tip on creating a functional way to manage the home check out my other posts on managing the home and taking care of yourself here.