Keeping My Home Clean With A Baby And Toddler

It is not impossible to have a clean home with a baby and toddler.

No matter how impossible it feels.

Between all the baby stuff, my oldest daughter’s toys, dishes, and endless laundry, it feels like my home is constantly needing to be tidied and cleaned.

I felt this same way when it was just my oldest daughter, but after my second daughter got here, it felt like the messes doubled.

And as my baby girl gets older and more mobile, she is starting to create messes of her own.

When there is too much “mess” around our home, I’m not very productive because it is really distracting.

Most of you all know that I’m writing blog posts once a week to post here and I’m also active on my other social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.

I can’t do focus on doing any of that if our home is cluttered-filled and there are messes everywhere.

In order for me to be a productive stay-at-home mom, I need my home to be somewhat clean and tidy.

By having a clean and tidy home, I’m a much more organized mom and can focus on what I need to get done daily.

But kids can make that tricky, especially when you have a mobile baby and toddler walking around.

So I want to offer some tips that I use when trying to keep my home clean and tidy with a baby and toddler.

If you are interested in how I keep my home clean with a baby and toddler, then just keep reading.

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Is It Impossible To Keep A Clean Home With Smaller Children?

Before I get into how I keep a clean home with a baby and toddler, let’s answer this question.

Is it impossible to keep a clean home with smaller children?

The short answer to this question is no.

But there is definitely a “but” that you will find at the end of that no.

It is not impossible to keep a clean home with smaller children, but as I mentioned above, it can be tricky.

My youngest is currently 9 months old and not capable of cleaning up any messes that she creates.

This age is also a very exploratory age for her so she is very hands-on and bounces from activity to activity.

She can’t even comprehend what it means to clean up and I don’t expect her to.

My other daughter is 3 years old and capable of cleaning up after herself such as picking up her toys and putting her clothes in the hamper when she takes them off.

But like most 3-year-olds, she often gets preoccupied with something and will completely forget to clean up after herself.

She is 3 after all, so most of the time, I’m constantly reminding her to clean up and pick up after herself.

I can’t expect a 3-year-old to be super clean and tidy at all times.

So that means that most of the cleaning falls to me.

And as an adult, I expect that until my children are older and more capable of taking care of their spaces.

But until then, I have to find ways to maintain a tidy home with a 9-month-old and a 3-year-old.

With that said, let’s get into some of the ways I keep a clean home with a baby and toddler.

Keeping A Clean Home With A Baby And Toddler

Adjust Your Expectations

The first thing you have to do when trying to keep a clean home with a baby and toddler is adjust your expectations of what a clean home will look like.

Your home will not be immaculate with smaller children.

Children love to play and play is not always clean.

So don’t be surprised that after you have cleaned and picked up all the toys that it winds up back messy.

That is a part of what it looks like to have smaller children.

No matter what you see on social media, if you have smaller children, your home will get messy at some point during the day

And that is ok.

Adjust your expectations and try to create a system that works for your family that will keep your home mostly clean and tidy while having younger children.

Create A Daily Cleaning Routine

That leads me to my next tip which is to create a daily cleaning routine.

If you all have been following along with my blog, then you know that I have a daily cleaning routine that I do as a stay-at-home mom.

My daily cleaning schedule consists of the things I do every morning and the things that I do every evening.

In the mornings I typically:

• Make the beds
• Empty the dishwasher
• Wipe down counters and table
• Start a load of laundry

And in the evenings, I typically:

• Finish loading & start the dishwasher
• Wipe down counters and table
• Quick vacuum of the kitchen and living room area
• Quick pick up and tidy up
• Fold a load of laundry

These tasks usually only take me about 30 minutes or so to complete which isn’t long at all.

By doing these small cleaning tasks every day, I’m able to maintain a tidy home with smaller children.

Choose One Deep Cleaning Day A Week

Doing small daily cleaning tasks are great, but that doesn’t address everything else in your home that needs to be cleaned such as wiping down furniture, vacuuming the other rooms, and cleaning the bathrooms.

These are still areas of your home that have to be cleaned as well and if you go too long without cleaning these places, the dirt and dust will really build up.

I recommend choosing one day to do a deeper clean in your home that involves these other tasks.

For our family, that day is Saturday.

Almost every Saturday morning after we have had breakfast, we will take that time to clean up around our home.

We make it fun by turning on some upbeat music and then splitting up to complete our cleaning tasks.

Once we are done, we can enjoy the rest of our Saturday.

Doing a deeper clean once a week has really helped us keep a much cleaner home.

Split Up Cleaning Tasks

Speaking of splitting up cleaning tasks, this is also something that we do to make it easier to keep a clean home.

I know some individuals think that all the housework should fall on the stay-at-home moms, but that will quickly lead most moms to experience burnout as a mom.

And let me tell you, a burned-out mom is not someone you want to be around.

From experience, I am very irritable, extremely negative, and even resentful when I’m burned out.

Which doesn’t put me in the right position to be a good wife or mother.

What has helped is getting my husband involved and splitting up the cleaning tasks.

I typically take care of those daily cleaning tasks during the week while he is working, but on Saturdays, he takes on some of those cleaning tasks such as vacuuming the bedrooms, mopping the kitchen, and cleaning one of the bathrooms.

While I handle dishes, laundry, dusting the furniture and cleaning the other bathroom.

Splitting up the cleaning tasks takes less time and I don’t feel overwhelmed with all of the housework.

Get Your Toddler Involved

I know you all are probably wondering where in the world my little ones are when we do a deeper clean.

Well, my baby girl obviously can’t help us but my toddler is always trying to figure out how she can help us with the cleaning.

So we try to involve her where we can.

Most of her involvement includes getting a towel and helping me wipe down furniture, picking up her toys, and putting her toys away.

Things that she can handle.

As I said above she is only 3 so whatever she can do, we encourage her to do so.

I believe that in order for her to get into the habit of being tidy and cleaning up after herself, it starts with us and what we model at home.

If she sees us making the effort to clean up, then hopefully she will recognize the importance of cleaning up.

We do our best to teach our toddler good daily habits and a good daily habit for her to have is to be clean and pick up after herself.

Declutter Regularly

And my last tip for keeping your home clean with a baby and toddler is to declutter regularly.

If you read my post on how I declutter my home, then you know that this is something that I do regularly.

When you have too many things, it can make your home look even messier because there is just stuff everywhere.

The number one reason that clutter builds up in our homes is that we are constantly bringing things into our homes and not taking things out.

I feel that this happens more often once you have kids and it’s because it feels like kids require a bunch of things whether it’s clothes or toys.

Babies grow quickly so just because they could fit a 6-month onesie yesterday, doesn’t mean that they will be able to fit it today.

And as your baby grows, you have to get more clothes that fit them.

The same goes for toys.

Just because they liked it one day, doesn’t mean that they will like it the next day and next thing you know, that toy is just collecting dust in the closet for the next 6 months.

The way to combat clutter is to declutter.

I make it a point to declutter different areas of our home 2-3 times a year.

I will make a trash pile, a donation pile, and a sell pile and start working my way through the areas that need to be decluttered.

By decluttering regularly, I’m freeing up space in our home which will ultimately make it look tidier.

Your Turn

Well, that is how I keep my home with my baby and toddler. I wish I could say that my home was sparkling clean all the time, but the reality is that it is not. I do my best to try to keep a clean home and these tips I provided help me do that. I want to hear from you all now. What are your tips for keeping a clean home with smaller children? Let me know in the comments and while you are still here, check out my previous post below. Until next time!

• Read More: My. 9-Month-Old Baby Bathtime Routine

Love,

Just Jass