S/o housekeeping thread. What your best tips?

[Mommyfaithe]

Organization?

Decluttering??

Favorite cleaning supplies??

Favorite gadgets??

 

Whatever you think helps your household run smoothly....

 

Let's help each other out. :D

 

For me....dejunking weekly is a must. If I am in doubt....I throw it out!!

 

I limit toys and they have to stay in the little boys' room.

 

I must do laundry daily...but, my routine is to throw in a load before breakfast, move up to dryer and do another at lunch...then a last one around 3. I fold and put away while dinner cooks. I try to keep this up as much as possible.

 

 

I vacuum the living room every morning....little boys pick up and put away anything on the floor.

 

I try to focus on the job at hand , rather than get distracted by every little mess around me....I sometimes end up running around like a chicken without a head....:tongue_smilie:

 

Floors get washed on Saturday....sheets get changed on Saturday....everyone pitches in on Saturday morning and does chores.

 

Faithe

Edited April 27, 2012 by Mommyfaithe

[Parrothead]

I declutter once a year or when we move. After the decluttering I do the massive spring cleaning. This takes me about 3 days.

 

After that I enforce the evening family clean up time. We wake to a clean house. During the school year I have someone in once a week to do the dusting/vacuuming/mopping/clean the bathroom. For an hour during Saturday mornings we have a family clean up of dusting/vacuuming/mopping/clean the bathroom.

 

Being a small family we are able to get away with 2 loads of laundry every two days.

 

Everyone is upstairs in bed at 8 most nights. We don't all go to sleep at 8 though.

[justamouse]

I love China plates on the walls, and crystal vases out and all of that stuff, but I never kept anything like that out because it would get so dirty so fast.

 

Well, I got myself a 7 dollar miracle. A microfiber feather duster. That's not the exact one, mine looks a little more feathery, and I got it at the grocery store. All I do is spray a little Allergen Pledge on it, and it picks up EVERYTHING without sending it into the air. I use it on my draperies, pictures, molding, plants, lampshades everything. Then, when it gets dirty, I just wash it.

 

LOVE it. And I get to have all the stuff I love out.

[Ellie]

Three words: Do It Now.

 

When you finish cooking/eating a meal, clean it up. Do it now.

 

When you get out of bed in the morning, make the bed. Do it now.

 

When the clothes are dry, take them out of the dryer and fold them. Do it now.

 

When you take off your clothes to get ready for bed, hang them up, toss in the hamper, whatever. Do it now.

 

So much of the messes and clutter we find ourselves in is there because we didn't think we had time to take care of it right away, but clutter begets clutter. Just do it now.

[Entropymama]

I like the 'do it now' approach. Similarly, we do many things daily that I used to save for Saturday cleaning. I keep Clorox wipes under every sink so that wiping down bathrooms only takes a minute. My kids wipe down their bathroom every night so it never gets too terrible. We clean up the kitchen after every meal so that it doesn't get too built up. I do a load of laundry every day, although it doesn't get put away every day. :)

 

I like schedules, too. I read a great quote once, "When deciding who does what around the house, remember that the who is not mom and the what is not everything." Once I started getting my kids to pitch in more my life got much easier.

 

But my biggest lesson to learn is to let it go. I don't let my house get trashed, but I'm not as fanatic about keeping it clean as I used to be. I'll have a spotless house someday, about the same time I'm moping about it being empty.

 

Can't wait to hear more suggestions!

[Elinor Everywhere]

Three words: Do It Now.

 

When you finish cooking/eating a meal, clean it up. Do it now.

 

When you get out of bed in the morning, make the bed. Do it now.

 

When the clothes are dry, take them out of the dryer and fold them. Do it now.

 

When you take off your clothes to get ready for bed, hang them up, toss in the hamper, whatever. Do it now.

 

So much of the messes and clutter we find ourselves in is there because we didn't think we had time to take care of it right away, but clutter begets clutter. Just do it now.

 

Yes! :iagree: Love this. Simple, direct, easy to follow. I've been trying to get my dd to understand that if she would just take FIVE SECONDS to put her shoes in her shoe holder, and take 10 SECONDS to hang up her sweater (we've timed it all to show her how crazy she is being by not doing it), etc., she would never have to declutter her room. My ds has it down - when he cleans his room, he only vacuums and dusts. No need to spend 2-3 hours decluttering. My dd has always been this way....she leaves a trail when she hits the house. Sigh.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Elinor Everywhere
emoticon failure

[fairfarmhand]

Three words: Do It Now.

 

When you finish cooking/eating a meal, clean it up. Do it now.

 

When you get out of bed in the morning, make the bed. Do it now.

 

When the clothes are dry, take them out of the dryer and fold them. Do it now.

 

When you take off your clothes to get ready for bed, hang them up, toss in the hamper, whatever. Do it now.

 

So much of the messes and clutter we find ourselves in is there because we didn't think we had time to take care of it right away, but clutter begets clutter. Just do it now.

 

:iagree: mmmmhhhhhmmmmm

[Mommyfaithe]

I love China plates on the walls, and crystal vases out and all of that stuff, but I never kept anything like that out because it would get so dirty so fast.

 

Well, I got myself a 7 dollar miracle. A microfiber feather duster. That's not the exact one, mine looks a little more feathery, and I got it at the grocery store. All I do is spray a little Allergen Pledge on it, and it picks up EVERYTHING without sending it into the air. I use it on my draperies, pictures, molding, plants, lampshades everything. Then, when it gets dirty, I just wash it.

 

LOVE it. And I get to have all the stuff I love out.

 

Cool!! I love stuff like this!

[Alice]

Three words: Do It Now.

 

When you finish cooking/eating a meal, clean it up. Do it now.

 

When you get out of bed in the morning, make the bed. Do it now.

 

When the clothes are dry, take them out of the dryer and fold them. Do it now.

 

When you take off your clothes to get ready for bed, hang them up, toss in the hamper, whatever. Do it now.

 

So much of the messes and clutter we find ourselves in is there because we didn't think we had time to take care of it right away, but clutter begets clutter. Just do it now.

 

:iagree: Luckily for me, both dh and I are like this so I have a lot of help.

 

On the flip side, I hate clutter so much and like things clean that sometimes it interferes with schooling. I have to consciously not worry about a certain level of mess while we are doing school. To make that work we have certain times that we all do a pickup...before lunch, before dinner and anytime we are leaving the house. It doesn't take long because it's usually fairly clean.

 

When the boys were littler I used to set a timer and have them race to see if they could put away all of a certain mess or room in a set amount of time.

 

Baskets...I have a book basket and a toy basket for the 2 yr olds stuff in the living room (our main living area). Then when we do the quick clean-up it's easy to put them in there quickly.

 

We also have very little stuff. I am ruthless about decluttering. I don't have knickknacks, I get rid of papers, I don't save stuff just because it is sentimental.

[Jpoy85]

yesterday I threw about 15 bags of junk and trash out the apartment window because it was cluttering everything. We have hardwood floors with pets so sweeping and a swiffer are a must!

[Mommyfaithe]

Three words: Do It Now.

 

When you finish cooking/eating a meal, clean it up. Do it now.

 

When you get out of bed in the morning, make the bed. Do it now.

 

When the clothes are dry, take them out of the dryer and fold them. Do it now.

 

When you take off your clothes to get ready for bed, hang them up, toss in the hamper, whatever. Do it now.

 

So much of the messes and clutter we find ourselves in is there because we didn't think we had time to take care of it right away, but clutter begets clutter. Just do it now.

:iagree::iagree:

But sometimes the mess moves way faster than I do....sigh.....

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I try to stay on top of the boys all day long. I'm kind of a nag, really. If they don't automatically clear their dishes or throw their trash away, I call them back and make them do it immediately. If they've left toys in the living room, I call them back and make them pick them up. If not, the piles start accumulating. I've been trying to make them pick up their room for about 15 minutes before story time each night, too.

 

The biggest thing that has helped keep things reasonably clean is devoting Saturday morning to house cleaning and getting everyone involved.

 

I also get up early before the kids and get stuff done in the kitchen before they wake up.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

:iagree::iagree:

But sometimes the mess moves way faster than I do....sigh.....

 

Oh, that is so true!

[Desert Rat]

The tips that work for me:

 

Never leave a room without something in your hand. There is always something that needs to be taken somewhere else.

 

I also have a bucket of cleaning supplies that move with me room to room when I clean. This stops back and forth trips for something I've forgotten or need. It's a simple bucket: toilet cleaner, comet, windex, vinegar, pledge, rags, toothbrush, magic eraser, gloves, smaller bucket. It's the same bucket (actually, it's a square crate) that I use while cleaning other houses.

 

My favorite cleaning product is my Hoover Floormate for vinyl, hardwood, laminate, tile. It cleans it all and cleans it wonderfully.

 

It helps that my boys are big enough to help. I send them to the room ahead of me to straighten and sometimes dust and vaccuum. It's awesome!

[justamouse]

Ellie, I think that Do It Now is so true.

 

Especially as the scales start to tip as you ahve more kids and not enough arms. If everyone abides by Do It Now, you don't get as overwhelmed.

[LaxMom]

I love China plates on the walls, and crystal vases out and all of that stuff, but I never kept anything like that out because it would get so dirty so fast.

 

Well, I got myself a 7 dollar miracle. A microfiber feather duster. That's not the exact one, mine looks a little more feathery, and I got it at the grocery store. All I do is spray a little Allergen Pledge on it, and it picks up EVERYTHING without sending it into the air. I use it on my draperies, pictures, molding, plants, lampshades everything. Then, when it gets dirty, I just wash it.

 

LOVE it. And I get to have all the stuff I love out.

 

LOVE IT!!! I have a similar one, but it's not microfiber and - I'm not even gonna lie - I can't find it. I find it periodically, but then it goes missing again before I can use it. I am staring at cobwebs while I type, in fact.

 

We have a whole stable of microfiber towels, bought in packs of 20 or 25 for under $15 at Sam's Club years ago. They're awesome. I use them for everything (except cobwebs, obviously).

 

I also bit the eco bullet and bought Seventh Generation wipes for the bathrooms. The kids are supposed to take turns wiping down after they brush their teeth at night (they were doing well for a while, but have been slacking... I cleaned the toilet and sink while I was getting ready for work this morning, so they'll be back on routine tonight) and it does keep everything much cleaner. I'm still not a fan of disposable wipes, though.

 

In my house, it has also been helpful to have a husband who works a 24 on / 72 off schedule, and doesn't think he's "helping" when he does laundry, makes supper, or educates the kids. ;)

[Soror]

Train the children!!!!!! Train them to help and to pick up after themselves- it is a neverending job, stick with it!

 

Ruthlessly purge!!!!!!!

 

Do laundry as it is needed, don't get behind, everyone works together and finish it all at once, including putting it away(or it gets forgotten and needs to be redone).

 

Prioritize! Depending on how busy we are or the ages of kids/ season of life I knock things off the list. So, if things get in a funk I go back to the basics, food, laundry and 3rs and then add on from there. Don't try to wash the windows when you have a mountain of laundry.

 

Simplify after dd2 was born we had a lot of hamburgers and veggies and other basic meals, I'm sure everyone got tired of it but it worked and nobody was hungry.

 

It is much easier to keep a house clean than to clean it. With little ones that is little things constantly. The more you have the more organized you have to be.