Occasionally I like to share some of my working mom wisdom. These are tips and tricks that I’ve picked up along the way. They can apply for all moms (and non-moms too). Also, I’m always looking for ways to streamline my day so if you have any tips you would like to share I would love to have you guest post.
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On the way home from BlogHer Elaine and I were discussing momma duties and eventually the conversation made its way around to cleaning house. I confessed to her that I do not have a housekeeper. Some of you will probably be shocked by that statement (she was) and will think, “man, I couldn’t live without my housekeeper.” Trust me, I totally get that sentiment.
David and I have discussed it in the past, but he is always {grouch, grouch, grouch}, “we don’t have the money.” I’m sure we could afford it, but then it comes down to do I do it and listen to him gripe about it all the time or just don’t do it. Right now I’m in the camp of just not wanting to listen to him complain.
Unfortunately that means all of the housecleaning duties fall solely on us, and even though there are two of us, time is still a huge factor. We both work all week and the weekends are for running errands and trying to spend some quality time with our kids. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for mopping floors and scrubbing bathtubs. Heck, it doesn’t leave a lot of time for loading the dishwasher and making sure we have clean clothes to wear.
A messy house drives me insane. I’ve learned to live with it and ignore it (to a degree), but the truth is I’m a much happier person when the house is tidy. Here are three tips that I’ve tried to ease the housecleaning burden:
1. Assign tasks to each family member. I think this is pretty straight forward. Each member of the family is assigned a task that is age appropriate. For example, Cady can dust the living room and put toys away, James can gather up trash and throw it in the garbage, and David can vacuum. This works to varying degrees depending on how I stay on top of them. I’ve also found that if I assign values to each of the chores for the kids it helps to motivate them to actually do the work. We do this in lieu of an allowance. I know there are different arguments about paying your children to do work around the house, but all I can say to that is every family is different and this is what works for us. Sometimes.
2. Everyone takes a room and works for thirty minutes. After dinner I will set the timer for 30 minutes and assign each person a room or activity. For example, I will give David the living room, Cady will be given gathering laundry from all over the house, I will take the kitchen, and James will float between David and I. This is probably my favorite because I get a solid hour of adult work and thirty minutes of kid work a night. David and the kids like it because of the set time limit. They know when the timer goes off that we are finished. Again, it works to varying degrees, and I have hard a time being consistent with our schedules.
3. Hire a teenager to help you. I got this idea when I attended Bloggy Boot Camp last weekend. Holy cow it was amazing! I paid my babysitter $20 to come over for three hours and help around the house with my chores. She folded laundry, vacuumed, dusted the living room, and cleaned my kitchen cabinets. The time she spent doing those items freed me up to work on other, bigger projects. I felt like something had actually been accomplished at the end of the day and that I wasn’t just chasing my tail. I’ve already asked her to come back this coming weekend.
As a working mom with limited time, I know that my house will never be spotless (it is VERY lived in), but these are some tips that I’ve used to help control the beast. What are some tips you use to keep your house clean?
The lovely photo I used with permission in this post was taken by my friend Gretchen. You can find more of her work on her photography blog Gretchen Willis Photography.
For more “working mom wisdom” be sure to check out the following posts:
The Dinner Dilemma
How do I get my husband to help me around the house?
Kids, Sports, and School
Finding a Daycare Provider
I love the babysitter idea. Now that my girls are babysitting age, I’ve taught them the best way to make sure you get call backs from any particular family is to leave the house a little better than it was when you arrived. For example, load up the dishwasher and wipe down the kitchen counters, pick up toys, shoes, etc. in the living room, help the child straighten up their bedroom some before bed, make sure the kids bathroom is straightened up after their bath. If they spend just 15 minutes doing this the mom will notice and love them even more!
We’ve often had a housekeeper (which I LOVE) but it’s always the first thing to go when money gets a little tight (and since we are both self employed, our income fluctuates which is annoying!). We assign chores to the kids that rotate on a weekly basis and they do their own laundry now. This is a huge help! Bottom line, you must be okay with less than perfect. And, older moms keep telling me that one day I’ll miss the clutter of kids at home. I bet I will…..because I almost teared up the other day when cleaning out a closet and I found a bag of old bath toys. Don’t you wish you could remember the last time they played with toys in the bathtub so you could cherish it?
The next time I trip over a toy walking across the living room I’ll try to remind myself that one day I’ll miss it.
We do have cleaning ladies… but they only come once a month. When Nick and I got married he already had the ladies coming (since this house was filled with renters and was like a frat house)… and I refused to stop the service. The once a month doesn’t cost us that much… but they do the “heavy lifting” parts of the house cleaning like scrubbing toilets, cleaning showers, mopping floors, and a full house vacuuming. That still leaves us with the general CONSTANT tidying. Even being a stay-at-home mom, I don’t think I could give up that once a month service at this point (unless we really really had to).
I love the 30 minutes timer family clean up time. I may have to see about putting that into our schedule. Heck… even 15 minutes of clean up help a day would be awesome!
That is by far my favorite tip and we get the most done that way. Plus it frees up time on the weekend. The only problem for me is being consistent.
Tip #3 is genius! Especially if I can somehow find a teenager with a slight case of OCD.
This girl is amazing! I did not even ask her to do the cabinets. I was fighting to get James to take a nap because he was exhausted. I finally got him down and went in the kitchen to find her on the floor with a rag and a bottle of cleaner. She’s a keeper.
If I had it to do again, I would include the kids more early on. I was too picky and wouldn’t tolerate imperfections. Practically instant Karma.
I am not as compulsive as my mom was, though.
I used to clean the bathroom three times a week in the summer when I was home. There were only three of us in the house and her husband sat to pee.
My mom was a perfectionist too, but she would not let us do anything to help because then she would just do it over. That is one of the reasons that housecleaning is not a habit for me. It definitely makes it harder.
Huh….I’ve never actually met anyone that DID have housekeepers….
I bet you know someone and just don’t realize it. I’m actually surprised at how many people I know that do have them.
I am totally ADD when it comes to housework. As in, I will start one project, get sidetracked onto something else and sidetracked again and wind up with nothing completed, a millions tasks started and wasted time. So- the best thing I did was assign certain tasks for certain days. As in, laundry on Monday, mopping all floors and bathrooms on Tuesday, etc. Now- it can be flexible- if we have a laundry emergency, I will put in a load, but mostly, I leave it until laundry day. Also, while I don’t follow fly lady totally, I still use her morning tip to wipe up the bathroom sink every morning after toothbrushing and quickly run the toilet brush around the toilet. I think she called it “swish and swipe” or something like that. Anyway- that quick cleanup of the bathroom in the morning keeps it from being totally nasty and when clean the bathroom day comes, it is usually more manageable.
I have that Fly Lady book, but I haven’t read it. I think a schedule is a good idea.
Keeping the house up is always a struggle. I find what works best is when Jdaddy and I both tackle it at the same time. He can dust one room and then I’ll vacuum and he moves on. I can wash the floors (mop them) while he picks up the rooms, etc.
We don’t really involve the kids in much other than “clean up your dishes” and “pick up those toys.”
David and I will do the tag team thing too. David is a good helper, but he has to have direction. As in, “take this bottle of cleaner and completely spray down the bathtub with it.”
The 30 minute time limit a night is pure genius, Jennifer! I think if Ash knew how long she had to go instead of feeling like it was never ending she would be more eager to help out. I think she just gets overwhelmed because she sees that I never stop and she figures she won’t be able to either.
30 minutes is great. It keeps them helping and frees up a bit of my evening for fun too!
The 30 minutes works really well. When I just say, “go pick up the living room” all I get is a lot of grumbling and complaining, but when I say, “you have 30 minutes to pick up everything off the floor in the living room and put it where it belongs” she gets right to work.
Love you tips. We do have a twice a month housekeeper that we got I think when my you gets was 2 and my oldest two sports schedules were heating up. I absolutely depend on her for bathroom cleaning, sheet changing, dusting, etc. In no way though does she replace the daily chores that have to be done.
We get cluttered so easily with all the kids stuff and John working from home that I do try to do power clean ups at least every other day.
I would love to figure out a way to do the 30 minute clean up with the kids, we just all have different schedules. I need to think on it.
Love the teenager idea – I know just the girl. Now to give her a list to work on and some time to do it.
The teenager idea is awesome! She was such a big help. The thirty minute thing works really awesome when we are all at home and not a lot else is going on, but if it is a night where something else is happening, like dance schedules or girl scouts, then it doesn’t work at all.
These are EXCELLENT tips. But I still love my house cleaners.
But that is SO awesome about your babysitter – what a great idea!!!
BTW, loving how you are featuring other people’s photos – also an excellent idea. You are FULL of greatness in this post, my friend!
Wellllll, I needed a laundry or cleaning photo and I remembered that Gretchen had some great ones so I emailed her and asked her if I could use one. I was very thankful that she said yes. Her skill is crazy amazing. I remember when she was just starting and I’m blown away by the stuff she is taking now. But yeah, I would share any photographer that asked. Especially if their photos fit with my post. I’m always looking for a great photo to use.
My biggest tip….live in a VERY small space and have a place for everything so it can be returned to it’s rightful place when not in use.
I’m still working on the rightful place part.
I love the idea of assigning a room to a child for 30 minutes. What a great idea. By the way, if you would like to promote this post on my forum, please do. Good stuff!