What is your best secret to keeping your house clean?

[laughing lioness]

Lock the dog, cats and teenagers outside ;-)

and have a house fire:lol:

[milovany]

I haven't read the other replies, but my suggestion is to scrub the shower/bath when you're in there showering! I keep a sponge in my bathtub/shower, put a little shampoo on it, and scrub a section of the tub from time to time. Really helps keep the build up down.

[Mergath]

What works for me is that I have a couple different lists. One is my list of things I do every day: dishes, sweeping, picking up toys, wiping down surfaces. The most important list is my weekly list. I make a big checklist of all the things I do once a week, like scrubbing the floors, cleaning the bathroom really well (there are only two of us potty-trained, so it doesn't get that messy :tongue_smilie:) cleaning out the fridge, etc. That way, I have some accountability and a time frame to get things done in, but I'm not chained to a strict schedule.

[blakereese]

The Home Routine app on my iphone has been very helpful. I honestly never thought a cell phone app could change my life....but hey, this one is really making a difference. :) I still have to do the work, but I have a plan.

[katemary63]

"Tour the House"

 

What this means is that you walk through the entire house (all public areas) and pick up and put away anything you see that is yours or that you touched/ got out. So at certain times during the day, I just say to all, "Tour the House." And we always Tour the House before deep cleaning so that the kid who is assigned the living room doesn't have to clean up another kids toys, etc.

 

Procedures Lists

 

I have a list of cleaning procedures for every single room in the house. I print new ones each Sat. morning (cleaning day) and asign a room to each person. The room isn't considered cleaned until all the tasks on the procedures list are complete. There are check boxes and a parent must sign off. Everybody knows exactly what is expected. No arguing. No repeating instructions. And every thing that needs to get done, gets done. It has to. It's on the list. We clean the whole house, all at once, once a week, on Sat. morning. Mom and Dad get a list too. It's a team effort and we all work together.

 

(Teens who have plans for Sat. morning may clean their assigned room Friday afternoon if they chose.)

 

In our house, cleaning isn't my "job." I have many other "jobs" I work on during the week. Everyone who lives in the house is equally responsible for cleaning the house - Dad too.

[Greenmama2]

If you see something out of place, don't walk by it. Move it where it belongs right then. When my house gets out of control it is mostly because I've stopped doing this one thing.

 

I do think this is a good idea but it made me laugh. I try that for a few minutes at a time a few minutes a day but if I actually did it all the time I would Never. Ever. Stop.

Guess it comes back to fact that most of this stuff doesn't work with really little children (mine are four and one)

[mykdsmomy]

In our house, cleaning isn't my "job." I have many other "jobs" I work on during the week. Everyone who lives in the house is equally responsible for cleaning the house - Dad too.

 

I love this! But I have to ask, do you have a teen who questions your other "jobs"? Mine, bless her heart :glare:, is always asking me what I'm going to do while she works on her chores. Gotta love 16 year old girls.

[Miss Cornelia Snook]

I do think this is a good idea but it made me laugh. I try that for a few minutes at a time a few minutes a day but if I actually did it all the time I would Never. Ever. Stop.

Guess it comes back to fact that most of this stuff doesn't work with really little children (mine are four and one)

 

Sigh. Me too. My kids are 7, 5, and 2.

 

I've hit on one thing recently which has helped our kitchen situation. I pay my 7 year old a dime to unload the dishwasher after breakfast every morning. Then I load it throughout the day and run it before I go to bed no matter how full it is (or isn't). Usually it's perfectly filled. Doing this has eliminated dish piles in the sink, and made it easier to keep the sink clean. And the counters.

 

I admire people who can do a quick pick-up at the end of the day, but by the time I get my kids to bed, I am ready for bed myself. I don't have a ton of energy and I'm nodding off by 9 pm. (By the way, the reason I am up so late is because I am monitoring the throwing-up boys! Tomorrow will be a very low-key day at my house...not much cleaning will be accomplished, I'm afraid!)

[Soror]

I have relatively small kids as well but still maintain a fairly clean house, my kids are currently 6.5, 3.5(4 in april) and 1. The 2 olders pretty much keep up their room by theirselves, they both have limited toys w/ a certain place to put them. They clean their rooms a few times a day- which then never takes long, they help me w/ tasks as well. I don't constantly pick up things but before school have a cleaning time and then at dinner and after as well. It has taken me a bit to get in a schedule/routine of everything and to work on training the kids and myself.

[Peela]

Do the dishes after dinner so you can wake up to a clean kitchen. No matter what. I usually unpack the dishwasher/put away the clean dishes when I am waiting for the water to boil for my tea in the morning - but I especially love it when I actually got around to putting the dishes away the night before too.

 

Realise how little time many jobs take. Time yourself unpacking the dishwasher- it's amazing how quick it is in reality compared to how much it seems in my head! Same with cleaning the toilet or even vacuuming, or hanging out washing. Most jobs are not big.

 

You can do a LOT in 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes. A timer helps you move fast and gives you permission to stop. Great for kids or for everyone to work together.

 

If your problem is perfectionism, as mine was....realise that a little bit every day adds up to a LOT over time. I wouldn't even start things because I was so overwhelmed. When I started using a timer and doing just parts of a job- and giving myself permission to stop when the bell went off- more got done because I started more. I don't need the timer much nowadays because I am not scared of big jobs anymore. In fact I love them!

 

Never give yourself a hard time for not doing enough. Just do something and be proud of that. That positive energy is much healthier motivation than negative energy.

 

Wipe down the bathroom sink and swish the toilet every day- then they never get yuk and are always ready for guests- and for your family. Its a 1 minute job.

 

Routines- such as wiping down the sink every morning after your shower, or evening after the kids' bath- once established, means the house cleans itself.

[Joyofsixreboot]

What will help in the long run but not so much now? Your kids are at the trainable age. I spent years following and directing my kids to pick up~toys in box, shoes in cubby, coat on hook, dirty clothes in basket BUT it has paid off. It becomes their habit. It isn't going to be Zen beautiful when kids are little but it can be livable.

Dh needs to help with whatever it is you need help with.

I have a toy box in the rooms they play in. It makes it easy to put stuff away.

Get rid of the little pieces.

Get them each a place where their shoes and coat need to be. This saves huge amounts of time looking.

No snacking/eating except in the kitchen or wherever you deem ok. This saves endless crumbs/glasses/spoons setting around.

Keep cleaning stuff in easy reach. I've got a bottle of vinegar water and cloths in the bathroom for quick wipes. I keep stuff in the kitchen too.

Get a trash can for each room.

Let the kids help. Will their job vacuuming be good. No, but it is practice. My 7yo and 9yo can now do a really credible job of cleaning.

 

All this takes time but keep at it.

[Peela]

What will help in the long run but not so much now? Your kids are at the trainable age. I spent years following and directing my kids to pick up~toys in box, shoes in cubby, coat on hook, dirty clothes in basket BUT it has paid off. It becomes their habit. It isn't going to be Zen beautiful when kids are little but it can be livable.

 

I think this is a FANTASTIC point and if I had my time over I would be much more diligent about forming the habits of "before you start a new game, pack that one up and put it away" while they are young.

I know a homeschooling mum of 6 who told me the story of her sister who did this very strictly- and my friend used to really judge her for being so strict about it. But now that her sister's kids were much older, it paid off as they had the habit of being tidy, while my friend's home was full of clutter and chaos. So if you can pull it off (I couldnt), it is a great time now to make those habits in yourself and also your kids, to keep things tidy, to put things away before getting out new things, put dirty clothes in the hamper etc

[2squared]

What will help in the long run but not so much now? Your kids are at the trainable age. I spent years following and directing my kids to pick up~toys in box, shoes in cubby, coat on hook, dirty clothes in basket BUT it has paid off. It becomes their habit. It isn't going to be Zen beautiful when kids are little but it can be livable.

Dh needs to help with whatever it is you need help with.

I have a toy box in the rooms they play in. It makes it easy to put stuff away.

Get rid of the little pieces.

Get them each a place where their shoes and coat need to be. This saves huge amounts of time looking.

No snacking/eating except in the kitchen or wherever you deem ok. This saves endless crumbs/glasses/spoons setting around.

Keep cleaning stuff in easy reach. I've got a bottle of vinegar water and cloths in the bathroom for quick wipes. I keep stuff in the kitchen too.

Get a trash can for each room.

Let the kids help. Will their job vacuuming be good. No, but it is practice. My 7yo and 9yo can now do a really credible job of cleaning.

 

All this takes time but keep at it.

 

:iagree:I have a houseful of litttles too, but they are all finally helpful. My house is usually 20 min from picked-up clean. I have realized that even 2 or 3 minutes of my free time making progress on a chore makes a big difference.

 

Here's what we do:

*Break my day down into chore time and kid/school time. I devote four hours of my day to being with them without worrying about household tasks. This leaves me free mentally to devote other times to household things.

*Supervise the olders, train the youngers during daily pick-up before dh comes home.

*Daily laundry first thing in the morning.

*Straighten the kitchen after every snack and meal.

*Run the dishwasher after every meal so it is ready for the next meal. My washer is small so we do fill it three times/day.

*Wipe down the bathroom when dc are in the bath or when I'm waiting to wipe someone's butt. :tongue_smilie:

*Organize and simplify my house to work for us - clutter baskets where needed, socks by doorway, only two laundry baskets, one bathtowel/person, etc.

[melissel]

I do think this is a good idea but it made me laugh. I try that for a few minutes at a time a few minutes a day but if I actually did it all the time I would Never. Ever. Stop.

Guess it comes back to fact that most of this stuff doesn't work with really little children (mine are four and one)

 

Thank you!!! I always think this same thing. And mine are 8 (and getting MUCH better) and 5 (whom I'm starting to think might have ADD).

[Soror]

I think this is a FANTASTIC point and if I had my time over I would be much more diligent about forming the habits of "before you start a new game, pack that one up and put it away" while they are young.

I know a homeschooling mum of 6 who told me the story of her sister who did this very strictly- and my friend used to really judge her for being so strict about it. But now that. her sister's kids were much older, it paid off as they had the habit of being tidy, while my friend's home was full of clutter and chaos. So if you can pull it off (I couldnt), it is a great time now to make those habits in yourself and also your kids, to keep things tidy, to put things away before getting out new things, put dirty clothes in the hamper etc

:lol: I knew when I had my first that I would be having(God willing) a large family so have worked on the training from early. But you have to set them up for success. My daughter now will often get up, make her bed and clean it before coming out of her room in the morning. People may think it is crazy at this age but I will be the one laughing later. It is more work in the beginning though.

[katemary63]

I love this! But I have to ask, do you have a teen who questions your other "jobs"? Mine, bless her heart :glare:, is always asking me what I'm going to do while she works on her chores. Gotta love 16 year old girls.

 

My oldest three are grown, but actually, no, none of them ever questioned what "my job" was going to be. I think it was always pretty clear that I was pretty busy most of the time as well as the fact that as far as deep house cleaning, we all worked together and they knew I was cleaning too. Good luck with that! :D

[kamom]

I have to say I LOVE this idea...that would be interesting...do you ever have any problems with this system...or glitches that had to be worked out while everyone was getting used to this system?

 

#38 thread 4 I answered this question.

Sorry, I don't know how to post a link. Or more then one quote.

[fairfarmhand]

Do the dishes after dinner so you can wake up to a clean kitchen. No matter what. I usually unpack the dishwasher/put away the clean dishes when I am waiting for the water to boil for my tea in the morning - but I especially love it when I actually got around to putting the dishes away the night before too.

 

Realise how little time many jobs take. Time yourself unpacking the dishwasher- it's amazing how quick it is in reality compared to how much it seems in my head! Same with cleaning the toilet or even vacuuming, or hanging out washing. Most jobs are not big.

 

You can do a LOT in 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes. A timer helps you move fast and gives you permission to stop. Great for kids or for everyone to work together.

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

When I was hugely pregnant with one of my kids, I dreaded unloading the dishwasher. Hated cleaning the kitchen. One evening I stalled around for over an hour. Then when I finally got to it, I timed myself. Unloading the Dishwasher took me a grand total of 6 minutes...:glare: I had stalled for over an hour about a 6 minute job? In less than 20 my kitchen was mostly clean.

 

I found out for myself that just getting up and doing a few things makes such a big difference and doesn't really take that long.

[justamouse]

I taught my kids to pick up after themselves and they do it. Every day.

 

Granted -there are a few of them and many hands make short work. :D But they also like living in a clean house. So it became self motivating after a while.

 

I will say that when we lived in a teeny house-it could be utterly clean and still look cluttered (and I had totally minimized, too) so there is the aspect of space. Nw that the house is bigger and everything has a place--that is key-everything has a place-the house gets picked up in no time. The people that told me it's harder to clean a big house were wrong. Things go back in their place when you're done, vacuum and dust and you're done. I've found it actually easier than a small place.

 

Mine don't question what I do-if they think I'm being lazy they can take up my job any day.

Edited February 9, 2011 by justamouse

[justamouse]

I think this is a FANTASTIC point and if I had my time over I would be much more diligent about forming the habits of "before you start a new game, pack that one up and put it away" while they are young.

I know a homeschooling mum of 6 who told me the story of her sister who did this very strictly- and my friend used to really judge her for being so strict about it. But now that her sister's kids were much older, it paid off as they had the habit of being tidy, while my friend's home was full of clutter and chaos. So if you can pull it off (I couldnt), it is a great time now to make those habits in yourself and also your kids, to keep things tidy, to put things away before getting out new things, put dirty clothes in the hamper etc

 

 

:iagree::iagree: Exactly. Now they just do it. And they are training the 5 yo. :D

 

 

I walked away and started pondering and needed to come back to this.

 

When I had one child, I did everything. It was too easy to pick up, I just did and so it went. Same with two. Then three came and the once smaller were a bit bigger and they started to pick up here and there. Then four, five, six and seven came and I could see the writing on the wall. There was NO WAY I could do it for everyone. And I started to realize-this is what I had not been taught as a child.

 

My mom had ADD. Now, much later she can keep things kinda organized, but I realized I had not been taught, and in turn-I was not teaching my children, and right there-when I knew it was sink or swim, I resolved to teach them. It took a lot of effort at first because 1. it wasn't something that came naturally to me, 2. I had to spend the time teaching them. And so we did. Baby in tow, I taught them how to organize their shelves, their dressers, clean their rooms, pick up their bins, etc. Now the baby is five, they've been at it a while and things just get done. All of that effort in training them created habits that will serve them their whole lives, and I broke that chain of non parenting.

Edited February 9, 2011 by justamouse

[2squared]

When I had one child, I did everything. It was too easy to pick up, I just did and so it went. Same with two. Then three came and the once smaller were a bit bigger and they started to pick up here and there. Then four, five, six and seven came and I could see the writing on the wall. There was NO WAY I could do it for everyone. And I started to realize-this is what I had not been taught as a child.

 

My mom had ADD. Now, much later she can keep things kinda organized, but I realized I had not been taught, and in turn-I was not teaching my children, and right there-when I knew it was sink or swim, I resolved to teach them. It took a lot of effort at first because 1. it wasn't something that came naturally to me, 2. I had to spend the time teaching them. And so we did. Baby in tow, I taught them how to organize their shelves, their dressers, clean their rooms, pick up their bins, etc. Now the baby is five, they've been at it a while and things just get done. All of that effort in training them created habits that will serve them their whole lives, and I broke that chain of non parenting.

 

:iagree: I am *almost* you. I had the same epiphany somewhere between #3 and #4. When things get tough, I tell myself that some of the larger family struggles are blessings in disguise. My dc have to help. We can't get it done otherwise.

[lmkzbcb]

I am not nearly as organized as some of the ladies here, nor as much as I would like to be. I have 5 dc that all go in different directions and are faster than the speed of light. Oh, and a pack rat dh. Here are a few tips that have helped me.

 

* Laundry - Reduce by reuse. We wear clothes like my grandparents used to do. If they smell alright and dont have stains we wear them again.

 

* Laundry - We use our towels for a week. Each person has their own color so I can tell whose damp one is left on the floor. When it is time to wash them, I do it that day and hang them right back up. No folding or storing. I do this with sheets also. Saves me time from not having to fold and store and clutter from not having all those extra sheets and towels.

 

* Clutter - We have one clutter free room, not a house or even a floor, just one room. Does it always stay clutter free? No, but it is an obtainable daily goal. The rest of the house gets a lick and a promise as I go about my day. (A little bit here and there and a promise to do better next time). The only time the whole house is de-cluttered and "spic and span" is when guests are coming. Then everyone pitches in and does their "zones" or assigned areas.

 

* Toys - They all go into plastic boxes. Ideally, only one comes off the shelf at a time and when they are done playing with them, they put them back up. This doesnt always happen, but having the boxes makes it easier to just scoop and dump into them.

 

* VITAMINS - This doesnt seem like a tip, but it is the most important one for me. If you are like me and have a hard time keeping up with the demands of the day or have seasonal depression (ie. no sun light makes mama sad.) These are essential to keeping your household running. The best combination I have found is: Viactiv Multivitamin, Viactiv Calcium, Super B complex, Chewable Vit. C, and Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3-6-9). If I dont take all of these, my mood, energy level, disposition, mental clarity, ambitions, everything is affected. These in turn help me tackle homeschooling and the house.

 

* Cooking - http://www.monthlymealplanner.com/index.php This website takes the guess work out of what's for dinner. It also gives me the grocery list. The time that I save from walking around wondering what I am going to fix and the time at the store help me to concentrate on wiping the counters and loading the dishwasher, etc.

 

* Sanity - This is sorta a help. If you are an organized, neat freak by nature living in the conditions I described earlier, than having your own space can be vital. I have a small guest bathroom that is all mine. No one goes in there unless by invitation. If I put something in its place I know it is going to be there when I get back. I keep it clean and organized. This is a place I go when I need quiet, privacy, thinking time, to regroup, etc. You could use a closet, or any space as long as it was just yours.

 

None of these suggestions are ideal, but they are a compromise to something that is doable for me. I would love to have children running around like worker bees cleaning up without having to be prodded, a tidy organized house, everything having a place and everything in it's place, something akin to "Pottery Barn", but the reality is different. If I tried to do that, I would end up burned out and the kids would be on a therapist's couch 15 years from now! LOL

 

I saw two great suggestions earlier. One was about the dimes. I am going to try to implement that this week!! The other was about doing a load of laundry with just one person's clothes. No sorting, no folding, no matching socks, no trying to figure out whose jeans I am holding, the benefits seems endless. I can't wait to try that one!!

[Peela]

The other was about doing a load of laundry with just one person's clothes. No sorting, no folding, no matching socks, no trying to figure out whose jeans I am holding, the benefits seems endless. I can't wait to try that one!!

 

I have been doing that for years and it is great. It also means that the kids can learn to do a wash when its time to do a wash of their clothes- it makes it easier to teach them to do their own laundry, or even a part of it. Often mine will put on a load but go out and forget about it and i will end up hanging it up. Then when its dry I will put it all in a basket and put it outside their bedroom door and its their job to put it away.

[Rhonda in TX]

If you see something out of place, don't walk by it. Move it where it belongs right then. When my house gets out of control it is mostly because I've stopped doing this one thing.

 

I've heard/read this is the biggest difference between those with a clean (i.e. picked up) house and those without. Most things like that take very little time, about 30 seconds. That's about the time that it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice.

 

I've been trying to do this more lately. I used to come in the back door and drop things on the kitchen table. Now I stop and think about that song (sometimes I even sing it to myself!) and put things away. I'm trying to do this with more and more areas of my day-to-day life.

[home4schoolmom]

Helps keep me on track!:auto:

[lmkzbcb]

Today, I tried the "dime cups" idea. The woman who came up with this gem needs to receive "mother of the year" award!!

 

It worked like a charm! I never saw my kids clean up so fast, nor have I seen my whole down stairs this organized in a long, long time. Believe it or not, one of my ds was even lifting up the couch cushions to see what items he could find to get a dime from someone's cup. Can you believe that?

 

I made one slight adjustment to the original idea. In addition to everyone having a personal cup with 20 dimes in it. There is also a community cup. That is for items left out that everyone uses (ie ketchup, dvds), and for the baby's items. If someone does the community a favor first by putting those items up, they get a nickel from that cup. There are 40 nickels in that cup.

 

I am hoping that this system continues to work for the long haul and isn't just working now because it is new.

 

Anyone else try it yet?

[RanchGirl]

Here's what we do and it seems to be working. It's not House Beautiful, but I'm not embarrassed to have friends drop by unannounced either.

 

I have two kids. They are each responsible for:

1. tidying their rooms and putting clean laundry away, also bringing dirty laundry down to the laundry room every few days.

2. emptying the dishwasher and putting away clean dishes first thing in the morning

3. One other contribution to the household daily. This varies, but right now one kid cleans the guest bathroom daily, the other swiffers the kitchen/foyer floor daily.

 

And of course, putting away their toys when they are done with them, putting away coats when they walk in the door, etc., clearing their own dishes and loading them in the dishwasher.

 

As others have mentioned, I have gently trained them over the years to be able to clean a bathroom, dust, and especially put their own things away. To put the cereal bowl into the dishwasher rather than the sink. To rinse the sink with the sprayer so that crusty cereal doesn't dry on the sink and have to be scrubbed off later.

 

It is critical for us to have a place for everything -- toys have totes that are labeled and fit on the shelves. The laundry room has a basket for gloves & hats, shelves for boots, pegs for coats. Each kid has a desk with plenty of space for his school books, organized book shelves in their room, etc. There is no "I don't know where to put it".

 

When I am come downstairs in the morning, I bring down a load of laundry and start that before I do anything else. I always stay caught up on laundry or it becomes a nightmare. I also do the constant cleaning up thing others have mentioned, putting little things away as I am walking around, prepping things and multitasking, etc. I have to clean the kitchen whenever I am in there or it gets out of hand very quickly!

 

At night I fold and put away any remaining laundry, tidy the kitchen, and set the dishwasher to run in the middle of the night (it's on a timer).

 

Once a week I thoroughly clean the bathrooms and mop all the hard floors... these are the things I hate the most, in fact the only things I really dislike. Oh and stripping & re-making the beds, I could really do without that job.

 

One last tip, during that wasted time while I am cooking lunch and it's not quite done and the boys would otherwise just loiter around complaining about being hungry, we all usually spend about 10 minutes cleaning. Typically I vacuum while the boys dust, clean the windows & mirrors, and straighten up. This makes a *huge* difference in the way the house looks at the end of the day!

 

A pp mentioned the Home Routines iPhone app, I loved that but didn't stick with it long, and now I have a different phone anyway. However, it was great to get me kickstarted when I hadn't been motivated for awhile -- definitely worth the $5 I spent on it.

[Lovedtodeath]

Great thread!

Are we talking about CLEAN, as in no dirt, or PICKED UP, as in nothing on the floor and about?

 

My house is almost always clean... Floor scrubbed about every week, vaccumed daily, counters wiped daily, laundry done often, beds made, etc.

 

It is almost NEVER picked up. We cook three meals per day. We don't use disposable dishes. I homeschool. I have five children ages 7 and under. There simply ARE going to be dishes about, toys about, art projects about, books on the sofa, floor, steps, by the beds. :D

 

If you stop by without calling, I promise I will be INSANELY uncomfortable by not having all of this picked up. But the house is CLEAN. You just need to look under all that. :P

 

So you want "picked up" tips or truly "clean" tips? :D

How do you keep it clean if it isn't picked up? I can't dust if things are on the surfaces I need to dust. I can't vacuum and mop if I can't walk across the floor without stepping over things...

 

I love this! But I have to ask, do you have a teen who questions your other "jobs"? Mine, bless her heart :glare:, is always asking me what I'm going to do while she works on her chores. Gotta love 16 year old girls.

ROFLOL! I have an 8 year old who questions what I will be doing. She always thinks I have it easier than her.

 

I do think this is a good idea but it made me laugh. I try that for a few minutes at a time a few minutes a day but if I actually did it all the time I would Never. Ever. Stop.

Guess it comes back to fact that most of this stuff doesn't work with really little children (mine are four and one)

I actually have a very, very, hard time with housecleaning because my mom is the type who really never stopped and she made us all a nervous wreck over it. She would wake me up all of the time with the vacuum or the washer and dryer... she would be clanging dishes in the kitchen when we were trying to watch TV. She would tell us to "get this over with" when eating supper, and take our dishes away before we were done. I want so much to not be like her that I have a hard time doing any housework at all. I have actually panicked over the thought and had to have therapy. I really think that if I reach for a goal of a clean house I will end up unlikable.

:iagree::iagree: Exactly. Now they just do it. And they are training the 5 yo. :D

 

 

I walked away and started pondering and needed to come back to this.

 

When I had one child, I did everything. It was too easy to pick up, I just did and so it went. Same with two. Then three came and the once smaller were a bit bigger and they started to pick up here and there. Then four, five, six and seven came and I could see the writing on the wall. There was NO WAY I could do it for everyone. And I started to realize-this is what I had not been taught as a child.

 

My mom had ADD. Now, much later she can keep things kinda organized, but I realized I had not been taught, and in turn-I was not teaching my children, and right there-when I knew it was sink or swim, I resolved to teach them. It took a lot of effort at first because 1. it wasn't something that came naturally to me, 2. I had to spend the time teaching them. And so we did. Baby in tow, I taught them how to organize their shelves, their dressers, clean their rooms, pick up their bins, etc. Now the baby is five, they've been at it a while and things just get done. All of that effort in training them created habits that will serve them their whole lives, and I broke that chain of non parenting.

That is really great that you were able to start these habits later. My problem is that I was trained, but it did no good. I am also the one with ADD.

[Lovedtodeath]

I do one load of laundry everyday. I pop it into the washer right away in the morning, put it in the dryer during lunch, and fold and put it away before dinner. I wash towels on Monday and sheets on Friday.

 

I clean my kitchen every evening, not Martha Stewart clean, but pretty clean: load dirty dishes in the dishwasher and turn it on, wash pots and pans and put away, scrub counters and cooktop, take out the trash, and sweep the floor.

 

I vacuum every day, not the whole house just sections (a few rooms at a time).

 

I scrub something everyday. One day it's the bathroom, the next it's the mudroom........ I concentrate on one area everyday.

 

OK - now a serious reply. On my to-do list I have categories.

 

Kitchen - I do kitchen clean-up every morning and every night. This includes loading and unloading and running the dishwasher, cleaning the counters and stove and putting things away. I should also sweep but I don't always remember.

 

Bathrooms - 5 min. in the bathrooms every day.

 

Vacuuming - 10 min. vacuuming every day

 

Business/Mail - It's on my list every day but I only work on it every 3 days. This includes managing our library books.

 

Special Projects - one or two a week.

 

Very helpful!

 

I have to do 2 loads of laundry per day or it gets behind. Dishes are almost that much. I don't know how we go through so much stuff with only 4 people living here now. :001_huh: