Tips to keeping a clean house

This is my first time writing a hub and I hope I can share some useful tips with you. I work full time and have a large family of five. People have asked me often how do you keep your house so clean while working full time and taking care of your family? Here are some of my tips.

My kids each have their own laundry basket and it is their responsibilty to bring them to me when they are full. Giving kids this job helps so much, not only do I not have to sort through which clothes belong to who because one laundry basket makes a medium load of wash, so to save time I wash each kids clothes individual and fold them and put them back in their room for them to put away. Giving kids these little small jobs helps them to learn responsibilty and cleanliness. Before I did this I was constantly spending time going into their rooms and picking up their clothes and taking them to the laundry room because they could never seem to remember to get them that far after removing them. It also takes a lot of time sorting through three kids diffrent clothing and figuring out what article of clothes belongs to who. With keeping their wash seperate I can empty the dryer into a clothes basket and fold them and automatically take the clothes to the room they come from. Tip: for inexpensive laundry baskets go to one of your local stores and look for cracked or flawed baskets, I did this and purchased $5.00 laundry baskets for a $1.00.

Clutter we all have it. How many of you have what is called hot spots in your home? Where everything is thrown from mail to school papers to just about whatever else you can think of. Stop the hot spots by first going through the junk you have sitting there now and storing it where it goes or throwing the trash away. Now find some sort of decorative figurine or a house plant or just anything to stick in that area so that the next time you go to throw something there you will see that plant and think twice and will actually sit down and sort through the things needing sorting through now. Stop the hot spots before they get started!

Now to keep your home clean and you less stressed, because I don't know about you but when my house is a mess my stress level increases. I take one day every two weeks and I start at one end of the house and work to the other end cleaning from top to bottom. I generally start in the bedrooms and work my way to the utility/laundry room. I dust, clean windows, wipe down walls with a dry cloth, and then vacuum (always save vacuuming for last so you can be sure to catch the dust that falls to the floor) and go through closets and make sure nothing needs cleaned out. In the kitchen I clean out the fridge and pantry and straighten and wipe out my cabinets and drawers. I then sweep and mop. I clean every room like this. This I do once every two weeks and then just pick up the little things throughout the week as needed. Yes, this job is an all day job but the next day I can just sit and relax and enjoy the clean house.

Getting family involved in the up keep of the house. My husband helps out considerably he cooks, does laundry, and picks up little things around the house. My kids responsibilty is making sure they get me their laundry before they run out of clothes, putting there laundry away, keeping their bathrooms tidy, and before bed every night they have to pick up the clutter in their rooms and put everything where it goes.

With these tips and just making sure your family realizes that keeping the house clean doesn't just fall to the Mom or Wife of the house then you can live a clutter free life and actually have time to enjoy your days off!!!