When school is out and the kids are home for the summer, there’s a definite change in the flow of the day and your tidy home might experience a little more mess. This is a good mess to have, but if you’re finding it difficult to keep your house clean while the kids are home, try these 5 tips.
- Give everyone 3 tasks to do every single day. Why three tasks? Everyone can remember what they have to do, it builds a habit, and it gives them responsibility. My recommendation? The 3 tasks that my kids have to complete are – make their beds, put away clothes (clean and dirty laundry), and straighten their rooms.
- Get out. The more time you spend out of the house, the less mess you’ll be creating inside the house. Enjoy the weather, play in the yard, go to a pool, the park, and the library. Make the most of the summer!
- Eat outside. When my kids were littler we’d do stroller picnics just about every day for lunch, and now we do picnics outside for lunch. This keeps the food mess outside and it’s so much more fun to eat outside anyway.
- One thing in and one thing out. It’s a hard habit to get kids to do, but if they put things away after they use them it will keep things tidier and make it easier for clean up later. Lazy summer afternoons can be a great time to sort through toys and games and weed out stuff that isn’t getting much use anymore. Kids (generally) like sorting jobs like organizing Legos and other toys with small pieces. Give them a little direction and let them be in charge of the organization of their toys.
- Let the kids clean with you. Choose age-appropriate cleaning tasks and let your kids clean right along with you. Give them a mini cleaning bucket or tote, a spray bottle with water or non-toxic cleaner, a duster, and a microfiber cloth and they can dust and clean their rooms and the rest of the house right along with you.
What are you doing to keep a clean house while your kids are home for the summer?
Visit Becky’s blog for more cleaning tips (here).
Becky
Becky (Clean Mama) writes a cleaning and organizing lifestyle blog all about simplifying everyday life and making daily cleaning tasks more fun. You'll find her with a printable checklist and a cup of coffee while running around with her three little ones. Clean Mama is also the housekeeping expert on Answers.com, and has been featured in HGTV magazine, BHG.com, Oprah.com, iVillage and has written cleaning and organizing content for companies like 3M, Peapod, and Reckitt. Look for Becky's first book to be published in the Spring of 2014! Learn more about Becky at www.cleanmama.net.
Tags: cleaning, contributor
Blog, Clean, Cleaning, contributors, June 2013 Posted in
18 comments
18 comments on “5 Tips to Keeping a Clean House While the Kids are Home for the Summer”
To keep my house in order during the summer, I do one hour of cleaning each morning while the kids watch cartoons. First I start a load of laundry, then empty the dishwasher so thst everyone can out their dirty dishes straight in the dish washer to keep the sink empty. Then I straighten bedrooms and put away whatever is out of place around the house. Then I do something like vacuum, clean the bathrooms, dust, clean bed linens, etc depending on what day it is. Then ill finish that load of laundry.. and we have the rest of the day to play.
Great ideas! I’ve never given my kids chores, but I should! They would love to help and I need the help!
Great ideas! My kids have five minute chores that really help me. The day before trash day, they carry all the small garbage cans to the big kitchen one to dump. The use their dusters one day to dust stairs and railings. Another day they clean out their book bags and clean the hall closets and book bag area.
I have three children (pre-school/toddler) so they are always home and the mess is always around, but in the summer we made an outdoor eating area on our patio. It is an old glass table, cheap patio chairs, and one of those easy to put up canopies which we screwed to the deck so it wouldn’t fly away. The best feature though is after dinner I use the garden hose to wash down the sticky and crumbly mess that comes from little people at the table.
Thanks for the tips! Do you remember where you got your cleaning supply caddy pictured above?
Target! It’s in the seasonal area – it’s a silverware caddy 🙂
xo, Becky
I’m over the other side of the world so it’s winter here and still school, but I thought I’d share.
My kids have a list of jobs that they can pick from and they have to do one a day. The list includes things like clean a window, pick up and put away 18 things, dust a room, empty the dishwasher….small jobs that they can do to the best of their ability (they are 8 and 5 years old) but it still helps me out and gets them into the routine of housekeeping (’cause we all have to do it one day!). Letting them pick also avoids the moans and groans because if there’s a job they really hate, then they can do something else. We carry on this routine right through school holidays and it really helps.
I like the idea of the cleaning caddies for them. Might make them even more enthused! And I’m looking forward to summer so we can eat outside again…
Superb tips! It is quite difficult to maintain the cleanliness of the house when kids are around. But these short but sweet tips can definitely make a big difference! Way to go!
During the summer, we do nightly cleanings, everyone has a room and before they go to bed they have to pick up anything on the floor and put it where it belongs. It gives each kids a responsibility and helps us to keep the house clean.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about cleaning. Regards
A great way how to go about and keep ones house clean during summers. Thanks a lot for sharing such an informative post.
These are some great tips for cleaning with kids, Thanks for sharing!
Hi, just wanted to say, I loved this article. It was inspiring.
Keep on posting!
Great ideas! Thank you for sharing them with us. My son is 8 and has already some household chores to do. I think that makes him more responsible.
love these tips, thanks
Any responsible parent should ensure safe and healthy house for the kids. Wonderful tips that we can take advantage of. Thank you!