put one's house in order

present singular third person puts one's house in order · participle present putting one's house in order

1. literalTo 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

   1 more example

   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. idiomaticTo 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.

   3 more examples

   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

   "I must put my house in order—in order. Draw up a will and bring it to me before five o'clock."

   1907, David Graham Phillips, chapter 5, in The Second Generation

   The message from the euro zone should be loud and clear: if lawmakers don't put their house in order, markets eventually will do it for them.

   2010 May 20, Agnes T. Crane, Christopher Swann, “U.S. Dollar a Haven, but for How Long?”, in New York Times, retrieved 03 Nov 2013

   Synonyms: put one's affairs in order