How do you clean and organize?

When my kids were young , i got the best advice from my neighbors. She was a teacher and said "if you are cleaning your house, you are not spending time with your kids." He was a fireman who said, "just make sure you shovel a path to your door in case of fire." That is all that mattered. Kids and safety.

Most likely the kids have too much stuff.  When I felt overwhelmed, I purged.  I also taught the kids at a very, very young age to pick up after themselves (toddler age).  

We declutter on occasion, when stuff gets bad or when we have company that would judge us for piles of messy school papers.
A couple of times a year we tackle a room/area and go through and donate, reorganize stuff, etc.
Maybe once a week or so I tackle the piles that seem to accumulate despite me nagging everyone NOT to leave stuff by the door, etc.


Cleaning, I do as necessary. I assign a list of easy chores for our older girls and leave a list on the fridge.
I wipe down stuff when I feel like it.

I don't keep a schedule and I don't clean every day, because I hate spending my time doing things like that, and I hate feeling like my work is undone every day. Even though I make my kids clean up after themselves, stuff still gets messy the second it's cleaned up.

ETA: the only things I do daily are sweep the floors (twice a day, usually, but also sometimes it only gets done once and that's fine too), and pick up and put away all the toys (again, usually twice a day). Dishes and laundry get done every day, too, just because we'd be naked/dirty/stinky/hungry if we didn't!

You need to have your house organized so you can teach your kids where everything goes so they can pick up after themselves.

From a very, very young age (2 and up) kids can absolutely clean up their own toys.

Teach them to put away one toy (or type of toy) before they get out another one. That way it never gets out of control. Then have part of your bedtime routine be making sure everything is picked up.

This only works if you have an assigned place for everything so your kids can learn its place.

My daily routine is roughly wake up, make all beds, throw in a load of laundry, then start my coffee. Set up for homeschool while I drink my coffee, do morning lessons, leave the kids to do their writing assignment while I move the laundry to the dryer and unload the dishwasher, check their writing, they get a break to play in the playroom while I do that day's big chore (I rotate through bathrooms, vacuum, mop, and dust), then more lessons, leave the kids doing their math while I start dinner, check math, play with kids or take them to play date, eat dinner, kids play with dad while I do dishes, start dishwasher, and clean kitchen, kids pick up house, kids go to bathroom for shower and brush teeth while I start another load of laundry, kids reading and bedtime, I move laundry to dryer, spend time with my husband, then my bedtime. If your kids are younger than school age you could substitute alternating rounds of together play and independent play where I have my lesson time.

Flylady, but don't sign up for the emails. She's meant to be taken in small doses. Just start with one thing from her site, then add as you feel comfortable.

I understand the meaning behind, "if you're cleaning you're not playing" but really that can only happen so much. I like order and it makes me twitchy if I don't have at least a decent amount of it. My main thing is trash picked up (out of bedrooms/bathrooms), dishes at least downstairs and out of bedrooms, and clothes organized.

Being overwhelmed sometimes is the issue more than the clutter. Perhaps you need to schedule/organize your day/week.

If every room of your house is cluttered then it's not just the kids, it's your lifestyle.

Sorry, but I don't accept the premise that if you have a clean house then you ignored your children. Back in the day we went to the park, zoo, amusement parks, pool, had play dates, art classes, sports etc., and my house was still clean, fairly organized.

Martha Stewart had lists on her website for cleaning and organizing. If things are really out of control maybe the kids can spend the weekend with grandparents and you and your DH can get things organized and clean. Then follow a maintenance schedule and it won't be as overwhelming. 

I can't even get caught up! If I could just get caught up so I can maintain, but I can't. I have three girls, 11-17 and they are like tornados running through! haha! They never put stuff away. I wish it could be decent so the kids can have friends over anytime. But I feel we need 3 days notice before company. I think I need to get rid of all the extra clutter.

I say and do this almost every day and it really makes a huge difference in keeping things picked up!!!

Absolutely this. Grab something from Point A and put it away as you make your way to Point B.  Grab something near Point B and put it away on your way to some other room.  This ensures the house is picked up almost all the time.  

tidying, cleaning, organising are all different.

tidying is the day to day picking up and putting away of things where they live. Even toddlers can help with that - in fact they love to help so start them young. I found it helpful to pick up toys at specific times of the day - before lunch, before dinner, before bedtime and make it a routine. It's easier to tidy when everything has a place and everything fits in its place.

cleaning is the washing, scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming, sweeping...focus on the kitchen and bathroom - once they are clean, they take less maintaining to keep that way - wipe the counters after meals, wash the dishes either after meals or at specific times of day (ours are part of 5pm chores and then again after dinner). Wipe the sink and swish the brush through the toilet every morning - it'll stay cleaner and need less work. Vacuum as needed or at a specific time every day (I do before dinner or first thing in the morning once the children leave for school). For years we had Saturday morning chores where the children cleaned and tidied their rooms and I tackled the main cleaning of the house (vacuum, bathrooms, kitchen, mopping, dusting etc...) Saturdays are too busy now and my children are older so I do that Monday mornings instead. We still have 5pm chores - trash, litter, dishes, picking up and vacuuming....everyone who is home participates.

organising - you can't organise clutter so the first key is to get rid of stuff - it's an on-going process, not a once and done deal. Start small - pick a drawer or a shelf. Empty it and decide what is going to be stored there. Only put back what you've decided to store there. Donate (or sell or trash if needed) what doesn't need to be kept at all and put the other items elsewhere. I will put AWAY if there's already a designated spot or in the correct room if not. Pick another drawer or shelf - repeat. Each time you go back through those spots, you'll find more that you can part with. Don't try to do too much all at once - getting overwhelmed and stopping halfway through only leaves you with a bigger mess. Keep a donation box and when you come across something that you no longer need or have replaced or outgrown - toss it in. When it's full, donate it. Teach the children to do the same with their toys/books/clothes.

Purging is great. Once a month, pull out three boxes and walk into a room. Fill the boxes with "Donate" "Sell" and "Trash." Your kids will be fine without you for an hour or two once a month. I know people always say to spend time with your kids, but you said you feel overwhelmed, so getting organized will help you be happier when you are with your kids. Pinterest also has a great 365 day plan to declutter. Every day you do one thing. It can be as simple as throw out old hair supplies or get rid of shoes that you don't wear anymore. The tasks take 5-20 minutes a day. I also do 7 things a day when I come from work. It can be pay a bill or pick up dog toys. Then on weekends I have done 25 little things so the weekend chores aren't too bad. I also taught my kids to do a lot to help me and my hubby does a fair amount of housework so I feel pretty lucky.

Not very well.

(first thing that popped into my head when I read title- "How do you clean and organize.")

Those rules work. In theory........  I'm not always a rule follower, unfortunately.