This is what our house looks like on a typical day:
Our kitchen, after I clean up breakfast.
Our living room while the kids play.
Our main bathroom.
Master bedroom after making the bed.
Master closet
Master bathroom
Kitchen in the afternoon.
Kids' bedroom
First, I try to keep our stuff down to a minimum. I employ the one thing in, one thing out rule. When Ben or I buy a shirt (for example), we get rid of an old one. When the kids get toys for Christmas, we find some to donate somewhere. There are exceptions (one is books; another is currently decorations, because we don't have all the pictures, etc. that we want on the wall so as we acquire those, we'll just add them to our home).
To go along with that rule, I have a box that I keep in the garage for donation items. When it's full, I just drop it off at DI. I also routinely (three or four times a year) go through our house and just make sure we only own the things that we want to own and donate the rest (we've gotten to the point where I don't have a lot to donate when I do this).
Another way we keep the toys at a manageable level is only getting out one or two toys at a time. We keep the rest in the pantry, away from the children's ability to get them out. We get out some toys, let the kids play with them, and then when they get tired of them, the kids put them away and we get out new ones. The one exception we have to this is we always have books out.
For bigger jobs, I have certain days designated for each task. Mondays, I empty all the trashes (and take our trash to the curb). Wednesdays, I get all the laundry through the washer and dryer. Thursdays, I fold and put it away. Fridays, I clean the bathrooms, sweep and mop, and vacuum. Saturdays, I do anything that I didn't get to during the week.
For smaller jobs, I have habits and I do cleaning sweeps. I make the bed each morning and when I do, I just quickly tidy up anything in our room that needs it. I have clothes/trash on my list each morning, which is where I make sure all the dirty clothes and diapers are cleaned up from the living room each morning. When I brush my teeth in the morning, I will wipe down the bathroom mirrors if they need it. When I get dressed, I put away any stray clothes in our closet. I always make sure to clear out the dishwasher in the morning (Ben loads and starts it at night) so we can load it during the day. I try to do any hand wash then as well as washing off the counters and sweeping. After lunch, Ben or I often load up any stray dishes and at dinner, the girls help me clean off the table and sweep under it so we can eat in a clean space. The girls and I will do a five minute clean up (where we set the timer for five minutes and clean until it goes off) to pick up toys in the living room while we're waiting for dinner. If the house ever gets out of hand, we will randomly do one as a family as well.
Doing this, we're able to keep our house at a (manageable) clean level. Our bathrooms and bedrooms are pretty much always clean and tidy. Our kitchen rarely gets to an out of hand level. And our living room, though it pretty much always has toys out on the floor, only takes a couple minutes to tidy up.
There are, of course, times when this habits falter. It's harder to keep up when we're sick or super busy with something. I've had stretches of struggling with what I now realize was a form of depression and our house wasn't as clean then. These times are the exception, though, rather than the rule, and even at these times, our house is never more than an hour or two away from being back to the level of cleanness that our family wants.
And while it's rarely perfectly clean, we get to enjoy the benefits of a peaceful environment as a family and our children have room to explore, find things they actually want to play with, and run around crazy (which they often do!).
What are some cleaning habits that you love? I'd love to hear them! Let me know in the comments below!
