OMG, don’t you hate reading housekeeping tips that tell you to “clean a little every day and then it won’t be so overwhelming”? I do. At the end of a long day, the last thing I want to do is clean a bathroom or vacuum. When I get home from work, my focus is on what do I need to do before tomorrow and when can I go to bed.

That being said, it’s so hard to keep up with all the cleaning that needs to get done. Aside from the heavy cleaning there are piles of dishes and laundry that never go away and it’s hard to just keep up with those things alone.

I so wish I could have more free time to keep up with it all. But then reality sets in- if I have a day off from work I do not want to spend it cleaning. Who’s with me on that one?

We try our best to keep things neat and clean, but there are definitely days when I walk through my house thinking what a pig-sty its become.  Over time I’ve found a few things that help me get closer to a neater home. Not white glove clean, good enough clean. Clean enough that if someone stopped by I would only be slightly embarrassed of the “lived in look” and not completely mortified.

Here are some of the shortcuts that work for us.

Working Mom Tips to Keep Your House Clean

1. Cleaning Service

I was reluctant to hire a cleaning service, probably because I didn’t want people in my house or because I didn’t want to pay for something I felt I should be doing myself.  After DS2 was born the cleaning was falling behind and we hired a service that comes every 2 weeks to clean.  They vacuum, change the linen, clean the bathrooms, etc… at this point I don’t know how I lives without them and would not know what I would do if they stopped coming.

2. Power Hour

I set aside short amounts of time to accomplish a lot!  It works best for us on long Friday afternoons, but we sometimes do it on Sunday too.  Read more about how we do power hour in our home.  Also, watch this video on how to clean up fast when guests come over.  It makes me not feel nervous to have last minute company knowing that there are ways to make your house look neat even when it isn’t really neat.

3. Laundry System

It took me a while to find my groove, but I finally found a laundry system that works for us.  We don’t always get to putting everything away, but everyone has clean clothes that they can easily find in the morning.  That’s a win for me!

4. Purge

One way to have less to clean is to just have less stuff in general.  I purged my closet, read the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and now have a minimalist wardrobe.  I try to teach my kids how good it feels to purge the stuff they don’t need and they now love the feeling of having everything neat and tidy and the uplifting feeling you get when you get rid of the stuff you don’t need.

And it’s as simple as that. My house is not immaculate, but it’s neat enough for us (usually) without cleaning a different part of the house each day.

How do you keep your house neat and tidy?

Until next time,
Shaindy