keeping up appearances - your house

Pretty much every Baby Buncher we know struggles with keeping their house clean -- even the ones with full-time nannies and cleaning services (yeah, they do exist and we are jealous as hell!).  Both Linda and I are firm believers in "re-setting" the house at the end of the day as a way of preserving sanity and starting the next day with a somewhat clean slate.  What does this mean?

1. Clean your kitchen.  There is nothing more depressing than trying to make breakfast with last night's dinner dishes in your way.  No matter how tired you are at night, get everything into the dishwasher and run it and then wipe off your counters.  Bonus points for sweeping your kitchen floor.  Notice we said "sweeping," not "scrubbing"!  Perfectionist tendencies, be gone!

2.  Pick up all toys in your living room and downstairs area.  We're not talking organizing.  Just shove them into a basket that is out of the way or has a lid, so it looks straightened.

3. Pick up/put away other clutter in living/dining/kitchen/other family living rooms.  Have a designated place for mail, keys, your purse, school bags, etc. so there is place to put this stuff that typically piles up on the dining room table.  Have a bin for shoes next to the door and have everyone deposit their shoes there when they take them off.  Pick up magazines, newspapers and anything else that might be lying around and toss or put away.

4.  Wipe off your dining table and sweep underneath it, if needed.

5. Lay out whatever you need for the next day on the dining room table or somewhere where you will see them.  This includes school notes/bags, re-stocked diaper bags,  grocery lists, bills to mail, Target returns, etc.  This way, when you are leaving the house in a mad dash in the morning, you won't forget anything critical for the day's activities.

Let the upstairs or bedroom areas go to heck in the early days.  As your kids get older, you will be able to add other things to your "re-set" list, such as fold a basket of clothes, wipe off your bathroom sinks, put away toys upstairs, etc.  But in the beginning, the main thing is to try to re-set your downstairs/main living area so that you don't start your day overwhelmed by mess in the area where you spend most of your time.

A friend of mine follows the Real Simple 19 Minute Keep It Clean Plan.  I follow a version of this that is modified to my house and cleaning priorities and it works like a charm.  Some folks also find luck with the FlyLady plan.  I personally found it to be a little overwhelming, but the fundamental concept is brilliant and can be tailored to your needs, so you might check it out.

I feel relatively on top of my house most of the time (more so since I quit working outside the home), but that's definitely not to say that my house is spotless.  I have just adjusted my expectations to reflect the fact that I have three children under the age of 5.

I can always use new tips and tricks, so share your favorites for keeping on top of your Baby Bunching headquarters!

Comments

[feener]

great and helpful post

[Katie C]

Thanks for the reminder!

[Jessica @ A Bushel and a Peck]

I completely agree with this...and I TRY to do it every night. Not that I succeed...some nights I am just. too. tired. But the next morning always is that much harder.

[Casey]

Great ideas. I've mastered the stacking technique for when we have company. I throw everything into a huge pile, stack all of the papers, throw all of the toys into a bin and then wipe down the countertops.
Our house looks like a tornado came through at the end of every night so I usually pick up all of the toys. It's tough to make myself do it since I know it's just going to get messy again the next day.

[Linda]

This post reminded me to clean up my kitchen last night! I was about to leave it.

The bins/basics were the best thing for me. I have them everywhere and I can toss everything in it quickly to make it look cleaned up. :-)

[geekymummy]

I have a treasure of a husband who is responsible for all of 1. in our house. I'm a big believer that if both of you work, you have to divide the other chores evenly (and so is he).

I can never keep the dining room table clean, we don't actually eat off it, so it is a junkyard. My tactic is to have company every 2 weeks so I'm forced to clean it off!

And for keeping floors clean, at least of food scraps, a dog is a godsend. As long as you don't mind hair on the floor instead!

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