Linking up today (a day late whoops!) with Not Just a Mom to talk about Cleaning Hacks!
As much as I live by to-do lists, I have learned that our family does not operate very well with chore charts. It’s just one more thing to maintain and keep up with, and at this point I have finally realized that we are never going to have a perfectly color coded routine, and since then I have sworn off any and all chore charts. I would get so frustrated trying to manage assigning the right chores to the right kid, then rotating the schedule so everyone has a turn, then breaking up the inevitable arguments that “she didn’t do the dishes THREE times last week!”
I learned that instead of teaching my kids to check off the lists of chores hanging on the wall or the fridge, I want them to be able to look around them and see the things that need to be done. So our family chore strategy is that we basically have a “power half-hour” where we all work together to get done what needs to be done that day. Usually, after dinner Theo and I assign each child to a task and we all work on it until our house is decently put together for the night. These chores include one load of daily laundry, washing the dishes, putting the clean dishes away, sweeping the floor, cleaning up any toys, vacuuming the carpets and packing school lunches. Surprisingly, the five of us usually get all that done in 30 minutes or less!
This is also how we tackle our animal and homestead chores- we all go out and work on them together- each kid is assigned to an animal and we all get it done.
The deeper cleaning chores like cleaning the bathrooms, washing towels and sheets, mowing the lawn and dusting happen on an as-needed basis. And honestly, sometimes those things need to be done and I just haven’t done them. Our house is tidy, but it isn’t exactly spiffy clean. And you know what? I’m ok with that. I truly don’t think my kids are going to look back and remember that the bathroom was dirty more often than not, or that the lawn got a little long here and there.
And that leads me to my top cleaning hacks/tips:
- Sometimes, it’s just ok if the baseboards aren’t clean and the mirrors have splotches. Let it go. Let it be. There really are more important things in life than that.
- Sweeping the floors and vacuuming the carpets is the chore that makes the most visible difference. If everything feels messy and out of control, focus on doing that and it will make a huge difference.
- Do one load of laundry each day to stay caught up
- Also- whites and darks can totally be washed together. As can towels and regular clothes.
- Invite someone over- that will get the house clean faster than anything!
- Kids can do way more than we give them credit for.
- The kids have to clean up all toys and messes before they can be on screens (honestly, I wish I applied this rule more to myself, too!)
- The less stuff we have, the less stuff we have to clean and clean up.
- The more time the kids spend outside, the less cleaning up we have to do. Yes, it really helps that we live on 5 acres, but I noticed this even when we lived in a neighborhood with a smaller yard.
