Cleaning with Kids

Is it possible to have a clean house with kids?  I believe that it is!  Today, we talked about cleaning tips for a busy household.  There are so many different methods and systems out there, and no one system will fit every family.  I encourage you to try a couple of systems until your find a hybrid that works for your family.  Here are a couple of suggestions:

I love http://www.flylady.net/ !  I started reading her website many years ago when my children were toddling around and I was working full time.  Housekeeping was such a struggle for me during those days!  I hated spending every Saturday cleaning and grocery shopping and having no family time.  I decided that I had to find a better system and that is when I came across Flylady.   I do not totally subscribe to her system, but use the parts of her system that work for my family.  Every week, I check in for Kelly's Missions, a daily reminder to spend 15-20 minutes on a specific, deep cleaning task.  I also love her Weekly Home Blessing Hour and her detailed cleaning lists.  The key to the Flylady method is doing a little bit each day to maintain your home and decluttering unnecessary items in your life.  I employ her Weekly Home Blessing Hour on Wednesdays but it normally takes me a couple of hours with Baby Cooper in tow.  I love to have the "Aha" moment when the house is clean-if only for ten minutes!
Last summer, I read a book by Tara Aronson titled Mrs. Clean Jean's Housekeeping with Kids.  It is a wonderful guide to help you enlist your family into the cleaning process, and I highly recommend it for young families.  She has some wonderful tips on age-appropriate activities for your children. 

Another method that has worked for me in the past has been to clean different areas on a designated day of the week.  For instance, Mondays are mopping days, Tuesdays are toilets, Wednesdays are wipes countertops, etc.  This is methods works great for those busy moms who can't devote a couple of consecutive hours a weeks to a Home Blessing time.  Thanks Gail for your suggestion many years ago when I was deep in the trenches!

A number of other helpful suggestions were made today, and I wanted to highlight a couple of them.  My friend Jennifer uses red, white and blue tall hampers so that her young children can help her sort the laundry and have a visual cue to ensure proper sorting.  My friend Melissa has recently purchased a Lysol steam mop for her home and loves it to clean her tile and laminate floors.  I personally love my Swiffer vac for quick cleanups on my hardwood floors. 

We also talked about tips for sorting and storing childrens clothing and artwork.  Next week we with be talking more about home storage and organizing.  This topic is one of my passions!!! 

On a personal notes, thank you all for your prayers during this past week.  I was honored to sit in church Sunday and sing, "He gives and takes away, He gives and takes away. My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name!"  We are devastated to have lost Baby #5, but we know that God has a plan for our family and we trust His perfect will.  Have a blessed week!!!