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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Your best housecleaning tips.
My biggest struggle right now is laundry. I can't come up with a good system to keep it folded and put away.
I also have an entire dealership of tractors and truck-dumps (dumptrucks) that live in my dining room that need some sort of organizations.
But I'm looking for the best tips you have to keep your house half-way presentable.
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Re: Your best housecleaning tips.
THIS!!
I don't since laundry is still my nemesis, but I say never be off the clock with laundry. Early morning, late at night, whenever you're up work on the laundry, it's what I do.
If you have a playroom, try and relegate the toys to it.
Yeah. Jealous.
I would just echo AB and say do laundry as much as you can. Don't save it for the weekend or whatever, put in a load whenever you have a few minutes.
I don't know if I can help you on the trucks! Maybe a giant Rubbermaid bin? I'm out of my league here.
If you don't have a playroom, still find somewhere for the toys to officially call home - so everyone, kids included, know where they go when it's time to clean up.
And I definitely agree about doing laundry whenever you can. Try to always take the laundry out of the dryer asap and fold/put it away. MH sometimes takes it out (to put in a new load) and then a 'clean' pile just sits around. Ugh.
The majority of our clothes get hung up and I just throw them on hangers as soon as they come out of the dryer. We have a bar that runs the length of the laundry room so there is always room to hang them. Then I just grab them and stick them in the closet when I am going to grab another load out of the closet.
As far as the rest of the house, DD is in charge of floors thoughthey usually do need a quick sweep and getting her to do that can be a chore in itself. I pick things up as I go and do a quick 10 min. sweep through the house most evenings.
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The laundry always gets clean, mostly gets folded, but rarely gets put away. DH and I are very good about washing and drying, but DH has requested that he get to fold his own laundry, which sits in baskets for a good week or two.
We each have a basket and our laundry gets folded and put in our basket. And then it sits there forever.
Clearly the solution is to quit being lazy, but that's probably not viable.
Nope. Is he super picky about how things are folded? Don't they get wrinkly laying there for two weeks?
I immediately take stuff out of the dryer and bring it into the TV room so I can watch something while I fold. I really hate folding. And putting away. So I have to do it right away or it won't get done.
Years ago I shrunk my H's favorite hoodie and so I haven't done his laundry since. Oops.
Then, I praised him to high heaven for his ability to vacuum and how come I just can't do it as well. Walla, I don't vacuum anymore.
Mostly, my goal is to keep my house tidy to the poiny that I'm not embarassed if someone stops by as that happens often. I am not a clean freak by any means. I prefer to spend my time doing other things.
On the laundry front, I do it throughout the week. Anytimes I have a loads worth - and I'll put DS's in w/ mine - I'll do it. Much easier than trying to do it just once a week or so (as DH does w/ his).
Toys- we have osmething similar to this http://www.target.com/p/Early-Childhood-Resources-See-N-Stor-3-Tier-Rack-with-12-Bins/-/A-11862670#?lnk=sc_qi_detailimage
that we got from Target, but it wasn't quite that expensive! It helps w/ the smaller toy sDS has.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
I am a all the laundry on Sunday person. That way I stay in a system of changing loads over, one big fold and then one big put away job. It feels never ending if I am constantly throwing a load in through the week. But doing it once feels like I have completed the job. So stock up on undies to get you through the week!
In the summer when we are more busy I tackle one room a night. So bathrooms on Monday, living room on Tuesday etc etc.
I clean every day for about an hour. I have many animals, though, I don't have kids to look after, so I have the time. I move room to room, straightening up/dusting/running the vacuum, cleaning the wood/tile floors, spraying the glass, washing the animal bedding if it needs it. I just spray vinegar/water on the tile and run a Quickie Mop with a terry cloth cover over it, then spray clean the wood with the Quickie Mop and terry cloth cover. I throw in a load of wash every day/every other day. Since I do it every day (and there are days that I'll skip, sometimes, it's pretty easy.)
Thanks all!
DH is actually pretty good about cleaning. He takes out the trash, and he is primarily in charge of loading the dishwasher. I do a lot of the detail work (windows, bathroom, etc)
I have no idea why he wants to fold his own laundry. We argued about it one day, because I told him that he did not do most of the laundry, because I had to fold it all and put all but his laundry away and that was way more work than just washing and drying it, which I do about half of. He told me that he would prefer to fold his own laundry, so walla, he does.
My best house cleaning tip is to ask my ILs to babysit at my house. They are awesome about cleaning. And raising my kid.
It's only H and I but I do laundry whenever a basket is full which is about every three days. I designate that hour and a half to other chores as well like lunch prep, dishes, and other house cleaning when appropriate. When it's time to fold I just take 5 minutes to fold it immediately and hang stuff up right then, maybe I'll watch some tv while I do it.
Every night before bed H and I straighten up the public areas. It takes five minutes and really keeps things from accumulating.
For toy organization I recommend checking out I Heart Organizing. The blogger has three young boys and has great tips for keeping their stuff organized.
For the toys, make sure there's a specific home for them, and your kid knows where it is. Joaquin is allowed to pick one toy to keep out and put it on her table. Before her nap and before bed, the first part of her going down routine is picking up. I repeat 'pick up, pick up before we go to sleep', and put toys in her bin. She usually doesn't really help, but sometimes she'll chuck a toy in there. We do it for a couple minutes max, but at this point it's less about cleaning and more about forming the habit.
Yep, now that I have someone doing the big stuff (vacuuming, bathrooms, dusting) it's much easier to keep on top of the general tidying and laundry. Mine costs $150 a month and it's the best money we spend.
You know what my BIL does? It sounds insane but it works. He actually pulls out the dresser drawers for the clothing article that it holds and puts the folded clothes in the drawer and then puts the drawer back in the dresser.
He said it's the only way the laundry gets put away, otherwise it's lingering in baskets all week long.
Told you: Insane.
Make up a cleaning schedule for yourself and stick to it...I've found that it's a lot easier to keep the house clean if I do one big thing every day plus the daily de-cluttering/touch-up cleaning. I also try not to do more than a load or two of laundry in any given day so that it's easy to make myself fold it as soon as it comes out of the dryer.
I also keep a caddy of cleaning supplies both upstairs and downstairs, and in all the bathrooms. It makes it a lot easier to clean quickly without having to tote everything up and down the stairs.
Do one load of laundry every day... or every other day if you don't have enough for every day.
This is the only way I stay on top of it all.
vacuum before dusting
microfiber rags
shave all the animals and people that live in the house naked
try to do one room every day so you're not having to clean a whole damn house at once.
(I'm gearing up to let my cleaning lady go and I'm sad.)
Yeah that's right my name's Yauch!
Laundry: I wish I had tips, I can never get on top of it all.
Toys: I have plastic bins labeled in every room. At the end of each day, or when we are leaving the house, before naptime, etc. we go around dumping stuff in bins. So we have toys in every room, but they are manageable.
Dishes (my H's job): nagging, nagging, nagging, lol
For the rest: her name is Johanne, she is here right now doing an amazing job ;-)
Laundry organization: get a basket for everyone in the house and have it on a table by the dryer. When you take clothes out of the dryer, put them in everyone's individual basket. Worst case scenario, in order to find a pair of YOUR socks, all you have to do is look through your clean basket.
Throw in a load every morning and every evening to keep up as much as possible. Beat everyone in the house into turning their things right side out before they put them in the hamper.
Doing laundry: Vinegar and baking soda to remove odors. Works wonders.
Bathroom: Keep clorox wipes in the bathroom. while waiting for your shower to heat up, take out two and wipe down the sink and the toilet. takes ten seconds and keeps things reasonably tidy.
Bedroom: make your bed as soon as you get out of it.
Self: even if you are not going anywhere, when you get up, get a shower and put on clothes and shoes. when you're dressed, you are more likely to do other stuff besides sit around watching tv.