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First, get a housekeeper to come in every other week. Second, teach the kids to clean up and make it a family activity. It’s never to early to teach cleaning up. Third, get a chore chart to reward kids for cleaning up. My little one loved to clean windows starting at age 3. Fourth, use your “cleaning” time that is now freed up from the housekeeper to declutter. One room each weekend. Box up items to donate and put the boxes in the garage (or other storage area) until the donation places open up. Get kids to decide which toys to give away to children who don’t have toys. It teaches charity and helps declutter. Sell it to the four year old by explaining what a big kid they are. If one room is too much for a weekend try something smaller (i.e. one dresser). Fifth, don’t expect perfection! Life is messy!
No problem. Try the Melissa and Doug responsibility chart! It was a game changer for my daughter.
You may just have to get thru the toddler years and then find you’ll have time when kids do a bit more on their own for clutter control. We’ve had a cleaning service which asked us to pick up before they came which forced us to declutter floors and surfaces. Wish they would’ve done that part and I woulda dusted and vacuumed!!
You are not alone. We haven’t found a permanent fix for this, but what we found helpful was ceding control of about half the living room for my 4 y/o, our 1 y/o doesn’t make too much mess, yet, but his toys stay mainly in his room. What it does is leave the living room in somewhat livable condition, and cleaning it isn’t that hard because the toys are centralized in the other half. I also try and donate or toss as much as possible whenever possible, but I don’t think anyone is taking donations now bc of covid. Good luck!
You are very welcome! And no problem.
I relate to this deeply. Where do you live? There are many companies like Life in Jeneral (www.lifeinjeneral.com) that come into your home and reorganize so you have systems in place for storage and organization. I haven’t hired them myself but they do move-ins so I can’t wait to use a similar service when we do our next move. I’d use this over a housekeeper, although we love our housekeeper too. Good luck!
Northern VA. Hadn’t thought about using a company like this for moving. That is such a good idea. We are probably moving soon and getting this done at the same time would be life changing.
Btw, I’m cross-posting this in another bowl for greater visibility, too.
When my kids were younger, we designated Sunday mornings are cleaning time. Kids are older (5 and 8) so they help clean now. We found that having a specific, nonnegotiable time where all hands are on deck has worked best.
Also, i see others have suggested a chore chart for kids. Definitely recommend. We started with it early, like age 3, with simple tasks like feeding the pets, making your bed, putting dishes away after eating. It really helped instill habits and a good attitude about helping out around the house.