Securing a Reasonably Clean House: Maintaining an Even Keel
Here are Auntie Leila’s rules for not getting to that overwhelmed stage quite so quickly or frequently. Personally, my current practice involves maybe a third of her rules, and several of them I’m still kicking against. I am in the process of acquiring mats, though!
Confine Mess
- Children keep toys in limited areas and do not get free range of the entire house and all its contents. Keep the living room a room free from trashing.
- Establish boundaries for toys & activities.
- Mobile infants & toddlers can spend happy playtimes in a pack n play several times a day.
Corral Dirt
- There must be industrial mats at every door.
- Shoes off at the door. No excuses.
Meal Time Rules
- Children help set the table and get ready for each meal.
- Children eat at the table only. Ever.
- Napkins and dishes and table manners are used during each meal, even if it’s only 8 minutes.
- Mom sits at the table for all meals, also. “If your own mother won’t eat with you, who will?”
- Keep it cheerful and consider playing an audio book while you eat.
- Children can keep their hands and face clean while eating.
- Children should receive permission to be excused before leaving the table.
- Children should clear their place, scraping off their plates and loading them in the dishwasher.
- Children should wash their hands before & after eating.
- Eaters in high chairs should not be let down before being wiped down with a warm cloth; then use that cloth to wipe down the chair.
Kitchen Rules
- Set up a work flow
- If it’s pretty or really useful, it is ok to give it counter or wall space where you use it. Do your best to store things at their point of use. (Leila’s version allows for the cottage cluttery look, which most organization books scold you out of).
- Put incoming stuff on the kitchen table, where it must be dealt with by the owner before mealtimes. Never move or put temporary things on the counters, where they will be shoved and left and ignored. Remind everyone to come out their stuff anyway before the meals.
- Clean as you go: start with clean counters and an empty dishwasher and empty sink, stick things back in their place or into the dishwasher when you have a waiting moment in the process, use bowls and utensils in ‘hygienic order” rather than dirtying multiples, and before sitting down to eat, leave dirty dishes in a sink of warm water and put ingredients away and wipe down the counters.
Bathroom Rules
- To the extent you can, attempt to have easy-clean materials in your bathrooms.
- Clean the bathroom while the children bathe.
- Keep your cleaning supplies in the bathroom (each bathroom?), so it’s quick and easy and convenient to get it clean.
- Don’t use a bucket for cleaning the bathroom, stop up the sink and use it, cleaning it last. Personally, I use a spray bottle with cleaner, so I don’t get why I’d need a bucket or a sinkful of water.
Thinking it Through
So, which of these do you already do? Which would you like to argue with? Which might you think about incorporating?
Both Matt and I are shoes-on-all-the-time people, and we live in a dry climate, so I’m not going shoeless in the house. But, I am working on getting mats for all our doorways and I’m even considering the sit-down-with-the-kids-for-each-meal. It might be one of those areas where it ends up giving more than it takes in the end.
Okay, I’ll talk about a point or two from each group :) I’m supposed to be prepping more food for Thanksgiving, so naturally I’m reading blogs.
We’re past the baby/toddler/preschool years, so toys aren’t much of an issue any more. I never did let them scatter toys everywhere, though. We have a lot of square feet in our home, but it’s a very old home with a rather inconvenient layout. If I had allowed toys to be left all over, it would’ve been plain dangerous. Toys were always returned to boxes or bins in an out of the way place in our living area; I guess I disagree with the living room being off limits. That said, I don’t have an issue with making a room or two toy-free.
I’m with you on the shoes. I’m the only one who consistently wears shoes in the house–can’t stand to be barefoot or to wear slippers on wood floors. Everyone else walks around in socks or with bare feet by choice. I do have rugs at all the doors. I’m thinking about mats…do I need them if I have rugs?
I don’t have a dishwasher, but I have dishwashers, three to be exact. I do always start meal prep with a clean kitchen, sometimes with a sink of hot water, but rarely is the dish drainer empty before I start. I like that idea. My daughter and son, 13 and 11, cook a hot breakfast every morning and by the time they’re done in the kitchen, it’s a disaster. I cheerfully take my plate of hot food and hot beverage, and leave to eat in the dining room with hubby. They clean it all up before school work starts at 8:00 a.m, so I’m okay with their mess.
Incidentally, I had a great aunt who wore a pair of pants exactly one time in her life: while on safari in Africa; and she never sat down to dinner until the kitchen was clean–all dishes and pots and pans were clean before she ate. I never did eat in her home, so I don’t know if she ate dinner while it was hot. Or not. The pants part of the story had nothing to do with the topic. I just wanted to mention that. She was a very interesting person.
My bathroom sink stoppers are missing. I use a bucket and a rag for scrubbing the floor. I’ve trained one child to clean the bathroom, the other is learning. I will soon be done with cleaning the bathrooms. There’s nothing like working one’s self out of a job.
I’ve been implementing a lot of ideas from your blog lately, Mystie, and visiting Auntie Leila’s blog for inspiration, as well. In particular, attacking one area at a time by removing everything from the surface and only returning things that belong there–that is brillant! I have several spots around the house now that are clutter free and a joy to behold. Very do-able when you tackle one shelf or drawer at a time.
~Sarah