I love a clean home. Don’t we all? It’s peaceful and orderly, and yet it can feel difficult to achieve that, especially with kids. I am learning that that’s okay! It’s okay when the house gets messy, because that probably means your life is FULL and RICH in beautiful ways. Children are such a blessing. Cooking from scratch is a joy. Busying ourselves spending time with those we love is a gift.

But keeping a clean home, when kept in its proper place, is also a worthwhile pursuit!

My Mom is a great example of this. She always has been a loving, present, and nurturing mother, and she also loves to clean. She called it “puttering.” I remember coming into my room, even as a teenager sometimes, and she would have made the bed for me. It wasn’t that she didn’t teach me to do so, but she also just loved to do it herself. She loves doing laundry and cooking. She regularly cleans her bathrooms. Saturday mornings were always our chore time, and we all had to do some cleaning before we could play. I never saw this as a problem. Though I didn’t like doing chores, looking back I appreciate her commitment to cleanliness. It wasn’t over the top. I still had toys and a lot of room for creativity and imagination. But our home never felt chaotic, at least for very long.

So here are some tips for pursuing a clean home. These are things I’ve learned in my few short years of homemaking and motherhood, and I’d like to share them with you. 

Minimize possessions.

Having fewer possessions often makes things easier to maintain. When there are less things to take out, the messes are naturally smaller. When you have fewer dishes, you are forced to wash them instead of adding more to the pile in the sink.

Reset your house throughout the day.

Doing a quick tidy, even if it’s not perfect, before you go outside or before nap time or before supper is a great way to keep things from getting too chaotic before bedtime. If I can do all the dishes in the sink or at least consolidate them and do a quick pickup in the other rooms, the house feels more peaceful and manageable.

Put things back in their correct home.

Consolidating items is a good first step, but if I can take the extra 20 seconds to put things back in their real homes (i.e. laundry in the hamper instead of the pile in the other room), I actually reduce the mess.

Tidy from one side of the room/house to the other.

I heard this idea a while ago, and I find it really helpful when cleaning the kitchen. Starting at one end of the counter and moving to the other side helps me focus and see my actual progress.

Count items as you put them away.

Like the previous tip, counting items helps me focus on the task at hand, especially when things feel extra chaotic.

Get outside.

Getting outside both clears your head and perhaps limits the things that can be gotten out INSIDE.

Slow down.

While rushing to clean or cook can feel productive, I think more often than not it actually makes more messes because I end up starting too many projects and end up feeling overwhelmed.

And remember, Mama. Messes are proof of living. They are okay! AND, you can be BOTH a present Mom and pursue a tidy home. Happy puttering!