Household Diaries: How Do You Keep Your Home Running?

Prepare for an essay!! I’ve been journaling about this, because all the cleaning ladies being off for August plus my MIL being on bedrest has really stress tested things! I have a small home, so grain of salt, it’s 140 sq meters for the four of us. But my MIL has more than twice the space and it’s nearly 3 times the work even though they’re two clean adults in their sixties.

If I get to the party bag first I stash some of the fidgets or lollipops away for stockings! Otherwise I treat it like Halloween candy, I sort through it quickly to pull out any “no’s” (slime!) and then it gets pride of place on the toy shelf to guarantee we use it extensively until it breaks and we say farewell. And I narrate when we do about how that stuff doesn’t last and we choose to spend our money differently. We also do the container concept: The kids have treasure bins which are just tiny 3M adhesive shelves meant to hold body wash, and they can keep whatever they want in there. If the kid already has too many bouncy balls/snap bracelets overflowing, put your favorites in first and whatever is left is trash.

+Children’s art / project storage; i have a few beautiful things from my kids framed in my space, and I knew what I wanted to frame almost instantly. In their room I have those frames that keep like 30 projects behind, and when they’re full we sort. The kids each have one small file box for their stuff. Their school also binds their projects together quarterly. I’ve scanned a few things. The rest goes in their bin of scraps and then they get to cut it up or collage it or do something new.

I do laundry every day of the week except Monday, but remember I’m in Europe! It takes two loads to run my bedsheets. Dirty laundry is sorted into stacking plastic bins meant for recycling, and I might pre soak stains in there. Wash with percarbonate and jasmine savon d’Alep. Everything gets dried and put into clean laundry bins. We used to dry outside but there’s a construction site next to us and it’s too dusty now. It gets folded whenever I have bandwidth, usually simultaneous with screen time. My kids sit in the pile of laundry on my bed while I fold and when I have something of theirs I say “speedy delivery!” And they run it to where it goes. One category at a time. It tires them out and means I can focus on folding and hanging. If they complain I remind them “hey here’s your favorite leopard boxers/flower dress/pajamas. How nice that it’s clean and you’ll have it for next time you want it!” I have a separate basket for things that need ironed and either my husband or my cleaning lady will do it (she’s there 3 hours a week most weeks).

+Chores for kids; I yell “all hands on deck!” And play the Danny go song Swab the Deck on a loop for 15-20 minutes. Attitude really matters here. My kids, husband and I all tackle things at once in terms of tidying and cleaning. There’s a list to reset the room taped discreetly in their bedroom and the living room/kitchen, based on the book How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis. We do what we can and either momentum carries us further or we stop together. Praise is key but also stopping together to avoid resentment or shirking. My kids have child size spray mops, they know where I keep the microfibers and what spray they’re allowed to use, they know how to put things away to clear a surface properly and what bins their toys go in. Dirty dishes and trash get rounded up. Then we clean top to bottom descending. Someone vacuums or sweeps the rug, someone mops the kitchen, someone wipes cabinets and windows, someone takes out the trash and puts new bags in. The competence levels up eventually. Right now my daughter doing the windows is making them worse! But she’s 2. I’d rather build the momentum and keep the vibe positive. And I try to do something high reward when we stop, like make a batch of lemonade, or put out playdough on the newly cleaned counter. The fact that they know the drill, that there’s a predictable and finite end, and that I’ll really praise them helps with participation. We try to instill pride. My son made tiny “sol glissant” signs to use when he’s mopping and he’s so serious about making sure no one slips, so of course we took a picture and bragged about him to his grandparents.
My husband and I also have a rule here that we don’t talk much during cleaning sprint/micromanage each other. You can announce what you’re doing but don’t tell someone else what to do. This is also a chance for the kids to flex the muscle of recognizing what needs done in a space, and it’s sometimes a chance for me to sneak off and swap the laundry if I need to change of pace from managing the kids.
Personal responsibility is key too, so they dress themselves, brush teeth, pack their bags and fill their waters. We have visual charts with real photos to remind them. They clear their own plates, scrape extra food into the trash or put it away (my daughter always runs to my husband’s office to see if he wants it) and put it in sink or dishwasher. My son has gone to school with his pants backwards before, but that only happened once or twice.
Task completion is also huge here! If you take the trash out, put the bag in. If you vacuum, put it away. Etc.

+Household supply management (i.e., toilet paper, dish soap, counter spray, etc); I have a personal “reorder point” and I know how much fits and I never buy more than what fits. When I’m down to 4 rolls of paper towels, I can buy 6 more. When I’m down to 1 twelve pack of TP, I can buy 3 more. Anything else won’t fit in the cabinet. This works much better for me than any kind of subscription. Most stuff is from the grocery store but I have a special vendor for laundry detergent.

+Grocery lists; I use the Bring! App because it lets me add photos or bilingual names easily.

+Routine services like gutter cleanings, window washings, etc? I schedule 3-6 months out and have recurring calendar reminders.

+After-dinner dishes. I am not one of those who has a perfect clean kitchen after dinner!! I try to get the big stuff to the point I can run the dishwasher, but I’m usually solo on bedtime-bath. It won’t be fully clean until next morning after the school run. If just one kid is staying up late for some inexplicable reason, instead of me reading my book or watching a show, they can hang out in the dimly lit kitchen while I tidy things away and wipe surfaces and maybe even prep for the next day. I might listen to a podcast or music or put on a show I like but the kids find boring, like The Repair Shop or Farmer’s County Showdown. I tried bob ross once but they love him way too much, they don’t sleep!

One reason my home is easy to cleanup/manage is because I’m seeking to reduce choices. One kind of shampoo rather than trying new shampoo every month. Fewer toys for my kids, fewer clothes for all of us. One type of socks per person. One pair of shoes for each person in the basket by the door, the rest on our individual shoe racks in the closet. The Dana K White concept of “Clutter Threshold” makes a huge difference to me. My threshold is lower than most, and I know I have too much if that part of my home is unmanageable. I’m super intentional about what I buy these days.

My solution to party bag junk is to never give out party bags and pray that other parents will join me! Those of the same mind – bless you! Otherwise I just toss it when I see it laying around – not the best system. One mom friend said she saves the junk until Halloween and hands it out to kids who can’t have candy bc of allergies/braces/etc.

I’ve been trying to give the kids more chores but we don’t have an official list. They’re responsible for unloading the dishwasher, feeding the dog, helping sort and fold laundry (and put theirs away) and occasionally vacuuming – especially their own rooms. I had them each help cook dinner once a week this summer but that fizzled out by August. Need to also get them washing dishes! Am going to borrow another mom’s idea of kids cleaning their rooms every week – I’m thinking Friday to start the weekend fresh but we’ll see…also trying the habit of everyone does a quick tidy after dinner to (hopefully!) keep messes more manageable. My kids tend to freak out and get overwhelmed when tackling a big mess all at once.

I do most laundry in one day, start to finish. But there’s usually a load forgotten in the dryer, an extra load of towels or something, and workout clothes throughout the week.

But…all this may change as I’m interviewing for a full time job after 9 years at home with kids! I cannot even imagine how different things will be if this comes through. I’m trying to think of more systems and give the girls more responsibility, especially on school mornings, to prepare us all.

Love sharing household management ideas!
Party junk- I let them keep the goodie bag out for a day or two and once I notice they’ve lost interest I go through it and toss most and keep a few. I have a dedicated “junk toy” bin (it’s a decorative unassuming bin) that I toss the keepers in and the kids have fun going through that from time time to time and playing with all of their “junk”!

My 3 kids aren’t in any major sweaty sports yet so the majority of their laundry gets done on Sundays and put away when I find the time. My laundry gets done about every two weeks when I run out of underwear, ha! My husband does his own laundry. It’s always been our thing. He knows I handle 90% of the household tasks so maintains this as his chore. Towels and sheets get done as needed. I don’t ever feel too overwhelmed with this system.

My kids art/schoolwork- when they come home each day we decide keep or toss and the keepers go in a hanging bin in our mudroom dedicated to each kid. I’d say we probably toss 75-90%. When the bin is overflowing (probably about 3x/year) I go through it again and keep the best. Then I put them in a storage bin with hanging file folders for each grade. Each kid has their own.

I’d like to know how people organize art supplies, ours are always a mess!