Cue gorgeous Pinterest worthy picture…

Do you ever look back at pictures of your house before kids? I do. My house was so pretty and perfectly decorated with nothing but glass, at least that is what it feels like. I dream of the day that neon colored toys are not scattered through out my living room. Tampons are not being pulled out of the box and used as chew toys by the toddler. The day when toilet paper is not used as a toy to be drug from room to room leaving a trail of money spent on the floor.

Everyone says “enjoy it while you can” and “you’ll miss this.” Well for me, I am a recovering perfectionist, so to have a daily mess that I can’t seem to get a hold of it really gets me down. I found myself not enjoying days because things just were so chaotic everywhere I looked. This sadness turned into stress which shut me down and I would barely get anything done throughout the day since why clean something that will be destroyed in 3 minutes. Once I realized how unhappy I was I started to take approaches to enjoy the days with kids, while maintaining a clean home.

Get up and do something

Pick up for 10 minutes every hour or so. I set a timer and just tackle as much as I can before the timer goes off; it feels like a fun game. The kids follow me around and now that Nora is a bit older she sings her version of the clean up song. She throws quite forcefully her toys into her playhouse while I do my chores. A quick clean up makes me feel less stressed along with feeling accomplished. Plus, cardio!

Who is wearing all of these clothes?

Seriously though, I feel like terrible little elves come into my house at night and dirty every single item of clothing in my house. As a family of four with two dogs and three cats, you can just imagine all the laundry that gets dirty a day. I don’t know how we do it, but we get everything dirty. When it was just Justin and I we would do laundry once a week, usually on our lazy Sundays. We continued that habit when Nora was born and then Sully. It was at this point that we were physically drowning in laundry. One weekend we washed, dried and folded 7 loads of dirty laundry, not including bedding! It was just insane. My loving grandma in grandma fashion said, “just do one load a day.” I have zero idea how that never entered my mind but it was a total game changer!

Simple daily routine

Come up with a good routine to pick up. I absolutely love to come downstairs in the morning to a spotless home. Figuring out what made me tick Justin and I decided that it would be best to spend about 30-45 minutes at night cleaning/preparing for the next morning. If you like to pick up in the morning, afternoon or middle night that’s fine; just do what is best for you and your family.

Dishes, dishes, dishes

Dirty dishes being placed in the dishwasher to be washed over night was the best thing we ever started doing! Before this, mornings were stressful because there were no clean bottles or sippy cups, so the kids are crying while I quickly do some dishes. It really is a good jolt first thing in the morning, but I prefer to be awoken by coffee and not screaming kids. Now during breakfast when both kids are strapped into their chairs I can empty the dishwasher. I do try and make sure dishes get put in the dishwasher as they are dirtied. For some reason my husband can’t understand that concept, lol.

Before bed

Picking up the rooms to be back to presentable is the most satisfying for me especially the living room. It feels great going into each room putting things back where they belong and shut the light off. Just knowing that all rooms are peacefully clean and sleeping makes me so happy! Yes, I picture all my things sleeping at night. My best mornings are when I can drink my coffee and read in a clean peaceful room before the kids get up. This really sets my day up for success. Not saying this happens often, I love sleep and tend to sleep in. But on days that I do get up early I feel like I am killing the day.

Nothing will be perfect and that is okay

Lastly accept that a perfect home shouldn’t be what you are striving for in this life. Strive for days of joy with your kiddos, I mean they are only little once. It just wasn’t worth it for me to be so unhappy everyday because lets face it, kids are messy little demons some days! So if you look into the far future, just wait until they get a house… oh watch out kids! Momma is using all of your toilet paper! 🙂