How to Keep a Clean House as a Working Mom

I have to say that I think I’m a pretty organized person…maybe.

I like things to have a place, I love to organize, and I love working, living, and sitting in a clean room and a clean house.

However, with my little tornadoes, my house gets messy super fast and it can become super annoying to constantly be picking up!

As a full-time working mom, I hate coming home to clean every night, so for the longest time, I just didn’t do it.

I was way too tried and I had other things I wanted to get done before bed so cleaning fell on the back burner.

My house would get messier and messier until I couldn’t stand to look at it, and then I would spend my entire weekend cleaning.

I wanted to spend my weekend doing other things, not cleaning. Like self-care. :}

I mean, I like to clean, but not that much!

If this is you, do not despair, I have come up with a plan that makes it so I am not cleaning all weekend, and I love it!

I will admit, it does take some commitment, but not very much time.

Here’s what I do to keep a clean house as a working mom and not clean all weekend.

Oh, I must also preface this with:

The way this works the best is if your house is already organized in some way. It can be small. It’s best if everything has a place, and you’re void of clutter. i.e. just stuff that lays around and you don’t know what to do with it.

Decluttering would be your first step. (I will be writing a post on this later). 

Related: The Ultimate Guide of Organization for Working Moms

How to keep a clean house

I do 3 chores every night before bed

You might think this sounds horrible, but it’s really not. If you keep up with it, you can have all 3 of these chores done in 30 minutes or less.

The Dishes

I clean the kitchen every night after dinner.

This is hard for me because I’m tired. I just cooked dinner, maybe, and I don’t want to clean too. (My husband and I cook and clean together, you could also switch off or take turns)

But I stopped listening to my own excuses and giving myself the option of not cleaning. I just know I have to do it.

I know I’ll be happier, and it won’t make for a daunting kitchen later.

Even if we just eat cereal, I clean the bowls and spoons because I don’t know why, but dishes pile up faster than it takes me to eat the food.

“Making Food: 1 Hour. Eating Food: 20 Seconds. Washing Dishes: Never Ending”

I also wipe up the counter with handy dandy lysol wipes. I love them because they’re fast and convenient.

Related: 19 Easy Dinner Meals my Kids Actually Eat

The Living Room

I pick up the living room every night.

I usually pick up my stuff and then let the kids pick up all their toys and stuff.

Sometimes if the floor is messy, I’ll vacuum.

I might even take a wipe and do a quick dusting if it needs it.

If you do this every night, it takes about 3 minutes.

You could also include the front room in this, or whatever room gets stuff dumped on the most. (We all know that room). 

The Kids Room

The kids room can get sooo messy.

Like, they continue to surprise me with how much they can mess up a room.

“Don’t mind the mess, my kids are making memories…of me yelling at them to clean up their mess.”

I used to just let their room get super messy, then after a few days, it looks so overwhelming, I just shut the door and deal with it on the weekend. 

So, we’d spend an hour cleaning it on the weekends.

Now we pick up their room every night, and since we keep it up, it takes about 5 minutes.

What we usually do is set a timer for 7 minutes before going to bed and everyone cleans the living room and kids room as fast as they can.

It has kinda become a game and makes you realize that it really doesn’t take that long.

You could do the playroom instead of the kids rooms, if you have one, and it gets way messier. You could also use the kids room as a weekly chore.

I mess up

Yes, there are days that I just can’t convince myself enough that it’s worth it to clean.

I crash on the couch, but I get right back at it the next day.

Sometimes I will have to put a few more minutes on the timer if we miss a day, but even then, it’s not that bad.

Also, if I don’t want to clean the kitchen, I set a timer and tell myself I can clean it for at least 15 minutes. But, It’s usually mostly done by then, so I keep cleaning until it’s finished.

On the weekends

I do clean some on the weekends. I do the bathrooms and clean up my room. I try to not let my room get too messy during the week. It’s mostly just clothes that make it messy.

I do laundry without folding

We usually do some laundry on nights throughout the week, or else we would run out of some clothes we need, but I don’t fold it until the weekend.

I know. It’s crazy. But it works. We separate the clothes into baskets.

We all have our own basket, and they stay in our room. (our kids are young, so it’s easier to keep them in our room).

They are easy to sift through, and laundry doesn’t end up on the floor.

The only downside is that we have 4 baskets of clothes lined up in our room all the time, but it’s worth my sanity.

Laundry is a never ending chore. Like, NEVER ENDING!

This way, I don’t feel overwhelmed by putting it all away.

Then on the weekends, we fold and hang up all the laundry.

I have also done the strategy of picking a laundry day and I only worry about doing it on that day. This also works well.

I usually spend about 1-2 hours cleaning on the weekends, including putting away laundry. I used to do about 3-4 hours.

I have weekly chores

I also have some weekly (extra) chores that I do on the weekends like mop the floors, wash the sheets, dust my room, or organize my desk. Just things that don’t need to get done all the time.

I usually rotate what I do each week depending on what needs cleaning.

I have Monthly Chores

Then I have monthly chores like cleaning the cars (I should do it more), wiping the cabinets in the kitchen, cleaning out the fridge (sometimes I do it more), wiping down the laundry room, or cleaning the blinds.

I usually try to fit these in on the weekends, but I do sometimes have a weeknight where I’m feeling ambitious.

You pick which monthly chores mean the most to you.

It’s probably not the perfect way to keep a house clean, but it works.

You have to find a schedule that works best for you without losing your sanity.

I would recommend having a schedule though, it really helps so you’re not always feeling overwhelmed by the mess and the clutter.

If I know I have a schedule, then I stop stressing about the things that aren’t getting done because I know I plan to get them done a different day.

You can download my FREE house cleaning printable at my shop and freebies page here.

Related: How to Parent as an Anxious Mom

Related: The Dollar Store Church Bag

Related: How to be the Fit Mom when You’re the Busy Mom