Since many of you have asked me what I do with having three little boys and still keep a {somewhat} clean castle I thought I would fill you in on some little secrets that work for me. Because lets be honest, how many times do you look away for a split second only to find the room you just cleaned up a complete disaster {again}?
1. Get your kids involved. This is KEY! There is NO reason that YOU should be the only one picking up. I don't care the ages. All three of my boys {including my 15 month old} know that they are to pick up their toys once the are done playing. If they move on from one thing to thing then guess what? They clean it up before the move on. Really, don't be scared I am not a crazy cleaning mom. You would be surprised... my boys don't fight it {because they are used to it}. Of course, I will help but I really try to encourage them and reward them!
2. Clean Floor. Sounds simple. This has always been my go to. If the floor is clean then the room 'appears' to be clean. It doesn't take long. You will LOVE me if you simply try this. Do a 'floor check' clean up time with the family mutiple times a day. Is your house going to pass the white glove test? No. However, it will appear clean--er. Plus, it might just be what you need to tackle the rest of your castle.
3. Routine. Like everything else you do in life it's so much easier when you develop a routine which then becomes a habit. Do you wait till the dishes are piling over before you do them? Do you wait till you have 26 loads of laundry and then decide it might be time to start washing? How much easier would it be to simply create a schedule for yourself. If I am being totally honest I don't have a schedule {but it sounds good, right}... Here's what I do. After every meal I CLEAN the kitchen, put the dishes in the dishwasher. Before I put the kids down for bed {nap, quiet time or bed time} I make sure all toys are picked up {aka floor check}. You will be shocked if you just make cleaning a discipline, like everything else, it will become easy-er. It doesn't take long when you don't let it pile up. I try to do at least 2-3 loads of laundry a day. If I am playing with my boys I throw in a load. If I am watching t.v. or on the computer I throw in a load. You really do have time you just have to use the time wisely!
I know, some of you are saying you work full time or you have newborns or it's just not important to you. I get it, I really do but I also promise that you will feel 100% better about your castle if you just tweek a few things. Seriously, it will make your life easier and really if you are like me at all, as a mom I will take all the easy I can get!
Do you have any 'secret' cleaning tips?
Happy Cleaning!
linked to Things I Love Thursday
Sometimes I do a quick bathroom clean while Kellen is playing in the tub...some clorox wipes on the sink and toilet freshen everything up.
ReplyDeleteI also try to sneak in little tasks here and there when I'm waiting, especially while dinner is cooking. I will use that time to clean out/wipe down the fridge, swiffer the floors or do a quick dusting. I find that multi-tasking is key!
Like you, I do laundry throughout the week, but Sunday is always my "big" day to do all the bedding and get completely caught up!
Agree wholeheartedly with the kids getting involved! Mine have "chores" that they do every day/week...like you said, it's not all Mommy's responsibility!
I'm a big floor person too.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest hurtle I've gotten over since becoming a sahm when my second child was born was that my toddler's toys would be in all rooms of the house -- not necessarily out of control in any one of them -- but just at too many places at once. It became really hard to keep him focused long enough for him to clean up more than one of the rooms.
So we started using his large Tonka dump truck as a clean-up tool. At clean up time, he just loads this dump truck with all of his toys in a room, then rolls it on down to his bedroom to put away. He goes from room to room doing it, it takes no time at all, and it’s fun.
Also, something I didn't anticipate happening when I quit working was that since we rarely left the house (newborn + difficult toddler + harsh winter weather) for a while -- I lost that sense of wanting a clean house to come home to. When I worked, I needed the house to be clean before I left every morning because having a mess greet me at the door after a long day of work would stress me out.
So I started giving myself little deadlines. Like, needing the dishes done by the time my oldest got home from school b/c it was her chore to empty the dish strainer, etc. And just by doing that, I got myself into a schedule that worked without even really meaning to.
Meghan- I was cracking up when I read your comment. I always clean when the boys are taking a bath. I let them play and I clean the bathroom. It's perfect :)
ReplyDeleteAlicia- I love the Tonka Dump Truck idea. I bet your son loves it! The little deadlines always work for me as well! I feel like once you get into a schedule it makes life so much easier!!