How do you keep your house clean??

mattkati · June 2011

Our child is 5 1/2 months old, and our home is completely overrun with baby gear. We live in a 800 square foot apartment, and share the space with his 2 canine and 1 feline counterpart. LO is going through a phase where he only wants to be held ALL the time, and only Mom! We've tried carrying him in a carrier, baby swing, etc, and its the skin-to-skin contact he's wanting. Both me and DH work full time (DH at night, so he's not home with us while LO is awake) so I feel guilty not spending the few precious hours after work interacting with him, but I SERIOUSLY need to clean. How do you keep you home looking presentable, and even more importantly, functional? Other Mommas told me its a phase and just to deal with the home, but since our LO is a foster child, we have state workers in and out of our home frequently and its important to keep things orderly. HELP!!!

Heifergal · June 2011

We don't. We just shove everything toward the walls when we need space or have people coming over.

beeunit · June 2011

Heifergal:
We don't. We just shove everything toward the walls when we need space or have people coming over.

Nice approach. We shove everything into the office and pray that nobody needs to go in there for any reason.

RSMom32011 · June 2011

Heifergal:
We don't. We just shove everything toward the walls when we need space or have people coming over.

Honestly... This. We cleaned, as in sanitized. Dishes, food, diaper pails, trash, etc. But as far as clutter, vacuuming, etc. Nope. It went to the back burner.

But the other daily stuff I do once LO goes to sleep. We did take some of the advice that I got on here, and wrote down everything that needed to be done. Did some shorter dinner ideas, and tag teamed some stuff. We got A LOT done this weekend.

beckslea · June 2011

Yeah our house is on the market so we can't let it get too dumpy either. Make room in the closets in each room so if you have a last minute appointment, you can just shove extra gear and items in there! I don't have a lot of other tips...

aktemple · June 2011

We have a 1000 square foot apartment with a dog and a baby so I know about living in tight spaces. My best advice is:

1. Do one small thing at a time.

2. I put all dishes in the dishwasher right away so that helps keep the kitchen looking ok.

3. I spend a no more than 30 mins at night straighten up the stuff I didn't get to do during the day.

waspreggointhecity · June 2011

We're in a small apartment too. I keep the kitchen cleaned daily and everything else I rotate through. just do a little bit each day for 15 mins. it helps.

oandmplus1 · June 2011

I do 5-10 minutes of just picking up in the evenings when I put DD down to sleep and save some of the cleaning for the weekends when DH and I are home together. Honestly, it never all gets done and I just deal with it and do the best I can. Things like dishes, keeping the kitchen picked up and sweeping the floors (have 2 dogs and 2 cats), get done during the week because I have to, other wise it gets out of control, and things like laundry get done once a weekend (although I never manage to fold it all). The rest of it might get done every other weekend.

RyAnsMoMMy123 · June 2011

LOL. Honestly, the clutter ie:paper, magazines, bills goes under the coffee table and baby things get shoved in the corners.

I have been planning for a while now on making a schedule for myself to clean a few rooms/day so that it all gets done weekly. I have yet to do this...:hangs head in shame:

globetrotting7 · June 2011

aktemple:
We have a 1000 square foot apartment with a dog and a baby so I know about living in tight spaces. My best advice is:
1. Do one small thing at a time.
2. I put all dishes in the dishwasher right away so that helps keep the kitchen looking ok.
3. I spend a no more than 30 mins at night straighten up the stuff I didn't get to do during the day.

4. Do a load of laundry a day so it doesn't pile up.

5. Have your husband help you with one thing in the a.m. before he goes to work.

6. Prep for dinner (cut veggies etc.) the night before so you spend less time cooking and more time with baby or cleaning.

mj+hl13104 · June 2011

We have foster baby, too (18 months). I end scrambling like mad when someone comes to see him. I don't worry about the baby gear, I mean it's for him. It's part of caring for him, which is the priority. I just try to keep things from getting gross and move gear, toys, etc. against the walls like PP said.

I am bad at housekeeping in general. I started this week trying to set small goals everyday of the really important things.

NewFamily09 · June 2011

I'm a SAHM so I'm able to sometimes find time to clean. I can't imagine how I'd do it if I worked. The only idea I have is do you have a family member, friend, colleague nearby who would babysit once in a while so you could do it? If not, when you have a day off once in a while, have one spouse take the baby out somehwere while the other stays home and cleans. The baby will have to deal with not having skin to skin contact all the time. Maybe it'll actually be good for him.

erakgail · June 2011

We also live in an 800sq ft condo with 2 dogs. FI and I both work FT, but I am able to work from home on Mondays and Fridays. While I'm home and while Finn is napping, I will cycle laundry, run the dishwasher, straighten up intermittently while I'm working. Other than that, I try and spend 20 minutes after Finn goes down for the night straightening up, and FI helps with the deeper cleaning on the weekends. He is a big help around the house.

That said, 800sf leaves nowhere to stow away all of Finn's "gear", so we just try and push it all against the wall and try and avoid the fear that the walls are closing in on us.

ABizzity · June 2011

650sqf house here with a dog and a baby. DH and I take 2 hours to do it on the weekend. We usually tackle it first thing in the morning so that we have the rest of the day to do what we want. Sometimes we are passing LO back and forth while we are cleaning, other times he will play in his jumperoo, bouncy chair, play mat, etc. We just move him when he gets bored. We can only do it when we are together and we have gotten very fast at it. We also make sure to pick up toys, do the dishes and wipe down the kitchen every evening after dinner. That helps a lot so at least the place looks presentable...but the cleaning waits until the weekend when we are both home.

LucyGoosey81 · June 2011

People have given good tips. I also recommend signing up for flylady!

AggieBeth06 · June 2011

aktemple:
My best advice is:
1. Do one small thing at a time.
2. I put all dishes in the dishwasher right away so that helps keep the kitchen looking ok.
3. I spend a no more than 30 mins at night straighten up the stuff I didn't get to do during the day.

This. But my house is a wreck at any given point in the day. I'm too tired to WAH and deal with having a spotless home... But I just do a little daily.

jayellekay · June 2011

I don't. At least, not when I was home for 12 weeks on maternity leave. I sucked at being able to take care of the baby AND the house. Lucky for me, my mom is watching my LO until the end of August, and she's a neat freak, so somehow she manages to clean like a madwoman every day and take excellent care of my child. She apparently possesses superpowers that I do not, but I'm not complaining. :-)

But, seriously...since she basically gave my house a good "once over" last week, it's been really easy for me to just keep up with the day-to-day stuff in the evenings...like running a load of dishes, putting away the laundry she folded, running the vacuum, etc. I no longer feel overwhelmed because there's not a TON to do. So if having a magical cleaning mother isn't a possible solution for you, I'd suggest maybe taking a weekend with your DH and getting your house in tip-top shape, then just making it a point to keep up with the little stuff so it doesn't pile up anymore.

Wufroggy79 · June 2011

Your first step will be to spend one night getting everything the way you want it, picked up and deep cleaned, so you have a clean house to start with. I had my mom come over to watch LO while I was at home and could spend the day cleaning instead when she was about three weeks old because I couldn't take the mess. Then, I do my best to keep things picked up as I go or run around picking things up while she naps. I also put a lot of stuff away at night when she is asleep. If you can stay on top of it a bit, it doesn't take too long. Deep cleaning I only do about once a month, and I'll do that when h gets home and can take over babysitting duties.

vlagrl29 · June 2011

I have a 1800 square foot home and i am a SAHM with a part time job but i keep on top of it pretty well. I have a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath house and every week i make sure to go thru piles and file things accordingly, lightly dust, and vaccum.. when i deep clean a room , i put it on the calender to do it again in 8 weeks and in between that time i keep it clean and lightly dust. we do have a lot of DD's toys in our family room ...right now we got the swing, bouncy chair , bumbo, and play mat here, but i will put some of them in her room and alternate. its all about organization. luckily i went crazy when i was pregnant and went thru the whole house like a mad woman. i also keep track of expenses too. i do most cleaning when DD is napping. take it one room at a time, it will get done before you know it:)

vlagrl29 · June 2011

I have a 1800 square foot home and i am a SAHM with a part time job but i keep on top of it pretty well. I have a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath house and every week i make sure to go thru piles and file things accordingly, lightly dust, and vaccum.. when i deep clean a room , i put it on the calender to do it again in 8 weeks and in between that time i keep it clean and lightly dust. we do have a lot of DD's toys in our family room ...right now we got the swing, bouncy chair , bumbo, and play mat here, but i will put some of them in her room and alternate. its all about organization. luckily i went crazy when i was pregnant and went thru the whole house like a mad woman. i also keep track of expenses too. i do most cleaning when DD is napping. take it one room at a time, it will get done before you know it:)

MamatoJackson · June 2011

Wait until your LO is walking... Keeping it clean when they're this age is eeeeeeasy.

Lucky_Dragonfly · June 2011

we spend a couple of minutes every night to straighten up after the kids go to bed. DS knows how to put his toys away( we taught him that) and once we are done with something it goes right back where we got it from so there is never really a mess to clean up in the first place.

RHitch · June 2011

I live in a pretty big house, but cleaning is difficult with 2 little ones and a 10 year old SD. I make it a point to keep the downstairs clean at all times (picking up here and there and cleaning the kitchen every night). I also keep both of the upstairs bathrooms clean (clean as I go). Our bedrooms -- not so much. If somebody was to stop by, they would think our house was spotless because the downstairs would fool you. If they went upstairs to our bedrooms, they would get a reality check.

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