How to keep house clean with 2 small children?

[Butterfly Dawn]

Onyx that's classic

Sent from my Galaxy with the barefoot princess covering me in kisses, so please forgive the mistakes

[grub17]

personally, I would ask the children to move out and if their father is about, him as well. Only sure way to guarantee your house will stay clean for more than 10 secs.
i'm afraid it's like groundhog day, they make mess as you clean so you'll never win!!!

[Phteven]

^ Genius!! If you think that that's a bit harsh because they are too young to cope on their own, boarding school might be an option.

[MantaRay]

Change your definition of clean

Yep, that, or keep your eyes closed! The reality is that two littlies keep you very busy and they are small for such a short time. While you can spend quality time with them, spend it without guilt. There is plenty of time for cleaning when the kids are at school and you're not missing time with them to do it.

[MummyNaomi]

Replace your flooring with concrete and put a drain in the corner. Every evening use a high powered hose to hose the place down...

I send my children outside whenever I can. That way the garden looks like slum instead of the house which make burglars think that we are trailer trash with nothing to steal.

Lordy woman, I just about pee'd my pants laughing! Love it!!

We keep the house pretty tidy - Only have one child so far, the next one is arriving very soon (due this month), I am certain it will be harder with two. We also tidy everything before we head to bed - eg pack the dishwasher, put any stuff away on the kitchen benches and tidy the living areas. It gives us a fresh start the next day. We also have a toy room, it really means everything has a place rather than having stuff all over the house. I also make all the beds and give the bathroom a quick tidy in the morning, it's much easier to keep tidy if you do it as you go I think.

I've found that the longer I leave things, the worse it gets. Now that DS is 3, we don't let him get a new toy out until he puts away one - same as PRMG - this actually works really well. Prior to Maternity Leave I would work from home once a week, the house would get untidy on that day as I needed to concentrate on working more, but we'd have a massive tidy up prior to DH getting home. We do have a cleaner once a fortnight - she does the bathrooms, floors and dusting, that makes a huge difference and frankly its the best $70 I spend each fortnight.

[TaRhLi.]

I have 3 young children - a 2 1/2 yr old and 13mth old twins and my house will generally stay pretty tidy...

I suppose it really depends on your terminology, so you mean clean or do you mean tidy? My kids have 3 areas that they play - lounge room, playroom and the boys bedroom and generally they will trash each room at least once a day, but I find they will play in on area and then move onto another when bored or want a new challenge - so I will then tidy the area they have destroyed which is just generally picking toys up off the floor and putting back in the toy boxes.

I have a handheld vac which adapts as a mini vacuum and that gets used everyday in the kitchen after meals and also in the areas the kids have access to to clean up food crumbs, I do my washing everynight after eveyone is in pj's and hang it on clothes airers in our bedroom to dry overnight (we have heaters on as it is soooo cold here) so all I have to do next day is fold and put away. I will iron a couple of times a week - in the evening when the kids are in bed and I can watch a TV show I want to in peace , and every week DH will do the vacuuming and mopping on 1 evening when everyone is in bed. At the moment we are always cleaning the floor after each meal that we don't see the need to mop more than once a week. I clean my kitchen benches as I go, so after a make a meal I will clean down the bench tops etc, and my bathroom gets done when I have the motivation but normally every couple of weeks when everyone is in bed so the kids don't breathe in the chemicals if I clean it during the day. Also my parents take DD for about 4hrs every Wednesday so these are the days I will wash and change the sheets and towels.

I'm a bit obsessed with the house being 'presentable' but I have to look at it realistically as well, I have 3 young children and they will make a mess, but by watching my lead they are learning that things must be put away so much so that one of my twins loves to pick things up off the floor and put them where they belong - and that's at 13mths.