How to keep your house tidy with little kids

house tidy with little kids
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Life with little kids can feel like utter chaos! Just as soon as you’ve tidied up over here, then suddenly there’s an explosion of stuff over there. It can feel unrelenting and exhausting to keep your house tidy with little kids. OK, so we are not super woman here, but there are some things we CAN do to help try and stay somewhat in control with little gremlins trying to thwart our attempts at keeping on top of the domestic scene. Having been there and done that, today I’m sharing my top tips on how you can keep your house tidy with little kids:

Have regular decluttering sweeps

In terms of keeping the house tidy with little kids, the key for me is little and often. That way, you can just chip away at it gradually rather than letting it get out of control and totally overwhelming. I tend to have a quick decluttering sweep in the morning, and then one in the evening. It’s a good idea to have a basket close by the stairs where you can pile up things that need to be put away upstairs all in one go. Try to keep the surfaces as clear as possible (I know, we are not miracle workers), but clutter and stuff attract more clutter stuff and if there is a pile, it will just keep accumulating and getting bigger!

Stock up on storage

One of the keys to keeping your house tidy with little kids is to make sure everything has a place, and that everyone knows where that place is. For this, be smart about how you use storage. For example:

  • Invest in a big bench in the kitchen or living area which doubles up as a toy chest (an absolute saviour). You can dump all the downstairs toys and Lego etc in this at the end of the day
  • Larger games and toys can be stored away in cupboards – but be sure to keep everything accessible so kids can help themselves and then tidy away after themselves.
  • Make sure your children’s room has plenty of storage and drawers – in fact, I am a big advocate for moving as much of their stuff out of the living area and into their bedrooms (or even a playroom if you are lucky enough to have one!) so long as there is the storage there to keep it all organised and under control.
  • Look for additional storage opportunities. Make use of under the bed and hanging wall space for extra storage opportunities. Could you convert your understairs space into storage cupboards? You can never have too much storage space!
  • Rotate toys and games on a regular basis and use storage to put away items not currently in use. A rotation system improves your children’s ability to focus, and helps you maintain your sanity too as not everything is always out everywhere in the house.
house tidy with little kids
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Keeping on top of chores

To keep the house tidy with little kids, it’s a good idea to have a house chores routine or loose schedule so you don’t feel totally overwhelmed with all the stuff you need to do. It might be towel laundry one day, bedding laundry another, hoovering and mopping mid-week, and so on. Write this down and stick it up on the fridge to reduce your mental load.

Make sure everyone knows the routine, and have them pitch in from an early age. If you want the kids to help out, it’s best to teach them how to clean and tidy from an early age. Not only does it help you, but it also becomes empowering for them as they become more independent. To encourage this, you can initiate some tidy-up and chores rules. For example, tidy up/help with chores before screentime, dinner time, before they want to play with something different. This serves as a brilliant motivator!

Don’t try to do it all yourself!

In most households – even today – it can feel as though you are doing it all as a mum. But the bottom line is, all mums need a break! If your other half is out at work all day and too shattered to help out, then there is absolutely no reason to feel guilty about using services like cleaners or laundry clean and return.

For example, if you are sick of never seeing the bottom of the laundry basket and can’t keep on top of all of the washing, you could treat yourself to a little cheat and book Laundryheap to collect, clean, and deliver your laundry to your doorstep. Laundryheap delivers the quickest, easiest to use, and most reliable professional laundry and dry cleaning service that completely adjusts to your needs, whenever and wherever you need it, with 98.7% of all standard laundry and dry cleaning being delivered the next day.

So whether you just need a one-off break, or something more regular to help you keep your house tidy and stop it feeling like a Chinese laundry, why not treat yourself and choose a collection and delivery time at your convenience then pack off your laundry to Laundryheap? Just the thought of it feels totally liberating don’t you think?

house tidy with little kids
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Stop obsessing

Here’s the thing, we are not living in an Instagram feed here. We are real mums, with real worries, and copious amounts of demands on our time. If our houses are not as tidy or clean as we would like them, then you know what…who cares? We are not saving lives, just doing our best to keep our houses tidy with little kids and stay sane. One day, they will all be grown up and gone, and we will be able to keep our houses as tidy as we like! But for now, breathe….and lower your expectations.

Do you struggle to keep your house tidy with little kids? What other tips do you have to share? Leave a comment below and let us know.

10 comments

  1. The mess used to drive me mad. When my 3 were little, my flat never seemed to look tidy. I used to ask my husband to take the kids out for a few hours at the weekend just so I could frantically clean, I was never great at keeping in top of it.

  2. I do a “clutter sweep” a few times per day, too. I can’t stand things on surfaces. We also taught the kids early how to help and now they have daily chores to help keep up with things. Once school starts in a few weeks, we will do a big clean one morning every weekend when we all clean the house.

  3. Storage is the best regardless of whether you have kids or not, we have loads but I always wish I had more haha. I struggle to keep things clean with two cats sometimes x

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