keeping house clean with little kids

e1234

Mon, Dec 14 2009, 6:17 am

I want to know the trick.
I see clean houses with little kids - how does it work -is the mother able to do anything else but clean up.
I feel like as I clean kids are messing and in order for my house to remain clean I need to be set on just keeping the house clean and nothing else.
please help me with any tricks. (and I guess I should train my kids better but I hate being policewomen - like kid walks in and throws the coat on floor - I hate for the first minute they are in the house to be a war about where coats belong..
this is a ramble but was thinking about this last night...

Ruchel

Mon, Dec 14 2009, 6:52 am

Regular cleaning help. That's my only trick for a decent house.

Akeres Habayis

Mon, Dec 14 2009, 7:16 am

I learned something about my dd when I went to her gan (she was 2 1/2)....she knewshow to hang up her coat,put away toys when finished and even put her chair away.

we can clean the question we have to ask ourselves.. do we really want to?I see women on imamother,that have loads of posts and then complain their hse isn't clean,or can't keep a clean hse!
I know for myself when I see my hse isn't soo clean,I know I was online more than I should have been

e1234

Mon, Dec 14 2009, 7:17 am

ok now everyone has that - but I'm talking about the house was clean at 3 -- I had it all clean - but by 6 it looked like it wasn't clean in a long time -- so 3 hours... .. (with 5 kids fighting and playing during that time)

ora_43

Mon, Dec 14 2009, 7:20 am

My first thought when I saw the subject heading was "don't bother."

What's your definition of clean? I keep the house clean enough for me, but that's not saying much. And even that much I only accomplish by getting help from dh.

Off the top of my head, I can think of one mother of a large + young family who has a very organized house, one of her main tricks is keeping things very simple. Each child has 5 outfits per season, each two children have a toy box in their room, and when they get something new they give away something old. Things like that.

I ask my kids to clean up their own toys and clothes, otherwise I would never get this place even to semi-clean. I only ask them to clean once or twice a day - once before dh comes home, and maybe one time earlier if toys are starting to build up everywhere. How it works - I control the resources, so if they want something, they do what I ask (I know, it sounds awful). If they want to take out toys, if they want to start an art project, if they want to read a book, etc - whatever they want, they need to clean first, then they can have it.

Now BH they're pretty used to it, so they sometimes clean up just because they know dh is on his way home, not because I've told them they have to if they want to take out more toys.

Akeres Habayis

Mon, Dec 14 2009, 7:23 am

I think it depends on wht u want.a friend of mine kids run havoc on her hse.but she is ok w/it because at least they aren't running to her.

e1234

Mon, Dec 14 2009, 7:28 am

Quote:

Off the top of my head, I can think of one mother of a large + young family who has a very organized house, one of her main tricks is keeping things very simple. Each child has 5 outfits per season, each two children have a toy box in their room, and when they get something new they give away something old. Things like that.

I think this is the trick but I tried locking my toy cabinet and it didnt' help.
there are still shoes,coats ,laundry, papers,food and who knows what else?

my house is usually not spotless- I just can't do it but I wanted it to be clean when dh walked in to light -- which I found was impossible. (normally I would just wait till kids go to bed and just clean up then) - the way it was working was that as I cleaned there was more mess and it was impossible.....
I don't know how it seems my neighbors houses are always clean - -I wish I knew how...

mommy24

Mon, Dec 14 2009, 8:19 am

Quote:

I'm impressed you get 3 hours, I get more like 10 minutes. Sad

AFter the housekeeper used to leave I would sit on the couch , enjoy it for a moment and not think htat in 2 minutes kids willstart dropping books on the floor, spilling water, etc.
BH now we have a playroom and the kids pretty much keep it clean, if htey want to keep toys they know it must stay clean. In the past they were not permitted in the playroom for x amt of time bec they hadn't cleaned. It is not perfect- but at least there is nothing on the floor. What I did was buy them containers and label each box for the toys. They are then supposed to put the boxes in the toy closet . I won't say they always clean, esp the older ones- with lego and playmobil htey always make set ups and never have enough time to play- so I let them leave their setups as well, but all little peices must be put away.

For laundry, I try to get it folded and put away in their draweres as soon as it is dry. I used to have kids put it in, but I noticed- their drawers looked terrible (more work for me to find htings) and they had so much stuff it got them frustrated. so I decided better off I put it away (plus less need to iron the boys school shirts!). With 6 kids, I do laundry all the time- my kids have maybe 5 shirts each (school) and 4 pants (school) and 4 girls uniforms each. For shabbos they have 3 dresses each and for boys tons of shirts (they get ruined so quickly) and 2 prs of pants each (w few different vests, I htink).

Another trick for laundry, if you have kids share a cloest- is different colored hangars per child (one kid only uses yellow, another kid only uses red, etc) I have done this for years with my kids and it makes them finding htere own clothes so much easier, plus the closet looks so organized. I took it one step further and gave kids towels the same color as their hangers, now I know who is putting their towel where it belongs and who is just leaving it on hte floor.

We have no coat cloest in our house, so I bought a regular coat rack for my husband, my self and any adults that visit the house to use. For the kids I bought a shelf htant hangs on the wall, I Put it lower down so that the kids can reach it and hang hteir coats and backpacks on it. IT also has compartments where I stick baskets for their gloves, scares, hats, etc. And we have a bench that you sit on take off your shoes and it has compartments underneath to store shoes. Each child has hteir own compartment for shoes and 3 hangars (for back packs and coats). This definately helped clear out our halway. We just made it a habbit, you come in , hang up your coat, bag and take off your shoes and everything goes in its place.

Also, whenever I get frustrted, bec kids left stuff on the floor and I know I will not get htem to put it in its proper places at that time- I Take a laundryt basket (small one) and have them throw everything on the floor in it. later, over the next days, or when they are looking for something htat is probably in the basket, I make them put the stuff away.

amother

Tue, Dec 15 2009, 9:53 am

mommy24, you're an inspiration! I only have 1 now, with twins on the way b"H but I see how starting good habits even with us adults will really make life easier now and how much more so then! thank you.

Mini Cookie

Tue, Dec 15 2009, 10:36 am

"Cleaning the house while kids are growing is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing"
LOL

women that manage to keep their house spic-n-span is probably due to one of the following reasons, some negative & some positive-

*they can afford cleaning help
*they own very little stuff
*the children were taught to help out
*they are high-strung & yelling machines
*they have loads of energy & strength
*Husbands help A LOT
*Children are trained like in a boot camp

But one thing we all might agree on is that an organized home where things are found easily & children are taught to chip in & help mommy is really a blessed home. These homes produce responsible & independent adults.

There's nothing wrong with reminding the kids to put their coats on the racks, mommy isn't a machine!!! I actually chant in a happy voice while we walk through the door "I bet you ____ knows where her coat belongs" or "____ coat is always clean because she makes sure it's never on the floor", DD is 3 and she knows that a coat doesn't belong on the floor.

Ruchel

Tue, Dec 15 2009, 10:48 am

When I had no cleaning lady (took me months to find one), I would allow dd to make tons of mess because it was messy anyway (I never "learned" to do housework and I hate it). Now that she makes it all pretty and clean I sometimes feel like telling Mati "noooooo" lol. But she's allowed to be a kid.

Marz613

Fri, Dec 25 2009, 4:34 am

I dont have cleaning help, and I have a big house. it is not always clean, I try to stay on top of it, keep the kitchen clean, laundry and clothing in control. I am not able to sweep or clean the bathrooms every day, I just do the necessaties, like the clothing and dishes. im too busy with my kids. then once or twice a week I do the rest. im not happy about it but I have no choice!

frumshopper

Fri, Dec 25 2009, 8:37 am

There is a saying:

Cleaning house while the children are growing is like shoveling while it is still snowing!

BennysMommy

Fri, Dec 25 2009, 11:18 am

ora_43 wrote:

My first thought when I saw the subject heading was "don't bother."

Mine was "impossible"