Keeping the home clean "enough"

 Before I was married I had my own apartment for two years. In that time I learned what I did and didn't like in keeping my little home.  I like things neat and orderly and cannot stand clutter.  So, when I got married that's how I kept our first apartment.  It was just the two of us and easy to keep up with not only the every day cleaning but also keeping everything organized.  

After a year we moved into an older house, built in 1923, that had not been lived in for a few years.  Besides having to contact the city to have them fill in a hole at the end of the driveway; left there when they removed a tree stump.  We also had a lot of cleaning to do before we even moved in.  There was a lot of clutter left by the former owner's estate, a toilet that was literally black inside from mildew, and carpets that were stuck to the floor from who-knows-what-and-I-didn't-even-want-to-think-about.  We spent a week deep cleaning as much as we could before moving in.  Over the 14 years we lived there we redid almost every room in the house and had 6 kids.  So...I learned to live with some chaos, dust and clutter but always felt great when we finished a project and I could clear the dust and organize the space.  

The biggest project was when we remodeled the kitchen ourselves.  It took two years.

Below is a picture of mid-remodel. 

With each new baby came more stuff...clothing, gear, shoes, etc. and I'd have to figure out a new way to try and organize and contain everything.  Back in 2012 I blogged about trying to find a solution for all the shoes; you can read about that here, if you'd like.  While I still use this same system, we've outgrown the storage, had two more kiddos and shoes have gotten bigger.  It doesn't hold all our shoes anymore, but is still helpful to have.

Over the years I've read different cleaning and organizing methods, tried different ones and adjusted my idea of how clean and organized the house can be while still prioritizing time together and building into relationships.  I've chatted with my husband about his preferences and learned to adjust to what works for our family and home.  

There are three things that I've implemented over the years that have been a great help in this area.

1) Everybody Helps - This may sound like a given to you but it can be an adjustment.  From the time the kids were about 2 years old they have helped switch laundry from the washer to the dryer and other small tasks they could do.  Obviously, as they've gotten older they help with more. Setting the expectation of helping early and making it fun for them made it easier to adjust to them helping more as they got older.  When we have a larger number of tasks to do I write a list and they all choose what they want to do from that list.  Typically they can agree on who will do what job but if there is any disagreement we use "rock, paper, scissors" to decide. 

As part of this, I had to learn to let go of things being done "my way".  Yes, there are things we teach them to do a certain way but if they fold a shirt differently it doesn't mean it's "wrong".  ;-)

2)10-minute cleanup - This should probably be #1 as this has been the most helpful idea we've implemented.  When the kids were younger I found myself getting frustrated at the messes they made.  I felt like I was spending all day following them around and getting after them to clean up before moving to the next thing.  While I still encourage them to pick up after themselves I no longer stress if the house gets messy during the day.  Each day, typically before dinner I call "Ten minute clean up!" and everyone knows to walk through the house and pick up anything they see that's out of place.  Straighten up the couch pillows and cushions, etc.  With everyone working together it rarely takes longer than 10 minutes to put the house back in order. 

3) Weekly "sketch"/tasks - This is a system I used for several years and then recently started again (and wonder why I ever stopped as it's so helpful).  It's similar to all those cleaning schedules you see online but tailored to our home and what I can realistically get done in one day.  Have you seen some of those online schedules! There's no way I could get all that done each day! :)  So I sat down and wrote out each weekday and a list of tasks I do on those days.  I also have a list of tasks I do everyday and usually a weekly goal which is an extra task for that week.  I also have a place for more longterm tasks.  It's a simple list/schedule I keep in an app on my phone.  As part of this I do a weekly "sketch" to pencil in where other tasks will fit in my week or if I need to move days around because of appointments, etc.  I find having it all written out helps keep me on track and if plans change and I have to miss a task I don't stress because I know I can either catch up on Friday or it'll get done the next week.  

Here is a screenshot of what my weekly task outline looks like.

 

Sometimes I look at it and think "that's not much" but it doesn't include cooking (other than weekly bread making), running kids around to where they need to be and other unexpected tasks.  I find it's a good outline while leaving room for me to pivot where God leads.   What tools/schedules have you found to be helpful in keeping your home?