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Pamin OZ
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 7:00am | IP Logged
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Is that what you call an oxymoron?
I can keep my house clean and tidy when I don't have any babies or toddlers but I am realising more and more it's such a different ballgame with these little ones around and normal organizational and cleaning tips just don't cut the mustard.
Any tips that have come specifically from living with little whirlwinds? Ways you have changed or adapted what you have done to keep some sort of order?
Pam
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Pam in Sydney
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/paminoz/
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Lara Sauer
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 10:20am | IP Logged
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The only way is to declutter. My biggest rule as a parent has always been: "Never let my children make a bigger mess than I am willing to clean up!" Also, if they are old enough to take it out of the toy box, they are old enough to put it back!
You must also have clearly defined areas in your house for adult space and child space and NEVER the twain shall meet. Do not let your children's toys overtake areas where you want peace! Now that I have a three level house, my adult space is the whole main floor. When I was in an apartment, it was the living room, kitchen and dining room.
I recently read a newspaper article that says modern children get something like 70 new toys a year! There is no way we could keep up with that kind of chaos. I have a rule about any "cheap" toys (ie: Happy Meal toys, goodie bag toys, etc.) that come into the house. They can keep them for one week and then they are discarded. That time is shortened dramatically if I ever see those toys in the "adult space" in the house. I think this teaches the children an important lesson in detachment.
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You can take the girl out of Wisconsin, but you can't take the Wisconsin out of the girl!
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happymama
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 12:35pm | IP Logged
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on "good" days, our whole house is pretty tidy, but if I'm not feeling well, forget it!
I do feel like I am pretty much _constantly_ picking up, especially after the 1yo who can't be expected to clean up after himself very well.
We do drastically limit the number of toys, and keep a lot of them in storage and rotate them. If the kids mistreat a toy or refuse to pick it up, they know from experience that it's going to get donated to our church-run thrift store, "to be given to another family where it will be treated nicely."
We have mandatory "clean up time" every afternoon before daddy comes home from work.
No toys allowed in the kitchen, the bathroom, or in mom & dad's bedroom. Period.
Pajamas get put away first thing in the morning, beds get made, and at bedtime all dirty clothes go into the hamper. Every single thing has it's own place. I can give something to my 1yo and say "go put it in the hamper" and he understands. He's in his sensitive period for order!!
My stress level totally rises if I see clutter, and dh is the same way, so this is a priority of ours! But like I said, on my "bad" days, I try to not let it get me down too much. Dh reminds me that someday I'll have a "perfect but empty" home to live in!
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: April 10 2008 at 12:26pm | IP Logged
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I read somewhere that with little ones, it's best to have "open containers" to that things can stay organized and very easy to put away with littles. I did this when my kids were little.....basically everything could be separated and tossed into its appropriate container. if it's closed/covered, the toddlers and pre-schoolers will be less likely to put things away. Now that i have a few older ones.....i put their stuff in covered bins for stacking, but they know how to get it down and put away, etc.
I used to put a gate up in a room near where I was working/cleaning and let the kids play in there. If they could see me, they were happy, and i could still interact with them and get TONS done.
Little spurts of cleaning, as opposed to major cleans worked better for me.
Lessening standards, of course. 
When I felt the "walls closing in" and couldn't stand it anymore, I scheduled in a couple hours of Daddy-time on a Sat. and I would go crazy.
DH and I timed ourselves one night....how long did it take to get the tornado-house cleaned up???? Between the two of us....20-30 minutes. Not really all that long.  I always reminded myself of that when 4pm rolled around and everything was a disaster. It was a bit more depressing when he was out of town, of course.
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Pamin OZ
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| Posted: April 10 2008 at 10:31pm | IP Logged
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Things I've learnt:
Put away what you don't want to look after. For example, we have extra cushions for the sofa but they end up on the floor multiple times a day. So I've packed them away for now.
Do the thing that will give you the biggest return first.
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Pam in Sydney
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Toddlers and housecleaning
