Cleaning Tips For Busy Parents

Keeping the house in order is one of those things that just doesn’t end. The minute you fold and put the laundry away, bam, the dryer is chiming that another load is ready for you. You vacuum the couch and carpet only to have a snack bowl dump out all over the place. Since becoming a mom, over the years, I’ve tried to make the housework as bite-sized as possible to keep up with the mess and clutter.

I break the housework down into daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly tasks. I mostly work from home, which helps, but it’s not like I’m folding laundry while on a Zoom call. The time I would have spent commuting, I try and build into my day around drop off/pick up so that way, I can accomplish a few things on my list; this way I don’t have a mountain of housework after the kids finally fall asleep. I choose one of those pockets of time to “go wide” vs “go deep”. Imagine you get a call and have company coming in 15 minutes, where do you start? That’s what I try to finish in that time. Then, repeat for the next pocket of time.

Planning helps give me priorities without spending the whole weekend cleaning. A few times a month, I plan out the weekends ahead so I know if we have a busy weekend, I can break chores up over the week. Or I can spend a chunk of time on the weekend doing a bigger project. This gives me realistic expectations so I don’t spend the entire weekend cleaning. If I don’t get to something one weekend, it’s top of the list for the following weekend. Doing this batch plan also allows me to look at the weeks ahead and make our meal plan, which also feels like a win to curb the urge to get takeout as frequently.

About once a quarter, I take a day off of work, send the kids to daycare, and just clean. It’s not the most exciting day off of work, but it does feel satisfying. I time this to be near an occasion that we’re hosting, and I start in the bedrooms/private spaces and then work my way to the “entertaining spaces.” This helps me make sure I finish the whole house. This quarterly timing also helps me keep track of those “once in a while” tasks, so I know when they need to get done again. I did this before Christmas, and my next cleaning day will be in March, then June. These don’t have to be a one-woman show; this is a great thing to include the whole family in on, but it’s something I prefer to tackle solo.