Mrs. Fish's Thursday Tips and Tricks

One of my friends asked me the other day,

"Karie, is your house always this perfect? All the time? With Twins? And you were going to school? And you work out of the house? And, and and....."

I felt so embarrassed, I mean I really do try to let my house go. To let the dishes pile up, the laundry spill out into the adjoining rooms, for my house to collect dust like the desert floor. I mean I really do try to let the old girl go sometimes.

But with three kids, a husband and a dog who cannot distinguish her own identity you learn a few little tricks here and there that help you stay on top of all the messes and keep a clean house without spending days or endless hours slaving, only for your hard work to be flushed away.

Here are my tips and tricks to staying on top of my house:

• I don't spend one WHOLE day cleaning and doing laundry. I spread the love around. I do laundry everyday, a load at a time, this way, laundry gets done and I get caught up without spending an entire day devoted to dirty linens and such.
• I clean my house one room at a time, or one section of the house at a time, one day at a time. This way I just have to maintain. I vacuum everyday, only because I hate crumbs and such under my bare feet. Maintaining is a lot easier than power cleaning.
• I do dishes as they are dirtied. I run the dishwasher at night so in the morning I can unload it and start fresh, and I never have piles in my sink. (Well never say never.....DH has still to learn the location of the dishwasher to the sink.)
• Trash is handled by DH and Big G....sometimes me if they slack.
• Big G's chore is to feed the confused Bulldog.
• Little Bitty knows the location of the trash and recycling.....we are still working on the logistics.
• Pickles Magoo only knows where the food is.....the fridge. And that it can go on the floor for the confused Bulldog to clean up. This makes sweeping a breeze.

Hope this helps some of you Mom's who feel like your whole life revolves around cleaning the house. I try to look at it as "maintaining my perfection" (*cough...bullshit), OK, so I try. I have to say though that maintaining a clean house is easier than always trying to clean a dirty house. I hope to post some more of my Tips and Tricks.