How Do You Cleanies Do It?

With my one year old crwling onto and off of everything and spilling and pulling everything out of his drawers I never have a clean house. But what I do is wait till he is asleep and then do what I need to do. I work full time too. I have come to realize that my house is never going to be put together perfectly and can only do the best I can. People have stopped by and they know that I am not going to pick up toys when they are going to be pulled right back out. Just do what you can! :)

I have one website that will make it so much easier and it's only cleaning for 15 minutes a day. YES!!! ONLY 15 MINUTES A DAY AND IT WORKS!!!! www.flylady.net

My husband and I work full time. I leave around 7am and return around 5. We have a 5 y/o and a 16 m/o. This is how we do it.
Monday = 1. Kitchen (bleach and clean everything in the kitchen and dining room except the floors)
2. Porch (sweep porch and round up outside toys)
Tuesdays = 1. Livingroom (clean, dust and organize)
Wednesdays = 1. Kid's rooms (clean, dust and organize kids rooms), 2. Wash Kid #1 clothes
Thursdays = 1. Master Bedroom (clean, dust and organize)
2. Wash and Replace all Linens (All sheets, towels and area rugs)
Fridays = 1. Bathrooms (bleach and clean except for floor)
2. Wash Kid #2 laundry
Saturdays = 1. Vacuum and mop downstairs floors
2. Adult laundry
Sundays = 1. Vacuum and mop upstairs floors
2. Leftover laundry
3. All trash is taken out.

EVERYDAY I do all dishes and straighten up every room before I go to bed. This keeps things under control so that cleaning takes minutes instead of hours. The key is to stay on top of things. A schedule was the only way for me to survive. I literally have this schedule posted on the corkboard in my kitchen.

Hope this helps.

One day I stumbled across a website that has helped me out a lot!! It keeps me motivated and gives some tips and suggestions to a cleaner home... they email me everyday to tell me what to do that day.. For me, it was very helpful... If you'd like to check it out, their website is WWW.FLYLADY.NET
Hope this is helpful.

Sorry this is not aadvice, this is a thank you for asking the question! I always say tell me 2 weeks ahead if you plan to come over. I feel I am ALWAYS doing dishes and laundry and yet nothing ever seems accomplished. Sometime I just give up!! My little ones are almost four(3/6) and almost 6 (5/31) and they just DO NOT help. I told my almost 4 year old that she gets no presents for her birthday from friends because her room is too messy ans there is NO where to put anything! Hoefully she'll do something now! I see some of these responses and my next question is where do they get the energy to get it all done!!! If you find the answers please share!!!
In the meantime, here are two things that were told to me. 1) houses are meant for living and your children are only young once the house will always be there to clean!

Hi J.,
I happen to own my own House Cleaning/Maid service when ever you need some extra help please give me a call.
You can visit me on the web at www.awesomeservices4u.com

Thanks,
Nikki

J. if you need help. Feel free to call me, my fee's are reasonable ____@____.com

I now live in clean and organized home thanks to WWW.FLYLADY.NET, My kids now are happy to help (what a concept!) thanks to WWW.HOUSEFAIRY.ORG. I still can't believe the awesome changes that have happened from these 2 websites. Do yourself a favor and try them. You'll be a happy household too!

Apperances are everything! That is if the house looks picked up, no one will notice that the floor hasn't been mopped in a while or dust bunnies are colonizing under the beds. As a mom who has suvived 3 kids and running a day care center from home I learned to do the simple things and let the other major cleaning jobs go for a time when I can get to it (or my husband can get to it)bathtubs, refrig. oven cleaning etc.
I did the dishes, made the beds and did a general pick up in the morning and a few times through out the day. The house looked okay so long as no one with white gloves or my mother-in-law came along! If nothing else works, learn to close the doors to the rooms that are a mess and pretend that they don't exists! This also works well when your kids get to be teenagers too!

I try and do a little bit of cleaning each day. I don't stess over it because I think it is more important to spend time with my kids. My house is fairly neat and I try to at least straighten on a daily basis. My son is now 2 and I get him to help me with little things like dusting and he loves it. Don't make yourself crazy over it.

J.,
I don't have any advice for you, but I wanted to thank you for your post. I was beginning to think I am the only person without a spotless house!
I don't have any small children anymore, but I do work full time. My house is awful. Too much stuff, not enough room.
I feel terrible leaving people outside who come to my door, but I don't want them to see the disaster.
So thank you! And congratulations on the baby to be!!
K.

I bought a book once called "how not to be a messy"....

I have yet to crack it open an read it... HAHAHAHAHA

But I hear it has lots of littel "tips" in it.

H.

I let my unexpected surprises know that the bulk of my cleaning gets done on the weekend. You show up unannounced, or uninvited then you get my house however it looks. If the lack of perfection is not good enough and family complains...have them chip in during the week or let them know to call before coming over and then fake it.

H. B.

I wish I knew...

I had a sign on my front door for years that said,
"If you come to see my family, come any time.
If you come to see my house, make and appointment."

My kids are older and it hasn't really gotten any easier for me - my sister loves this web-stie called "Fly-Lady.com" she says it really helps her keep cleaned and organized.

J., I have to tell you that you need to relax too. I will not tell you to clean when everyone goes to sleep, because you need to go to sleep too. If you feel anything like I do at the end of the day (mother of 3 as well...2,4,7), sleep is precious! I know that I am a stay at home mother (yet I still work 2 days a week), not a house-wife! I always put my children first. I allow for messy crafts in the kitchen, or outside (the kind that really keep them occupied like dough stuff or flour and water) and then maybe I can clean the living room. I also have a good friend that I trade time with. She comes over every once in a while and we clean together and then I return the favor. It's amazing how much faster you can be when you have a friend to talk to while you work. My advice is relax...make sure that you do things that you like to do as well. Nobody will be happy if you are not happy!

Oh honey, don't worry about your friends/family worrying about how pristine your house is! You have 3 1/2 children...trust me, nobody is thinking worse of you when they see that there are toys on the living room floor...it just means that the kids have been enjoying themselves playing with them. I love my house, and I love it when it is clean, but at the same time, I do not aspire to be someone's picture in a magazine. If people want to judge me by my houses appearance then they don't need to be in my house...you should focus on your kids and making sure that their needs are met before focusing on your house. The way that I keep on top of my chores is to do them in the in between time. I don't schedule my life around my housecleaning, I schedule my housecleaning around my life. If I happen to have an extra 15 minutes I will vaccuum and straighten everything up...the outward appearance is truly the most important. And then when you have an entire day free, you plan the deep clean. Until then, don't stress. People love you and your family, not your spot free rinse!

I just clean while they are sleeping. My kids sleep right through the vaccuum. I am always caught up on house cleaning unless its a weekend when the fiancee is not working

Is there any way you can get a cleaning service to come in to help? My neighbor gets a maid service every other week to help her keep it under control.

I lucked out. My husband asked me one time what I wanted for my birthday. At the time I was overwhelmed with housework so I responded, "I want the dishes done, the toliet sparkling clean and the floors freshly mopped." I was totally joking. He said, "Done!" A maid service came the week of my birthday and we've had them ever since! Best birthday gift EVER.

While I have never aspired to being a domestic goddess, I have never been accused of living in a pigsty, and friends/family do drop in and don't comment on how messy things are. That said...relax.

I've come to the conclusion that a)I don't HAVE to answer the door, b) I don't HAVE to answer the phone and most importantly, c) my friends/family aren't coming to see my house. They are coming to see me (okay, I WISH, they are coming to see my son! LOL)...and if they are coming to see how good (or bad) of a housekeeper I am, then I don't want them around! :) And for those who just "drop in", it's their own darn fault if my home isn't "pristine".

I keep the house picked up (at least I try!), but if there are toys scattered when I go to bed...oh well. They will still be there tomorrow. I would rather focus my time on my son and my husband; that time is precious. I will not be wishing that I was a better housekeeper when I'm 90 years old, I will be treasuring the times I had with my family.

Also, my best friend has three kids, and she used to be a "neat freak"...she will admit that she just needed to "relax and recruit", as she called it. She enlisted the help of her oldest and if her husband made any negative comments, she told him to get it done himself or be quiet. :) LOL

And remember, no one will remember your domestic prowess, but they will remember how well you took care of your kids. :)