Keeping a clean home with Kids
I adore having a clean house. It makes me mentally feel so much better, but I have 3 kids ages 3-0. SO sometimes that makes it complicated when it comes to having a clean home. But I have learned a lot from my years of motherhood.
My mother also kept a very clean home, and I picked up plenty of tips regarding keeping a clean home from her. I am so excited to share those here with you guys. They will help you keep a cleaner home and some sanity!
Now do remember that my house is NOT spotless 24/7 but it is clean and picked up at the end of the day. Do not get stressed if your house has moments through out the day that it is messy.
But without further ado, lets get into how I have a decently clean home while having kids.
Focus on one room a day:
I think I picked this up from the Clean Mama, but where I found it. This rule has changed my life.
The gist of this one as you focus on deep cleaning a room each day. So Mondays I focus on the bedrooms it’s when I wash the bedsheets when I vacuum and move things around.
And try to give our bedroom a fresh start for the week. I’ll include a little template that shows what I focus on each day. This helps me know when the last time something was deep cleaned because it’s most likely deep cleaned last week. I don’t have any room that I focus on on Sunday as it’s the day I rest
5 minute clean ups:
This is something I picked up from my mom and have carried through my entire life as children the house got messy there were six of us kids and very quickly the house went from clean to dirty. My mom said a timer for five minutes and all of us siblings!
Would clean up one room at a time this made everything go so much quicker yes there was a lot more help than just one person. But you’ll be surprised what you can do in five minutes.
I’ve started doing this with my three year old when it’s time to clean up we set the timer for five minutes and we work as hard as fast as we can. And once the five minutes is done we move onto the next room. Truly you’ll see that you can get so much done in five minutes
Include the kids:
They love to help me clean other things. They love to mop load the dishwasher and unload the dishwasher and fold laundry I’m hoping to instill a love for having a clean home with them while they’re young
It is so much easier to clean everything without their help, but it’s so rewarding and encouraging that they want to help. I’m sure at some point they won’t want to. Also when they do get older they will have chores they responsible for and having them help me while I do those chores now will help them in the future when it’s their responsibility to know exactly what they’re supposed to do in mom‘s expectations for this chore.
I do require the kids to help me clean up their toys at the end of the day, but as of right now I don’t require them to help me with any of the other chores they do all that very happily involuntarily. I hope to keep that energy going as long as I can.
Clean up something before starting something new:
I have the kids clean up an activity before we start another one, I want them to learn to clean up the mess they just made before starting a new mess. It definitely is easier said than done as my three old isn’t always the most excited to clean my 18 month old definitely isn’t. But it’s a habit they were starting now.
I also abide by the same rule. If I am doing some thing I don’t stop in the middle of it and swap gears, I don’t like to start a new chore until one of my chores is finished. I don’t have to do the laundry, and then start to do the dishes. It’s important to remember just a focus on one thing at a time the rest of your to do list will come
Microwave rule:
I definitely learned this one from Jordan Page
It also has changed my life, I’ll start the microwave for something warming something up rice pack food for the kids lunch. And I’ll clean while the microwave is going the microwave is never on for very long.
But I found I could get a good bit clean. I could get a counter cleared off if not all of them. Some of the dishes put away. I could change the way a room looked just in the time it took to heat something up on the microwave. This is a really good strategy for the whole house two minutes you can make the whole room look different.
Stay on top of it:
It’s so easy to be distracted as a mom with young kids and let your house get on top of you. It is important to take 5 to 30 minutes every day and clean your house.
By focusing on one room every day I spend no more than 30 minutes cleaning but my house is decently clean always.
I stay on top of it and I don’t let my thoughts get ahead of me. I’ll try to just do a little bit every day and I find that that keeps me from being overwhelmed in my house much cleaner
Don’t kick yourself:
How easy is it to kick yourself when you’re down. If your house starts to get on top of you, it’s quite easy to sit there and belittle yourself and your home making skills
But truly where does that get us? No where. If your house and routine seems to be getting on top of you, then give yourself grace and keep trying.
Life happens, and the house and routine sometime gets all messed up. And that’s OKAY. Take a mental health day and ignore the to do list and don’t guilt yourself.
It helps no one and nothing to be mad that sometimes things and routines don’t go to plan.
Have systems:
Having a system for cleaning will help you maximize the amount of time you actually have to clean.
I find having systems on how I clean certain things and where to start helps me clean most affectively.
For instance I was start with clearing the table when I clean the kitchen, then I go to the dishes, then stove/counter tops, and then finally floors.
Have a certain place to start and way to handle each room. I just find that having systems makes my life easier and simpler.
Conclusion:
These are the tips and tricks that I use to keep my house moderately clean all the time.
During the day our house is lived in during the day, after the kids go to bed the house is clean and we start the day with a clean sink and house.
It is so nice mentally for me to start the day with a clean home, and I am more motivated to keep the house clean if I start the day out with a clean home. Do not fret if somedays the house is not clean.
It is not life or death to take a day off and relax.