Are you managing a house with kids? Or are you wondering how to keep up with the house while raising a family? We get that question A LOT.
It can seem almost impossible to keep a clean home while you have young children at home. It may seem like a far-off dream to have an organized home, whether you are home or working outside of the home.
Between the laundry, meals, homework, sports, playdates and general cleaning… well, it really doesn’t leave a lot of time. So what can you do to make it happen in your home? How can you keep up with the house while raising a family? Here are some suggestions to get you started…
(1) Start meal planning for a week at a time, purchase the groceries ahead of time so you are all prepared and post the schedule in your home.
(2) Use a couple hours on the weekend to prepare some freezer meals for the week ahead. We love to order our groceries online (to Harris Teeter or Walmart) and then prep them all on Sunday afternoon.
(3) Divide up the basic daily chores between you and your husband. Then on the weekends take two hours to do a quick clean of the house as a family. It makes a huge difference. We designate Sunday (right after church) to a “cleaning hour”. With 6 people in our family, we can get this done rather quickly if we all chip in.
(4) Create a chore chart that you keep in a central location so everyone knows what is expected. Here are a few to get you started…
(5) Use a crockpot for easy meals. Dinner can be cooking while you are at work! I love easy crockpot meals like this 2 ingredient crockpot meal. You prep it at night or when you wake up and you’re done!
(6) Accept that some things will have to be let go. You cannot do everything and have to have grace with yourself and your family.
(7) Keep a stash of easy prep meals such as frozen pizza, sandwich and salad supplies, soups on hand for evenings where you are extra tired. We like to keep chicken patties at home- the kids love them and we pair them with a fruit salad, yogurt and carrots. Everyone is happy.
(8) Create landing zones for items such as backpacks, keys, purses, school papers, etc. This will eliminate all the extra clutter that can occur.
(9) Treat yourself to a cleaning lady once or twice a month to come in and deep clean your home. Try to decide if it is worth the money to let someone else do it & free up that time for you to just be with your family.
(10) Join with friends in a freezer meal swap. Each of you makes a separate amount of meals and then swap! Instantly, you have a good selection of easy dinners.
For example: Everyone makes 7 crock-pot meals. They bag them each into freezer bags. Then, that night, everyone gathers at a meeting place and exchanges the meals. You walk away with 7 different meals: one for each night of the week. (Decide ahead of time what each person makes by organizing a pinterest board of easy crock-pot meals).
If you are ready to organize your home right now, try this 7-day declutter & organizing course. We love it. It walks you through each room in your home & you do it with an online ‘support group’ to encourage one another the whole time.
How do you manage things as a busy mom? Let us know on our Facebook page, where we share pictures daily.
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