put one's house in order

Verb

put one's house in order (third-person singular simple present puts one's house in order, present participle putting one's house in order, simple past and past participle put one's house in order)

1. (literal) To clean and arrange in an orderly manner the furnishings and other contents of one's house.
   • First she had put her house in order, working deftly, her pretty hair pinned up in a towel—all in order but Peter's room. That was to have a special cleaning later.1914, Mary Roberts Rinehart, chapter 13, in The Street of Seven Stars
   • It took Harriet a full month or more each spring to put her house in order. Washing windows, arranging drawers, sweeping, and dusting were relatively simple tasks, amounting to two or three days' work in each room. It was the carpets that constituted the major chore.1998, Claudia L. Bushman, A Good Poor Man's Wife, →ISBN, page 112

   Synonyms:

   clean house, get one's house in order, put one's household in order, set one's house in order

2. (idiomatic) To organize one's financial and other affairs, especially in preparation for a life-changing event.
   • And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
   • But before doing so he thought it to be expedient to put his house in order, so that he might be able to make a statement of his affairs if asked to do so.1876, Anthony Trollope, chapter 14, in The Prime Minister

   Synonyms:

   put one's affairs in order