How Do You Keep Your House So Clean?!

Have you ever been asked this? Ok - so maybe not! But I actually was asked this a couple weeks ago by my husband's grandmother. She seemed quite surprised that my home was so clean when they came for a visit - especially with being pregnant and having kids running around! I was thrilled to be asked that question, because over the past couple of years it is definitely something the Lord has been helping me improve with and really been working in my heart about. I must admit - my home is not always clean. Often times if you stop by unannounced there will be dishes piled up in the sink, laundry flowing out of the laundry room, school books in stacks upon the table, and toys strewn about the floor. I think thats just part of life with children and raising a family, and that's ok. But I do believe that it is also important to strive to maintain my home in such a way, that I can offer a place to sit and chat with unexpected company, or pour a cup of coffee for a friend who needs to stop in for a few minutes, or have more time to dedicate to loving and caring for my family by keeping the house in an organized way.

So, I thought I would share a few ideas that have helped us get on track. Feel free to take, tweak, adjust, and just do what works for YOU and your family! We are all different and will have different needs in keeping our home and taking care of our families at different times. I just hope some of these ideas may offer you a jumping off point.

Laundry

This used to be completely out of control here. Now we have a system in place. I do about one load a day usually of our daily clothes (family of 4 going on 5), but could easily do more if needed, or on days when we need to do bedding or towels. The hardest part of laundry is putting it away, at least for me. Here is how I stay on top of it. Each child has their own basket. There is also a basket for any towels or folding items, and a basket for my husband and my things that need to be hung up. When the dryer is done, I grab everyone's baskets and line them up in the hallway. I take the clothes out of the dryer and immediately place them into each person's basket. When that is ready to go, the older kids baskets get dumped in their rooms for them to put away during their chore time. The 3 year old helps me do his clothes right away, and as he gets a little older and practices with me, he will be able to put his away too. I usually throw the folding basket on my bed, and put the hanging our hanging stuff basket in our closet. When I find a free moment I just run in and finish those up. Seriously, I can put laundry away in 5 minutes by doing it this way. It has saved my laundry room from complete chaos.

Dishes

Simple. Although you won't believe it. But we just started doing dishes immediately after finishing all of our meals. And we stopped using the dishwasher. Relying on the dishwasher actually made us complacent in getting the dishes clean, and we would let them pile up all day leaving a huge mess at the end that no one wanted to tackle. Doing it this way, dishes are done a few times in a day and in just a few minutes, with no piling up. My kitchen looks shiny almost all day long, and there is always a coffee cup clean for a friend or two.

Keeping it picked up

We do what we call "Quick Picks". Once in the morning, afternoon, and right before bed, I yell out "QUICK PICK TIME!!!" and everyone runs through the house grabbing anything that belongs to them and is out of place, and sets it right. If a toy is in the middle of being played with, it can stay out and be picked up next Quick Pick time, but this way all the random things that just get left sitting and forgotten throughout the day don't pile up and the house looks tidy. Quick Picks range in time from 5-15 minutes depending on how messy we have been and the time of day, but it works great!

The Nitty Gritty

We took a page from the Duggar's book (ha) and we have Jurisdictions in our house. My oldest is responsible for a jurisdiction, and we alternate which it is every week so that she can learn how to care for all areas of the home. Examples of our jurisdictions currently based on our kids ages and our needs are: Living/Dining, Kitchen, Laundry/Dishes, Bath/Hallway, Patio/Entryway. I look forward to the day when I can add in meals and lawncare! LOL! My 3 year old is too young to be responsible for a jurisdiction, so since he and my oldest usually are buddies throughout the day, he is her "assistant" and she is the "supervisor" of their weekly jurisdiction. As he gets older, he will become responsible for his own jurisdiction and they will probably each have new little buddies under them as "assistants"! My husband works out of the home all day, but he does take on one rotating jurisdiction each week. I tackle all the rest since I'm the homemaker.  Everyone is responsible for their own bedrooms, and the buddies help each other with those too. For each jurisdiction I also have a list on the wall of all chores that need to be done in each jurisdiction. There is a daily list, a weekly chore list which we do on Saturdays, and then a monthly list which we do on first Saturdays of each month. Its organized, everything pretty much gets done, and even though my oldest doesn't always clean her jurisdiction the way I would or perfectly (she is only 8, its a learning process!) I know that she will only have that jurisdiction for a week, so I am able to encourage her and praise her work, while knowing that those little things she misses that will come with time and experience, are going to be ok since I can just fix it next week!

I hope some of these ideas have been helpful to you and will bless you in keeping your home!