This is for a friend of mine who recently asked, “does anyone else feel like they are spending 95% of their time cleaning?” I’m assuming the other five percent is for pulling your hair out, I know I save 5% for things of that nature.
The best way to keep from feeling bogged down by cleaning, and run over by little ones is to practice a few organizational skills, and have the right tools. I have just a few tools that are a must in order to keep my house presentable (not spotless).
Meet the gang:
Now that you’ve met my crew, you’ll just need to understand our mission plan, which is this; get out of bed. No, just kidding, but that is the first step, which is harder on some days. Ok, so after I get out of bed, and wake my kiddo up (yes I’m lucky enough usually to get up before her) and feed her breakfast I get started, but first I make my bed. My kid is usually in a pretty good mood during the morning hours before her nap so it’s easy to keep her occupied with simple things while I clean. I start with the kitchen, since that’s usually where I make the first mess. After I’m done cleaning the kitchen I grab my trusty shark and vacuum the whole house. I love my shark because it can go from wood to carpet to the bathroom floors, it picks up things the broom misses, and it detaches into a little handheld vac. Then out comes the swiffer, and I swiffer every room in the house (I only have wood, laminate, and area rugs). Here's the thing about swiffer mops, they are ridiculously convenient, but they aren’t at all cost efficient, that is unless you employ my sneaky method. First you need to buy a pack of microfiber towels, heck buy two because they are the best cleaning rags I’ve ever used. Then you fold them to meet the dimensions of your swiffer mop, after which you sow the ends shut, and run three stitches down the length of the rectangle (evenly spaced of course). Finally you take two velcro strips and stitch them at the proper spacing so the pad will attach to your swiffer! Do ten like this, and wala! you have reusable swiffer pads that work better than the real thing. Now that you’ve gotten that annoying part of owning a swiffer mop out of the way, you just have to refill the non-refillable bottle. This is courtesy of my mother, who is apparently a genius, because I didn’t know it was possible to refill the bottles without ruining them. The easiest way to describe how to do this is to liken the cap to one of those chemical lids with the safety seal. That bottom ring is what keeps you from taking the lid off the bottle, and you must therefore remove it with an X-acto knife, or similar tool. Once you’ve removed that annoying plastic ring, you can then unscrew the top and refill it with vinegar and water! It’s my opinion that vinegar cleans better than half the stuff on the market, and so for a bottle that size I usually mix together 1/4 cup vinegar, a few drops essential oil, and enough water to fill the bottle back up.
Now that you’ve met my crew, you’ll just need to understand our mission plan, which is this; get out of bed. No, just kidding, but that is the first step, which is harder on some days. Ok, so after I get out of bed, and wake my kiddo up (yes I’m lucky enough usually to get up before her) and feed her breakfast I get started, but first I make my bed. My kid is usually in a pretty good mood during the morning hours before her nap so it’s easy to keep her occupied with simple things while I clean. I start with the kitchen, since that’s usually where I make the first mess. After I’m done cleaning the kitchen I grab my trusty shark and vacuum the whole house. I love my shark because it can go from wood to carpet to the bathroom floors, it picks up things the broom misses, and it detaches into a little handheld vac. Then out comes the swiffer, and I swiffer every room in the house (I only have wood, laminate, and area rugs). Here's the thing about swiffer mops, they are ridiculously convenient, but they aren’t at all cost efficient, that is unless you employ my sneaky method. First you need to buy a pack of microfiber towels, heck buy two because they are the best cleaning rags I’ve ever used. Then you fold them to meet the dimensions of your swiffer mop, after which you sow the ends shut, and run three stitches down the length of the rectangle (evenly spaced of course). Finally you take two velcro strips and stitch them at the proper spacing so the pad will attach to your swiffer! Do ten like this, and wala! you have reusable swiffer pads that work better than the real thing. Now that you’ve gotten that annoying part of owning a swiffer mop out of the way, you just have to refill the non-refillable bottle. This is courtesy of my mother, who is apparently a genius, because I didn’t know it was possible to refill the bottles without ruining them. The easiest way to describe how to do this is to liken the cap to one of those chemical lids with the safety seal. That bottom ring is what keeps you from taking the lid off the bottle, and you must therefore remove it with an X-acto knife, or similar tool. Once you’ve removed that annoying plastic ring, you can then unscrew the top and refill it with vinegar and water! It’s my opinion that vinegar cleans better than half the stuff on the market, and so for a bottle that size I usually mix together 1/4 cup vinegar, a few drops essential oil, and enough water to fill the bottle back up.
So, suppose you’ve already taken care of those tasks, and you were me, then you’d move on to hurriedly wiping down all the surfaces in your living room and bathrooms (except the toilets and tub those are for the weekend). Wow! we’re moving right along here, and you’re almost done. Next gather up whatever dirty laundry is laying about and take it to the room where you do your laundry (if you really were me, then you’d have to take it to the garage, because that’s where the genius that built this place put the hookups for the washer and dryer). Start Washing! I intermittently check on the clothes switch them out as they finish, and pile them up in a basket as they dry. 'Round about 3:30PM the laundry is complete, and I bring it inside to fold. This is the best part of the day, because we have a rule around here, I washed it and folded it so daddy has to put it away. If you’re afraid your kids will trash all your hard work of folding it, well then I suggest doing it on your bed where toddlers can’t get ahold of it. Otherwise why not have the older children help, I know I had to! Also as a side note I only wash diapers every two or three days depending on how many we go through, the rest stay in a specific hamper in the garage with the rest of the laundry waiting to be washed.
All of the other messes, like lunch and toys on the floor, I clean as I go. I find it extremely helpful to have a set place to put the toys, and when we’re done playing with one thing we put it away (for example, the crayons won’t stay out if we want to go play with blocks). When it’s time for naps, I relax and do something for myself, I feel it’s necessary. Even if my daughter doesn’t want to take a nap, she’s still required to stay in her room for quiet time. As long as she’s not screaming I tend to leave her in there for the full length of her nap. I know that even if she’s not sleeping she is resting, and resting a little bit is better than not resting at all.
I usually start dinner somewhere around 4:00 or 4:30PM and we usually eat somewhere around 5:30PM. This is only because what I make most of the time requires baking in the oven, because I'm lazy and pot roast is an easy dinner. If I'm making something that takes less time to cook we eat at about 5:30PM. I usually dream up the next days dinner the night before after the young one is asleep. Then I take whatever froze meat I'm going to need out of the fridge and put it into the refrigerator. I'd probably save myself a lot of time if I chose to make weekly dinner plans, but hey, where's the thrill in that? Seriously though, I'm planning on becoming one of those weekly menu planers, and doing a weekly grocery shopping list. Then I'll save time AND money!
Also if you're interested I have many more homemade cleaning recipes available.
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