Managing the Household
Easy Steps to Keeping the House Clean
Here's some background on myself, my family and our home: We live in a small, 2 bed 1 bath mobile home. We rent from friends for an unbeatable rate and love the area and our neighbors. We know that with a family of 4 we have outgrown this places about 2 kids ago but we are determined to make it work for at least 3 more years (until my new car is paid off and we are ready to buy a place of our own).
I am married to a husband who has always worked jobs where he came home a mess LOL. With working as a painter, an AC repair man, working in plants around the country, etc. he's always come home with clothes that are a challenge to keep clean. Paint, sweaty & sour clothes, chemicals, etc. On top of the usual messy work clothes, my husband fishes and he works on cars (grease stained clothes is pretty common in our house LOL). Anyways, to sum that all up, my husband's clothes alone are a mess to keep up with. Add to that, I have two small children which means lots of stains, general mess from learning to eat, etc. So, clothes are a challenge and to make it even more challenging, I hang dry clothes (inside on a clothes rack and also in a few other places) which saves us a lot of money but is obviously a lot more work (and mess) on my part.
Back up a second to the kids… we have a 2 year old daughter and a newborn baby boy. Living in a small mobile home with two kids isn't easy to say the least. Though I'm pretty much anti-tons-of-useless-toys (more on that later) and I believe that it's perfectly ok to raise kids without every little gadget out there, we still have a lot of baby stuff that takes up a lot of room and makes a big mess if not kept in check.
To add to the mix, I am a big sale shopper and couponer (hence this blog!). I stock up on things when I find a sale. This definitely brings big challenges to keeping the house in order. My dream is to, one day, have a utility room filled with shelving and storage. But my current reality is that my pantry is just a cabinet (seriously) and storage space is a luxury we don't have. So, I have to keep things very organized and make the best use of the space that we do have. I have extra storage that we created but it still means extra work to keep things organized.
So, there is a little background about our family and a small picture of what challenges we face with our living situation. I hope to be a stay at home wife/mom in the next few years, but right now (for various reasons) I have to work. Therefore, I'm not home all day to focus on keeping the house in order and when I get home after a day at work and a long commute home, my time is limited. I cook and do "deep cleaning" on the weekends but I have several quick steps that I do on a daily basis that help to declutter the house during the week and help me to keep my sanity (mess makes me crazy LOL).
I really believe in doing a little bit here and there rather than letting things pile up and cleaning all at one time. That said, there are things that I do on a daily (sometimes more than once) basis that help to keep my house de-cluttered. Not to mention that these quick and easy steps help to keep our home pretty clean so that when the weekend comes I only have to do those deep cleaning jobs (like the bathroom).
1) Make the bed daily –> this is not only a good habit for mom and dad to get into but also the kids. Any room looks neater when the bed is made. This doesn't take much time but makes a world of a difference.
2) Always have an empty sink –> those with a dishwasher will find this step pretty easy but those of us without one (I detest them LOL) will find this more of a challenge. Dirty dishes will always make the kitchen look messy. Therefore, I try to always have an empty sink. This means that I do dishes while preparing dinner and then I do them after we finish eating. In the morning, I do any leftover dishes (like from a late night snack or breakfast) before leaving for work. It makes a big difference in my attitude when I come home to an empty sink rather than a full one to tackle before dinner.
3) Do quick wipe downs often –> I rarely use papertowels or those quick cleaning wipes. Instead, I keep a decorative basket of rags on top of the fridge to use instead. I also keep several bottles of cleaning mixes under the counter (I mix them myself from either concentrated cleaner or just simple homemade cleaners that I put together). I use these and wipe down all the counters in the kitchen, counters in the bathroom, sink, stove, etc. often. This makes a world of a difference on how the home looks and smells!
4) Keep on top of the clothes –> Since I hang-dry clothes and am limited on space, this is definitely my biggest challenge, personally. To start off, I have a hamber that is easily accessible to the bathroom. The hamper is used for my clothes and the kids clothes only. I also have a clothes basket for my husbands clothes, which are kept seperate because they are washed seperately. I make sure that these are in places that will encourage the family to actually use them LOL. For hang drying clothes, I have a heavy-duty clothes rack that is kept in our bedroom (again, space is limited). This is about enough space to hang one large batch of clothes. So, this means that since I don't have room to hang dry more than one (or maybe two if it's a small second load) of clothes at a time, I have to wash often. The hidden benefit of this is that I stay on top of the clothes which makes a big difference in how de-cluttered the house looks.
5) Keep toys under control –> I am very much against the idea of kids growing up with tons of toys that not only go unplayed with most of the time and cost money that can be spent elsewhere, but it also makes extra and unnessary mess. Therefore, we ask family members to keep toys to a minimum when giving gifts and when we do buy toys ourselves, we try to be very selective about what we buy (learning toys are a plus, toys that are very durable and will last with more than one kid, etc.). But we still have toys, of course, and they are still a challenge. My way of tackleing this problem is to have a place for everything. We keep a small toy basket in the living room. This not only keeps us from having too many toys (I go through it often to make donations) but it's a great way for easy cleanup. In the kids' room, we have another (larger) basket that serves the same purpose. Books (which we have a lot of) are kept up on a shelf nice and neat. Larger toys are kept to a minimum and each have a designated space. At the end of each day, be sure to get the kids to help with clean up by putting toys back in their place. It also is a big help to teach them to pick up a toy before getting another out (we're working on this with our 2 year old).
6) Make the best use of the space that you have –> Again, living in a small mobile home with 4 people isn't easy. We have stuff in almost every corner and yet the place doesn't look like the disaster that you would think LOL. This is because I put a lot of thought and effort into using the space that we have in the best way possible. We have added extra storage where ever possible (second hand cabinets have been placed in several spots, shelves have been added throughout, etc.). Closets are well-organized and have things added (like those large tupperware containers, extra shelves, hooks, etc.) to make the best use of the space.
7) Purge often –> I try to keep things like toys, clothes, shoes, etc. down to a minimum in order to save money and save space. But obviously, though gifts and things, stuff piles up regardless. This means that I purge often. In our area, they have several thrift stores and donation bins. I keep a bag in the house where I put donation items in as I come across them. When the bag is full, I throw it in the trunk of my car and drop it off to be donated. This keeps the clutter down BIG TIME.
Learn to live and be happy with less –> This is my biggest tip of all. There's no need to elaborate, explain, or anything. That says it all. Materialism wont bring you happiness but only bigger bills, less money, more stress and more mess.
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