How to Keep Your Home Tidy as a Busy Mum – 5 Top Tips | AD

*This is a collaborative guest post

If being a mum isn’t difficult enough, trying to keep your home tidy as a busy mum is even harder, and if like many other mums out there you stress over keeping your home clean, this is the post for you.

Firstly, don’t stress!

Keeping your home clean with small kids isn’t easy.  Ask any parent and they will tell you their home can turn into a giant mess in an instant.

As a busy mum, I think you need to reassess what tidy means to you, with small kids I don’t think your home can go back to being as tidy as it was pre-kids.  With that said there are some tips and techniques that I will cover in this post to keep your home as tidy as possible.

Tip 1 – Work with your children

Your human wrecking balls (children) will obliterate your home, toys will be thrown everywhere, the furniture will be pulled out of place and walls will be decorated with or without your permission.  Instead of walking around and picking up each toy or bit of mess as it happens just wait until your child is done and then clean it up in one big sweep.

The reason why I recommend this rather than doing the cleaning as you go along is that you take the enjoyment out of spending time with your children if you’re only worried about the cleaning.

If your child is old enough to help with chores, get them involved with the cleanup process.  Handing over their toys and telling them to put them back into their basket can be rewarding for both of you.

Some days your children will help and other days they will kick and scream, but overall it’s a good habit to get your children into and it makes cleaning up a little bit quicker especially in the future when they will learn to do it automatically.

Tip 2 – Get rid of the clutter

If someone would have told me I would have needed a bigger home before having a child I would have laughed.  My home was plenty big enough, it had 2 rooms that no one used, then came along the baby.

No one tells you that you need a pram, carrycot, multiple car seats, bouncers, moses baskets, more toys than a toy factory, changing units and so much more.

Although a new house would be nice, for some of us it isn’t in our budget.  The next best option that worked for me was hiring a self storage unit.  Like most people, I didn’t want to get rid of my valuables, but there simply wasn’t room for them.  A self-storage unit was a great choice because it was more affordable and convenient than buying a new home and this way I didn’t have to part with my memorables to make way for a finding Nemo jumperoo that my child has used once.

Tip 3 – Sweep up once a day

If you leave cleaning the floor for a few days you will be surprised how much more work it takes to get it clean.  Anyone with small children will know how much mess they can make in a few days. Spilt milk, vomit and other bodily fluids can be sent flying onto the floor at a moments notice.  My tip would be to clean your floors once a day.

Cleaning your floors should only take 10 minutes but if you leave it for a few days that 10 minutes can easily turn into an hour or two.  

If you leave cleaning the floor until your children are asleep it makes your job much easier and your home is clean for the next day.

Tip 4 – Have a place for everything

Having a place for everything not only keeps your home cleaner but it makes your life as a busy mum much easier.  I can’t tell you the number of times I have needed to find some baby wipes and have had to look in 5 separate places, I’m telling you it will drive you mad.

You can get some cheap boxes or baskets from your local store and label them. Have a basket for toys, a basket for baby cleaning, a basket for school work and accessories, a basket for your items etc.  If an item doesn’t have a place it usually ends up stuffed into a corner of the house causing clutter, so either put it in a place, in storage or get rid of it.

Tip 5 – Acceptance

The most important thing in my opinion with your kids is for them to be happy.  They will be happier and so will you if you choose just to have fun with them rather than worrying about that cushion out of place. 

I’m yet to meet a parent who doesn’t forwarn me when entering their house “excuse the mess” when in reality their home is fine.  Having children is hard enough as it is and hopefully, these few tips will make your life as a busy mum that little bit easier.