As humans, we are creatures of habit. If we can’t get rid of them, we can at least make them work for us. Read on for ten bad habits to shake, and their counterparts to cultivate, to maintain a tidier household.

Bad Habit #1: You wear your shoes in the house.

Good Habit #1: Make a designated spot for shoes by the door and leave yours there every time you come in the house. The time you save sweeping and mopping will outweigh the time it takes to slip off your sneakers.

Bad Habit #2: You set your dirty dish in the sink.

Good habit #2: The fix: Rinse your dish and put it in the dishwasher as soon as you’re finished with it. This way you won’t wind up with a sink of full of dishes with crusted on food to deal with later in the day.

Bad Habit #3: You don’t get rid of anything.

Good Habit #3: When something comes into the house, something goes out. Designate a box in the closet for donations and make a monthly trip to your local second-hand store. The less stuff you have, the less stuff you have to clean up.

Bad Habit #4: You let grime build up in the bathroom.

Good Habit #4: Keep a container of anti-bacterial wipes in the bathroom and give the counters, sinks, and mirrors a wipe down each evening after your brush your teeth.

Bad Habit #5: You allow pets on the furniture

Good Habit #5: Make a place for Fido in every room in which you spend a significant amount of time. If he has a designated bed or blanket of his own, he’ll be less inclined to borrow yours, and you’ll spend less time vacuuming up pet hair.

Bad Habit #6: You don’t make the bed.

Good Habit #6: Make your bed first thing. It will set the tone for a day of taking action and keeping a tidy home.

Bad Habit #7: You leave your clothes where you took them off.

Good Habit #7: Put the hamper in a convenient location and use it. You’re much more likely to toss in your clothes if the hamper is highly accessible.

Bad Habit #8: You don’t have a checklist.

Good Habit #8: A good list can make housework a no-brainer. Create a checklist with daily, weekly, and monthly household chores. That way you can just see what needs to be done, check it off, and move on.

Bad Habit #9: You have odds & ends everywhere.

Good Habit #9: Make a junk drawer. Sometimes you just need a place to put things temporarily without thinking about them. Are you really going to go upstairs to your office and put away three paper clips? Probably not. With a junk drawer, you can at least contain little things until you’re ready to put them in their real homes.

Bad Habit #10: You put things off.

Good Habit #10: Adopt the mantra, “if it will take less than five minutes, do it now”. We’ve all walked by the same cobweb on the staircase five times, and each time thought, “I need to clean that up.” The cobweb turns into a problem when in reality it could be dealt with in less than a minute.