Cleaning Cheat-sheet For The Non Stay-At-Home Mom

Well ladies, the end of Spring Cleaning Month is finally here and boy what a month it's been!

Between the purging of toy boxes, the daily spring cleaning tasks, and the lining the drawers in my kitchen; all on top of my usual weekly cleaning routine...I feel like I've gotten so much accomplished!

And most of it because I was able to share the tasks with you!!!

So before I go on, I just want to thank all of you so much for taking this Spring Cleaning Challenge with me. For sharing your inspirations and reminding me I'm not the only one who doesn't always like to clean or who has messy areas that seem to take over the house.

It wouldn't have been the same without all of your participation.

So thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!!!!! I truly appreciate all of your feedback. It doesn't get much better than logging on and seeing what you all took the time to say.

But we aren't done just yet!

I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve.

Now. I'm well aware of the fact that I'm a stay at home mother and I've been blessed with the ability to be home cleaning all day (whether I act on that ability or not).

But, there are those of you out there reading all my Spring Cleaning posts and rolling your eyes saying, "If I had the time to do any of this after work and before feeding my children at night, I would."

So this post is for you. 

My Momma always told me that there are a few things you can do to keep your home looking like you just spent hours cleaning it. When really, you've only taken a few minutes.

We'll call it her "Cleaning Cheat-sheet for the Non Stay-at-Home Mom" (hence the title...)

Make your beds. Boy did I hate hearing this growing up. Momma would say it day after day, week after week, year after year (you'd think I'd get the hint). And I never realized how much of a difference it makes when trying to keep your house looking clean and crisp. Having a clean, made bed can almost literally transform a room.

Regularly vacuum the floors. When your floors are all matted down with crumbs and little pieces of junk it just looks like a hot mess. But when you take the time once or twice a week to freshen them up, they'll give off the appearance of a regularly cleaned home (unless of course, there's a huge mess of something...then you need to re-vacuum).

Clean the toilets. No one. I repeat, no one likes to look at (or use) a dirty toilet. So it makes sense that if your toilet is dirty then your whole bathroom will look that way. It only takes 2 minutes to clean the scum ring in the bowl and wipe down the outside with a wet rag. 2 minutes that can keep your bathroom looking and smelling fresh for up to a week (if you aren't living with my family that is).

Fold the Laundry. Even if you aren't able to put the pile away. Having a folded pile of clothes sitting on the end of the bed looks a heck of a lot better than an unfolded heep.

Do the Dishes. Again, like the toilet and the laundry, having a pile of dirty dishes in the sink can look and smell horrible. But if you do the dishes right after a meal (or at least load the washer if you have one) it can change the look of your kitchen...even if you haven't wiped down the counters!

Sweep/Mop the Floors. Again, another fairly easy task to complete that can change the look of your room and the feel of your house. And as I mentioned in My 6 Must Have Cleaning Products, this is one of the tasks I absolutely love having a Swiffer mop for!

Put Everything Away. A few times a day I take 15 minutes to walk around the house and put everything that's out of place away (not just move it and set it somewhere else...actually put it away). Toys on the floor, curling irons on the counter in the bathroom, anything sitting on the top of the kitchen table (it's become the catch-all spot in the house), jackets that haven't been hung up, etc. When this is done a few times (or even once) a day, it's amazing how tidy your home can look.

When you have a clean home life just seems to go so much easier. The people within the home are happier, chores don't seem to take on the "doom and gloom" appearance, and the guilt of having to choose between the chores or spending time with your family isn't there.

I know from experience that when you aren't home all the time for any reason the house work is usually the last thing that gets done on a daily basis.

But I was raised to always listen to my Momma, and these things have saved my sanity a time or two and I'm hoping that they can do the same thing for you.

After all, Momma's always right!

Have you found any other sure fire ways to keep your home looking nice when you're hardly there to clean it? Any piece of advice your Mother share with you that you can't live without?