Kids make plenty of messes, but if you have kids in your home, you don’t have to have a messy house. You might feel like you are fighting a losing battle with your kids and the dirt, toys, and clothes they leave on the floor, but there are ways you can get it all under control… at least most of the time.
Train Kids to Clean Up After Themselves
This is probably the most effective way to keep a clean home when kids are involved. It also takes the most work. You may have tried before to get your kids to be tidy and to take care of their things when they are done with them, and it might not have worked out very well. Maybe you gave up trying because they frustrated you so much.
Experts recommend that you set a good example for your kids as part of their tidiness training. If you are tidy, they may emulate your habits. On the other hand, if you tell them one thing but you do another, they may have trouble understanding the value of tidiness.
You can also spend time teaching your kids how you want them to clean. If they don’t clearly understand what they should be doing and how you want it done, they may become frustrated. They may need several days of training for a single kind of cleaning task, and then you will want to check up on them to make sure they know what they are doing.
Develop a Cleaning Schedule
If you live by yourself, it is fairly easy to clean once or twice a week and keep a tidy house. The more people you have in your home, however, the more often you will need to clean. If you set up a schedule for cleaning, you can tackle the home one room at a time. Find a schedule that works for you, like cleaning one room each day and perhaps doing larger cleaning jobs on the weekend or whenever you have some extra time.
If you stick to a regular cleaning schedule, you won’t feel as overwhelmed. The cleaning chores won’t get out of control as easily, and you will get accustomed to routine cleaning.
You can also provide a cleaning schedule for your kids, giving them set chores to do on specific days. This helps them keep track of what is supposed to be done and when they are expected to do it. Try tying allowance to that schedule so that you get better results. You can even use apps to help kids keep track of what they should be paid for what they do.
Keep Cleaning Supplies Close
Spills and accidents are going to happen, especially with kids in the house. Whether you clean up the spills or the kids do it, the cleanup will be much easier if you have cleaning supplies handy. You can either place the supplies in a central area so that they can be accessed quickly or put them in areas where spills are likely to happen, like the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. Having cleaning supplies available in several rooms saves time in cleaning up and makes it more convenient to clean. If you make cleaning convenient, your kids are more likely to clean up the spills responsibly.
Have a Clean Up Plan
On that note, you should have a spill cleanup plan in place for your home. Your kids should know how to clean up hard surface spills, carpet spills, wet spills and dry ones. If they understand what to do, they may clean up all by themselves without you having to tell them or monitor them. They might not do the job perfectly, but they can do a good enough job so that you don’t end up with a major stain or permanent damage to your home.
Follow Basic Organizing Rules
There are a few organization guidelines you can follow to ensure a tidier home. Here are some of the better ones:
- Have a spot for everything in your home to be placed
- Don’t buy what you can’t use or don’t have a designated spot for
- Get rid of stuff you no longer need
- Tidy as you go, putting things away as you see them out of place
- Remove trash as soon as the bins fill up
- Periodically assess your home’s organization and consider if there might be a better place for some items
Do Occasional Deep Cleaning
Light cleaning may be okay for most days, but eventually some of the bigger jobs will start to pile up. You need to set time aside for deep cleaning- meaning that you work through an entire room with detailed cleaning efforts. This may be something you want to save for your cleaners.
Doing a deep cleaning will refresh a room, and eventually your house, as you clean through each room this way. You can do cleaning chores you normally would not have time for, like cleaning under appliances and furniture as well as cleaning inside appliances. Deep cleaning could involve cleaning inside vents and washing windows or putting the curtains through the laundry. These are tasks that take more time and may need to be reserved for special cleaning days, but you will be amazed at the difference they make.
The messes kids make do pile up, and they can make parts of your home dirty to where you need to do a deep cleaning to really remove the stains, grime, and dirt. Doing some deep cleaning every couple of months can help you keep a tidier home overall and will ensure that some of the accumulated messes do not get out of hand.
Final Thoughts
Your kids are not always going to be very tidy, and the home you live in with them may not always be tidy either, but you can stay on top of what needs to be done, if you follow the guidelines we have given you.
