How Do You Take Care of Your Home When Kids Are Always Around

It sounds to me like you need to majorly de-clutter. I try to do this on an ongoing basis...here is an example....

I just cleaned my pantry and two kitchen cabinets today. I find the easiest way to do it is to go shelf by shelf taking everything off the shelf. Then put back only what you know you will use/need.

Last week, I painted my family room. I took almost everything out of the room (couches and entertainment center went to the middle of the room. I then only put stuff back that belonged in there. Otherwise it was trashed or donated. (I have the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization come to my house every few weeks to pick up donations.)

I have never had an issue keeping my house neat but I think it is because I hate clutter. Everything in my house has a place/home. If I don't use something within a year (sweater,pants, toys, etc) I donate it.

You know what?
This is temporary!
In a few years the kids will be older and can help with some chores.
Don't feel like you have to clean when no one is looking.
When the cleaning is happening - have everyone help as much as possible.
And learn to embrace the chaos a little bit.
Less stuff does make it a bit easier.
The kids can have tons of fun with a plain cardboard box for the longest time.
Believe it or not - you're eventually going to miss these days!
So relax and enjoy it while it lasts!

Here's what I do: watch a few episodes of the TV show. "Hoarders". After two episodes you start thinking your house isn't so bad!

Best,
T. Y

Our house was for sure more of a mess when the kids were younger, but it is what it is. They are now 7, 9, and 11 and it's much better - but that's because they help and they care.

They are only little once...it's okay if the closets and drawers are a mess - this time will pass.

We are differntly situated. One kid, 4 years old. He's in full time nursery 5 days a week, and in language school and TKD on Saturday. Hubs and I both work full time, and our apartment is under 1000 sq feet.

Our home doesn't get very dirfty or messy because we aren't around to make it dirty or messy. We manage to keep it clean by-
1. decluttering/ purging/ donating/ discarding.
2. employing a place for everything and everything in its place strategy.
3. using robots (we have roomba and scooba).
4. taking our shoes off when we enter the house (keeps things remarkably cleaner).
5. food is only eaten in the kitchen or at the table.
6. trash is taken out daily.
7. we clean as we go along (while we cook), as we put away groceries, when we are striping the beds, when DS is in the tub or shower.
8. we take on one extra cleaning job a day.
9. We use the ocassional cleaner via groupon.
10. we enlist my DS. He turns off the lights before leaving the house, puts his shoes in the cubby. puts his toys away, likes to vaccum, likes to use the dust pan and brush, likes to wipe doors, light plates, likes to wash vegetables, load and unload the dishwasher etc. It might take more time to involve him at first, but as he becomes more practiced and adept, it will be one less job for me to do.

One last thought, we do a lot of our chores in the evenings when DS is occupied or asleep. I pull out the legos/ wood trains/ disney's frozen, paint and brushes, a $5 gingerbread house kit (each will keep him occupied for 20+ minutes (cheaper than a sitter).

consider flylady for tips and strategies.
Best,
F. B.

Fly Lady. Work on the clutter for fifteen minutes a day. Yes, you really can find 15 minutes, I promise you! Pick a drawer and work on it before the kids are up or when they're in bed. Set a timer. Do what you can for 15 minutes, then stop, put everything away and move on. Don't get sucked into things and over time, it really will make a difference.

Is my house immaculate? Um, no. But it's not so messy that it gives me anxiety, and after "Flying" on and off for years, I know that when I choose to pay more attention to whether or not my house is neat and tidy, I already know how to do it and that I will see immediate improvement when I stick to my routines.

When my kids were little, I finally got a once a month house cleaner, to clean the big stuff -- showers, etc.

It sounds like you might need to get rid of some stuff -- yours and the kids?

In hindsight, my kids had way too many toys, which just ended up all over the floor. If I were to do it over again, I would box up half of the stuff and put it away for a few months. They didn't need constant access to that many toys.

Simplify. Get rid of a lot of stuff and you'll have less stuff to make a mess.

Also, enlist your kids to help.

And keep them contained to one or two rooms so they don't destroy the rest of the house.

That's about all I did.

What gets done, gets done. What doesn't, doesn't.
This too shall pass.

The best way to keep your home (somewhat) clean and tidy is to GET RID OF STUFF.
If every drawer and closet is a disaster it sound like a major decluttering is in order, along with reorganization.
Just hit it one area at a time. Pick a closet and pull everything out. Put back only the items which are useful and/or essential. Get rid of the rest.
Make sure your kids don't have access to too many toys, games, movies, etc. at a time. Get rid of stuff or box some of it away for a few months and cycle the toys out.
I also tended to clean as I went along, so for example when my kids were in the tub I would be wiping down the toilet, sink and floor. And I cleaned up as I cooked which helped keep the kitchen under control.
Your house will never be PERFECTLY clean with little kids running around but it can look nice and reasonable if you don't have too much and if you stay organized!

The title of your post made me smile.
There are 2 thoughts of school on this: you either have an immaculate
home or you don't.
Now let's break it down even more? Trying to keep a clean house w/kids
is like trying to swim upstream.
I try to strike a blance: spend time w/my kids playing & cleaning a bit.
Do this:
-every item should have a place in your home (for example, keys by the
front door, tape in the kitchen drawer, scissors in the same drawer,
cutlery in one drawer, serving spoons/can opener in another drawer,
kitchen hand towels in a drawer, blender in the cabinet etc.)
-have a place for bathroom towels
-have baskets for the kids to keep their toys in esp in areas like the living
room that are seen by visitors
-have toy boxes (make sure they are safe for their little hands) so they
can put away/keep their toys in for their rooms?
-My kids are with me all the time, as well, so when they are in kinder, I try
to run errands, go for a walk & clean. All in little doses.
-Remember something....your kids are only little once. They need you
now. One day, they will be busy with their own lives & you will miss them.
-Clean but know that you can do topical cleaning & let go of other things.
-donate a lot of what you don't need/no longer use etc.
Remember.....the clutter in your house is just a bunch of stuff. Throw out what you don't need/no longer use.

If you bring in something new, you have to donate something else.
Donate what you don't need/use.
Don't worry, one step at a time.

Kids that age can be trained to clean up, but you will have to do the first organization (take one day to clean everything out and organize it). Get lots of boxes, bins and containers and label them with what goes where (if they can't read, put pictures on them) If you're short on space, get the containers that stack with openings where things can go in and out. Thrift shops always have a bunch of containers. Use the space under beds with the flat containers for things too.
Reward your kids for putting things away every day...something small like a sticker or play tattoo
Even if you got a housekeeper they would require that you put everything away.

I don't have an answer. I struggle with the same thing. But I saw this on Facebook today and it made me laugh because it is just way too true.

"I cleaned my house today, but it was a dumb thing to do because we still live here!"

I'm trying to purge and get things more organized, but it seems like I finish one area, move on to the next, and the first area is a disaster again. It's hard not to just give up.

I found that if all the toys were visible they became not interesting. So we put like items in bins (doll bin, blocks, cats and dogs, tea set and food, crayons and coloring books, playdoh and forms, stampers and ink pads, beads and string, dress up clothes, etc,). They could each ask for 1 bin and a 3rd to share. So Lego's would come out to build a store for food items and Barbies would come buy them. Or a horse race track out of wooden blocks and all the plastic dogs and cats would race, etc. If they wanted something new they would have to let go of 1 bin. It made toys they had not played with seem new and taught them to tidy up and work together to decide what came out. We still have most of those bins stacked in the basement and my girls are 14 and 17. But then I have 2 very introverted girls. I imagine 2 outgoing boys would be a lot more work.

It's so hard with little kids. I know. Sometimes I think the only reason my house was liveable was because I worked full time and no one was there during the day.

When I quit working, I had the same thing you have. What I did was start pitching stuff out. The less you have, the less there is to lay around. Start with the closets. That's the best place, mom. Get everything out that is broken, missing pieces, doesn't fit anymore, etc. THEN pare down. Do your kids need all these toys? No, they don't. Have a throw away bag and a Good Will bag. For the clothes, have bins or boxes that are labeled Winter Too Big, Summer Too Big, etc. With the change of each season, put clothes away that are no longer in season. Have them in the top of the closet so the kids can't get up in the bins or boxes. Don't buy as many clothes. Honestly, they grow out of them so fast that there is no reason to have so many.

After you've done the closets, choose ONE room to tackle. Spend 20 minutes a time on it. Have the kids in the room with you. Shut the door so that they won't leave. Have a special activity for them in the room before you start. Get rid of what you don't need/don't use. Just do it. Once you've gone through every single thing in that room, organize what's left. Drawers. Closet. Flat bin(s) under the bed? Would that help? Think of creative ways to do this. ONE room at a time.

For common rooms, have a large basket sitting in a corner. ANYTHING that belongs in a different room other than the room the basket is in needs to be put in that basket. Enlist the children to help fill the basket with things that need to be taken out of the room. Then go to the other rooms and deposit what goes in there. Have the children put the items away while you stand there watching with the basket. Then go to the next room and have them put things there. If you ALWAYS do this at the end of the day with the kids, they may be willing to keep things a bit cleaner. OR they will think that clean-up is fun. Make sure that their favorite activity of the evening is withheld until the clean-up is done. The baskets should be empty before the kids get their evening fun.

For laundry, I put a load of clothes into the washer every single morning. When I walked in the door in the afternoon, I put them in the dryer. Even though you're home, do the same thing - turn on the washer right after you finish in the bathroom in the morning. After breakfast, run in and put them in the dryer and put the next load in.

One of the things that was hard for me, mom, was to put the clothes away RIGHT AFTER taking them out of the dryer. I had to MAKE myself. But it was worth it. I'd do that before I'd wash dishes. It's easier to let the clothes go because the dishes were such a mess in the kitchen. But I'd always HAVE to get to the dishes. I'd end up with a huge mound of loads and loads of clothes and then I'd be spending an hour on putting them away. So no more of that. I simply would not allow myself to do it - I put them away as soon as I got them out of the dryer. Life was SO much better that way.

If you can cook two dinners at a time so that the weekend's cooking is done, your life will be easier. Can you do that? That way you can keep up with stuff easier on the weekend and the house will be easier because you won't have had to cook so much while you are working.

I hope this helps. It made a big difference for me.

This is why Mother's Day Out is so successful. You take the kids one day or 3 days or half a day here or there.

I think it's a Methodist Church thing but other churches might have similar programs.

It's so much easier when no one is home during the day. I can't believe how much cleaner and organized our lives were when hubby and I both worked. Life was way easier back then.

At MDO you sign the kids up for the day of the week you want. Some programs are 10am-3pm and M-W-F are the days they're open. Other are open Tuesday and Thursday 9am-noon. It's basically pick the program you want.

I know the 9am-noon program might fit better with other kiddo's day at school but don't count out having that extra half day without the little one. Bigger kiddo can help clean or do something.

If you have doc appointments you make them on the day the kiddos are gone. If you need to go grocery shopping go without the kids. It's so much easier.

And if you just don't want to pay for a child care program I suggest you find a way to teach your kids to keep their clutter in their room(s). I put every single toy that came out of their room into time out. They learned to keep their stuff in their own area.

I'm surprised the cost is so high compared to a sitter.

Places like the YMCA should be reasonable. Also (never mind since it might be too cold where you live) we have city run camps over christmas break that are less than $20 a half day per kid and they watch them outside in a park. Your town might have a gym type place. I just think the overhead will make the price higher.

My husband can not understand the messes. He just is annoyed, yet never thinks to help. The main issue for me is the kids not putting stuff away and now christmas stuff taking over.

Is there a friend you could trade with?

Phyllis Diller said "cleaning the house while the kids are still home is like shoveling the driveway during a blizzard."

I think you need to set some ground rules. Closets and drawers are not playgrounds, they are not allowed in them. They are to pick up after themselves, when they are done with toys the toys go back in the toybox. when they are done eating they put dishes in the sink, dirty clothes go in a hamper or basket etc.
They can also learn to put away their own laundry. Mom washes, dries, and folds then supervises them putting it away. They can help put away groceries.
Dad should have a few days off this time of year he can help to retrain the boys. Be gentle but firm, no excuses.
Also call around to middle schools, high schools and churches ask if they know anyone 12 - 18 yrs old who would like to or needs to earn some extra money. Hire a 'mommy's helper'. This is a tween or teen who comes in and entertains the kids about 2 hours a day after school, pay them what you can afford.
Once you get the situation under control the helper can keep the kids in one room while you make dinner and/or do a load of laundry.

a couple things. Purge as much as possible, it makes things so much easier. With your little ones, that will probably be a long process. Quiet time for an hour in the afternoons where the kids need to look at books in their rooms, lay down, just nothing messy while you are able to clean. One thing we do, is play a clean up game where one person is the king/queen or the room and tells the other people what to put away. Its perfect for your age boys and teaches them how to clean up.
Maybe you could find another mom in the neighborhood that would do a kid swap once a week. My friend used to do that and she would run her errands on her own every other week. If its a little boy your son plays well with, you can let them play while you pick up. When the other mom has them, that's when you get the real cleaning done.
When I was home, I used to get up early and clean for 30 minutes before my daughter got up, but she sleeps till almost 8 which I know is abnormal.

Like a couple of others have mentioned, our home is clutter-free. I'm a neat freak. I'm compulsive about it. When the boys were little we didn't keep toys around that they seldom played with. We sorted toys once a season with the kids and donated them.

From the time they were old enough to get toys out on their own, we taught them to put them away on their own. It's nice now that they're older because they are used to being neat and organized so they are organized with their schoolwork.

When the house stays neat, it makes it much easier to clean

You will have LOTS of time once they're both in school in the Fall. Enjoy your time with them. Make games out of the chores. Let them know that you have to get "x" clean and then you guys can play a game or whatever. The time my kids were that small was CRAZY, not because of the kids but because of other outside stressers. I would love to have that time back but we all know you can't. I promise you will never regret the decision to focus on them instead of the housework. Merry Christmas!

Do you have one room that is completely childproofed that you can put them in? When my daughter was little, I had the living room childproofed with toys in it and gated off from the rest of the house. She was 2 or 3 before she was allowed in the kitchen, and the gate didn't come off of the bathroom until she was potty training. That's not to say she never went into those rooms, but she was always completely supervised in them. Kept the messes down and my husband and I don't mind stepping over gates all day. The only one who was annoyed was the dog, because she couldn't get over the gates either. We're getting ready to re-gate for our son, but we'll have to get a couple of more gates that my daughter can open so she can get into her room and the kitchen without help.

If your kids are kindergarten and almost pre-school age, they're of the age to start helping. Here is as good list of age-appropriate chores. http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/age-appropr...

My daughter's toys are all sorted into tubs. One tub for ponies, one tub for dress up, one tub for Monster High/barbie (ok, probably 3 tubs for that), one tub for legos, etc. She was/is allowed one tub out at a time and everything has to be put back before she can get anything else out. That has definitely helped cut down on messes.

Not sure if any of my tips will help, but I hope they do.

Another thing we do is once a month, my husband and I both do a deep clean. He starts at one end of the house, the master bathroom, and I start at the other, the kitchen, and we meet in the middle. With the new baby it's easy, he doesn't move far yet from where we put him, and our 7 year old helps in age appropriate ways, which always starts with making her bed and picking up her room.

Get rid of the clutter. And make sure the kids know that any toys left out go into the saturday box. they only come back on the 2nd saturday. (prevents them thinking no biggie if she takes it on friday it comes back tomorrow lol) do it and stick to it. but besides that. I would look around for a local home daycare that they could go to after school a few days a week.