How Do You Do It?

I was recently asked by a mommy friend "how do you do it?"

"How do I do what" was my response

"How do you keep up with all the house stuff while watching two babies?"

Ah.

Let me first say that my house is by no means spotless. It never will be. My house is clean, neat, orderly, but if you move rugs or look under beds, you may find a lost sock or a pile of dirt. I hate to dust so if you catch me on a bad day, there is a layer of dust so thick you can write your name in. I am a little OCD when it comes to everything being put away where it belongs, but the dusting and such does not bother me as much.

When Little Man was smaller, I had what I thought was the perfect cleaning schedule. I had it written out on the fridge. Daily I would make beds, gather up all the laundry and dishes from the night before and do general pick up. I had a weekly schedule too. Mondays were vacuuming days, Tuesdays and Thursdays were laundry days, Saturdays were clean out the car days, etc.. This schedule worked out great for a few weeks. Then I had a lazy day. Then the next day my chores doubled. Well, I was lazy that day too, so it all went out the window.

Once we bought our house, I knew I would have to make some sort of schedule to keep up with everything. I brought out the old schedule thinking I would just use it again. Yeah, not so much! I realized that it was not going to work out having daily things to do. I like to stay home and chill around the house, but Little Man likes to go out, so I am not home as much as I used to be. I tried to keep up with everything in the house, but I found myself falling behind again.

So how do I do it?

Every time I change a diaper, the diaper gets brought downstairs, and goes into the bin. Every time we change clothes, the clothes get brought downstairs and go into the washer or the hamper if the washer is going. When we are done with our dishes, they go into the dishwasher. I unload the dishes (something new for me, Stephen has always done dishes, but they would sit in the sink for days before they got done) in the morning or when I get a free minute during the day. The clothes and diapers get washed when the washer is full. I usually do a load of clothes every day, and diapers get done every other day. Dishes are a daily thing now too.

I am starting to teach Lincoln to not pull every toy out of his play room at one time. If he is playing with the blocks then he needs to put blocks away before we pull out the puzzles. (I usually only make him do this if he is playing with something that has a billion pieces, and he wants to pull out something else that has a billion pieces) Sometimes I have to tell myself to just let him be a kid, and let him make a mess. I pick up his toys after he goes down for a nap, and again at bedtime. He is getting pretty good at helping me pick up, but is not 100%.

The big things, like dusting and cleaning the floors gets done when they need to be done. When I notice the dust getting thick, I will dust. Things like that get done when Stephen gets home since they take longer.

So I guess the answer to the question is that I do it as I go. It is so much easier to keep a clean house clean, than it is to clean a dirty house.