Brittney Morgan

Can a silicone sponge replace your basic disposable kitchen sponge for life, or does it sound too good to be true?

"When you get up the next morning, your sink will greet you, and a smile will come across your lovely face."

"People want to let go of the things, but they don't want to let go of the person."

The best way to regain control of a messy kitchen is to focus on and change your behavior, one bad habit at a time.

Some of these ideas use stuff you've likely already got laying around the house.

You clean your kitchen regularly, making sure the dishes are done, the counters are wiped down, and the fridge isn’t harboring anything gross, but even the cleanest people can overlook the little things without realizing it. If some spots (think: light switches, appliance handles, and window screens) are missing from your cleaning routine, here’s a little reminder to thoroughly clean your kitchen — and some help on how to tackle them properly.

Take it from the people who know!

If you’re a messy person looking to make cleaning and organizing a little less painful — and, you know, incorporate it into your regular routine — who better to get advice from than people who face the same challenges and have found ways to make things work? We asked self-admitted messy people to share their shortcuts and what helps them (and we combed through a few super-helpful Reddit threads — this one and this one, to be exact). Here are the best tips we gathered.

Clutter is just a fact of life. Stuff piles up, messes are made, and dealing with it all becomes one of many things on your to-do list. Easy enough to manage when life is calm and work is steady, but when things get hectic, it’s more and more tempting to let things slide and deal with them later. And eventually, all that procrastinating can turn into what feels like an impossible cleaning challenge. But, of course, that’s not the case.

For many of us, doing the dishes is one of the worst chores there is. But it’s often those people who can’t stand doing the dishes who are the best at avoiding them for a while and then getting them done efficiently, which is exactly why I reached out for advice to people who don’t have a dishwasher and just absolutely hate doing the dishes.

Sundays are for sleeping in, binge-watching something on Netflix, and only changing out of your pajamas for brunch dates with friends, right? But sometimes — especially when you’ve got a particularly stressful week ahead — your usual chill Sunday can be better spent being productive. Sunday is the best day to take care of all the things that usually plague you, from cleaning and cooking to getting ahead at work.