Comments on: Tackle Housekeeping with Your Kids

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 07:02:36 +0000

love love love the whole article. great advice to ask your husband what his expactations are and then follow up with a compromise, I was so overwelmed when I found out my husband thought the floors should be mopped once a week not once a month but he didnt know I get down on my hands and knees and scrub them while he takes the swiffer and pushes everything to the edges of the floor. yay for comunication.

By: dkd

dkd — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 23:45:11 +0000

"I usually assign myself 3-5 of those "things" on my whiteboard per day. " The word "things" really doesn't need to be in quotes. It is distracting and incorrect. There are things, not "things", that you need to do.

By: Franziska@ homenaturally.org

Franziska@ homenaturally.org — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 15:04:39 +0000

Thanks for the great post. I find that my children actually enjoy chores... it gives them the feeling of being older and a feeling of responsibility. Besides involving them in chores around the house, I make it very clear to them that they are in charge of keeping their playroom organized :-). Here are some ideas on making that a little easier:
http://homenaturally.org/2012/12/13/6-steps-to-get-your-playroom-ready-for-christmas/

By: Mary @ Parenthood

Mary @ Parenthood — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 11:29:39 +0000

Getting the kids involved is my #1 tool. Yes, getting kids to help often takes longer when they are small, but it pays off! To the commenter who finds her son takes too long with emptying the dishwasher - don't give up! (and definitely don't vocalize the idea that he is taking too long and therefore that's why he sometimes gets out of the chore!) Try getting him to just clear part of it if you really don't have time. Most chores are easier if the family does them together! There are two other things that I do to help manage the housework not mentioned above. 1) We evaluate our "clutter" and get rid of anything that is not being used frequently / bringing great joy or quality of life. Cleaning around clutter adds approximately 40% more time to the housework, so having less means you spend significantly less time cleaning. 2) We evaluate the housework we do regularly and find ways to reduce it / head off messes before they happen. The laundry is a good example. I too used to do several large loads a day (not including cloth diapers!). Then I read a comment somewhere that pointed out my great-grandma used to spend hours once a week doing laundry by hand for her much larger family than mine. Now we have automated machines, but the average amount of time spent doing laundry has actually gone up! That made me re-evaluate WHAT I am washing and how often, and I reclaimed a lot of that laundry time.

By: Maria Smith

Maria Smith — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:43:59 +0000

I loved this post! I'm working through a lot of these things myself. Teaching the kids to clean the house is an investment of time, but it's already paying off. I have a favorite cleaning service that comes when things just get too crazy, but for the most part, the kids and I manage. We do most of the cleaning on Saturday. My two older kids are definitely learning how to do a job properly, and sometimes even do something without being asked. It's so wonderful when that happens!!

By: Victoria

Victoria — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 12:17:30 +0000

Your cleaning system and my cleaning system are very similar but you have given me some food for thought on ways I could tweak mine to work even better. Thanks for the great post.

By: Debbi

Debbi — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 05:24:23 +0000

My grandmother raised 6 children. She kept a sign outside by her door that read, "If you came to see me, come on in. If you came to see my house, make an appointment!"

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 04:30:34 +0000

Or how about, "My house was clean an hour ago. Sorry you missed it." That describes our Saturday. We clean in the morning, and then I sigh in the afternoon as I survey the brand new mess.

By: tereza crump aka mytreasuredcreations

tereza crump aka mytreasuredcreations — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 04:25:51 +0000

I really like how you made the cleaning personal:”it's your house.” I get tired of reading blogs or books trying to teach me how to clean MY house.

By: Jennifer Dunn

Jennifer Dunn — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 03:28:59 +0000

Hi, I love all the wonderful ways you organize to care for your home. My family (well the girls and I) have a cork board chart and it works great for us to remember the daily/ weekly chores each of us have. Then the other chores that we have like cleaning up after our own selves (toys etc.) I try to keep them all doing that. ( I have four -13, almost 10, 4, 3) We also each have our own laundry baskets and the kids all put away their own laundry and I am blessed to have two daughters to help with the actually washing of the clothes. My husband loves a clean organized home, so we try our best. Thanks for sharing