Having ten people living in a relatively small space can get a little messy at times. Just think if everyone left one thing out in just the living room that would be ten things out of place. If only it was just ten things out of place in my living room. Sometimes it looks like the room threw up. I’ve had to develop strategies for keeping mess down to a dull roar. I’ve developed these three simple cleaning tips over the years.

This first tip I just recently stumbled upon. For some reason my guys will not play with legos on the floor. They want/need a table. There is a “lego” table in each boys’ room, but the little guys are still constantly bringing their legos downstairs. Since we do school at our dining room table there really isn’t room for them there. I took the bed table out. Now he has a table with a lip that helps to keep all the legos in place.

Secondly, our four oldest children are each assigned one area of the house that changes on a weekly rotation. This is so helpful to my feeling of peace. There is no fighting over whose turn it is to sweep the kitchen floor when needed. I just look at the chart to see who has the kitchen this week and call them to do the job. It’s also helpful when I set the timer for ten or fifteen minutes for everyone to work on their area. A room can get really clean in a short time. Usually during this time the younger ones have to tidy their bedroom or the basement play area. They need to learn work habits too. ☺

Finally, if I we don’t have a lot of time to clean – we need to start school but the mess is causing me to lose my sanity – I pick a number like 3, 5, 7, etc. whatever I think is needed and everyone has to pick up that number of things from the announced area. With six children each cleaning up five things that’s thirty things picked up or straightened. In a matter of two minutes I can have peace restored to a room.

I try not to let the normal children mess get to me, but sometimes I know we have to fix things quickly. The tidier the house is the more at peace I feel. And I think the children feel the difference too.

What tips do you have for keeping your home tidy?