Hey Mom, Dad, Grandparent, Guardian! Don’t be ashamed if your house isn’t picture perfect, you live in it correct? Since having kids, especially a little one in the house if I constantly stressed about the “mess” of the house I’d need to be escorted to a nut house. Yet, I don’t want my house to be labeled dirty. It takes a lot to be comfortable with the way your house looks and to learn what works for your family. Because in my house we TRY, try being a big word, to keep the house clean because with running four trailer parks we have a lot of unexpected visitors. But believe me it’s not always clean, our lives are very busy and chaotic so clutter happens in places, hardwood floors equals you can tell if you haven’t vacuum after one day! Something I always remind myself though, are my children going to remember if the floors are always vacuumed or the time we spent at the park instead?
Here’s five things you can do to keep your house comfortable;
- Grab a pen and paper, write out Monday-Saturday(Sunday’s your rest day). Next to each day of the week right a room down that you plan on deep cleaning. Dusting, mopping, ect. I’ve found doing it this way really helps me out and takes me less than 20 minutes each day and my house doesn’t feel like a pig sty after a couple days. And at the end of each day write down the kids chores.
- Do a quick 10-20 minute daily tidy up and don’t stress anymore. This works great for the evening, tidy up before bed and you start your day with a clean house. But if that doesn’t fit in with your schedule, pick a time when you can.
- This goes with #2. There’s three things I do daily, whether I have all day to clean or no time at all. I make sure these three things get done each day; dishes, garbage, and laundry. No, I don’t do laundry daily I just make sure our laundry gets into a basket and not laying all over the place. Garbage gets taken out daily. In a perfect world there wouldn’t be any dishes in the sink, but we don’t live in a perfect world so I just make sure dishes aren’t laying around the house and they get brought into the sink.
- Make cleaning easier! Leave your cleaning tools in certain rooms/areas; scrub brush in shower, Clorox wipe containers in the kitchen and bathroom. While you’re brushing your teeth wipe the counter down, or while your taking a shower scrub it down.
- Pick one thing you want your whole family to focus on getting better at; my family could really use some help in the dishes department. I would love it if we could get the hang of rinsing our dishes off and placing them in the dishwasher. Make it a family goal!
I hope these tips help you and your family feel more comfortable in your home. Always remember a comfortable clean home doesn’t have to be perfect and spotless.
lia says
That is a helpful and optimistic post. At a first reading of it I can say “Yes! it sounds easy and applicable” but lets not forget the fact that after washing the dishes they should be put in its place, someone has to cook and wash the pots, someone needs to go to the supermarket, clothes need to be ironed, etc, someone needs to go to work after doing all these everyday. How much do I wish I had 20minutes everyday to clean each room. And how much I wish that 20minutes were enough to tide up a room, dust-clean, wipe, mope, clean windows and balconies.
I really keep your advice to involve more the kids on house chores! This will be my new years resolution!