Sunday, November 27, 2011

Housekeeping survey

Looks like one day soon I am going to be moving into my own home! This means I will actually be responsible for keeping it clean. I'm somewhat excited, but a little nervous about the big job while being a mom. So, how about it blog readers? Will you answer me the following questions to give me your good housekeeping while mothering ideas?

When do you do your housecleaning? Every day? Throughout the day? Once a week? If so, which day?

How do you entertain/watch your children while you clean?

What jobs do you do with your kids? How do you do them together?

Which ones do you have to have someone else watching your kids for you?

Which housecleaning tasks do you treat as essential and urgent?

Which housecleaning tasks do you treat as optional?

What else do you want to share about this?

Thanks for your help!!!!

3 comments:

Lisa said...

No kids here... but I do know some friends that keep their dishes in the lower cabinets so that their small children can unload the dishwasher.

I clean the kitchen every day (or every other day when very busy). It gets the nastiest the fastest. On Sunday afternoons or evenings I do the laundry, clean the birdcage, and do a fast bathroom clean. Most weeks I vacuum too, and wipe the kitchen floor with a wet rag. Dusting and appliance cleaning is a lot more sporadic :)

Corrie Haffly said...

When do you do your housecleaning?

As needed... and my standards have lowered a lot, which means the kitchen gets cleaned (dishes washed, counters wiped) a few times a day (or just once a day at the end), the bathroom gets cleaned about once every other month or if we have people coming over, the floor gets vacuumed once a month or if people are coming over, laundry is done as needed, and clutter accumulates frequently! We do tend to keep the kid's toys picked up at least every other day otherwise it would be too chaotic for me. Yardwork gets done once a season. Ugh.

How do you entertain/watch your children while you clean?

They play on their own, usually, although I have been known to bribe the 3 yr old with the iPhone. When I just had one kid, it was a lot easier to get stuff done - I could put him in the high chair and give him a snack while I scurried around to clean, or I could do things during his nap. With 2 kids it's more challenging. That's why the kitchen cleaning usually happens after bedtime.

What jobs do you do with your kids?

Steven likes to play with our little rechargeable vacuum, so he will run around sucking things up. He will also occasionally swipe at things if you give him a diaper wipe to "help," but he has to be in the mood. I will get out the toy broom/dustpan occasionally while we sweep to let the boys "help." Matthew (15 mo) is at the age that he likes to mimic us, so he likes to flail the dustpan and little broom around. We have found that Matthew and laundry don't mix, though. We use cloth diapers, so Steven would fold the inserts neatly in half and stack them up (when he was 2-3), and he still likes to stuff them in the bins for us.

Which ones do you have to have someone else watching your kids for you?

I don't think there's anything we "have" to have someone watch our kids for, we just have to work with timing (e.g., some things happen during naptime, like if both adults want to work outside on the yard) or be okay with being less efficient.

Which housecleaning tasks do you treat as essential and urgent?

Cooking, cleaning kitchen (not deep cleaning!), laundry, sweeping kitchen floor, picking up toys.

Which housecleaning tasks do you treat as optional?

Vacuuming, dusting, decluttering other areas of house.

What else do you want to share about this?

Our house is pretty babyproof and "safe" so we can work and clean most of the time without needing to supervise the kids. I think having a safe area for the kid to play in is REALLY helpful with other things including housecleaning because you can rest assured that you don't have to constantly supervise them, plus you don't have to keep saying "no" all the time!

Heather said...

When do you do your housecleaning? Every day? Throughout the day? Once a week? If so, which day?
We don't have any consistent schedule. Before Joel started working a couple months ago, he actually had a schedule for himself where he switched between cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, etc. each week. Now that he's the one at work and I'm at home (with an infant), I don't have any schedule yet. I try to do a little every day, but that usually consists of picking up and tidying, I don't often get to actual cleaning. Actually if I'm being totally honest, the only serious cleaning that's been done in the last 5 weeks is what my mother has done.

How do you entertain/watch your children while you clean?
I wear her in one of the wraps. Or do it in little bits while she's sleeping.

What jobs do you do with your kids? How do you do them together?
Same, I wear her. I think 5 weeks is a bit young to get her to do any of the jobs, but we'll start that soon! :-)

Which ones do you have to have someone else watching your kids for you?
Seems like all of them! Probably particularly the heavy duty jobs, like scrubbing the shower.

Which housecleaning tasks do you treat as essential and urgent?
Laundry (cloth diapers makes it essential! Don't want to run out!). Dishes - we have hardly any counter space so if there are dirty dishes it gets stressful fast to try to make more food. The next priority after that would probably be cleaning the bathroom. I don't see any other tasks as essential or urgent, although once in a while when the house looks like a hurricane hit it, I get stressed and feel like I need to do it all right away!

Which housecleaning tasks do you treat as optional?

Most of them. Some things, like cleaning the windows and dusting, we never get to. I suppose living in a basement in Seattle makes dusting not so important anyway, thankfully.

What else do you want to share about this?
Babies are only babies for a short time! Best to see nearly all the household chores as optional at first, and cherish this time with the baby.

Congrats on moving in to your own home!!