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Can Daily Housework Routines Simplify Life for Parents?

it's easier said than done! Apparently, though, it's easier to keep the house clean when no one is in it all day. This is particularly helpful for mothers who have young children at home. They can't be expected to clean the house every day, and, as this conversation demonstrates, it's also easier not to clean the house. There are, however, people who do both. One woman in this conversation has a daily routine for housework, while another does not. Additionally, this conversation demonstrates that it's important to be consistent with one's house cleaning.
TwinGirlsMom
TwinGirlsMom
276
Not too long ago someone posted something about 'it's easier to keep the house clean every day than to do a major cleaning'.
I'm a SAHM to 4 yo twins and although I'm home I still struggle with getting all my cleaning done each day! Aack!:eek:
I have made myself a schedule before--like Mondays=bathrooms, Tuesdays=dust & vaccuum, etc...
I really want to set a good example for my girls.

So I'm curious, what is your daily M-F routine for housework?
I want to draw on all the collective wisdom in this place to help make my life easier!
 
Me too! I am now a SAHM and really had visions of a clean house...I think I got more done when I was working outside the house!
 
I am so glad I'm not alone! When I worked, I did have a cleaner house, but I only had one dd.

Think about it though... It's easier for the house to stay clean when no one is in it all day! Sorry I don't have a schedule either. I'm just posting to say that I'm right there with you!
 
Hey I have six year old twins..I am always cleaning something...and I do a load of wash a day and I never feel overwhelmed with that...Dh helps there too...
 
That was me. My motto is: It's easier to keep a house clean, than to clean it!!
I am a SAHM (3) and I do all of our laundry every day!! (except last week when my washer died). I know that won't work for everyone but it's perfect fo my schedule & I don't have piles of laundry.
I am not OCD (contrary to my kids opinions). :)

I vacuum everyday we have dark green carpet. I do it to keep it from getting trails or whatever you call smashed down carpet where people walk. It is 8 years old and still looks and feels brand new. It was a major upgrade when we built but we had the exact carpet even color in the last house we built & I knew it was a keeper. We were told never to shampoo your carpet that it does ruin your carpet.

I clean bathrooms M-W-F put toilet cleaner in as soon as kids leave for school, wipe down counters and sweep floors. Before I jump in the shower I scrub the toilets. Again it is easier to keep it clean than to clean it. I have all the cleaning supplies I need in each of the 3 bathrooms so I don't have to carry it from room to room.

I dust, mop kitchen, foyer and laundry room & wash all bedding on Fridays.

I am a SHOPOHOLIC so my goal each morning is to do a thorough cleaning of my kitchen (I do it while my kids get ready for school in the morning I prefer to spend evenings with them or I'm running DD to practice). and be finished by 9 AM with all housework so if I want to read, shop have lunch with a friend I can.
 
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  • #6
Well I don't feel so guilty now! :D Sometimes I know my DH is thinking, you're home all week, girl, git-r-done! My girls are very active and we do lots of stuff and stay busy all morning. By the time they are in their room for 'quiet time' the last thing I want to do is clean. So by Saturday I have tons of stuff to catch up on and then it takes away from DH being home and doing something together as a family. Glad I'm not the only one! :p
 
When my kids were little they each had a laundry basket and hangers that matched.
I would take a sharpie and write something each day on the inside bottom of their basket so when they put their laundry away they could look for their new message. Before they could read I used stickers. This was like looking for Waldo in those Where's Waldo books! they loved it!!
My boys would come home from school & put the laundry up before snacks just to see what I wrote. Now I sometimes stash a new CD or DVD just for fun
It taught them responsiblity even the young ones can put away their socks and jammies. We lowered their closet rods so they could hang their own clothes or pick out what they wanted to wear.
whatever method you use be consistent
 
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  • #8
Teresa, you're my hero! That is a SUPER motto and I admire you for sticking to your schedule. Thanks so much for the tips and I'm going to try them.
My girls will start pre-school in the fall and I think it will be a lot easier while they're away at school.

Cleaning Question: I have some faint green [build-up] streaks in my toilet bowl. I think it's the water here. I have put those Clorox tabs in the water tank but doesn't seem to help. Know how I can get those out?
 
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  • #9
Lisa, are you twins frats or ids? Mine are identical girls.:)
 
  • #10
Frats..boy and a girl...they are in my avatar..
 
  • #11
Kimberly,
Try Lime Away it sinks but it usually works wonders!!
Thanks for the compliment I've never achieved Hero status before.

It has always been important to me that my kids be in a clean happy environment (I have a friend who is a slob, her family is always grumpy and they are sick alot) I think part of it it they have to move crap off a surface before they can sit down & that is stressful regardless of their ages.

I taught my kids to make their beds as soon as their little feet hit the floor, then it became a habit like brushing their teeth. (I never remade it no matter how crooked the comforter was. They had done the task and that was what I had asked of them.

Cleaning house is not my Life (just as PC isn't). But once it is clean it is so much quicker to be done in an hour! I had a housekeeper for awhile but she didn't do it to my standards & I found myself recleaning when she left. Then I'd be ticked off that she walked away with a paycheck and I was still doing the work HA!

I motivate myself with our clock timer for the dreaded clean out the fridge day, clean carpet next to the baseboards (I have a toilet brush just for this You'd be amazed and the little dust bunnies and cricket legs you can snag with it) pull weeds, etc then I reward myself maybe with a 30 minute to read or a phone call to a friend.
 
  • #12
Go out now and buy Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley - The Fly Lady. This book is awesome! I started her system 3-1/2 years ago. We have our routine down. If we get lazy and don't follow it, all of a sudden there are 11 loads of laundry and nothing gets done.

I am a SAHM with 2 children and this will help you easily organize everything. I feel weird writing I am a SAHM... Is there an acronym for working from home mom? WFHM?
 
  • #13
I agree about Flylady! (www.flylady.net) I have been a flybaby for about 4 years but recently stopped the e-mails. I am confident in my own routines now and don't feel that I need the e-mail reminders anymore. Flylady's teachings are about routines, not necessarily her routines, so I feel rehabilitated!

I CAN WALK! I CAN WALK!
 
  • #14
Chefgirl2 said:
Is there an acronym for working from home mom? WFHM?
Click to expand...

It's WAHM--work at home mom. :)
 
  • #15
I also 3rd the FlyLady suggestion. I'm still a flybaby, but I'm getting there. :)
 
  • #16
I started flylady's routines and still have my book of daily routines that I routinely do not follow. I just can't seem to get into a cleaning routine.
 
  • #17
sillylittlechef said:
I started flylady's routines and still have my book of daily routines that I routinely do not follow.
Click to expand...

LOL Dusty!!!! :):)
 
  • #18
I had to start small! I thought I would get into a routine and made these huge lists of things that I was going to do everyday. Well, the lists were so big that I figured if I wasn't going finish the list why start. This is totally against Flylady's principles of "Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family" and "You can do anything for 15 minutes". I pared down the list to what I could/would actually get done in a day while still caring for my family and business and have had a lot more success with it!
 
  • #19
One thing I have found a little helpful is that when I right my morning list of what I need done I don't write "kitchen", instead I write "mop", "dishes", "clean fridge". I am one of those people that can't mark it done if the whole room is not completed. When I do it this way my list is wayyyy longer, but I have alot more checks at the end of the day and I feel I have accomplished more. I do prioritize by labeling them by importance A-C and then sublabeling them 1-3. I could explain more, but as I am writing and reading over this I am appearing very OCD, so I won't elaborate unless you want more info. LOL
 
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  • #20
I am that way as well. I have to write my list in such a way that the more things that can be marked off, the better I feel about getting them done!

I hadn't heard of the FlyLady before, but I like her already! I've had a window open to her site for several days now reading all the info. Thanks for the tip.
 
  • #21
I just went to the Flylady site, and it is hilarious! Thanks for sharing. If it gets us motivated to work on the clutter, that is just what I need right now!
 
  • #22
I am a flybaby too!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love her website!
 
  • #23
Isn't it fun learning to FLY?

If you are just starting off, be careful when you clean your sink! I used a knife to get all of the gross stuff out from around the edge and to have a super clean sink. Uhm...that stuff is called plummer's putty and you need it.:rolleyes:

The good news is, I know how to install a sink and counter top!:D

It is awesome knowing that I can have company over anytime without having a major cleaning.
 
  • #24
Chefgirl2 said:
If you are just starting off, be careful when you clean your sink! I used a knife to get all of the gross stuff out from around the edge and to have a super clean sink. Uhm...that stuff is called plummer's putty and you need it.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

LOL!!!! :):):)
 
  • #25
Chefgirl2 said:
Isn't it fun learning to FLY?

If you are just starting off, be careful when you clean your sink! I used a knife to get all of the gross stuff out from around the edge and to have a super clean sink. Uhm...that stuff is called plummer's putty and you need it.:rolleyes:

The good news is, I know how to install a sink and counter top!:D
QUOTE]
OMG!!! That is soooooo funny! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Sounds like something I would do!:p
Click to expand...
 
  • #26
Chefgirl2 said:
Isn't it fun learning to FLY?

If you are just starting off, be careful when you clean your sink! I used a knife to get all of the gross stuff out from around the edge and to have a super clean sink. Uhm...that stuff is called plummer's putty and you need it.:rolleyes:

The good news is, I know how to install a sink and counter top!:D
Click to expand...
OMG!!! That is soooooo funny! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Sounds like something I would do!:p
 
  • #27
sillylittlechef said:
I started flylady's routines and still have my book of daily routines that I routinely do not follow. I just can't seem to get into a cleaning routine.
Click to expand...
Oh my gosh, it's great to know I'm not the only one!!!:rolleyes: I have been a flybaby (newborn):eek: forever!!!!!!! I do so good sometimes and then I just mess up, I do everything in a procrastinating style!!!:eek: I fly by the seat of my pants all the time!:rolleyes: I live in C.H.A.O.S. (Can't have anyone over syndrome) all the time!!!:eek: Someday, hopefully I'll figure it out!:confused: Even my sister, whose a clean freak, told me, when she visited for a few days recently, that she can't get over how it seems my house gets so cluttered so fast! She said "Its seems that your dishes just multiply and multiply, but yet you've been cleaning the kitchen all day!" Go figure! My biggest problem is that I have NO ROOM to store anything in my house, this house was made by an idiot, I swear!:rolleyes: There is 1 place to store everything in my house! (The linen closet!) Even my kitchen has one place to store pans and stoneware! Luckily it has a pantry, but it's so freakin deep, and I'm not very tall! It seems I'm always "climbing in!"
Our garage just keeps getting more and more stuff stored in it, cause I have no room left in the house! We need to move bad!!!! That is our goal in the next 2 years!
 
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  • #28
My house is always a mess. No matter what I do, it seems as nothing gets done. My dad who lives in Virginia always seems to show up on the messiest days!! Of course, we kept it spotless, not sure how, for a month and he never showed up...Even called him to ask him to come out now so he could see the house actually clean! Didn't work.

Also reminds me, when my sis and I were little we were "shipped" off to both sets of grandparents for the full 3 month summer school break. (they lived down the road from each other plus lots of other family to spend time with) Everytime we got done with bath at my dad's parents house, my gramma would make us wipe out the tub. She wanted all the water wiped off the tub, around the tub, and on the walls. (let's not forget,we also had to do the same thing with the sinks) Boy did we HATE this!!! We complained about it every time. Well, recently I told her I now know why she had us do it. There was never any soap scum to clean, never any water spots to worry about. She pretty much didn't need to do anything with it because it was always getting cleaned.

I tell myself daily that I will also start this with all the family but it never happens...

Sorry so long!
 
  • #29
You want bad... I've lived in my house for 6 months and haven't fully dusted once! Bad, I know but at night you can never see the dust and I'm always at work during the day, so in my mind there just isn't any :p Now off to continue to bury my head in the sand and then freak out on the 28th before I have 30-50 people over to "show off" my house...
 
  • #30
Dusting??? I tell my kids, "Don't worry about dusting. You can just write notes in the dust, saving lots of trees!!" LOL!!
 

Related to Can Daily Housework Routines Simplify Life for Parents?

1. Why is it important to keep a clean and organized house?

Keeping a clean and organized house has many benefits, such as reducing stress and promoting a sense of calm and well-being. It also creates a healthier environment by reducing the presence of germs and allergens. Additionally, a clean and organized house can save time and money, as it eliminates the need for frequent deep cleaning or replacing lost items.

2. How can I motivate myself to keep up with daily housework?

One way to motivate yourself is to create a schedule or routine for daily housework. This can help you stay on track and make the tasks feel more manageable. It may also be helpful to set small goals and reward yourself after completing them. Additionally, involving the whole family in household chores can make the tasks more enjoyable and reduce the workload for one person.

3. Is it really easier to clean a little bit every day rather than doing a major cleaning?

Yes, it is generally easier to clean a little bit every day rather than doing a major cleaning all at once. This is because smaller tasks are less overwhelming and can be completed more efficiently. By doing a little bit every day, you can also prevent clutter and dirt from building up, making the overall cleaning process easier and quicker.

4. What are some tips for creating a cleaning schedule?

When creating a cleaning schedule, it is important to consider your daily routine, the size of your home, and the specific cleaning tasks that need to be done. Make a list of all the tasks that need to be done and assign them to specific days based on your availability and workload. It may also be helpful to break tasks into smaller chunks, such as doing a load of laundry every day rather than saving it all for one day.

5. What is a good example of a daily routine for housework?

A good example of a daily routine for housework could be to start the day by making the bed and tidying up any clutter in the bedrooms. Then, move on to cleaning the kitchen and wiping down counters and surfaces. Next, tackle a specific task such as vacuuming or dusting. After that, take a break and focus on other daily tasks like cooking or running errands. In the evening, spend a few minutes tidying up the living room and any other shared spaces. Finally, end the day by doing a quick sweep of the house to ensure everything is in its place before going to bed.

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