How To Keep Your House Clean When You Have A New Baby

It's ironic. Even if you're not much of a neat freak before you have a baby, odds are you'll be much more paranoid about a dirty house when your little one arrives. The ironic part, of course, is that your life is much more hectic than it was pre-baby, and keeping your house clean is much harder. But there are some easy ways to get your house in order, and keep it that way.

A Load Of Laundry A Day
This is perhaps the hardest habit to get into. It's easy to let the laundry pile up and pile up until we are forced to tackle it, due to not having any clean underwear for the next day. A load of laundry a day is so simple to do, and when it is no longer an all-day neverending cycle of wash, dry, fold, and put away, you will stop procrastinating. And here's a bonus: you'll be so far ahead on laundry that you'll start looking around for things you haven't washed in a while (sheets, in my case), and you'll finally have the time to wash them.

Get Rid of Clutter
No matter how well you clean your house, or how often, if you have lots of clutter, your house is never going to feel clean. The less clutter you have, the easier it is to actually clean your house, and it also stays cleaner longer. It's a good idea to get rid of clutter with a new baby around, because if you're not organized, it's very easy to let your baby be around dangerous items (small or breakable things), without even realizing it. The best tip for decluttering? Ask yourself of each item in your house, "Do I LOVE this?" If you do, then keep it. If you don't, toss it. Don't let junk clutter up your life.

A Load of Dishes A Day
The average family has enough dishes to justify running the dishwasher at the end of each day. The key is to always unload the dishwasher first thing in the morning, load it throughout the day, and then start it after supper. If you do this, your kitchen will be a much cleaner place.

5, 10, or 15 Minute Increments, Working As Fast As Possible
Most people hate cleaning house. And so, they dawdle. They take all day to do a task that should take an hour. And then they hate it even more because it took up the whole day. To break yourself of this habit, give yourself a set amount of time to clean. Depending on how much you hate cleaning, you might try 5 minute sessions. During that session, work as fast as you possibly can. You will be shocked at how much you can get done, in a very short amount of time.



Follow The Ten Commandments
Zig Ziglar, in his book "Success For Dummies", provides some excellent tips on overall self-improvement and self-organization. If you have a chance, I'd highly recommend adding it to your personal library! Zig suggests that everyone in a household follow the Ten Commandments:

1. If you open it, close it. 
2. If you turn it on, turn it off. 
3. If you unlock it, lock it up. 
4. If you break it, admit it. 
5. If you can’t fix it, call someone who can. 
6. If you borrow it, return it. 
7. If you value it, take care of it. 
8. If you make a mess, clean it up. 
9. If you move it, put it back.
10. If it belongs to someone else, get permission to use it. 

If you get into the habit of doing these things, your house will always be in relatively decent shape. Remember to nicely ask your spouse to get on board! If you would like to know even more about home organization and keeping your house clean, I highly recommend http://www.flylady.net/.

Do you have house cleaning tips? Please share them below!