lovin' life... lovin' food

How I keep my life and home organized and clean.

I get made fun of sometimes for how regimented I am with my home and life schedule, but when I tell you it’s about survival I mean it. It’s about SURVIVAL. I have 3 kids aged 6, 4 and 2, am currently heavily pregnant, and have a home to take care of on top of helping with various part time gigs. My girls go to the same preschool and my son goes to kindergarten at the elementary school, which means three calendars to coordinate on top of my husband’s work calendar, my doctor’s appointments, and my own personal life, whatever is currently left of it.

My home actually is clean. It isn’t just an Instagram illusion.

I take pride in that, and while it can always be cleaner and more organized, most of the time it looks pretty decent. Here’s how I get it all done:

1. I do laundry on Tuesdays and Fridays and that’s it. One those two days though, I make sure to cycle through ALL of the laundry, fold it all immediately and put it all away immediately. It is annoying, but as basically a stay at home mom I am able to make it happen on that schedule. I ignore laundry on the other days unless there is an emergency like a stomach bug or we need a uniform for something. It is hard to ignore growing piles of laundry, but this is what works for us.

2. I will say this. I am not an organized person by nature. I’m a shove-everything-in-a-closet-and-deal-with-it-later-which-is-never kind of person. I’ve taught myself to be different because it makes me life a lot easier. My closets and pantry look like a bomb after a few months but then I take ten minutes to reorganize and start fresh. Most of the time I force myself to address things right then or put them in the right spot right then. Otherwise I end up just carrying crap from room to room and nothing ever looks clean and organized.

3. I make my kids do a lot. Although my kids are young they are very capable. I just have to be willing to take the time to teach them/follow up with them/ make them take the time to clean up after themselves. They clean up their own spills and their own plates after meals. They make their beds to the best of their abilities, and they know that if they don’t clean up their toys before bed those toys will disappear for awhile. Children are capable of so much more than we think if we just give them the opportunity.

4. I never go to bed with a messy house. I make sure my kitchen is clean and sparkling, the family room is picked up and vacuumed, and everything that can be put away is put away. In reality, this is really easy to do if you put things away during the day after using them. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes to get everything in order at the end of the night.

5. I have designated “bomb zones.” For me this is one junk drawer in the kitchen that I ignore for months at a time, a small bin in the laundry room, and the kid’s playroom in the basement. I make sure everything else in the house is perfect, but I allow these three spaces to remain as they are day in and day out. We clean up the play room collectively once a week and I go through the junk drawer every couple of months. I use the small bin in the laundry room for the odds and ends that end up on the floor, couch, or counters. Things like Legos, those little Hatchimals figures, L.O.L. dolls, colored pencils, and hair elastics end up in the bin. About twice a month I go through it and put everything away where it belongs.

6. While we appreciate really nice things, we are not materialistic and try to keep as little stuff in our house as possible with a family of 5, almost 6. We keep a stocked pantry in that I could entertain for 10 people at the drop of a hat, but I don’t overbuy. I go to the market every other day to buy what we need for the next two days so I don’t waste fresh food. We don’t buy junk or random crap because it just clutters up our house. Our pile of Christmas gifts is modest, and we focus on experiences and valuable toys over big, cheap junk.

I wrote this after several friends have commented at how clean and organized our home is and how they could never do it. It is NOT in my nature to be this way – especially with keeping things organized – but if I learned how to do it you can too. My biggest two tips are to take the 2 minutes many times a day to put things away, and to not have too many things in the first place.

3 great games for toddlers and preschoolers

My cousin and I were talking about board games, and I realized I have a solid list of games that my kids and I all love to play. I have a few favorites that we end up playing almost every time we choose to play a game. If you’re looking for something to add to your game list, check these three games out:

1. Pop the Pig (Amazon, $22.99)

This is a really goofy game that promotes counting and learning your colors. You put the burgers in the mouth of the pig and bop his head the number of times listed on your burger. Eventually the pig’s belt pops and the game is over. This is a very silly game that is great if you have young toddlers in the home, but be warned that the burgers are quite small and can be a choking hazard.

2. UNO Splash (Amazon, $10.80)

This is the classic UNO game but the cards are waterproof. For my very accident prone kids, this is my favorite set. You don’t have to worry about water spilling or playing by the pool and getting the cards wet. I feel this game is best for ages 4 and up, but my 2 year old sometimes pretends to play with us and enjoys it.

3. Spot it! Finding Dory (Amazon, $10.25)

This is SUCH a great game. You can play with multiple players and it’s good for lots of ages. Everyone gets a card, and one item on the card matches an item on the main deck pile. Whoever finds their match first yells “Spot it!” and then picks up the card. Whoever has the most cards at the end wins. This is great matching practice, it’s fun, and it’s small enough to throw in your purse. We have a couple of versions of this and I stick it in my purse when we’re going out for a long meal.

I’m looking for some more games to add to our collection. We have classics like Candy Land and Operation, as well as the games above. What other games should I put on our list?

 

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