HELP! So I am 5 months in with my third baby, and am drowning in housework. I have a 6yo and a 3yo and a 5 month old and honestly the place is a disaster! What are all your BEST cleaning tips/products to have my place looking clean (and actually clean) easy and fast!!
5 Replies
I have one of those big plastic tubs for recycling. Cuts down rubbish and when doing a clean up 6 yr old could take it outside and empty into bin. Quick clean out.
Then i have lots of laundry baskets. I sort all the crap into which room it goes to and kids and i take them. Bedroom doors stay closed. Kids clean up an area in lounge while i do kitchen and we both do floors. Thats a quick clean up for me.
Try to do one big thing every few days. Like sort a bedroom. Loads of washing. Shopping. Change beds. Just set the time and spend forty minutes getting as much done as you can.
Robot vacuum :) saves me a lot of time and containers for kids toys so they can be easily packed away.
Also look at how often you change your sheets and towels. Some people change towels after every shower, totally not needed and same as sheets only need to be washed max once a week. Will cut back on heels of time. Also look at how many outfit changes your kids go through. My sister was drowning in washing until she discovered he daughter was changing clothes 4 times a day and was putting the warn clothes in the washing despite being warm for 1hr!
But when you have kids you clean one room and it's dirty 20minutes later!
We set some time aside every week. Sat morn is clean up day so all toys get put away, bed rooms cleaned. I put the washing that needs to be sorted on the dinning room table and the kids have to pull their own clothes and put them in their basket. Then they have to put it away into their draws. This is all done while iam sweeping and mopping the floors.
If you can & don't already ,have a toy room . No toys are aloud out of the room .they can make as much mess as they like in the toy room but they have to clean it up and that way toys ect. Aren't scattered across the house :) Also I think if your house smells pretty , it looks clean.Buy a defuser or similar .other than that a decent vacuum helps :)
You are not alone ! I have a 5yo 3yo and 1yo in constantly saying 'this house is a pig sty '! It's a constant flow of washing , dishes, dirty floors disgusting bathrooms and don't even get me started on the bed rooms :(
I think my only way to cope is to 'never leave a room empty handed'! My great grandmother who had 9 kids told me that one ;) wherever you are going in the house you can always be putting something away on your way there ! My other coping strategy is to just let it go . I can't get to everything when the minute to walk away there's a tornado of kids messing it up again .... Find the thing that makes u feel better if it's done eg: for me it's the kitchen if that's clean I feel better about everything else ;) it's also the space that I'm the one that messes up so it stays clean longer ;)
and do that first ! And remember it's a phase of life ! This time will pass and things will eventually get easier ..... Right?