Keeping House - Keeping Order

(Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/keraoc/3202868681/)

With two children under two, my house often resembles a war zone. Seriously, it can be really disgusting and frustrating at times. I've only recently developed a real "housekeeping" routine. When I was first married several years ago, I didn't really get a chance or make the time to develop a good routine. I started studying part time, as well as holding down a part time job. Then after some time, we became pregnant with our first daughter. Wonderful, but then I was even more time poor, a tired pregnant woman working full time and studying part time. It was only at the end of last year, just before our second daughter was born that I finished studying and became a stay at home mum.

My technique for keeping order in the house is relatively simple. I go through the house, room by room and start putting things away and counting as I do so. 1. elmo toy in toy basket, 2. glass from the coffee table in the sink, 3. tissue that dropped on the floor into the rubbish bin. I find this counting process provides a real sense of achievement, suddenly i'm at 50 and the house already looks so much better (maybe you're lucky enough that you could be done sooner, but some days I could get into the high hundreds, eeek!)

I use this same strategy with the dishes as well. We don't have a dishwasher and sometimes, before you know it, the sink is full and the dishes are overflowing onto the bench. I also often say to myself that I will just put away 10 things or wash 10 dishes etc. Setting realistic goals means that you can easily achieve them and don't feel as though you've not completed the job. Also, once you start with the counting, you really want to keep going.

Do you have any housekeeping tips that you would like to share? I would love to hear them.

(Image found at http://kerryh01.wordpress.com/category/craft-room/ )