The ideal home is a restorative sanctuary. But the reality is you have to work to keep it that way.
“People are just like, ‘That’s just the way it is – I’ll live like this even though it stresses me out,’” Cara Stizza says. “[But] for me, the house needs to be designed well, and it needs to be well-functioning, and I think [my partner] Mitch and I both share that.”
Stizza thinks about the function of homes a lot. As co-founder and design director of Melbourne-based design studio Made For, she’s constantly considering a home’s balance of utility and comfort. And as mum to three-year-old Pilot, she also knows the importance of practicality.
We asked Stizza how she makes time for both relaxation and functionality when scheduling out her week.
Create a flexible routine
Around full-time work, there isn’t always a lot of time for getting life in order. “I occasionally have Fridays off, but I absolutely don’t plan to be cleaning my whole life on a Friday,” says Stizza. “That’s my day off I have with my son, so that’s really important to me.”
To help protect it, Stizza says to create a routine that can also allow some flex. “At the most we follow a basic structure for how our life works Monday to Friday,” she says. “I think that’s important for people: if they just have a basic structure, they can adjust if things aren’t necessarily working.”
The weekly tidy
Stizza and her partner opt for a big clean to close out the weekend, meaning they get to start the new week in a freshly tidied home.
“Sunday night, everything needs to be put away,” says Stizza. “Toys are back, clothes are away, the washing is done.”
Outside of that non-negotiable, small parcels of time are set aside during the week to approach chores as they naturally arrive. Stizza likes to do these as come, as they feel more manageable than ticking off a massive checklist of tasks at the same time.
Stizza has a couple of tips for cleaning throughout the week: put the washing on in the morning, but on a delayed cycle so it finishes when you walk in the door; always make the bed; and do the dishes before you turn in for the night.
“That comes back to maintaining [the house] throughout the week,” says Stizza. “And how easy it is to go and grab the Dyson and do those quick little cleans and not necessarily have to vacuum the entire floor.”
A cordless vacuum like the Dyson Gen5 Detect makes it easy to grab and manoeuvre to wherever those cleans are needed around the house – the model’s green LED “fluffy optic” cleaner head can reveal dust and dirt on hard floors you might not see with the naked eye, which is especially handy when you have a three-year-old running around.
Make time for your non-negotiables
Prioritise the things you’d rather not change week in and week out. For Stizza, this means locking in exercise sessions in advance. “We have the same session every single week and that’s the session we go to,” she says. “That’s non-negotiable [and] happens two months in advance.”
Stizza recommends getting those activities in the diary before your week fills up. “It’s about figuring out what you really want to integrate into your life every single week and finding the time that actually works for that,” she says. “For us, mornings are always going to be better because it’s the start of a day [and] things haven’t gotten out of control yet. It’s prioritising that your time is important.”
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Dyson.
