It’s like shoveling snow in a blizzard. That is certainly what it feels like to try to keep a house clean as a stay-at-home mom with 5 small kids. Of course, I’m not actually a stay-at-home mom but that is what I’ve been since I had my 5th child so that is what I’ll write about now. When I start work again, I’ll do another post about keeping house while working full time which is of course its own beast.
But how do you keep a clean house when your kids are home all day with you? I always pride myself on being one of those people that has a decently clean house. I’m not saying its spotless. If you move my couch, you’ll find discarded toys and dust. There are crumbs on my floor right now and it’s 6:30 in the morning and I already see scattered toys.
Cluttered, not dirty
But for the most part my house is clean. I see all these tik tok videos about normalizing a dirty house and I’m honestly not a fan. Your family and your children deserve to live in a clean space. There is a HUGE difference between clean and cluttered though. Your house can be free of dirt, grime, and trash yet still be cluttered in toys. That is not a dirty house, that is a cluttered house. A different subject for a different day.
Newton’s first law
Okay let’s talk about how I manage to keep my house clean with 5 kids at home. My first advice is to not sit down. An object in motion stays in motion. If you sit down and start a show on the TV, chances are you aren’t going to get up again. Try to start your day productive and try to keep that momentum up as long as you can. Personally, I feel like my best thinking happens in the morning, so this is when I like to write my blog, plan out a day, create a post for social media, or do some of the non-stop paperwork associated with moving.
And then I just don’t stop. I keep going. Have you ever read the kids book “If you give a mouse a cookie?”
If you give a mom a dirty dish
That’s my brain. All day. And when I’m home with the kids all day I just follow it. I just trace the lines of things that need to be done. Sink is full of dishes but I need to empty the dishwasher. When I empty the dishwasher, I notice the trash is full. As I take the trash out, I stop to get the mail. When I come in the laundry beeps. When I switch that I notice dirt on the floor. So, I grab the vacuum and vacuum upstairs. On and on.
I am not a person that enjoys playing with my kids. Hear me out- I like to build with them, I like board games and I love to read to them. I like to be around them and watching them play but I don’t want to actually sit. So, instead I clean where they are. By doing this, now I’m chatting with them, interacting but still moving. If I sit down to play with them chances are I end up on my phone. If I try to get something on the computer done near them, I get frustrated with them. But if I’m moving… I’m happy, playful, and way more likely to include them.
We put on music, we sing, we dance, I throw out ideas for their imaginative play. We are all happier.
When they want to help, I let them. Who cares if it takes longer. The laundry is getting folded today either way. Trust me, I do get frustrated. But also, if I don’t teach them now then later when they are old enough to do it on their own, I’ll have to teach them then. So I might as well do it when they are asking to learn instead of when they are mad about it.
Schedules
Another thing I do is to have a schedule. This is something I can maintain while I’m working as well. The whole house is not getting clean in one day that is a ridiculous expectation. But a few rooms can get clean. I have 4 bathrooms. On Tuesdays I clean two of them. On Thursdays the other two. Bedrooms get cleaned on Saturdays, playroom on Friday, Monday is for the living spaces. Floors are a constant battle so I run the Roomba or I vacuum some area daily and mop when I’m motivated… or on Sunday. Table and kitchen get cleaned nightly and deep cleaned weekly. Dishes are done daily.
This schedule is fluid. No one is locking us in. If the kids have an awesome creation in the living room I might skip it that day. If there’s a huge mess in one of the bathrooms I’ll do it a day early. Maybe we are out of the house all day so we don’t clean at all and stay home another day to do it. But every room gets cleaned weekly which is important because it cuts down on how dirty that room gets thereby cutting down on the amount of time it takes to clean.
What are my kids doing during this? They are usually there. The baby is either napping, sitting in a chair watching me or strapped to me. The toddler is right there watching, observing, helping. I hand him trash or give him his own rag and watch him scrub. The bigger kids are in and out. Asking for help, watching me. I don’t make them learn but if they are wanting to learn I let them. They are usually nearby playing either way.
Nap time is me time
I refuse to do chores at nap time. I will clean up the lunch dishes but that’s it. Nap time or any time the babies are sleeping is the only time I get for me. This is when you sit down. This is when you watch a show, read a book, look at your phone, do a workout. This is NOT the time to pick up toys, to mop, to scrub floors. Chores, though frustrating at times, can be done with kids. Things that require quiet, can not.
Building little helpers
And remember kids can do a lot more than you think. I am very particular about how I want things done but that doesn’t mean I can’t send them off with some dusting spray and a rag while I’m cleaning a bathroom. All that means is less dust I’m fighting on another day. Or send them off with a vacuum or a Swiffer. Less vacuuming I’m doing. Yes, I’m still going to dust and vacuum to get it fully clean, but its still helping. Its still decreasing the dirt and grime.
Cleaning up after kids is a lot like my time as a zookeeper. You clean the same rooms every single day knowing that as soon as you clean it, the mess will be there again. This applies to toys especially. One thing I learned as a zookeeper though is that if you had a day where you didn’t try as hard because the poop would just be back there tomorrow, well then tomorrow the cage was twice as hard to clean. If you did a good job and sprayed the walls spotless, the next day was a little bit easier.
So here are my tips for maintaining a clean house with kids.
- Have a schedule
- Keep moving
- Clean where the kids are
- Include the kids
- Nap time is not chore time
- Clutter is not dirt. Toys take 10 minutes to pick up at the end of the day.
- Make it fun! Music, dancing, stress free clean!