Summary: This is a real simple, practical one that you might be like, "duh, Heather - I've been keeping my house clean and perfect forever. You seriously couldn't do it?".. uh, NOPE. I was broken and in survival mode for the first 3.5 years of motherhood - but ya'll, I'm not here to preach this shiny perfect mom thing to you I'm just here to tell you that you don't have to LIVE in survival mode. You can love the heck out of your kids, have hobbies, and somehow manage to stay on top of the house while also taking care of yourself and getting sleep. It's possible! In a nutshell these tips are: 1. Declutter : if you spend ALL your time picking up objects and shuffling them around your house you will never, ever be able to actually get to cleaning said house. But once you rid the clutter - you suddenly free up so much time that you're able to *gasp* do one load of laundry a day, or *double gasp* clean the toilets! It's possible! If you need a jumpstart to your decluttering you can head over to my 14 day #DeclutterAllTheThings challenge on my blog! www.holyhotmessmom.com/declutter 2. "Go Home" basket central to the house : this is just a simple, sturdy, decently big-ish basket I keep in a central location in the house. It allows me to not run around shuffling our necessary clutter that makes its way into my living areas, I just throw all these things in that basket and either at the end of the day or when the basket is full I spend a solid 5 min running and putting those things away, one room at a time. It's such a time saver. 3. Sink full of water: I'm such a weirdo about my sink but I keep the left side plugged up and with clean/soapy water all day. This way I can keep a microfiber rag in there and wipe up any messes, sticky hands, anything through out the day. Think of it like a stationary cleaning bucket. If the water starts to get a big yucky, I just empty it and fill it back up with some clean stuff. I do NOT allow dishes in this soapy water because then the water would be gross! Some of my favorite essential oils to put in there are from Eden's garden. Honestly, I've got a lot so now I just go to what smells good and I have on hand but when I go to get another order, my favorite smell for my sink is the *Cleaning Blend*. It's all lemony and happy and clean smelling. A few drops of that plus some dawn dish soap and I can clean everything up in a jiffy. 4. Keep cleaning items where you need them. It doesn't need to be elaborate but if you keep common things where you need them its so much easier to grab them and clean it when you see it.- Bathroom - toilet brush, toilet bowl cleaner, bleach, cleaning wipes, reusable window/glass rag, foam glass cleaner, and my handy-dandy wand filled with 1/2 dish soap and 1/2 vinegar.- Kitchen - microfiber rags, glass cook top cleaner, sponge, dish soap, cleaning wipes, electronics cleaner, reusable window/glass rag, foam glass cleaner. 5. Tag some cleaning to bits of your day- After going to the bathroom first thing in the AM, check the toilet. If it's gross, give it a squirt of cleaner and swish the bowl brush around. Let that sit while you go brush your teeth and wash your face. After doing your morning hygiene stuff, grab that dish wand and spot clean the sink/counter area. Let it sit for a moment while you head back to the toilet and spot clean with some disposable wipes (I use Clorox, I'm all about the natural life except when it comes to the toilet, no thanks. Give me the industrial toxic cleaning stuff!). Done with the toilet, head back to the sink and use the rag you used to wash your face to wipe up the soapy-ness and then throw that rag right into your laundry for the day. - Always make your bed right after getting dressed. Then exit the bedroom and start the wash with your bathroom rag, and dirty PJs from the night before. - Washing/putting away dishes after every meal, wiping counters after every meal. (More examples in the episode!) 6. One load of laundry a day: Some people save laundry for 1 day of the week. I used to be one of those people but I realized that doing so meant that laundry consumed my entire day. I could get nothing else done. On a Sunday, that is the LAST thing I want to be doing is 8 loads of laundry so about 2 years ago we started doing (about) 1 load a day. I commit to washing, drying and folding it as well as putting it away before I head to bed. That's it - bathrooms, kitchen, laundry and floors. Easy peasy and your house looks clean and put together most of the time and when it's not, it will only take minutes to whip it back into shape. Don't forget to hook up with me and some other mamas! My Instagram and Facebook pages @HolyHotMessMom our exclusive mama Facebook group - HolyHotMessMamas Holy Hot Mess Mamas Closed group · 5 members Join Group This is a place for encouragement, advice, sharing stories and continuing convos all things Holy Hot Mess Mom & the Holy Hot Mess Mom Podcast. Got a ... If you're looking forward to more episodes then hit that subscribe button so you get notified every time we release a new episode! As always, if you've got ideas of topics you'd like to hear on the podcast please email me at podcast@holyhotmessmom.com
