Do You Ever Feel Like You ALWAYS Clean ?!

[crazydaycarelady]

Yep, clean, clean some more, and then start over.

One tip I have is I started getting rid of teeny toys, mcdonalds toys, and toys with lots of parts. Now I mostly have single piece toys like trucks, push toys, dolls. The toys with lots of pieces are put up and taken down occasionaly.

[DaisyMamma]

One tip I have is I started getting rid of teeny toys, mcdonalds toys, and toys with lots of parts. Now I mostly have single piece toys like trucks, push toys, dolls. The toys with lots of pieces are put up and taken down occasionaly.

I have a lot of DCBs and with it comes cars and trucks. I learned quickly that they LOVE to dump the bin full of 20+ cars, but only play with 1 or 2. Guess how many are in the bin now? ::

If you have a place for storage just put out a few of each toys like that and then rotate them.

[canadiancare]

I have adult boys (20,18) who live at home and are in University and a teen daughter (15). I get up half an hour early to tidy, vacuum and mop before I open at 6 30 because if I do it before I go to bed I am likely to wake up to popcorn on the floor. I wash bibs, facecloths etc at naptime everyday and then blankets and stuffies on Friday. It isn't the laundry that overwhelms me it is the fact that I have no young children of my own but my house looks like I do. We use the main floor for daycare so my front room carpet is stained, the walls need painting and I really want hardwood instead of laminate. I plan to retire in 2015 and I don't want to put any money into cosmetics before then but it sure gets depressing sometimes.

[My3cents]

yes I feel this way because I do always clean.

Not only do we clean up after our families

daycare
dishes, floors, toys, kids, bathroom, deep cleaning, outside yard work,vacuum, mop, sweep, wipe down, bleach, sanitize, faces, hands and feet,arts and crafts, baby tending, diapers, trash, organize, did I say dishes. We do it too, turn around and do it all over again. Prep work is most of the work. The eating and making of the messes takes no time at all

yes, yes and yes. I feel like I clean all the time.

[daymommy]

Yes and I feel like I have yet to find a good balance. I'll do really good for awhile following me daily chore checklist and then I'll get burned out and do the bare minimum (picking up/making piles, sweeping and wiping down the bathrooms daily). But then a week will go by and I'll be so overwhelmed with the clutter and mess that I'll have to spend the whole weekend deep cleaning and reorganizing! It is so much easier when I keep on top of it, but it's just so hard!!

When do you all do your cleaning, during daycare, or at night after they leave? I have a hard time this time of year because sept-may we do curriculum activities for most of the morning and then it's still nice enough to go outside so any free play we go out and I can't get anything done. I find that if I don't give myself a little break while they are napping then I get burned out and crabby which isn't good for anyone! It's a little better in the summer when we're not doing curriculum activities and once it gets to cold to go outside much. Then I can at least get a few things done while they are playing.

[NicholasDean]

I don't think I manage at all LOL! My husband makes fun of all of my "piles" of paperwork! One of the easiest cleaning tips I have is to put the smaller toys like little people, legos, matchbox cars etc into lingerie bags and running them through the dishwasher.

yes lingerie bags and tide is best suited for cleaning purpose. I do the same

[JoseyJo]

its never ending here. my biggest tip is to start living minimally. We have the bare essentials in our house as far as dishes, clothing, and such....less to clean. I dont do knick knacks or any furniture pieces that dont have multiple purposes. Anything that is not being used goes out the door! The playroom is the same way...I have it set up so the kids can reach almost everything and help me clean up and also, we dont have toys exploding from every corner....its also fairly minimal.

This is what we TRY to do too- I keep finding cool toys, art supplies and craft stuff I just know the kids will love. Especially now that garage sales have started.

We do daycare in our home too- not sure if it would work for you but we have separate dedicated spaces for our family and the daycare. From the front door there is an open living/dining area (we use for daycare meals, group projects, art, circle time) that has 2 small bedrooms (playrooms) that are attached to it, these are used solely for the daycare and set up more like a daycare center/preschool than a home. The bathroom and kitchen are next and they are shared between family and daycare. Our bedrooms upstairs and the den in the back past the kitchen are only used by us and not the daycare.

In the daycare dedicated areas we don't have any "family" stuff-no couches, tvs, computers, etc. So that saves some space, we also got rid of all the knick nacks in the daycare area and just have daycare art projects and learning posters on the walls and shelves. We change stuff up often and try to get rid of anything we don't use when we de-clutter.

[heyhun77]

its never ending here. my biggest tip is to start living minimally. We have the bare essentials in our house as far as dishes, clothing, and such....less to clean. I dont do knick knacks or any furniture pieces that dont have multiple purposes. Anything that is not being used goes out the door! The playroom is the same way...I have it set up so the kids can reach almost everything and help me clean up and also, we dont have toys exploding from every corner....its also fairly minimal.

this is my house exactly. We have exactly what we need and pretty much nothing more. Everyone helps with the chores for the house and I have a cleaning schedule that I try to keep to so that the whole house gets cleaned during the week, just not the whole house in one day.

I also live out the philosophy of "a place for everything and everything in its place". What we have is organized and has a place so clean up is fast. We have very little clutter and can find what we want when we want it (for the most part).

[heyhun77]

My tip for the meals is bulk cooking. It has saved me a lot of time in the areas of prep work and clean up. I cook for two months (or more) at a time and everything is in the freezer ready to either heat up in the oven or on the stove, bake on a cookie sheet in the oven or load into the crockpot for the day to cook. Most of the mess is made on my big cooking days (takes me about 36 hours including sleeping and church on Sunday) and all of the prep work is done so meals are made in a matter of minutes.

For daycare meals I also bulk cook as much as possible. For now I only have a few kids who aren't fully on bottles so I cook a big batch and it will last about a month of lunches. Breakfasts are the same way and we eat hot breakfast every day here.

It's definitely work to get things done ahead but I started long ago by just making double of something and freezing the other batch. That would get me extras stashed in the freezer so I wouldn't have to work so hard later.

Best thing I every started doing.

[Cradle2crayons]

Actually, although I do a lot of cleaning... The kids always clean up their own messes from their level down. I assign kids weekly "jobs". Honestly in the beginning, I started it because the kids would beg to help feed the dogs and chickens etc. so each week, I assign a kitchen helper, animal helper, outside helper, etc. there is a job for everyone two and up. The kitchen helper does just that, after meals, they have a half a broom and a dust pan and they sweep the kitchen and dining room(connected). The animal helper feeds the dogs, the cats have an auto feeder and both the cats and dogs have an auto watered. The animal helper checks the waterers as well. The outside helper organizes outside toy clean up in the afternoon so I don't have outside toys everywhere at pick up. If I have four kids, I have four jobs etc. now true enough, they don't sweep great, but it still cuts down the time it takes me to go behind them to do it.
We rotate jobs every week.mtrue enough also, I'm still cleaning all the time. But I do have a few things that makes it easier. I don't feel like I'm cleaning 20 hours a day although I do have kids most days from 600am until midnight.

I have only one that I had in a high chair... She's 15 months. Then I found a great booster for her at the table that snaps the chair in and her separately, so no extra high chair to clean. And my table easily fits 5 at one time.

I organize cleaning every morning when I get up, so that I'm not walking around feeling over whelmed. I not only have five kids, but then two of my own. Not to mention 3 adult cats, 3 five month old kittens, and a litter on the way. Plus a pet rat, two dogs, and 20 chickens all that depend on me.mmy husband works offshore so he ma be home a week a month or he may be gone for months at a time. Right now he's been gone for five weeks and won't be home for another three weeks or so. When he IS home, he does all the laundry and all the dishes. He doesn't do general cleaning though. He also cuts the grass and helps with pool maintenance..

[jenn]

I feel as if I clean all the time, and yet there is always a mess around the next corner. The only (not serious) tips I have are:
1. Keep a few get well cards on the mantle, so when people see a mess, they assume it's because you or someone in your family has been ill and will excuse the mess.
2. Hang a sign that says "Forgive the mess. We live here."
(Both ideas from pinterest)

[LaLa1923]

I seriously never stop cleaning and putting things away. BUT we are also a family of 7 plus daycare. We only have a 1000 sq foot home, I think this has a LOT to do with it. We will be moving soon to a home that has a basement. I cannot wait to move!!!

I have someone coming in now to give our home a good scrub weekly. This has really helped me out. YES, the house is soon messy again, BUT I don't have to give it a deep scrub. I just maintain the house until they come again. This has saved me a ton of time and I have a lot less stress.

During the day I clean behind us as much as I can. It's SUnday night and I'm cleaning up from the weekend......It seriously never ends!!!

[Laurel]

I feel as if I clean all the time, and yet there is always a mess around the next corner. The only (not serious) tips I have are:
1. Keep a few get well cards on the mantle, so when people see a mess, they assume it's because you or someone in your family has been ill and will excuse the mess.
2. Hang a sign that says "Forgive the mess. We live here."
(Both ideas from pinterest)

::::::

Love both of those!

Laurel

P.S. Kind of related but I don't like to cook. I do but don't like it. I found a sign that I now have in my kitchen that says "The only reason I have a kitchen is because it came with the house."

[LaLa1923]

My tip for the meals is bulk cooking. It has saved me a lot of time in the areas of prep work and clean up. I cook for two months (or more) at a time and everything is in the freezer ready to either heat up in the oven or on the stove, bake on a cookie sheet in the oven or load into the crockpot for the day to cook. Most of the mess is made on my big cooking days (takes me about 36 hours including sleeping and church on Sunday) and all of the prep work is done so meals are made in a matter of minutes.

For daycare meals I also bulk cook as much as possible. For now I only have a few kids who aren't fully on bottles so I cook a big batch and it will last about a month of lunches. Breakfasts are the same way and we eat hot breakfast every day here.

It's definitely work to get things done ahead but I started long ago by just making double of something and freezing the other batch. That would get me extras stashed in the freezer so I wouldn't have to work so hard later.

Best thing I every started doing.

Would you mind pming me some recipes????? happyfacelovethis

[AmyKidsCo]

I totally feel that way just with my family, much less the daycare!

It's gotten a lot better now our youngest is 6 and is able to clean up after himself. Now I just need to get the 17 yr old to clean up after herself. LOL!