Who Would Have Guessed?!?!

Part Montessori/Part Organization/Part Distraction - this actually works to keep Micah away from the electronics behind and helps keep my living room tidy!!

So it turns out that the best way to help me keep my house clean was to have a child!!  I have struggled with keeping all the parts of my house clean, on a daily basis, somewhere around forever.  I have never been able to do it for more than 2 weeks at a time before something falls off the wagon (usually the kitchen), and once one part goes it all seems to go!  Then I'm back to messes everywhere and no willpower to keep it clean! 😶

I definitely struggled with this problem the first 6 months after having Micah, but can you guess what happened to make the change??  He started crawling, and all of a sudden I couldn't ignore the messiness because he was all over it...oh, you don't want me to put all the shoes by the door in my mouth, pull all the laundry off the couch or play with the garbage bag...😫

So, I had no choice but to start cleaning and picking things up on a daily basis (well, almost daily)!!  I also decided I wanted to teach Micah to be tidy and pick up after himself, but it would lack conviction if I didn't practice those skills myself.  The third thing that prompted my tidiness was an introduction to the world of stickers in planners!  I talk all about my new addiction on a different blog Mommy Needs A Plan (created so I don't overload this blog with planner stuff).  I love using my planner and it really helps me get things done!  I may do a post here or there about it, just because I love using it!

I have managed to keep my kitchen and living room clean and keep up with the laundry (washing, folding and putting away) for about a month now.   This might not seem to be that long,  but sadly it's kind of a record for me!  I have found that it is easier for me to do almost all of the cleaning right after I put Micah to bed (dishes, wiping counters, vacuuming, ect).  I do run laundry throughout the day and fold as possible but my helper is not so helpful,  so I do what I can.   I also put all of Micah's toys away with him.   Obviously he doesn't help with that yet either,  but he will hopefully learn that cleaning them up is part of our bedtime routine.

Every night I try to incorporate just a little bit more of the house into my routine.  As each area gets easier to clean on a daily basis it gets faster to finish, giving me more time to clean somewhere else.  Does this mean I have done dishes at 2am?  Yep, but I was determined to keep the kitchen clean and now I don't need more than 30ish minutes to tidy the entire kitchen each night - including the dishes.  My plan is to eventually spend no more than an hour every night to keep my house looking good 😎

Some of you are probably horrified by the thought of staying up just to clean, but I'm a night owl.  If I go to bed before 1am, I'm probably sick lol.  Cleaning before bed actually helps me sleep,  and having an almost 7mo helps too (not as much as you might assume though lol) 😅.  This weird routine actually works great for us.  It leaves me with the majority of my day to spend with Micah, which he demands anyways,  and I don't feel the stress to get housework done all day!! 👍

Here is what my living room looks like this morning...

It's 8:56 am - I swear!

I would show you the kitchen but I don't  want to spoil the surprise...😘  See you next week!

Have a great day!!
Beth