Keeping the house clean with toddlers?

[mrsfrenchy]

How do you keep a house clean and organized with very small children? I have an almost 18 month old and am 36 weeks pregnant. I feel like I'm never done. I never, ever get to a point where everything that I want to be clean is clean--not even close. (i.e. our shower desperately needs to be scrubbed and I can't remember the last time it was done...at least a month or two ago).

I just can't seem to find time to do it all and what I do get done, DD follows me around undoing it (despite attempts to get her to help on a toddler level, she likes to undo things).

One of the things I'm trying to do before the new baby comes is to box up a LOT of DDs toys (we're only keeping out some balls, her puzzles, a couple of cars/trains, a couple of loveys, books and her play kitchen stuff) so that there is less to clean up after playing. But that still doesn't solve the rest of the house's problems. And I'm sure once baby#2 is here (and esp. once she's mobile) it will just get harder.

So for those of you who managed to have a house that didn't/doesn't constantly look cluttered when you had/have small toddlers, what are your tips and suggestions?

[mamacatsbaby]

Oh, that doesn't constantly look cluttered? Not sure if I can help too much there lol. Well, what we've found is that you just have to keep at it, constantly. If we miss a beat things quickly go down hill and it can take days to get it back to a manageable level. And we are all about the declutter around here! We really don't have much here. DH and I are crazy busy with school and work, I'm about to be 30 weeks PG, DS is 3.5. Actually, I need to run a load of dishes right now as I look in the kitchen.

Anyway, yeah, I'd put up or donate stuff that isn't really essential right now. When you shop for food, get stuff that you can cook off in large amounts and freeze. Wash and put your dishes away ASAP. Do something everyday: wipe down the toilet, vacuum, etc. Sit down with your DP and figure out a plan of action too. We found that really helpful. And it's not a plan that's set in stone in our house. If things need to be changed around, we just do it. Once you get things to a manageable level, the key is to maintain.

I hope this post is coherent. PG brain is really getting a lot worse lately . Good luck!

[mom0810]

I don't know, but I will be watching here to see if anyone has the answer. I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old and my house is always cluttered. I also don't have much time to clean, and haven't done a DEEP clean in... um... a really really long time.

[Gray's Mommy]

I'm right there with you mrsfrenchy! I'm just shy of 36 weeks & have a 2.5 year old who loves to "help".

Right now I am purging like crazy to make it easier to clean. I find that if I have less stuff to worry/stress out about, then I can actually do cleaning.

In the past 4 hours I have gotten rid of over 100 things out of my laundry nook, pantry, broom closet & kitchen. I work for 15 mintues then play with my child for a bit. My oldest is at G'mas house & Dh is at work.

For your shower, I would take some commercial cleaning solution and spray your shower down after you take your next bath/shower. If you use a green cleaner, you could clean while you were in there I just broke down & bought some stuff at WalMart to scrub in down-then I will go back to my "good" cleaner.

I have also made it very clear to myself that I will NEVER be done with my home. Everyday I am trying to do a few small tasks that add up to a clean house. I do at least 1 load of laundry, wipe down a counter, etc. I make it a priority to have a clean sink & not full of dishes. If my sink is empty, it makes my whole kitchen seem cleaner.

Baby steps & you'll get it done!

[Jackies Ladybug]

my key is family. i have my sister come and watch my DD about once a week, either in her playroom or take her to the park and i do a mad 1 hour cleaning on the house. i also wake up about an hour before she does and clean then and go to sleep at least an hour after she does and use that time as well.
i have also given up on all knick knack type items, aside from a few pieces that are on the mantle that i can easily throw in the dishwasher.
we are far from perfect but i can be company ready in 15 minutes if you dont look in my cupboards
i also scrub my tub out while i take my shower. i have a big handled scrubby pad and a big green scrubby that i use. one in my hand one on my foot and scrub it all out best i can in about a minute twice a week. i just use shampoo.

[FloridaBorn]

My mom has been having some health problems here lately (back pain, sugar-run-amok diabetes) and she's hired the 11 year old next door neighbor girl to help her vacuum, do dishes, fold clothes, etc.

They're a poor family and my mom took the girl to Penney's last week and bought her two pairs of shoes. She was sooooo happy with her new shoes.

Just sayin... I know not all of us can afford a maid... but maybe there's a neighbor or someone you know who could use some part-time work, and you could use the part-time help! At least for the deep cleaning stuff we can never seem to get to.

[lotus.blossom]

I keep wondering why my house never stays clean. It used to be, before I had kids. And now it is one big revolving mess!!!! But thats just IMO. To others it probably seems clean. I am just really freakish about it.

I guess you my thing is to have one floor done per day. Some days I focus on organizing the upstairs (putting away laundry, sorting through my kids toys, vacuuming, changing the sheets on the bed) and the next day I work on picking up the livingroom and decluttering the kitchen. I try to have my kitchen spotless everyday and the bathroom every other day. With a crawling baby I am sweeping CONSTANTLY. And mopping weekly. I run the dishwasher daily and do a load of laundry daily. I never let that pile up (on the dirty or the clean end) I find that if I just tackle a load a day from start to finish it is way less overwhelming.

Oh and I have enlisted my 3.5 year old to help at a young age. He helps with the dishwasher, loading laundry into the dryer, and he loves to do a fast floor pickup in prep for vacuuming. I guess I am lucky that he is into it.

[rainbowsprite]

I have a 3yo & 2yo & I managed to deep clean the bathroom today - I did the bath and shower with them helping me and then ran them a bubble bath, plonked them in it with all their bath toys and then deep cleaned the rest of the bathroom. I am right with them in case they slip or anything but they are contained and cant get out & interrupt me cleaning stuff. It took half an hour & they had so much fun in the bath!

As for the rest of the house however.... ahem... when things get desperate I resort to TV for half an hour and then run round like a mad thing cleaning as fast as I can. they dont watch much TV so it always has the novelty factor and keeps them glued to their seats!

when I need to deep clean the kitchen getting out the play-doh wworks well. The kitchen table may get very messy but it normally gives me around 20 mins to cleans while watching them.

HTH

[mumkimum]

Well, my house still constantly looks cluttered in comparison to pre-kids. I'm lucky if I can get vacuuming in weekly. When I really don't have time, I try to focus on keeping up on one room really well - usually the bathroom or kitchen (lately the kitchen) and spend most of my time doing that. We have 2 toy baskets and one shelf for toys in the main floor and when they're getting too full I get rid of some things. Getting rid of stuff regularly helps a lot (but yeah, that can be hard to get around to also).

I do clean the bathroom while kiddo is in the tub usually, and last time happenned to leave the tub scrub brush on the ledge and dd asked about it and then had a blast scrubbing off the walls while she took her bath - so that's a sneaky option . Now she likes to do it all the time.

[Llyra]

I don't think there is any solution other than time. They do eventually get to an age where you can expect them to leave stuff alone when you tell them to, or at least as age where you can make them clean things up themselves. But that age sometimes feels like it's a LONG time a-coming.

What we did find helpful (we had three under three for awhile) was to just make there be less stuff to clean up. I went on a major purge, and either gave away or stored a whole LOT of stuff so that there'd just be less stuff to make clutter in the first place. Stuff like books, CDs, videos, knickknacks, unnecessary kitchen stuff beyond what you use on a regular basis, and a whole lot of other stuff I learned I could live without for a few years.

Another thing that really helps is to do ten minute spurts of cleaning. For example, take the shower-- cleaning the whole shower takes time. But you can decide to do the back end today, and half the side tomorrow, and the other half on Friday, and the other end on Saturday, and then it turns into a more manageable size job.

Having a system to deal with mail and paperwork and bills and stuff, so that you don't start getting piles, is really helpful, too.

But a lot of the time, I think the only thing to do is to let some of it go. Do the absolutely important stuff, the stuff that's a hygiene or safety issue, and let the rest go. My mom says cleaning the house while your kids are still young is like plowing the driveway before the snow stops. I've found that's pretty wise.

[velochic]

For me, the key has always been minimalism. If you don't have a lot of "stuff" then it can't be messed up. I never had this problem with dd when she was a toddler because there wasn't a lot to "mess up". Even her toys were not abundant. We had quality items, but not a lot of them. We had a couple of place to keep them upstairs and down stairs and it helped to keep everything tidy. When she was a toddler, I could easily find household things to keep her occupied if her toys didn't. Particularly kitchen things. She could play with those and I could throw them in the dishwasher when she was done. By 5yo she was really a help in picking things up and keeping our house clean.

As for the shower/bathroom, in your current pregnant state, could you have your partner clean it for you?

[MrsH]

Ours aren't quite as little, but one thing that's really helped is we do Saturday chores. For you it'd probably just be you and DP, with dd tagging along with one of you (ie: only one of you truly accomplishing cleaning/organizing). What's been great about it for us though is that our two eldest both help now (7 and almost 4), and when we have friends over for most any reason on a Saturday morning they always pitch in!

When our youngest was born, we told visitors that they'd have to do a chore (I think it was part of the "Yay baby is born!" e-mail). I think we actually said it was doctor's orders, but they all got the point and it was SUPER helpful. We just made a list of those things that always need doing (sweeping, dishes, folding laundry, kids to the playground, prep dinner/lunch, vacuuming, putting toys away, etc) and then gave people their choice. Everyone was so kind about it, and even those people I felt too shy to ask (my boss for example) they would bring it up: "so, what's my chore?" and I'd sheepishly show the list and something would get done.