The following post is from Becky of Clean Mama:
source: Keith Williamson
Last month I talked about how knowing your homekeeping style can help change your approach and attitude toward those pesky homekeeping tasks that never go away. I defined three specific ‘types’ of homekeeping styles – today I’m going to give you some helpful tips to move through your own homekeeping challenges in order to find the right level of comfort and organization for your home and family. Really, if a technique doesn’t work for you and your family, it’s worthless anyway.
Let’s look at some tips to working through these styles. Regardless of if you work outside or at home, you can implement these ideas. Trust me, I’ve been on both sides of working mom and stay-at-home mom.
If you are the The Ultra Organized/Clean Freak, which is most definitely the category that I fit into before kids and early on in my mommyhood, you probably have a great routine in place, but maybe you feel like you spend too much time cleaning and organizing (i.e. following your kids around with cleaning wipes and a broom) and not enough time playing or the last thing you want to do when you get home from work is drag out the bucket of fun/cleaning supplies.
- Set a timer for a specific amount of time and see what you can get done.
- Designate days for certain tasks (Mondays are bathrooms day…).
- Find a time to do cleaning/organizing each day and stick to it so it doesn’t morph into other times where you could be doing fun things.
- Help a friend that might need some help with her mountain of laundry or cluttered closet. In other words, lend your expertise to someone else – that’s a real gift!
If you are The In-Betweener, you probably have days where you got it all done and days where you feel like you failed miserably.
- Implement a routine (clean a little bit every day, all on one day, or Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Just come up with a plan and work with it until it doesn’t work anymore.
- Determine what your downfall or biggest challenge is and do that first. My biggest challenge? Laundry is my nemesis, so I do at least a load every day, and I start it first thing in the morning (like 5 or 6 am).
- Keep a list – check off what gets done and what doesn’t get done gets moved to the next day or time slot.
If you are The I Don’t Even Know Where to Start homekeeper, the name says it all. You got into this whole homekeeping thing by default, and you can’t get out of it, but the laundry and dish piles are driving you crazy.
- Ask for help – maybe you have a friend (think Ultra-Organized/Clean Freak) that wouldn’t mind helping you work through some of your stuff. When I started teaching, I used to clean houses as a part-time job for extra cash- you could always look for someone that you know who wouldn’t mind doing a little cleaning for you or alongside you every once in awhile. This would be much cheaper than hiring a cleaning service.
- Start a routine – do a little bit every day to insure that you don’t burn out and give up.
- Involve your family – anyone that is able to help, encourage them to clean up after themselves and to take on small, age-appropriate household tasks to keep things running smoothly.
If you need some help with a cleaning routine, I have free monthly cleaning routines and printables on my blog – they’re sure to help you get started!
I’d love to hear what works for YOU - share your cleaning routine tips!
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Becky is a self-proclaimed clean freak and list maker. She is a work-at-home mom to three little ones, and in her spare time she enjoys sharing her cleaning and organizing tricks and tips on her blog, Clean Mama and through her Etsy Shop, Clean Mama Printables. |
