[maria4040]

I want to give my home a good clean, that is dust, remove kids fingerprints from walls, clean windows, fans and lights ecetera. With 3 kids under 7 I don't have alot of time (saying that I am a sahm so I don't really have an excuse not to get it all done). I wanted to see if you did a cleaning routine that you stick to each week and what works for you.
I thought about doing room by room, or say do all mirror builtins, then all fans, all windows etc etc. I want to get into a routine and stick to it, so I cover everything. I have done so much decluttering and now want to make my home spotless! Well as spotless as it can be with kids. Thanks so much!

[purelegance]

i think having 3 kids under the age of 7 is reason enough! when DH was at work (he's currently on leave, and when he's home i refuse to clean for as long as i can stand it), i would literally assign one chore to each day. monday - dust. tuesday - vacuum, wednesday floors, etc. i had it planned out to do one or 2 complete loads of laundry a day.. but that never works for me, so i'd dedicate a whole day to it. HTH

[deedee1231]

There is a website that helps SAHMs organize their homes and teaches how to approach home care in easy to manage increments. It is called Flylady. I am not stumping for them, I am not even a member, but I have a few freinds who swear by it. It is free, if you want to google it and check it out, it might heip.

[MommaColleen]

I attack it 1 room at a time. For some reason seeing that 1 room all done gives me a greater sense of accomplishment that having bits and pieces in all the rooms done.

[twinzplus3]

I love flylady. . .not a member here either. But I have been (really I am) where you're at now. Just two short years ago I had 5 kids under the age of 6. Now I have 5 under the age of 8. . .and believe it or not it's a little easier. Here are some of my tricks so that I'm not mortified when people come over:


I have a magic minimum--the things that are essential to do so the house is bearable. This includes: the dishwasher, cleaning kitchen surfaces, sweeping the floors (or at least picking up major crumbs from the kiddos), going through the mail (tossing junk right away, looking at magazines right away, filing right away and putting bills in my 'to be paid' pile--I pay bills 2x per month).

I assign bigger chores to a day of the week: laundry (I have to go to the laundromat. . .if I owned a washer and dryer this would definitely be on my magic minimum list), vacuuming/mopping, dusting and then the rest of the week I spend 15 minutes or so in a 'zone' (That's totally a flylady concept.) Zone work includes cleaning mirrors, taking books off shelves to dust, moving furniture, etc.

Saturdays are the days I use to get done anything else that I missed during the week--if we went out on my vacuuming night. . .the floor gets vacuumed Saturday. If we didn't do laundry or I still have more. . .Saturday morning. I also go in my kids' rooms and help them tidy (they are expected to keep them mostly clean during the week), and also I take a quick swipe with the Mr. Clean magic erasers on Saturday. . . each kid gets one and a wall or two to clean. I wash walls about 2x per year. . .I imagine people who don't live in a dusty grimy city have to do that. HTH

[MissyChrissy]

I've also heard good things about flylady. I visited there a couple years ago & got some good tips.

Me, I take things room by room usually. But now that the kids are older and are REALLY helpful, we can take an hour and each do a thing, or a room, and pretty much be done. Yeah, there's grumbling sometimes, but it feels really nice to pull together like that

[maria4040]

Thanks everyone, I sort of like the idea of doing one room at a time, I have just done everything in my dining room and it looks great. Val you mentioned the magic eraser, I am in Australia and have never heard of these, are they good? I might see what I can find at the supermarket similiar, are they like sponges that remove wall marks, and are they safe to use (obviously they are if the kids help you out). Thanks again all.

[twinzplus3]

Oh my goodness I LOVE the Magic Eraser. Yes, it gets out crayon marks, pencil marks, those grimy finger prints on the walls that congregate around about 'kid height'. You name it. . .it does it. They are a little on the expensive side but I like letting the kids help clean the walls since those are their finger prints all over the place!

[quagmire8]

i love love love the magic eraser!!! it works so well on cabinets, doors, walls, etc. they are a bit pricey, but i get the target brand (just found them about a month ago!), and they are half the price and i find they work just as well.

[purelegance]

the only thing magic erasers don't do is dishes & windows. they should really get on that.