One of my favorite things is a clean house but when there’s 5 people living under 1 roof, things can get messy real quick. I have 3 kids; Olivia (12 yo) my oldest, Grayson (7 yo) and my youngest, Teigan (3 yo). It’s quite the age gap – I know! Some days my house feels like someone undid the girdle on a slightly overweight woman. There’s cups on the counter, toys in the living room, mail on the table and shoes spread across the floor leading from the door. It’s far from the Instagram moms standing in immaculatele clean magazine worthy homes with perfectly groomed kids. But honestly, my life is real and it’s constantly moving. It’s made up of 24 hours not a mere snapshot. At this point we cannot outsource a cleaning company. I am the cleaning lady and here’s 3 routines I use to keep my home feeling clean and tidy while leaving room to enjoy the season of motherhood I’m in.
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3 Simple Routines to Keep your Home Clean
Okay full disclosure, this is not a deep clean, get down on your knees and scrub the floors and baseboards kind of clean. This is a – you have little kids and don’t want to waste your weekend cleaning routine. They are practical, easy and only take a few hours.
Clean Bathroom Routine
Confession, I use to hate doing the bathrooms in our home. I couldn’t even pay the kids to clean it. But with a vacuum and Clorox ToiletWand the bathroom is a breeze.
- Vacuum – Before you clean anything, vacuum everything! Yes, you read that correctly, vacuum your bathroom! Get out your vacuum & attachments and go to town on ceiling fans, counters, corners including the toilet. That way you aren’t moving dirt and strands of hair around.
- Clean the toilet – My favorite bathroom tool is the Chlorox ToiletWand. It’s so easy to use. The best part is that you just click the disposable sponge into the trash when you’re done. The wand goes back in the holder. There’s no storing of a dirty, germ-ridden toilet brush – yay! I use this for both inside and outside my toilet.
- Shower and tub – Combine equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle and shake throughly. Spritz the solution evenly over the entire surface and let sit for a few minutes. Rinse clean. If the shower head needs some lovin’ fill a baggy with vinegar and wrap it around with an elastic. Leave until you’re finished cleaning or overnight. Your showerhead will look brand new. This trick is one I actually got from Martha Stewart and it really works! It’s also inexpensive.
- Sanitize touchable surfaces – You can use Lysol or you can fill a bucket with 1 gallon of hot water, 1/3 cup of bleach and 2 teaspoons of powdered tide. It smells amazing, cleans and disinfects. Note: do not use bleach on any marble or copper surfaces. Also wear gloves to protect hands.
- Polish the mirrors and faucets – I don’t know about you but a shinny faucet and clear mirror always makes the bathroom look clean and brings me joy.
- Change the towels – it feels so good to grab a fluffy, clean towel when you get out the shower in the morning. My husband does the laundry on Sunday and one thing he always does is switch out everyone’s towels. It’s such a great feeling especially on a Monday morning.
- Ignite your senses – whether this is in form of a candle, diffuser or luxury soap you found on sale at TJ Maxx or Marshalls…get something that you’ll love walking into every time you go to the bathroom. In my diffusser I mix 3 drops lime, 3 drops lemon, 2 drop rosemary and 2 drops lavender.
Clean Kitchen Routine
I am a huge fan of waking up and coming home to a clean kitchen. It’s where I spend a lot of my time and a clean space makes me happy.
- Clean counters – Move stuff off the counter, then wipe. During the week I usually just wipe around the counter stuff. Once a week I like to remove everything and then wipe the counters down. You’d be surprise what gets behind and under counter stuff.
- Mop Floor – Put the broom down and grab your Vacuum. Before mopping vacuum the kitchen floor. If you have a Roomba let her do her thing. Vacuuming helps pick up all the dirt. I’ve been eyeing a Roomba for quite some time now but just haven’t been able to hit the buy now button. If you have one – I’m so jelly! I like to do my floors after all the kids are in bed. This way I’m not on the hampster wheel of picking up spills. Once again I use my cleaning mixture: 1 gallon of hot water, 1/3 cup bleach and 2 tsp powdered tide.
- Tidy pantry – This one is pretty quick and takes me about 5-10 minutes. Straighten up your pantry, restock empty containers and take note of any items that are running low.
The Clean Living & Dining Room Routine
My living room is a high traffic area and my dinning room is also Teigan’s play area. I walk around every night with a basket and toss everything out of place into the basket. Once I’m done I begin sorting and putting away. Teigan’s toys I do first because it belongs there but just need to be tidied up. Her play kitchen has a garden of beets and carrots that she chops up. I like to put them together and back in the pots so she has a fresh kitchen to play with the next day. She has seen me do this so much that now she says “let’s clean up my kitchen” and helps me. Everything else I put in its proper place. Dirty socks in the laundry basket, coats on the coat rack, extra shoes in the shoe-owner’s room. Vacuum floors. Fold blankets and fluff pillows. Light a candle or turn on the air difuser. Finally, enjoy the clean house for a few minutes before going to bed! And if you are like me and wake up a couple hours before everyone else then you’ll also enjoy a clean house in the morning too!
Dear Mama,
Our kids grow up fast! The days may feel long but those years really do fly by. I hope you enjoy them more by letting go of the unrealistic goal of a perfectly clean home. Your child’s fondest memories probably won’t be that there were never any dishes in the sink. Chances are they will remember when you sat on the floor and played legos with them or played hide-n-seek.
There will be days when your home looks like a bomb exploded or someone let lose the girdle on your tidy home. I hope in those times that you give yourself grace. In those moments of imperfection, rather than scrolling on Instagram and falling into the comparison trap ask yourself – What do you want your home to do or to feel like and how can you do that. Is it to be a shelter for your family, a place you all can relax and feel comfortable? How can you create a home that feels safe, relaxing, comfortable….inviting? Then create routines that help you achieve those goals.
This routine is one I found as I listened to random podcasts while at work. I have have used it ever since. It helped me discover what truly matters and enjoy the season of motherhood I am in. I wanted to share it with YOU because I want the same for you.
