Organization/Cleaning Helpful Hints!

Dont buy a lot of stuff.
Dont get all the new toys on the market.
Dont buy more than a few clothes for the kids.
Dont take up a craft or hobby.
Dont have any pets.
Stop all junk mail from coming to the house.
Only shop for groceries when you need and not store lots of extras.
Ive broken all these rules and my house is a mess. well ok so I dont have a pet. opps, 3 gold fish but they keep their mess in a bowl.

I'm just like you, so you may find these ideas more "doable"! Re - toys, get a large container that the boys can easily access and make a "game" out of putting all the toys back (e.g. Ok boys, let's see who can put the toys away the fastest / who can put the most toys back etc). Making the "packing up" part of the "routine" of the day - with them helping - will make it easier for you. Another alternative is to pack the majority of their toys away (like the top of a linen cupboard) and only leave a small selection out for about 2 weeks, then pack those out of sight and bring out a "new" selection. You'll find your boys will be more interested in the toys cos they're always "new" and fewer toys means less potential mess! Re - paperwork and mail - also struggle with that one! I found it helpful to have 3 "in-trays" near the front door. Again "routine" - as soon as I walk in I open the mail and place it in the "correct" tray (either, to pay, paid or miscellaneous). The envelopes and junk mail go straight into my "paper recycling bin". The tough bit is (once a week) empty the trays and deal with the payments etc that need to be done. A large "concertina file" can be used to "file away" paid accounts etc. For the kitchen, if I don't wash up immediately after I have finished, things tend to pile up and then nobody wants to do it! Sorry, the only advice there is to "clean as you go". At the end of the day, my philosophy can be summed up by this wonderful saying I found: "My house is clean enough to be healthy but dirty enough to be comfortable" and "To clean house when children are small is like shovelling snow while its still snowing!" :) Hope I was of some help. Good luck! :)

Your children are too little to have a clean house. Be kind to yourself and spend the extra time with your little ones. I have been with people who were dying, and I have had every one of them wish for more time with their family. But not even one single patient has ever told that they wished they kept a cleaaner house. :)

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In the case of the high chair tray, I would have done that "one more thing" only because you know that you will be feeding baby first thing in the AM or shortly thereafter, so why add the extra chore then?

You are blessed to have a cleaning lady twice a month. I use to and those were my favorite two days of the month!

I'm looking forward to seeing tips from other mamas because I like a neat house too, but I struggle with some things.

Blessings.....

I like to utilize organizers like this:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-5-Drawer-Wide-Tower-W...
For anything and everything, and my kids things.

I clean everyday.
Anything and everything.
Some days I just dont! And take a break.
It is just ongoing.
I always have something to clean/put away etc.
Like all Moms.

The main thing is to have a routine about it.
On certain days I do certain things. That works for me.
We have upstairs and downstairs. It is a lot of house to clean.
I have 2 kids a Husband and my Mom that lives with us. But I do it all.

Yep, I suck it up.
It just is.
But I make my own day's off.
I do not cook on Fridays for example.
Some weekends, I will just tell my Husband "I am burnt out, I'm not cleaning this weekend." He does not have a problem with that, because having me tired AND 'bitchy' is not fun.
LOL

I have time to myself when the kids are napping or out with my Husband.

My files/paperwork is always organized. Since for years. So its not overwhelming. Because years ago, I just made a system for myself.

My kids are 4 and 8.

First of all, google the fly lady, I adore her, she is free, and she helps you get good routines and healthy habits.
I make cleaning easy and less a chore by having a rag bag that I can carry from room to room and also a kit with a handle that holds all my chemicals, so I do not have to go searching under different sinks.
Also, when you have little ones trying to keep the house looking perfect is asking to be sleep deprived and go crazy, settle for good enough and enjoy your kids = )

It really helps to realize that when you're raising kids there will be a constant flow of stuff in and out of the home. The trick is to keep sorting through it.
Every summer the kids and I sort through their toys, books, videos, games, etc. I homeschool them, so it's really important for me to be organized. I also sort the school closet. I really believe in traveling light, so if something isn't useful anymore it usually goes to the Goodwill or garage sale. (Some things of course I can't bear to part with, so those go into a "Mommy box" in a closet.)
I inventory their clothes each season and write lists of what they need, so their clothes aren't overflowing. They have only what they need, not piles of extra stuff they never wear. Outgrown clothing goes to the Goodwill regularly.
You want to get your kids on board with the sorting thing. Mine are motivated because they've learned they can make a little cash on their toys if they're in good shape. I've sold things on Craigs List and at garage sales. My kids also appreciate organization as we've learned that when we sort through stuff, we find buried treasures that we weren't using. This goes for books, toys, everything.
As far as cleaning goes, a quick, not-so-thorough job is better than no job at all. For example, it's better to just hose off the car than wait until you can do a thorough job, because you may never get to it! I find the cleaning is a lot quicker when I keep things picked up. "A place for everything and everything in its place" really does make life a lot simpler.
Hope that helps! God bless,
L.
http://susannasapron.blogspot.com/

My mom gave me some good advice. You can't do it all in one day. Pick a day for doing things. Like Mondays I will clean the kitchen top to bottom. Tuesdays are bathrooms, and Wednesdays are living and Dining room. You kind of get the picture after that. It can be overwhelming to think that it all has to be done now. I tell my husband that if things bother me then he needs to help me with those things. Like if the house is messy he needs to help me keep it clean. Laundry is another story it gets done all days since I have a 10 month old and outfits need to be changed once in a while. Ironing is done when I feel like it. Take a breath and know that although some women like to think that they get it all done, those of us who put things off till tomorrow will have less stress. Kids will remember the time you spent with them, not how spotless the house was. Or they will remember the cleaning czar who demanded the house be spotless, and never spent time with them. The choice is yours.

I have an 18-month-old and am nearly 8 months pregnant, oh and we have a cat!, so there are days when I walk past the fur balls on the stairs and I'm just aching to take a dust-buster to them. But I work full-time, and while rest is scarce, stress abounds, so as long as my counters aren't sticky and the sink is clear every night, I remain sane. Asking my husband to help out is more difficult now, since he endures a pretty crazy and challenging new job, plus a 1.5 hour commute every day, but he helps when he can -- with the dishes, its invaluable, since my belly can't go up against the counter anymore and washing dishes gives me a backache nowadays. Like you, my big problem is the mail and paperwork -- I like to keep things in neat files, but after a long day at work, commuting and barely any time to spend with my son and husband, its been piling up. I say don't worry about it too much, and file stuff when you have a free moment.

A little late in answering, but check out flylady.net. It's a terrific resource and advice and support for those of us who aren't born neatniks! I've been using the site for a year or so and my house has never been cleaner or more organized! Those messy/horrible days literally take an hour where they used to take 5! It's terrific.

Oh how I understand you completely! The way I make things work best in my home is to pick one day a week where I do a whole pick up--clean, dust etc. I spend a few hours or half the day cleaning and then during the week, I only have to clean lightly. As far as organizing and things--if there is one last thing to do, I will do it before I go to bed. If I don't, I will worry about it all night--lol. So thats what works for us and I don't worry about what others think. If they don't have super messy boys, they can't say anything that would relate to me.

M

They say for every new thing that you buy dispose 2 or 3 old things. Sadly we never follow it. I've learnt the trick to keep kitchen organized and that is to put things away right there and then and I don't postpone it till later - dishes are another story though. Even though people call me a neat freak - dishes is one thing I frequently postpone for the next day. Rest I don't. Regarding toys, I don't buy my daughter too many and also encourage her to clean up - we usually sing together as we clean up or sometimes if she asks me for a treat, I negotiate with cleaning up her toys, it works a lot of times. Clothes I usually put in baskets to be sorted later. I also have a cleaning lady come in every 2 weeks and when they clean, I tend to organize stuff in parallel while DH takes my dd out to play. A lot of work gets done that way. Though there are some days when house is complete mess and I am so frustrated, so I just let it be and go to bed early and getup in the morning early and cleanup.