Simplify Cleaning

As you may remember from my Best Posts of 2016 blog post, I am claiming my word of 2017 as SIMPLIFY. I really want to embrace life to it’s fullest while simplifying as much as I can. You’ll find lots of content this year that will help you (and me) continue to simplify and find ways to embrace where we are right now in life. There are too many things on the news, on social media and cluttering our house that I think we could all use a little simplification. Am I right?! First up? Let’s simplify cleaning.

Today, I’m sharing some of the key things I do to simplify my cleaning life and I hope it encourages you to do the same. I was recently talking to a friend who told me she read that the amount of stuff a woman has cluttering her home is a direct correlation to her happiness. Now, I haven’t been able to find that study but I did find a study from the Huffington Post that said, “Eighty-four percent of recently stressed Americans say they worry that their home isn’t clean or organized enough, and within that group, 55 percent called it out as a source of recent stress.” Those are staggering numbers, y’all.

Eric is actually the more clean one of our duo. Messes stress him out far more than me. As long as my kitchen island is clear of junk, I can usually function pretty well. For some reason, I feel if that area is clean, the whole house looks more organized. If clutter is a stressor for your family, I’d highly encourage you to read this article I did about cleaning out our kitchen with Kempt Organized Living.

You can take some of the tips Carrie points out and even do a quick Pinterest search to help you figure out ways to minimize your clutter, throw things away, donate and get organized! I’ve really enjoyed selling a few items on some of the Buy, Sell & Trade sites on Facebook. I have a new rule that for every new article of clothing or accessory that comes in my house, at least one must be sold or donated. I just don’t want to be overwhelmed by the clutter and there are certainly others out there who can use it or need it far more than me. We like to donate to The Salvation Army, First Light Women’s Shelter locally or sometimes you can find that some of your local churches or neighborhoods are gathering items for those in need.

Another option to consider is getting a maid. My husband and I compromised on this and we now have a maid that comes once a quarter. It’s really nice to know that at least every few month our bathrooms, baseboards, under the beds, and blinds are going to be deep cleaned. It was so important to my sanity after having the baby that I asked Eric for this to be my birthday gift. 🙂

Another thing we’ve added in that has helped us clean more easily is the bObi pet robotic vacuum cleaner. Those of you that follow me on Snapchat and Instagram already know we love it and have seen it in action. You’ve also probably seen Leyton’s undying affection for his new entertainment toy. 😉 We program the bObi to run 3 days a week during the middle of the day. We’ve found that it can get stuck sometimes on the fringe on one of our rugs and once she shut the door on herself in the bathroom but for the most part she’s very smart at navigating. The biggest thing I’ve had to train myself on with the bObi is to remember before we leave the house on her programmed days is to pick up the cords and rugs on the floor that she can get stuck on. You can purchase it on Amazon here to clean up your 16 month old’s spills too! Oh, or pet’s hair, or just the dust that inevitably happens in every home.

One bonus I’ve found with the bObi that some of my friends have pointed out is different than theirs is the fact that the bObi comes with a “do not pass go” block. Ha! You set up a black block that looks kind of like a speaker and set it up so the bObi knows not to go past it. This can be a game changer for nap time when you don’t want the robotic vacuum cleaner going near baby’s room or staying out of a space with lots of items it could get caught on.

Just like everything else in life, communication always makes everything better. Make sure you are conveying to your spouse, roommate, children or anyone you live with what stresses you out the most about your home. You may think it’s amazing for your husband if you take out the trash, but he really feels stressed by washing the dishes. Talk about what things you don’t mind doing around the house and the things that drive you batty. Eric and I try to check in on date nights or at least once the house has gotten too zany to handle anymore and see where communication broke down. I’m incredibly blessed I have a husband who is more than willing to help cook, clean, and take care of Leyton. But unless I tell him what I need help with sometimes, he may not know and I can’t fault him for that…and the same goes for me.

Finally, make your bed. It’s one thing you can do that takes less than a minute that sets the tone for the whole rest of your day. It’s so amazing when you walk in the bedroom when you get home and your bed is all made up. I really had to work for this one, and I can’t say that I’m perfect at it yet but Eric has made me a lot better about wanting to make the bed. We’ve come to an agreement that making it up half-way is better than doing it “perfect.” For instance, we may not roll down the top comforter to the bottom of the bed and have the pillows just so. Instead, we may have the top comforter just pulled up over the white coverlet and have the pillows tossed to the top but not perfectly aligned.

Do what you can do and make it work for your family. These are just some of the few things we’ve found that have helped us simplify our cleaning process over the years. How do you simplify cleaning? Let me know in the comments below!

Shop Leyton’s uber soft outfit: Shedo Lane //  Photos: Casey Marie Photography