How To Keep Your Home Tidy & Organised - Even With Young Children ♥

When you have children, keeping your home tidy is next to impossible.

They think the floor counts as shelf space and will throw down things immediately after you pick them up. Their toys are permanently floor items and eating is a messy time.

It’s hard to keep your house clean when you always have to feed, bathe, look after and entertain someone for the majority of the day - but it is doable.

If you’re like me and a messy home stresses you out, or you just love to not live in a dumping ground, then go on and put these tips to the test. Using any one of them would be effective, but if you want to get the best results, you should use them all together.

Cut Down Your Expectations
An entirely tidy and organised house is impossible with kids around. You should always expect some level of clutter and general messiness.

Revisit your definition of tidy. Things will not be as they used to be pre-children until they grow up and move out so don’t expect a house that’s company ready at all times. Be prepared not always to have things in their proper place, or have clean surfaces or walls for as long as you have toddlers at least.

Also, when writing your to-do list, replace “clean up the house” with something less mentally draining like “vacuum and mop the floors” or “wipe the surfaces” to make it easier to begin the task.

Clean Up After Bedtime
Cleaning up after your kids go to bed is hard to do since you’re going to be tired from work and taking care of the kids all day, but it’s worth it to stay motivated.

The best thing about this method is that everyone’s asleep already, so no one’s going to mess the house up again. As an added advantage, you get the blissful feeling of waking up to a clean home; believe me when I say that there’s no better feeling than that!

You can still pick things up during the day – it’s best to do this because it makes it easier at night – but devote 10-15 minutes post bedtime for a final thorough clean. You can go through each room to pick up any askew toys and wipe off their crayon masterpieces. Vacuuming isn’t advisable unless you have deep sleepers.

Give Them More Screen Time
Don’t feel guilty just yet; you’re not a terrible parent.

I’m not saying to chuck them down in front of the TV or let them play with your iPad for long hours, but a couple of episodes of their favourite TV Shows won’t hurt.

Allowing them to have some screen time gives you at least 20 minutes to do a quick vacuum and mop – just vacuuming is never enough – or some laundry. Moreover, having them occupied means you’re free of your helpers who only help you get more work.

Don’t let the guilt eat you up. It’s a small price to pay for your clean house.

Have a Play Area
One of the most important ways to keep your house clean when you have toddlers around is to have a play area and restrict toys to that room.

Children tend to drop whatever they’re with wherever they are, so restrict play time to a particular area of your house to make sure their toys never go out of there and cause physical damage to an unsuspecting resident. Having a definite area for play also makes it easier for you to clean since all the mess is in one place.

If you have enough space, you can designate a whole room to play. If you don’t, your play area can be your living room or a cordoned off part of your living room.

A designated play area will cut your cleaning time in half.

Stay on Top of Laundry
For many people, laundry is where it all falls apart. Quite a lot of moms complain about having everything but laundry down, and it’s easy to see why that happens.

Something that always works is to do the laundry at least three times a week. Some parents do it every day, and you may have to if you have extra messy eaters, pukers, or kids who play outside a lot. But for most families, laundry days every other day works just fine.

Keep laundry hampers in all rooms, even the living room, so there’s never dirty laundry lying around. Having a hamper in the corner of your living room is a lot better than having dirty clothes on the sofa or floor.

Teach them to Keep Things off the Ground
This task is hard with toddlers but teaching them to put things back is a great way to keep the house tidy and teach them cleanliness at the same time.

Neatness is a required skill for all persons and people often live the way they lived as kids so if you teach your kids that everything has its place and keeping their living space clean is a priority, they’re sure to grow into well-functioning adults who know the importance of a clean house.

You can use shelves or a toy hamper to store toys when not in use. If you decide to go with shelves, make sure you pick one with an ideal height so they can easily reach their toys and put them back. Ease of access will make it easier for them to learn to keep their toys in their proper place. You can also use a reward system, but this tends to backfire as they’d expect a reward whenever they do something right.

As I stated earlier, keeping your home tidy and organised with young children around is next to impossible so don’t feel like the worst parent/adult on the planet if you can’t keep the mess in check.

One extra tip: use child-friendly multipurpose cleaning agents. Your kids are mostly going to be around while you clean, so it’s best to keep the chemicals away. It’s best to use non-toxic cleaners, so your kids don’t accidentally poison themselves when you look away.

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