The question has been running through my mind of late: Is there one hint that can make a huge difference, all on its own? Is there one thing you can do that will make your life more organized and your home more orderly?

After thinking about it for a while, I realized that there is. So, I thought I'd share this master hint with you. It's really deceptively simple:

Finish what you start!

When you clear the table after dinner, put the food away. Take out the compost. Do the dishes. Restore the dining room to order.

When you do the laundry, take it out of the dryer, fold it, and put it away.

When you do a repair project, put away the tools and clean up any mess you've made.

It seems like such a basic thing, but all too often, we leave tasks half done. the clean laundry sits on the chair for days. The dishes sit in the sink. The sawdust sits on the garage floor.

Mess attracts mess. When the chair is covered with clothes, what difference does it make to throw the mail and the contents of the kids' backpacks on the table? And leaving things undone makes it harder to do other basic tidying tasks. If the sink is full of dishes, you aren't going to fill a bucket to mop the floors and you surely aren't going to scrub the sink itself.

For one week, try very intentionally to finish every task you start. I think you'll be amazed at the difference it makes.