6 Smart Thinking Cleaning Tips

Lifestyles of the Stay-at-Home Mum: sounds glamorous? I’d love to say I spend my days lounging around the pool, sipping mocktails while my kids play happily , but the reality is my days are filled with changing nappies, cleaning up the trail of destruction that follows my kids around and trying to sneak in some crafting.

I need smart thinking to keep on top of the cleaning (to justify my crafting time). Here are my smart thinking cleaning tips:

1. Clean before the mess spreads. It doesn’t matter what I feed my son, he leaves a trail of crumbs (actually, my baby girl does this too now!). Quick clean up can prevent the whole house from becoming crunchy underfoot!
2. Keep cleaning tools on hand. I don’t want to spend all day cleaning, but having cleaning cloths, all purpose cleaning spray and dustpans stashed in drawers and cupboards makes quick spot-cleaning easy.
3. Share the load. Train everyone (as best you can) to keep things tidy. Create clean-as-you-go habits and routine chores for all family members so it’s not all up to you. My 2 year old’s first chore is to unpack the cutlery from the dishwasher and he actually did a brilliant job removing his dirty marks from the walls!
4. Think like a cleaner. If you were to hire someone to regularly clean your house, how long would it take them? 2-4 hours once a week or fortnight (depending on the size of your place). How do they do it? They work quickly, don’t get hung up on the making things perfect and are organised.
5. Only own what you’re happy to clean. I don’t like dusting decorations, so I don’t have a lot on display in my house. I don’t have more stuff than I can shove into cupboards and drawers (although it does feel like we’re starting to get over-run by toys). Think “where can I store this?” before you buy.
6. Avoid double-handling. Take the extra 10 seconds and put things away properly. Hang up your towel, put your dirty clothes in the basket, hang up your jacket

I’ve got more tips for clean as you go cooking here. What are your smart thinking lifestyle tips for the stay-at-home Mum? How do you stay on top of the cleaning?