Lazy Mom’s Guide to Cleaning the Kids Room

Many years ago, when I was pregnant with a precious baby-girl, I was impatiently waiting for her arrival and browsed internet making plans for the perfect parenthood: I looked forward to raising my little princess in the organic recycling upcycling world and I knew it would be magical. Who was I kidding? I have a full-time job, not enough money, and I am way too busy to properly recycle (psst, don’t tell the neighbors)! My house is far from being a picture perfect family home, because we cannot afford the cleaning lady and I am certainly not one – I have a job, I spend as much time in the house as everybody else does, and my old vacuum cleaner makes me cry.

From my perspective, you have the right to be messy in your own house. However, I have rules for my kids:

1. Absolutely no food in the bedroom.
2. You have to clean your room at least once a week.
3. You cannot invite friends over if you have a mess in the room.

The kids get sidetracked easily (duh!) when it comes to cleaning and, needless to say, we don’t have play dates at our house often (Sorry neighbors’ kids).

 However, with a third bundle of joy joining our family a few months ago, I knew it was the time to get back to the drawing board and come up with a different cleaning strategy. Soon enough, the little guy will be crawling around, chasing dust bunnies, snacking on Legos, and chewing his older siblings’ crayons – we don’t want that, do we?

My Recipe for a Successful Cleaning of the Kids’ Room

It is all about the right tools for the job, and this recipe for success requires three ingredients:
1. Bins and baskets
2. A vacuum cleaner that gets the job done well (more about it later)
3. Lots of patience
The idea is to work smarter rather than harder, and I want most of the work being handled by the kids.

Step 1 Preparation

A day before the official cleaning day of the kids bedroom, my kids SHOULD clean their room on Sunday, I place this hanger on their doorknob. I don’t want to maneuver around toys and socks and why wouldn’t I want to minimize my workload? The key is to make it as big as possible – kids have a selective vision in addition to the selective hearing.

Today is Saturday
and that means tomorrow (SUNDAY) is your cleaning day.
If you would like to see your mom happy, please:
1. Pick up your toys and store them in your play bins
2. Collect and store your dirty clothes into the laundry baskets
Anything left on the floor will get sucked in!!!

Step 2 Last Minute Prep

In the morning of the cleaning day I place the last warning sign some place they can’t miss, because in the addition to selective hearing and selective vision, the kids also also blessed with a selective memory – they will remember that you promised them an ice cream, but will conveniently forget that they need to eat their dinner first. My sign this week goes onto the closet doors:



Today is SUNDAY – your cleaning day.

You have until 10 AM to:

1. Pick up your toys and store in them in your play bins
2. Collect and store your dirty clothes into the laundry baskets

OR ELSE

Step 3 Cleaning

This place is pretty clean by my standard and now it is the time for my easy cleaning. Turn on my trusty vacuum cleaner and here we go…



By the way,

Why do you think my kids actually cleaned the room and what would of happened if they didn’t?

Somewhere down in the basement of our house there is a big “OR ELSE” black bag that contains things that kids didn’t clean prior to my entrance. One day they might get them back… Maybe…
 
Which one of your rooms could use this technology the most?