Welcome to this week's post of 'How Do I?'... i'm going to share with you how I clean and managed to keep a 2,000 + sq. ft. house clean with two kids, a husband, a dog, and a baby on the way! Oh, and did I mention that I work full time outside the home? It's laughable really.
To check out my previous 'How Do I?' posts go
here.
"A clean home is a happy home" and I have a type A personality, so you know having a clean home is very important to me! I go back and forth on cleaning and what works best, so i'll be sharing two methods that I use to keep my house clean.
In April of this year, we were out of town every single weekend. I knew that I wouldn't have time on Saturday mornings to play catch up, and that I had to keep my house clean throughout the week. It was in this month, that I was determined to keep my house manageable on a daily basis. Now, i've tried methods before, such as the
Fly Lady and I loved her concept, but it was hard to keep up with, so I developed my own routine...
The kitchen is cleaned every night immediately after dinner. This involves clearing the table, rinsing all of the dishes, loading the dishwasher, wiping off the table, putting our cloth napkins in the laundry, and wiping down the countertops. I would start the dishwasher when DJ and I went to bed. The next day, the dishwasher would be unloaded as I was cooking dinner.
If the girls need a bath, then DJ and I will take turns cleaning the kitchen or bathing the girls. The girls get a bath every other night, so the nights when it's not bath night, I have a bit more time to clean and pick up.
I feel like if my kitchen is clean, then the rest of my house is clean.
I also make our bed every single day. MC's crib was pretty easy, and G's room.... well, I would just close the door. I read that people who make their beds every morning get more accomplished throughout their day. So, I started making the bed every morning. DJ usually helps put the pillows on.
We don't have laundry baskets in our bathroom. There's just no space for them. We tend to just dump our dirty clothes on the floor in front of the bath tub. When the pile starts to overwhelm, I divide them into colors (towels, reds, darks, and whites). Then, I'm easily able to throw a load in the washer in the morning, and I set the timer for the machine to automatically start around 3:30 pm. That way, the clothes aren't in mildew water all day, and the washer goes off after we get home, reminding me to put them in the dryer. What, your washer doesn't have a timer? Get one. It's one of my favorite features of our washing machine.
The girls clothes would be carried to the laundry room after their bath or on Saturdays when we did most of the laundry. They have so many clothes, that we don't have to do all of their laundry throughout the week.
I got in the habit of doing a load of laundry almost every day and this helped so much when we were out of town on the weekends!
We started keeping hangers in the laundry room. This way our clothes get immediately hung up when we pull them out of the dryer.
I pick up the toys in the living room every single night. I also straighten the couch pillows and blankets, and place everything that should be carried upstairs at the bottom of the stairs. I encourage the girls to grab something and take it up to the playroom anytime they go upstairs.
I vacuum every other night. I'd vacuum every day, but that drives my husband insane. When, i'm home though, I typically vacuum every day. No more than every three days.
Now, the other method I use is called the procrastination method..... with this method nothing is done in the middle of the week, or after Wednesday night, saving everything for Saturday mornings. With the exception of football season, and being out of town, we have no obligations, such as soccer games on Saturday mornings. I like it that way.
I start with cleaning the kitchen, then our bedroom, and then I move on to laundry. Megan's room comes next, then the living room, bathrooms, and finally Gretchen's room.
If I clean throughout the week, dusting and bathrooms are almost always saved until Saturdays.
I don't have written checklists of what should be cleaned each day. I've pinned tons of helpful cleaning tips on Pinterest, but I haven't used them. It just helped that I came up with my own method.
This week is my first week out of school, and I plan on spending every morning doing a bit of light cleaning, and then every evening tidying up the house after the girls go to bed. Mainly, it's picking up the clutter from the day. I always clean the kitchen after every meal. Like I said, I just feel that if my kitchen is clean, the rest of my house is clean.
Now that you know my cleaning "schedule", you need to know my cleaning products. I use to spend a ton of money on cleaning products, then throughout my journey to save money and be more "green", I learned that I can spend very little on cleaning products and still have a clean home. The only cleaning products that I purchase include Method dusting spray and Method window spray. (I do purchase laundry and dish detergent as well.) But, every surface in my house is cleaned with a mix of water, blue dawn soap, and vinegar. I don't use bleach. I'll also throw in baking soda to scrub the shower, tub, and the floor.
Using a large bottle of vinegar takes about two months. It's about the same for the dawn and the baking soda. The Method products lasts three months probably. I haven't really kept track, but I do know that i'm not buying cleaning products like I use to.
DJ and I are trying to encourage the girls to help us when we clean. However, we've been more successful with Megan helping than with Gretchen. So, start young! MC loves to "dust" so I give her a clean rag while i'm dusting and she goes behind and dusts after me. Both girls are able to pick up their toys in the living room, and I encourage, but don't force G to help me make her bed or pick up all of her toys. I find that if she and I work together, it helps, but most of the time, she argues, and I find it easier for her to not help. DJ takes care of most of our laundry. I prefer to dust and clean the bathrooms myself, as well as vacuum, although I do let him help vacuum if he offers. I know that during football season, most of the cleaning will fall on me, and i'm okay with that. But, I also expect DJ to help when he's off, and he's more than willing! I'm currently in the process of coming up with a system for G to help more without complaining and i'll share when we figure out what that is!
I feel like I have to mention that I have read over and over again that mothers wish they wouldn't have spent so much time cleaning when their kids were little. I really struggled with this and for a long time thought that I wasn't a good mom. Then one day, it hit me that I AM a good mom because my house is clean, and my girls aren't playing in a mess. I know they don't care, but I do, and I want to provide the best for them. Having a clean house is part of that. There's nothing I hate more than visiting someone's house where it feels dirty. I don't appreciate dog hair on the couch or even on the floor. I don't want to see a pile of dirty dishes in someone's sink. To me, that's not welcoming, and I always want to welcome our friends and family into a clean home. So, come up with a cleaning method that works for you- whether you save it all for the weekends or you clean a little each day.
I'd love to read your comments about how you manage to keep your house picked up and clean!!! And yes, I've thought about hiring a cleaning lady, but it's just not in the budget that I'd rather give up right now.... maybe this fall!
