How to Keep Your House Clean When the Kids Are Home for Summer

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You love your children. Being a parent is one of life’s most beautiful aspects. Of course. Now that that’s established, let’s also acknowledge that children are straight-up disasters. It takes children an incredibly small amount of time to destroy otherwise pristine rooms. From creating mountains of clutter like shoes and clothes to leaving mud on the floor when it hasn’t even rained or they haven’t even been outside yet. 

It would honestly be sort of impressive how messy they were if it wasn’t also incredibly annoying. Managing the chaotic energy of even the best-behaved children can be exhausting. To help, we’ve created a list of ways to keep your home clean, even when the kids are home for summer with nothing to do but make a mess. 

Create a System 

The first step to a clean home, with or without children involved, is creating systems or procedures that work for you and/or your family. “Systems and procedures” sounds incredibly intense, but it really just means having some sort of plan in place to keep your home clean and tidy throughout the days, weeks, months, and even years. 

With children, these systems just need to be more developed and more firm. Especially when the kids are young, if you don’t have order, you’re going to have chaos; there is no middle ground. Your system can be as complex as a cleaning calendar with specific rules or as simple as areas where it’s okay for the kids to go nuts like a playroom. Whatever works for you!

Give Everything a Home

While you’re creating protocols and plans for your clean house, one step to take it to the next level and declutter your whole home is by giving every item its own home. This goes for kids and adults, but for kids, it’s crucial. Every toy, every shoe, and every arbitrary item a child needs should have its own place where it belongs. 

This helps make it easier for the kids to clean up their own mess when it’s time to pick up your home and remove clutter. Kids are really good at creating clutter, so making it as simple as possible to remove that is an excellent way to tidy up the whole house. 

Establish Rules for Playing

One of the biggest ways children create a mess is by playing. Kids love toys, and the moment they’re done with one toy, they move onto the next one, usually leaving the first one behind. Establishing rules for playtime is an easy way to reduce clutter and mess. 

For example, allowing children only three toys out at once, or only a certain amount of time before resetting with their toys, can make a huge difference, even if they might seem like small rules.

Build a Team

If you’re looking for a way to like your family and feel less angry at them basically all the time, then just do all the cleaning yourself. We promise it’ll only take a week or two before you’re angry at everyone in the home except, of course, yourself. 

Instead, make everyone contribute. This sounds like a simple tip, but it’s difficult to put into practice. People get lazy, cut corners, and forget which jobs are theirs. But trying to create a functional family team is an effective way to make it easier for everyone to keep the home clean.

Give the Kids Jobs

Like working as a team, giving items a home, and making systems, the key is to get the children involved. If they’re going to make the biggest messes, they should also contribute to the cleaning efforts. While it can be a challenge to get the kids to start cleaning up after themselves, once they learn, it’s a lifesaver. 

For more stubborn kids, you can also get creative to make it more appealing for them to help out. From incentives like TV time to warnings that toys could get thrown away if left out too long, there are ways to make it worth their while to participate. 

Make Spaces with Purpose

For both parents and kids alike, one really important element to consider in adding to your cleaning efforts is designated spaces separate from either group. If you have a home with enough space, making certain rooms – like your bedroom or office – off-limits to the kids can be a great way to get some peace of mind and take a break. 

Similarly, creating a game or play room, where the kids can have their fun with less pressure to clean (not no pressure; they should still clean) is a great idea as well. Everyone needs their space. 

For more life-altering tips, visit our blog, and to schedule your cleaning service to get your house ready for the summer, contact us today at 405.928.8535! We’re ready to help you. We’ve also created a free guide to help you get rid of allergens in your home and keep the whole family feeling great, which you can download below.

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