Keeping Up

Some people will recommend that you visit the kitchen sink website (forgot the actual name) and that's what I did. But, it was just a big jumbled mess...all I pulled from it was the idea of making a schedule. It's nice because even if something is dirty one day, you can ignore it in peace knowing you will have time to get to it the next! Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to keep the house 100% clean everyday...but if you follow a schedule it will be easier to clean up on those days you have company coming over since part of it's already done! Here's a sample of what I did (I didn't include my class or work stuff).

Mon: Errands, Groceries
Tue: Laundry (sheets & rugs), clean dining & baths
Wed: clean home office, MOVIE (crybaby matinee @ angelika) or SHOPPING day!(be sure to make a "free" day for yourself!!!)
Thu: Laundry (my clothes & baby stuff)...hubby washes his own clothes since he's pickier, clean living room
Fri: Errands, family free day
Sat: Clean bedrooms, date night (in or out of house)
Sun: Clean kitchen/laundry room, clean/organize fridge, prepare grocery list

In addition to the weekly list, I have a daily list to keep up with small chores:

Morning: empty dishwasher, make breakfast, pick up bedrooms, sweep/swiffer kitchen

Evening: make dinner, load dishwasher, pick up living & dining areas, clean bottles

I assign taking out the trash and his laundry to my husband. :)

If you need help making a schedule for your own home, let me know as I love making task lists and organizing!

I have 2 websites that I tend to go to when I need fresh views and some encouragement. Neither has been a 100% fix for me but I have taken lots of ideas and incorporated them into my life and have seen a difference.

www.Messies.com and www.flylady.net

They both have tons of pratical advice, and one of their systems may suit your personality to a T. If not, just take what works for you and your household.

Best of luck! This is a beast that I battle DAILY and I know how you feel.

Oh boy, I could have written that question! We live in a modest home so organization is key here. I'm not where I want to be yet, but getting there. :) We put shelves on our walls in several rooms & it's helped SO MUCH. Now there's a place for everything (almost); things don't pile up so much anymore.

For the girls toys that get left lying around, I keep a basket in the living room. When I'm picking up, I put their things in the basket; when the basket gets full, they have to empty it.

I try to do a load of laundry every day, otherwise it can get overwhelming. Things like cleaning the bathroom, dusting, vacuuming, I break up & do on different days of the week. That way I feel like I've accomplished something everyday but I haven't had to spend my whole day cleaning. I've also found that keeping the kitchen clean helps keep the rest of my house clean. For some reason, I feel so much better when the kitchen is clean & everything else around the house is more likely to get done.

The biggest & best thing I've done, though, is to lower my expectations. While my children are small & we're homeschooling, I'm not going to have a beautiful home. It will be messy more often than not, there will be toys lying around & always a dish or two (atleast!) in the kitchen sink & a toothpaste blob in the bathroom sink. I do what I can & let go of the rest. For now. :)

Hello I know what you need lol --- my name is B. Anderson and I have a residential and commmercial cleaning business in the South Arlington/Mansfield area. We are insured and bonded. We will clean from top to bottom (ceiling fans, baseboards, doors, wipe down cabinets, plus of course all the regular detailed dusting, kitchen, bathrooms, change linens etc) we truly customize it to fit your cleaning needs. We also use Melaleuca all natural cleaning products. Thank you we look forward to exceeding your cleaning expectations! Please visit our website for more information and to find out about the other services we ____@____.com
Thank you
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I work full time and have a one year old, a five year old and two dogs. Like the previous posters, I do a little bit everyday and have learned to just let some things go. I wash one load of clothes per day, but they usually don't get put away until the weekend. Dishes get done every night and I dustmop every couple of days, except when the dogs are shedding (yay, summer) and then I have to do it everyday. We have mostly wood and tile floors, which helps. The dusting, bathrooms, etc, get spread out and done a little each night during the week. I have learned to lower my expectations and just accept that some things are going to be messy when the kids are small. I make a list each day of the things I must do and then add a couple of extras that may or may not get done. Big projects I save for the weekend, especially if my mom can come watch the girls, since cleaning out the garage with a one year old would be too much of an adventure for me. One thing I did that helped a lot was to move most of the toys to a spare room upstairs. I have one tub in the living room for toys and when it gets full, I dump it back upstairs or in the girls' room downstairs. That way the living room does not fill up with toys. It is never as neat as I would like it to be, but I am generally not horrified if someone comes over. Good luck!!

Hi S.

I have a cleaning company out of Garland and offer very reasonable rates. You can email me at ____@____.com or call me on my cell at ###-###-####. If a company is out of the question, I used to make a game with the kids at a daycare I worked at and have them help me clean. I would ask for their help, even if I didn't need it. Helps them learn responsibility and self help skills. Hope that helps!

I have kids the same age and it seems like I'm always cleaning up after them, too! Several months ago I started doing laundry and cleaning on specific days as opposed to "the laundry basket is full so time to do laundry" type of schedule. It has really freed me up to just relax a bit on the days that I am not scheduled to clean. I just get really messed around on weeks that I don't get to the cleaning or laundry or if/when we get sick. I haven't figured out how to keep up with stuff then. It's constant catch up.

So I do laundry on Monday/Thursdays or Tuesday/Fridays. I light clean on Tuesday mornings (dust living rm and my room 'cause it gets really dusty and light clean bathrms (mostly wipe down counters) and vacuum living/dining/kitchen) and then on Friday I do more thorough cleaning of dusting and vacuuming the whole house and more detail in the kitchen and bathrooms. Also, I clean toilets every other week and wash sheets on the other weeks. That way I don't have a ton of cleaning to do all at once. Usually I try not to do laundry on the same day I'm cleaning; otherwise I don't get it all done in one day and that is frustrating to me.

Hope this helps,
M.