As a mom and the owner of a cleaning business, I know how stressful it can feel to balance a clean house with work, marriage, and raising little ones. Some days, it feels impossible to keep up, especially when your time and energy are pulled in every direction.
Over the years, I’ve learned that keeping a reasonably clean home doesn’t require perfection or hours of scrubbing. These simple cleaning tips have helped me stay organized, reduce stress, and spend more quality time with my family.
Cleaning Tips for Moms With Little Ones
Keeping a clean home with little ones isn’t about doing everything at once. These realistic tips focus on small habits that make daily life feel more manageable.
1. Wake Up Early
Every morning, I set my alarm to get up 30 minutes before my family does. Not only do I shower without extra company, but I also get to enjoy my first cup of coffee in peace. Most importantly, I get a head start on tasks I know I won’t have time for during the day.
Here are a few of those things you could tackle in the morning before your kids wake up and before you head out of the house:
- Empty the dishwasher.
- Move clothes from the washing machine to the dryer or fold dry clothes.
- Make your bed, pick up dirty clothes, or clean up cups or bottles from your nightstand.
- Throw some chicken, veggies, and potatoes in the crockpot so you can enjoy dinner when you come home after a long day.
2. Be Prepared for “Art” Stains
When it comes to kids, sooner or later, there will be crayon marks on your walls, marker smears on your doors, ink spilled on your couch, or stains on places you wouldn’t even think of. Because of this, I recommend having all or some of the following products on hand. Keep in mind you only need to dab a stain, not rub it in.
Common household items:
- Baking soda
- Vinegar
- Rubbing alcohol
- Hand sanitizer
Stronger stain removers (use with care):
- Magic eraser
- Aerosol hairspray
- Nail polish remover
- WD-40
Related: Simple Solutions for Holding Onto (Or Letting Go Of) Your Child’s Artwork
3. Sometimes, You Need to Fake a Clean House
Some days, we are overwhelmed by appointments or being our kids’ mom-taxi. On these days, there aren’t enough hours in the day to clean. If you get unexpected guests on one of those days, it can become a crisis when you try to make your house look presentable.
Here are some of my tips for how to fake a clean house within minutes:
- Add lemon-scented essential oil to the vacuum bag and run the vacuum. Not only do you get rid of crumbs and dog hair, but your house will also smell fresh and clean, even if it really isn’t!
- Throw any loose items into a basket and place it somewhere out of sight.
- Perform a quick toilet check by wiping down the lid, the seat, and the rim of the toilets to remove any stains that might’ve been left by your little ones (or your husband).
4. Multitask and Clean as You Go
Cleaning while managing other tasks can sound like a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be. For example, while your pasta is boiling or the casserole is in the oven, take a few minutes to tidy the kitchen. Clean the utensils you used for cooking, load the dishwasher, wipe down countertops, or clean that spilled milk out of your fridge. This will not take up any of your time since you’re already in the kitchen.
Another example is to make a 10-minute cleanup a family activity while you gather dirty clothes and hampers. You’d be surprised how much a family can clean in 10 minutes if everyone makes it their focus for that time.
- Take dirty clothes to the laundry room.
- Pick up cups and dishes from bedrooms or other areas and put them straight into the dishwasher.
- Gather empty snack wrappers and throw them in the trash.
- Go through mail, paperwork, homework, and other loose papers scattered around the house. File what’s important and discard what isn’t.
This sounds like an hour’s worth of work. However, if a family of four does this for 10 minutes, you can all cover a lot of ground.
5. Put Things in Their Place Right Away
Some of the messes and circumstances I’ve offered solutions for above could all be avoided if we simply put things where they belong right away. Sometimes, it’s easier to kick off our shoes in the hall and throw our purses or backpacks on the floor. But if you can train yourself and your family to put things where they should go, you will decrease “designated cleaning times.”
Helpful Habits to Try
- Instead of kicking off your shoes in the hallway, consider placing a small shoe rack by the front door where you can store all your shoes.
- Install some hangers so jackets, purses, and backpacks can be kept off the floor.
- Go through the mail immediately. Throw away junk mail, pay bills as they arrive, and either shred the papers afterward or file them. Don’t get into the habit of piling unopened letters on your entry table or countertop.
- Train yourself and your family to make the bed every morning before leaving the house.
- Pick up the laundry lying on the floor and any unnecessary items on the nightstand.
Related: How To Teach Your Child To Pick Up After Themselves
6. Get Help If Things Get Too Overwhelming
You don’t have to do it all. Even superheroes (like you!) need help from time to time. I get it! We think we can do it all, but there are times in life when we may have to ask for help. It doesn’t mean you need a dog walker or laundry service for life. But if your husband or partner is traveling for work for the next three months, or your boss asks you for more hours this quarter, don’t kill yourself by pulling night shifts, folding laundry, and meal prepping.
If your budget allows, here are a few things you can consider hiring help:
- Online meal service
- Laundry service
- Dog-walking service
- Housekeeper
- Lawn service
- Babysitter
7. Ask Your Kids to Get Involved
If your kids are a little older, it can be beneficial for everyone to get them involved in housekeeping beyond those 10-minute cleanup sessions. Encouraging your kids to help to do the laundry, wash dishes, or even just dust and wipe down surfaces around the house will not only give you a few extra hands to help out, but it also teaches your kids valuable life skills they carry with them when they leave the nest.
Cleaning doesn’t have to seem like a punishment or a chore. Perhaps you can put on some music as you and your children clean. Making cleaning a fun task allows you and your children to spend a few more minutes together after long days at work and school.
8. Keep Multiple Cleaning Stashes
Another way to become more efficient at cleaning is to have multiple storage areas for cleaning supplies throughout the house. Keep cleaning materials in every place you will need them.
- Instead of storing all the bathroom cleaning supplies in just one bathroom, store supplies in all bathrooms.
- Don’t put all your cleaning materials in some random closet in your house—make sure you keep some in your kitchen.
- If your home has multiple floors, consider keeping a vacuum cleaner on each floor.
Having extra cleaning supplies stashed will help you quickly address any mess in any part of your house. And with kids, there will be quite a lot of messes.
9. Space Out Your Work
Maintaining a clean house while working and spending time with your family can quickly become overwhelming if you try to do all your cleaning at once. Try to divide the cleaning tasks across several days, or tackle one room a day instead of trying to do it all at once. Designating each room to a different day of the week will ensure that you don’t get overwhelmed by trying to fit all your cleaning into one afternoon or one morning.
10. Clean Up Messes Right Away
This may seem obvious, but we’ve all had those moments where something is spilled or stained, and we shrug it off, saying we’ll clean it some other time. Don’t let yourself fall for that temptation! Stains are always the easiest to clean when they first happen. Even if you intend to clean them later, letting stains accumulate will make your house feel dirty. And a dirty house is not a pleasant environment for anyone.
Keeping a clean home with little ones is never about perfection. It’s about creating a space that feels manageable, healthy, and supportive for your family. Some days will be messier than others, and that’s okay.
From one mom to another, I hope these cleaning tips help you feel less overwhelmed and more confident as you juggle daily life with your little ones.
