My Secret For A Clean House

 

I am busy. There’s your biggest understatement for 2013. I have a three-year-old, a two-year-old, and an eight-month-old. My husband works fourteen-hour days with only one day a week off, and I have a house and blog to manage. I don’t like it when my house is messy, which has clashed with the realities of my lifestyle since we had our first baby. I have tried every house cleaning schedule in the book, beat myself up by waking up early to get chores done, stayed up late to catch up after the kids are in bed, completely let go and become a crazy person living in a constant mess. I’ve tried it all. The funny thing is, I’ve recently figured something out, and I didn’t get it from Pinterest, a book, or Martha Stewart, I just figured out that it works one desperate day at home with my kids and our mess.

My Secret For A Clean House

Every so often (sometimes, on really hectic days, it’s only once or twice, sometimes it’s every hour or two), I yell “10 minute game!” and I set the timer. My kids know to go for the things on the floor- toys, games, trash, snack remnants, etc- and pick them up. My oldest is almost four, so she’s the most helpful. She knows where to put things and the difference between trash and toys. Meanwhile, I’m tackling the areas they can’t reach or things that I need to get done. I do some dishes or put away food left out, wipe down my dining table, rearrange things, dust the bookshelves, respond to an e-mail or two, get the water boiling for dinner, whatever most needs to be done and can be conquered in ten minutes’ time. It works great! The kids think it’s fun to do things so quickly, they feel like they’re helping (and they are), and with a few of these cleaning quickies in a day, my house is pretty put-together at the end of it.

I think a big part of motherhood is learning to delegate and not take everything on yourself. Your kids do not need to be older to help you. Delegate and make it fun! Teach them to serve and be helpful with a smile on their faces!