11 Habits to Create a Home that Stays Clean (Mostly) with Babies & Toddlers

Before our first daughter was born, it was pretty easy to keep our house clean. There were only two of us to clean up after, and he even did his own laundry! (yes, I know that not every wife is that fortunate 🙂) After ZB was born, it felt like a baby bomb had gone off in our house. Every night, I would clean up before bed, and every morning – especially after a particularly colicky night – the house was a wreck again … covered in reminders of the night before. Then there was the other regular house cleaning jobs to try to add into the new routine. I started to feel like I was always cleaning. Yet somehow, ironically, the house was never clean.

I decided to be more intentional with how I structured my weekly cleaning chores. Whereas pre-baby Bekah could catch up on housework in a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon, now I needed to figure out how to get it done throughout the week in small increments of time instead of the cleaning marathons I used to do. I created a “weekly cleaning routine” that listed three tasks I could do every day of the week so that everything could get done within that week. It worked like a charm! I was able to “get everything done” without feeling like I was working all the time. And our house stayed relatively clean as long as I stuck to the plan, which was easy to do since it was a simple routine.

Then, baby #2 came along…. I had even less time and less energy to tackle housework. And the toddler was creating messes of her own and busy showing us all the areas of the house that still needed childproofing. My “weekly cleaning routine” became more of a list of ideas that I would reference on the occasion that both girls were napping and I finally had a free minute but felt blank on what specifically was most important to do.

I still haven’t found a weekly cleaning routine that works perfectly for us in this phase of 2 under 2. I follow the routine included below very loosely and it helps me to remember what needs to get done on a weekly basis.

What I have found is that by intentionally following these 11 habits, I can keep our home relatively clean (not perfectly tidy, but not a complete wreck either) most of the time:

1. Set aside a time to do “those chores.”
   • You know, the ones that just aren’t convenient and can’t be easily worked into your day. Like washing windows or vacuuming the car. Calling the insurance company about a bill that’s been adding paper clutter to your desk … and being on the phone for over an hour. If you set aside a specific time/day of the week for that category of jobs, you’re more likely to keep up with it. And you’re also less likely to stress about it in the period of time before doing it, since you know that it will get addressed during the allotted time.
2. Clean as you go.
   • Keep toilet cleaning solution and cleaning brush beside your toilet so that you can quickly clean the toilet right after going whenever you think of it.
   • Keep a spray bottle of all-purpose cleaning spray in your bathroom cupboard so that you can quickly wipe down the sink, counter and faucet after brushing your teeth at night.
   • If it takes less than 60 seconds to clean up something (for example: a sticky toddler mess), just do it now. You’ll save yourself having to clean up a bigger mess later once that sticky mess is smeared/tracked all over the house.
3. Use pockets of time wisely.
   • You know that 7 minute window while your toddler is contentedly playing with her bath toys while you’re sitting on the closed toilet seat watching her? Why not use that time to scrub the grout right beside the tub or clean the faucet (with a nontoxic, kid-safe cleaner)? You’ll be right there beside your toddler and can still watch her while simultaneously accomplishing a cleaning task.
   • For the 15 minutes while your toddler is sitting safely secured in her highchair eating a snack, why not use that time to wash the kitchen windows, wipe down the counters, do a quick fridge refresh, or load the dishwasher?
   • If you’re like me, you probably don’t go to bed immediately after putting your toddler to bed. Why not set aside 15 minutes before your bedtime routine to do a quick cleaning job that has been bugging you and that has been impossible to complete while your toddler was awake? For example, the food that fell to the bottom of your oven several days (or weeks) ago and you keep smelling it every time you bake? You can apply a paste made with baking soda and dish soap to that food before putting your toddler to bed, and then once the bedtime routine is done, go in the kitchen and spend 15 minutes scrubbing it down. Or it could be as simple as climbing on top of a chair and dusting the fan blades. Maybe you weren’t able to do that with the toddler awake for safety reasons or maybe you just haven’t had time yet. Do it after they’ve gone to bed, but make a workable goal time. For me, 15 minutes is long enough to finish many of the individual cleaning tasks that bug me, but not so long that I exhaust myself.
4. Make a personal cleaning routine.
   • This can be very subjective based on what cleaning jobs are most important to you, what is realistic and possible in this phase of your life, and even what days the trash truck comes by.
5. Do a “nightly reset.”
   • This can be as basic or as detailed as you want it to be. If you’re in a similar phase of life to me, you may want to make it very minimal (i.e. every night I wash the dishes before bed, wipe down my counters and sweep the floor). In other seasons of motherhood, I’ve been able to be more thorough (i.e. taking out the trash, cleaning the sink, spot-cleaning the floor, etc.), but for now, as long as I do those things every night, I am able to start the next day without being already “behind.”
6. Do one load of laundry every day.
7. Go to bed with a clean sink.
   • I know … sometimes, you are so exhausted that you just want to go to bed as soon as the babies are in bed. But tomorrow you will appreciate the 10-15 minutes (once you get in the habit, it really doesn’t take as long as you might think) that it takes to clean the dishes or load the dishwasher and start it. You’re helping yourself start the next day with a clean slate.
8. Minimize your stuff.
   • So many things have been said about this online that I won’t elaborate too much. Simply put, the less stuff you have to manage, the easier it is to keep your home clean.
9. Put your cleaning supplies away in easy-to-reach (for you … not for your toddler) locations throughout the house.
10. Rest when your body tells you it needs to rest.
    • Giving yourself time to recharge during emotionally or physically exhausting seasons is so important. You can power through nap time later, but if you’re waking up all through the night with a teething toddler, you will be more productive when you listen to your body.
11. Get your toddler involved!
    • My daughter has only recently started being able to complete little “tasks” like unloading the dishwasher (I pull out the glass dishes and sharp knives first), “helping” put clothes in the dryer (I hand her the individual items and she puts them into the dryer), wiping/scrubbing/drying her own messes, and cleaning up her toys. This is not enough to help that much now, but as she gets older and can take on more responsibility, I will continue to train her to clean up her own messes and to participate in maintaining a clean and tidy home.