OK, so you wanted my tips, here they are:
- If you want a clean house you need simplicity. To get this you'll need to throw out a TON of junk. Go through a room with the mindset that getting rid of stuff means a more simple life. I ask myself: Can I live without X? Can someone else be blessed more with X? Can I make money by selling X?
- Find a place for EVERYTHING in the room to go. If there isn't a place to put something away try to find another room that has a place for it. The biggest reason I have a tidy house is because everyone in my home knows the home for everything. This makes it easier for others to help keep the house clean.
- ALWAYS have your kids play with one thing at a time. If they are playing with LEGOS and decide to stop doing that and play with Barbies then the LEGOS have to be put away before the Barbies come to play. We have two cleaning times for toys. Before lunch/naptime and before dinner/bedtime. There are times when the kids are playing with something and want to leave it out(for instance they are in the middle of a book or coloring a mural). If that's the case, I find a good place out of the way that they can leave it until the next day. Bottom line: ALWAYS teach them to clean up after themselves. You won't be around to clean up after them forever and their future spouse will love you for teaching this good discipline.
- Take a few minutes to clean the areas of your home that have the most traffic. Each night before we go to bed we clean up the kitchen and living room. It takes no more than 20 minutes to get all the dishes done, the food cleaned up, the floor swept, and all the couch pillows back on the couch.
- Have your kids make their beds daily. Even Bubby who just turned two knows how to pull the covers up and make it look "nice". Go ahead and make your bed too. For best results, make it first thing in the morning, then you've got a nice looking bed each time you come into the room. It'll make your day, I'm telling you. Well, it'll at least give you a breath of fresh air.
- Always take the tiny extra moment to put something away instead of stacking it somewhere. It'll pay off in the end. Trust me.
- When you're cleaning a room keep a basket with you to put things that go in other rooms. This will save you time and energy and keep you from getting sidetracked. Once you're in a new room simply drop the things off that belong to that room from your basket.
- Get systems that work for YOU. Until you do, you won't stay organized.
- Once your house is organized show your family where everything is and why it's there and how they can help by putting things back where they belong. If they know WHERE to put it, they're more likely to put it away.
- Make cleaning fun for the kids by offering rewards for getting things clean. Sometimes we'll set a timer when we are cleaning a room. If we get done before the timer goes off, we stop cleaning and play a game until it beeps. The kids will race around getting things clean and before you know it you'll have a clean house.
- Give the kids chores they can do, teach them how to do them RIGHT, then EXPECT it to be right. Know that until they LEARN how to do it right they won't do it right. You may have to really work on teaching them the new chore, but once they know it, don't stop expecting it to be right. They'll pick up on your lack of care. Also, Inspect what you expect. This just means hold them accountable for the things that are their responsibilities. Remember to give them LOTS of praise for a job well done and CONSTRUCTIVE discipline if it needs some work.
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