How to Clean Your House

[HarperRose]

Hey all, I wrote a blog post about house cleaning for someone on the autism spectrum and a couple of people thought it was good for general cleaning. One poster didn't even realize she was in the SN forum when she commented. lol

Anyway, because of that, I thought I'd share here, too. :)

http://parentingwithaspergers.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-clean-house.html

[MonkeyPrincess]

Great post!

I did something very similar when all my kids were little (5 kids in under 10 years) and the house was my biggest obstacle.

I called it "cleaning up in layers" - went around once a day: collecting dishes, then laundry, then trash, then shoes, then toys and whatever else was left around. Then sweep, and mop if necessary. I'd send the kids on "missions", having them focus on just one thing made it less overwhelming for everyone.

[HarperRose]

Ooh, cleaning up in layers. I like that! 

[mamabearsoblessed]

Originally Posted by MonkeyPrincess 

Great post!

I did something very similar when all my kids were little (5 kids in under 10 years) and the house was my biggest obstacle.

I called it "cleaning up in layers" - went around once a day: collecting dishes, then laundry, then trash, then shoes, then toys and whatever else was left around. Then sweep, and mop if necessary. I'd send the kids on "missions", having them focus on just one thing made it less overwhelming for everyone.

This is just what I do!! LOL. Exactly this order as well~ dishes, laundry, trash, shoes, toys... I will send on missions as well "here's a basket~ you are in charge of finding lost legos" & "this basket is waiting for stuffies (stuffed animals)" & " all of the cars can park in this box... play food back to the kitchen'.  it works better than other things we've tried. I have 4~ 11, 8, 4, 18 months. I feel 'under' my house at all times it seems. If some rooms are in good shape, others aren't. It's never all great at once. It's never even good all at once :(. 

[mamabearsoblessed]

and to the OP~ great, starightforward entry. And it's true, 'cleaning in layers' and having your chore planned out in your head (routine) makes it so much more approachable and doable :).

[OhMyHzzle]

YAY! I will have to give it a try. Our 11 year old is an Aspie who has Tourette's and ADHD. He wants to have a clean room, but it just doesn't happen. We keep trying different methods and someday we'll find what works best for him.

[youngspiritmom]

Nice post, I like the idea of focusing on one category of items that needs to be cleaned instead of the whole room. I too get overwhelmed when a room needs to be cleaned - I don't know where to start and I get overwhelmed so I just don't do it at all. Or I go from one random area to the next and nothing ends up looking clean.

You mentioned kitchen is the easiest -- it's the hardest for me, I hate doing dishes and wiping counters and sweeping. I'm constantly behind on this room but I need to get better because it makes me miserable - waking up to a sink full of dirty dishes is the WORST!!!