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How do you clean a really messy house with kids at home?
Do you feel overwhelmed by the mess?
The is a real struggle.
With kids two kids under 5, there’s a never-ending mess in our home – and it gets worse when the kids are at home!
When it comes to cleaning, the first few things that come to mind is – where to begin and what to tackle first?
A house will always need to be cleaned because mess returns and is a never-ending cycle.
But, when it does, you don’t want to feel anxious and stressed out about tidying up.
What can you do?
You need a plan!
Here is one that gives you 8 helpful tips to clean a messy house. This is easy, and actionable advice that you put into play when you’re ready to dive into tackling the mess.
Ready for it?
Here are 8 helpful tips to clean a messy house. Take a look.
*This post may contain affiliate links. Please read disclosure.
Where to Start Cleaning My House?
This is totally up to you. But, we recommend starting at one end of your home and working through to the opposite end.
For example, you can start at the entry of your home, then make your way to the living areas, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.
Cleaning this way helps you avoid bouncing from area to area. When you leave a room, it’s clean, then you can move onto the next. Easy.
Next, let us follow a few cleaning hacks before we get our hands dirty:
1. Declutter – With fewer things in the house, there are lesser things to clean, right? This is such a golden tip.
Declutter and keep things minimal. Get rid of things you don’t need and clean up immediately after a mess.
When kids are at home there’s paper, stationery, glue and other artsy-craftsy things laying around. Get rid of anything that you don’t need to keep. Put toys back where they belong, and trash those you don’t need anymore.
The more you declutter the less mess to clean.
2. Storage Baskets in every room – Place neat storage baskets in the living room, bedrooms, kids-room and playroom for a quick tidy up. When you find anything that’s out of place, pick it up and place it in the storage basket. Empty the baskets at the end of the day.
This way you have a clutter-free room. And there’s just one basket to clean at the end of the day.
3. Cleaning wipes – With kids at home – no matter how big they are – having a pack of wet wipes is always handy. Whether it’s for food spills or a mess from colouring paints, these wipes are handy.
4. Be up to date with an immediate mess – Try and keep the kitchen sink and laundry empty. Laundry is something that can’t always be kept empty, but try and keep it to the minimum. Try and get into the habit of doing one load of laundry every day.
5. Carry a plastic bag when cleaning the house – Having a plastic bag saves you time walking to the bin and back, every time you pick something up to trash. This is one time-saving hack to clean your house quickly.
6. Pick up things as you walk around – Never walk around your house empty-handed. If there is a dirty cup, an old magazine or a newspaper, pick up it on your way to the kitchen or the bedroom. Don’t leave outdated things that you don’t need anymore lying around. This includes opened envelopes, and broken stationary.
How Do You Clean a Really Messy House?
It’s all about crafting an action plan. You don’t have to be super formal with this, just have a plan in your head, like starting on one end of the house and moving to the other side, like shared above.
Before you start, make sure you have all your cleaning supplies and tools, like:
- Broom
- Mop
- Vacuum cleaner
- Cleaning solution
- Cleaning sprays
These are just examples. Bottom line, make sure you have what you need before you start your clean.
Now, check out these awesome tips to take the overwhelm out of cleaning a messy house turned upside down.
1. Get Prepared Before You Start
You can do this by preparing all your cleaning tools in a caddy, like your dust cleaner, your window cleaning spray, microfiber cloths, etc. This goes very far, believe it or not.
Nothing can get you more frustrated than lugging half a dozen cleaning supplies in your arms from space to space in your house.
2. Evaluate the Source of Mess
Evaluating the source of the mess means figuring out how the mess came to be.
Is it because of a lack of organization?
Are there too many things that live in that space? Whatever the reason is, identify it then solve the problem.
For example, if your pantry is constantly messy, consider getting storage containers, spice racks, and other organizational tools to keep your pantry neat and clean.
3. Make a Checklist
When it just feels like too much, consider making a checklist of things to clean for each room, then as you complete that task, check it off your list and move on.
Do this room by room until each room and space in your home is clean and mess-free.
Here’s an example of some items that might make it on your checklist:
- Dust surfaces
- Vacuum floors
- Sweep floors
- Mop floors
- Pick up clutter on the floor
- Empty trash cans
Consider making a room-specific list as your cleaning tasks will vary from room to room. This will help you feel like you’re accomplishing something as you’re cleaning each room and also help you ensure you cleaned every part of the space, according to your list.
4. Focus on One Thing at a Time
This can be especially hard. When everything is messy, you want to tackle it all but try hard to do one thing at a time.
For example, in your living room, start with picking up all the things on the floor. This can be challenging when you see dusty lamps you want to wipe down or a floor that needs vacuuming. Don’t worry, you’ll get to it. Start with one thing, complete that task then, move on.
5. Try Organizing Every Room
Go room by room and try to figure out a way to get it better organized. This can be one thing that you do for each room. Commit to this change and organize that one component of your room.
Like, for your kitchen, buy spice racks for your cabinet. For your kids’ room, get toy cubbies. For the garage, put up shelves to organize lawn and home tools. These are just a few ideas.
6. Do Cleaning Prep
Some rooms can benefit from having some prep done in advance. For example, when you start cleaning your kitchen, start with soaking dirty dishes in the sink.
This saves you time from scrubbing dishes as hard when it’s time to wash dishes. You might even get away with only giving them a rinse before loading in your dishwasher.
7. Don’t forget to sanitize your equipment when done
Once you’ve made it through your home and it’s sparkly clean, don’t forget to sanitize and disinfect your cleaning tools.
This can also include things like emptying out your vacuum bag, wiping down your vacuum of dust, etc.
8. Get a Helper (optional)
Finally, use a helper, if you have one. This can be a friend you call over to help you clean on a Saturday afternoon, or using your kids, etc.
You don’t need to pay someone to help you. If your husband can take the kids out for an hour or even play with the kids in the backyard, you can get a lot done in that time.
Use this handy free checklist to help clean your house fast in less than an hour!
This isn’t an option for everyone so if this isn’t for you, that’s fine.
If you can get some help, you’ll be able to clean your house much faster. You can work alongside your helper and tackle room by room twice as fast or have them start on one end of your home and you start on the other end.
Recommendation:
A highly recommended guide that takes you through organising a messy house with kids at home. Created by a mom of three who uses realistic ideas and ways to take the stress out of cleaning. Check it out here!
