5 Tips to Keep A Clean Home (With Kids Around)

With cooler temperatures outside and many of us staying home a little more, your kids are likely spending more time playing indoors nowadays.

So, can you remember the last time the house looked spotless? It may be easier than you think. Here are five great ways to start.

5 Kid-Friendly Tips to Keep Your Home Clean

01Everything Back in Its Place

One of the best pointers to achieve an organised home is making sure that everything has its place. We’ve heard it called the ‘fork’ theory. If you see a fork somewhere it shouldn’t be in your home, you know, very easily, where it needs to be put back. This should be the case with everything in your home.

It can take a little work to begin with but having assigned areas for things will make clean up time much quicker. Use common sense when labelling and try not to over-complicate things.

I recently invested in some fabric cubes from Big W and although it took a little time teaching her, our toddler now knows which cube her puzzles etc belong in and will often put them away in there herself after play time. Miracle!

02Limit the Toys in Your Living Room

This is a tough one to implement but is definitely the most rewarding.

Sort through the toys (probably easier to do once they’re in bed), making sure favourite toys stay in the living room while neatly storing the remainder (things like stuffed toys or less-played with toys you can’t bring yourself to give them away just yet) somewhere like the basement or spare room.

This will allow you to keep your living areas as neat as possible, while other toys will be easily accessible if needed during play time.

Less toys will make the clean-up much easier!

03Have the Kids Help You

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Hear me out. This isn’t as scary as it sounds! Your children can help with the cleaning whether they’re young or older. It’s a great idea to turn it into a time-based game of sorts, to make it a little more exciting.

Create a chore chart for them to fill out or put stickers on themselves, with small rewards for ticking off jobs.

To begin with, you need to be okay with jobs not being done to perfection. No matter what age, they’ll definitely benefit from helping out. Here are some ideas to get them started.

04Make the Most of Screen Time

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While we’re certainly not condoning excessive screen time, using that half an hour of their favourite show to your advantage is another little trick.

You’ll be amazed at what you can get done in 30 (uninterrupted) minutes!

Pick the one or two chores that you most prefer getting done (I can’t stand a growing pile of laundry, personally) and get stuck into it while your little one is pre-occupied. Try not to feel bad about your half an hour of power either – it’s worth it if it means a calm, clean and organised home.

05Embrace the Mess

You knew it was somewhat part of the deal – having kids generally equals a messy home.

While they’re young, it’s important to accept that your home isn’t always going to be looking Instagram-worthy. But there are still things you can do to keep mess to a minimum.

Pick-up time should always happen following play time and again just before bed. A 10-minute pick up around the house is a clean slate for the following day. Taking just this small amount of time is worth it rather than letting it build up and having a huge mess to deal with later on.