When you have kids, it may seem impossible to keep your home clean and tidy. There are constant messes being made, and who’s got time or energy to clean all that up?
Besides, they’ll just mess it all up again. Right?!
Well, today, I want to help you with that!
It’s possible to keep a relatively clean house with kids. My goal is never to have a perfect home. There will be everyday messes that happen. That is life!
Most of us would agree that a comfortable home is a balance between keeping it clean but also lived in.
I want our home to be an imperfect, comfortable place that allows my family to live well. That includes maintaining a *mostly* clean home. So let’s talk about 7 things you can do for a clean house with kids.
Keep a Clean House with Kids:
1. Deal with little messes right away.
As you go about your day, there will be little messes that happen. If you let those messes sit and don’t deal with them, the whole house will be a giant mess by the end of the day.
After breakfast, either wash the dishes or place them in the dishwasher. Don’t let the dirty dishes pile up all day in the kitchen sink.
If your children play with crayons and markers at the table, have them put the crayons and markers away when they are finished.
2. Reduce the papers.
Along with kids comes so much paperwork. Notes from school, church, and other activities. If your kids like to draw like mine do, you probably have a ton of artwork too.
All that paperwork can easily overcome your home and make a cluttered mess.
If you have a hard time throwing away your kids artwork, school papers, or church papers, here is a solution I discovered. Over the period of about a month, I let the kids paperwork pile up in a designated spot.
Once the month is over, I go through the papers and only keep the favorite one. The rest get thrown away. This means that I save 12 pieces of artwork each year of my children’s life. That’s 120 pieces over 10 years!
That is plenty to keep for my kid’s to look back on once they are older.
If you keep everything, then none of it is special. You’ll have so much, that you and your kids will probably never actually go through once they are older.
Instead pick one or two items each month to save. Throw the rest away, and if you need to, take a picture first.
3. Do one load of laundry a day.
Laundry is one of those things that never ends when you have kids. Sometimes my kids go through multiple outfits in one day.
If you don’t have a regular laundry routine, the laundry piles get out of control and easily become what I like to refer to as “Laundry Mountain.” Here’s a specific plan to help you tackle too much laundry.
By doing one load of laundry a day, your laundry baskets never get out of hand, and your family always has clothes to wear.
4. Have kids put their belongings away.
This is such a simple concept, but it requires intentional action. So start with yourself before expecting it from your kids. Be sure to put things away when you are done using them.
- Put away make-up, hair brushes, and toiletries instead of leaving them on the bathroom counter.
- Put dirty clothes in the hamper instead of “the chair” or on the floor.
- Put shoes, purses, bags, and keys away instead of leaving them on the floor or kitchen counter.
- Put food and dishes away when you are done cooking.
After making these things a habit, you’ll cut back on a lot of clutter in your home. Once you are doing these things yourself, you’ll set the example for your kids.
Then you can expect them to do the same. Of course, you can’t expect them to put their shoes away if you always leave yours out.
So here are specific things your children can put away once they are done using them.
- dirty dishes after meals
- backpacks and jackets
- shoes
- toys
5. Give your kids chores.
If you find that you are doing a lot of the cleaning at home, have your kids join you too.
It takes time to teach your kids how to clean, but it is worth it. Most kids do not instinctively know how to wipe of the countertop or sweep the floor.
You have to teach them by showing them. But once they, get the hang of it, you can be a lot less hands on.
I started having my kids take care of their own belongings. Then as my kids have gotten older, I’ve given them more household chores to do.
We keep track of their household chores on a printable chore chart that they can look at each day.
6. Buy less stuff for your kids.
Do you ever stop and think about all that is coming into your home?
Most likely, every day, something new enters your front door, whether it’s a package from Amazon, papers from school, or a shopping trip to Walmart.
It’s part of life. You need stuff, especially with kids. But I encourage you to get really intentional about what you spend your money on.
Before you buy something, ask yourself if it will add to the comfort and function of your home in the long run? Or will it only be a momentary pleasure that will become clutter a few days?
Most likely, your kids have more toys than they know what to do with. Instead of buying more, do an activity with them like going for a hike, playing a game, or visiting the library.
7. Declutter on a regular basis.
Also, be active in taking things out of your home that are no longer serving a purpose to your family.
As you go through different seasons with your children, you’ll find that there is a lot of stuff they no longer need: baby items, clothes, and toys.
Instead of hanging on to them, let them go. Whenever I donate clothes, I think about the people who’ll be using them.
It’s not that I’m giving away clothes that I spent our hard earned money on. Instead it’s the fact that I’m helping someone else out.
I’m giving the items away so someone else can use it since we can’t anymore.
