Cleaning kid messes

[kate1482]

Just a silly vent post. Do you guys clean up throughout the day? My kids are 5 & 2. All I do is clean up/pick up. They probably picture mom with a stick vac or a microfiber cloth (or wine glass 😳) in her hand. Yes they ‘help’ but I’m still the one picking up crumbs and fluffing couch cushions wiping up water splashes around the sink etc. Now that we are all home it is more noticeable and I’m going nuts. I was talking to my sister and she said she just picks up/cleans the kitchen after bedtime. Is this what everyone does?

[loira]

Nope, I would go crazy if I cleaned constantly. We pick up toys before dinner each day. We do clean multiple times a day in the kitchen, but other rooms get a quick tidy once a day and proper chores are saved for the weekend.

[simpsongal]

Yeah, kids are 3 and 6, it's a lot of cleaning and putting away on my end. We're gradually getting the 6 yr old to do more, but it's not nearly enough. The 3 yr old makes so.many.messes.

All my time saved commuting is spent cleaning and cooking.

[waverly]

When our kids were that age we cleaned up toys before nap time or room time if they don’t sleep and before bed. Their rooms and playroom were always messy and only got cleaned once a week. Now they are older and don’t dump their toys out and help clean more which is nice but they are still messy people. Plus being home all day means lots more cooking and cleaning for all 3 meals even if all they have is cereal in the morning and a simple lunch- I am usually running the dishwasher 2 times a day. DS is 9, and does 1 load of dishes for me, but with your kid’s ages they aren’t a lot of help yet.

[Mrs.flang]

I'm more likely to pick up toys or clutter during the day, but I don't do any real cleaning like vacuuming or wiping stuff down (unless it's a specific mess). If I had more time in the day I probably would though.

[pandora89]

Argh yes. I pick up toys multiple times during the day. We live in a small semi and I am WFM solo, in the living room/play room with an almost 2 year old and I cannot get anything done in clutter so I pick up his toys as often as I can and do another full tidy during his nap with a quick vacuum. Then after he is in bed and we have all had dinner I wipe down kitchen counters etc.

[VillainV]

H and I both prefer to clean up small messes as we go, then do a bigger clean at the end of the day. If we let the house go all day, we lose our minds. It’s easy to take a pair of shoes back to the owner’s room, wipe up a small mess, run the stick vac for 30 seconds, etc. I will add that we live in a single-level home and that makes a HUGE difference. In our old house this method made it feel like we were always going up and down stairs.

We are trying to instill in C that picking up as we go means less to clean up at night, and try to remind him to put away toys he’s not using.

[sent]

DD and I put away the toy messes in the family room and kitchen after DS goes to sleep. DS is 2 and there is no point to doing it while he is awake. His mission is to create more entropy at all costs. I do a little vacuuming and other tidying at night also. My husband does the dishes all day long and I put him in charge of wiping the table where the kids eat. I vacuum when it gets really bad otherwise I’m ignoring everything else on a regular basis. I will do things like wipe down the microwave or the counters on an as needed basis.

[twilightmv]

I need to keep on top of it or I get overwhelmed. I will say now that my kids are older and we are stay-at-home, I've let their rooms go to shit for a few days at time before making them clean it up. Actually dirty stuff like crumbs/the kitchen, etc I putter around and do throughout the day. After bedtime I'm shot.

[andi]

I am you. Down to the 5 and 2 year old (and wine glass lol). I clean up all freaking day.

[macmars45]

I clean up the kitchen after each meal (put things in dishwasher, wash used pots/pans) and then after dinner do a bigger clean for the night. The living room and DS' room get picked up right before bed time. If I can't walk without tripping or DS wants to get another thing out and it's already a huge mess, I have DS pick up all of one type of toy.

FWIW, My DS will be 4 later this month.

[sometimesrunner]

I clean throughout the day, too. Mostly because once the kids go to bed, I want to sit on the couch.

[dcn]

No my house is a mess all day pretty much. I bribe them with a family game if they help clean up after dinner while I clean the kitchen. I run the robot vacuum overnight.

[pooh8402]

All damn day. I clean up food, drink, bodily fluid messes asap. I tidy up papers/school/art materials as I can. Toys, I just leave out until after bedtime. I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old. I feel accomplished if the dishes get washed.

[boiler717]

We just do a little bit at a time during transitions.

[Aquatica]

No, I clean as I go such as at the end of meals and then at the end of the day. I only have a 4 year old and she keeps things not too wild. All meals are at the table to keep messes in one spot/zone.

[sandandsea]

I have the kids help pick up after dinner or during their new “free play time” since we are sheltering in place and forced homeschooling the rest of the year. We clean the kitchen after dinner so it may be messy during the day. I try to mop and vacuum once a week which is stretching it a lot but we are swamped and overwhelmed with the parent demands now with two more than full time careers so we are making do. We haven’t cleaned the bathrooms in 2.5 weeks and they are due for a cleaning this weekend. They’ve needed it for a few days but other things have been the priority.

No one is spending time fluffing pillows.

[ktw]

I clean my kitchen 957645 times per day, it seems. I let the toys/kid messes go until just before or just after dinner and tell them if they want a show before bed, the downstairs needs to be clean. I’ve let my husband turn our dining room into his office and it’s always where my kids do art, so I’m trying to convince myself that room is no longer part of my house. I am trying to do the “deep cleaning” (bathrooms, vacuuming more than the kitchen/living room, deeper cleaning of the kitchen) every other Thursday when my cleaning lady would normally come (I miss her SO much). And my house is still a disaster.

[Blue Moon]

Apr 2, 2020 8:51:05 GMT -5 andi said:

I am you. Down to the 5 and 2 year old (and wine glass lol). I clean up all freaking day.

Yup. Same.

[sapphireblue]

I clean the kitchen constantly, but I don't touch the two main rooms downstairs that the kids play in until after bedtime.

My SO is of a different mindset and he constantly picks up throughout the day. Personally I don't think this is as efficient because within about 5 minutes of him walking away the room looks just like it did before he started picking up. It might be different items on the floor, but still...

[al dente]

I clean throughout the day. But I also I feel like people fall into two groups- one who just kinda automatically “cleans” but does it kind of mindlessly so they say they only clean once or whatever when they actually concentrate on it, and the other group notices every single thing they wipe, or move, or touch so they feel like they’re cleaning constantly. I def fall into the second group lol. If I didn’t clean throughout the day my house would be absolutely trashed and gross. Cause I legitimately would not touch a single thing.

I have a friend like your sister who says she only cleans once, but her house is always picked up and clean. But when I’m over and we’re hanging out she is constantly wiping stuff up and putting things away, but like it said it’s mindless to her and I guess she doesn’t even realize she’s doing it 🤷‍♀️

[boiler717]

Apr 3, 2020 14:53:33 GMT -5 al dente said:

I clean throughout the day. But I also I feel like people fall into two groups- one who just kinda automatically “cleans” but does it kind of mindlessly so they say they only clean once or whatever when they actually concentrate on it, and the other group notices every single thing they wipe, or move, or touch so they feel like they’re cleaning constantly. I def fall into the second group lol. If I didn’t clean throughout the day my house would be absolutely trashed and gross. Cause I legitimately would not touch a single thing.

I have a friend like your sister who says she only cleans once, but her house is always picked up and clean. But when I’m over and we’re hanging out she is constantly wiping stuff up and putting things away, but like it said it’s mindless to her and I guess she doesn’t even realize she’s doing it 🤷‍♀️

I’m like your friend. My house is always clean but I feel like I never clean. It’s just a normal part of the day. I think being organized and not having a lot of clutter really helps. Nothing really gets out of place because everything has a spot.

[isabel]

I have a 4 and 2 year old (older one turns 5 next week). Honestly, our house is a shit show all of the time. We try to tidy the kitchen throughout the day, but their toys are everywhere all the time and the floor is always gross. I just don’t have it in me to deal with it during the week. DH and I are using our commute time to continue working, so we’re often both still in the (home) office until at least 6pm.

Last night I worked until 7pm. We put the kids in bed and then ate takeout while watching a movie. By the time that was done, I was exhausted, so I went to bed without cleaning the kitchen at all. I just don’t GAF anymore.

[sunflower17]

Typically always cleaning because messes give me anxiety.
Right now? Unless I’m tripping over toys, I leave most of them until naptime or bedtime.
The kitchen- I try and wash bottles throughout the day and dishes too or put in dishwasher as I go. I try and leave it a bit cleaner after dinner.
The floors are not as clean as usual and there is clutter on my dining room table and kitchen counters. We’re all stuck here and there’s extra food and crafts and shit around so I’m doing the best I can and trying to not be so anxious about it.