Cultivating the Housecleaning Habit

My opinion: Nobody really likes to be told what to do, but everybody likes to help. I've noted this at home, in situations outside of the house, and in working environments. People like to participate, then don't like to be ordered.

I like the idea of set routines: a daily habit becomes more of a routine, IMHO, than a weekly habit. DH and I do chores everyday: making breakfast, cleaning up, doing laundry, doing a quick vacuum, wiping down the bathrooms, making dinner, cleaning up after dinner. What we've found works is to give our son some piece of the chores when we do them. Example: We make breakfast, he clears the table, we do the dishes together. (I had another plan which was described in a prior post and that so did not work.) I don't say: Chore so much as I say: Hey, while I"m doing this, and Dad is doing that, please do this.

IMHO, this is the way real "organizations" work, you have a project, you assign responsbilities, and it is an "organizational" project.

Take care. Have a great weekend.

My kids (6 and 10) have their daily chores - take dishes to the sink, unload the dishwasher, reload the dishwasher. My 10 year old does his own laundry as needed, the 6 year old can load the laundry, but isn't tall enough to transfer to the dryer, so we do that together.

I don't do major clean-ups every day. But, when I do, they definitely clean up alongside. For example, if it's Saturday morning and the kitchen is a mess, I work on clutter (which they wouldn't know what to do with) while they wipe the table and counters, and they run the Swiffer vac. Since my kids are still young, I think it's important for me to be there to supervise, and at the same time, it really does help when they chip in, because 6 hands working gets the work done faster than 2. For me, it's not a timed thing or a scheduled cleaning session. I just say - hey, the kitchen is a mess. We need to clean it. And they clean for as long as I do.

ETA: Full disclosure - I also pay a cleaning person to come twice a month to handle really deep cleaning of bathrooms, etc. But the house definitely needs cleaned in between her visits, especially in the summer because they are home all day, and the kids work alongside me to accomplish that.

I look at it as a priority.

What is important to me?
I suppose some would consider me a failure in this department, but organized housecleaning is not a priority for me. We live, we take care of what needs doing, I give Kiddo his chores to do..or not. Some days, meh, we are going to have a dirty floor because we are going in and out after watering all summer long.

I'm sure there are other people with great organization and skills to get all the kids to do that work together at the same time. I've got one kid who needs a lot of help in staying on task. So I modify my expectations. I decide that I don't need to keep up with the Jones's on this one.

Consider having someone come in once a week if you are feeling overwhelmed. I have things I do as I see the need and the opportunity. If it were me, I wouldn't make it a timed event, I would make checklists. Specific tasks work better for my son than 'just do x for 20 minutes'. But it's also just part of life. When there's laundry, much of the time he folds his own clothes. I have him help with me (rinsing dishes, moving laundry, taking yard debris to the bin, picking up his books from all over the house and putting them back in the basket, etc) It's pleasant. The work comes before the fun, but that's the way we roll as it is. Life has responsibilities we care for before we play.

I lowered my bar on things when I came to the realization that while my mother had the tidiest house, she was never happy and was always preoccupied with cleanliness. I have a modestly messy house (not a pigsty), and we're okay with it.

I don't have little kids at home any more, but I just hired a cleaning service twice a month. It's a luxury that's worth every penny. The kids can help out on a daily basis, but I suggest a housecleaner at least once a month to really get the house spotless. It takes a huge load off you.

have a family meeting and tell them what you need help with and let them sign up for their job for those two 20 minute cleaning session each week. you can have weekly mettings to change it up or monthly meetings so its different by the month. but you will be giving them the choice of what they want to do and they will be more willing to do it.
growing up we had to do certain house cleaning chores on saturday before we got to do anything else. and nightly between dinner and bedtime we had to do the dishes or we didn't get bedtime snack.

Just keep telling them that the more they take on and finish before you have to deal with it, the more free time YOU have to make more fun for them.
Many hands make light work for everyone!
If everything's done - we have time to go out to see a movie that we otherwise wouldn't have time to go see.
We just did that yesterday!
In your situation it sounds like the kids need to become more involved with caring for the animals besides doing more around the house.
Consider down sizing/donating excess stuff too.
Nearly empty uncluttered rooms are a lot easier to vacuum and dust!
I love The Fly Lady and her site.
She has lots of great ideas and strategies.

Beyond making them clean up their own messes in the common areas (living/family room/kitchen) and putting away their laundry (and when they were old enough actually DOING their laundry) the only chores I gave my kids were very basic, like taking out the garbage and feeding the dog. I was way, WAY too picky about housework, so I did most of it myself.
I also found lists and reminders and all of that nonsense a huge drain on my already limited energy and patience, I simply didn't have time for that.
When they got a little older, around middle school age, and started wanting to earn money I would give them bigger tasks that I didn't like to do, like cleaning out and vacuuming the cars, sweeping the garage, pulling weeds stuff like that.
I pretty much did all the housework when we were in a 3 bed/2 bath but once we moved up to a 5 bed/3.5 bath I got a housekeeper once a week.
MORE than worth it.
When you have a baby/toddler (or a puppy!) of course it's harder but once they're preschool age and up they pretty much play while you clean, it gets easier as they don't need to be held and watched like a hawk all the time, and you can just shoo them outside when they're getting underfoot.

Yes, we always have.

We just did one. We have friends coming over this afternoon. So 15 minutes was just spent cleaning kitchen, vacuuming, sweeping, and putting stuff away.

I grew up like this - large family, every one pitched in.

I grew up next to a family of 9 kids (blended family). They were the same. If I happened to go visit my best friend and they were in a cleaning frenzy, they handed me a broom.

Our cleaning is not really organized. It's on a needs be basis. So generally when people come over. Which is quite regularly - so it's not like it's a disaster, but we don't have a schedule or anything like that.

We do the same with meals.

You will find that certain kids excel at certain things. So that's their go-to job. My youngest ones pick up and put away. I have one kid we just discovered can hang stuff on line better than I can (no clip marks) so poor kid - that's now his job :)

One of my daughters has a chore board. She listed out all the things needed to run the household (which was an eye opener to her children) and each child picks 1 chore for the week. The chores rotate each week so they all get stuck doing things they don't mind and things they hate.

The chores include things like cleaning the floors, setting and clearing the table, loading and unloading the dishwasher, folding the laundry, and cleaning the bathroom. This in additional to keeping their own rooms clean and caring for their own pets.

It takes a lot to run a household so the faster you get your children to see that there's a lot of work that needs to be done the better off you'll be. Plus it gets them ready of the time when mama isn't going to be around to do it for you.

Mine have a chore chart on the fridge and it switches every Monday so the other kid does that week what the other one did the week before. Hope that makes sense.

They have homework every day. Then one does the trash every day for a week while the other does dishes. Then with each of those, they have 1 or 2 other chores they do. Then it switches to the other person the next week so they both get to do everything and not suck with one chore they don't like.

During school, they have a snack when they get home and then they do their homework and then their daily chore. They can't do anything "fun" until their stuff is done. If they don't do it, then they lose electronics for the rest of the day and it starts over the next day. If *I* am consistent with it, it works out well. I slack off some over the summer.

I think anything will work if you just stick to it so they know you mean business. Good luck.