How to Keep a Clean House as a Working Mom

Being a working mom is rough, ya’ll, and trying to keep a clean house as a working mom feels next to impossible. Especially when the house is already so overwhelming you don’t know where to even begin cleaning.

Somedays, I feel like I’ll never catch up and even if I do, I’ll never keep it that way.

What I’ve learned is that the way to keep a clean house as a working mom is to make sure you never get behind. Getting behind one day totally squashes your motivation and now you have double the work.

The way to keep a clean house as a working mom is to have a good cleaning routine.

A Good Routine is Essential to Keeping a Clean House

I have said it before and I will say it again- you don’t need a cleaning schedule, you need a cleaning routine.

I wish I could shout that from the rooftop. Routines turn into habits. Habits don’t bring you the anxiety and stress that a schedule does.

Routines and habits are done without a second thought. There is no build-up or constant worry about what has to be done because it never gets behind.

Want a Freebie? Use my free morning and evening cleaning routine printable as a guide to get you started on your journey to a more peaceful home.
Want one you can fill in yourself? Here you go.

A Daily Routine Is Less Stress Than A Cleaning Schedule

When I had to do laundry every Saturday, I would absolutely dread Saturdays. To the point that I would go to put something on and then change my mind because that would be one more thing I needed to wash on Saturday.

I was always thinking about laundry because I dreaded laundry day.

Having my laundry r o utine as a habit means that I don’t even give laundry a second thought. I am never behind on it. It never gets to the point that it is unmanageable.

The only time I might get behind on laundry is on the weekends when I get lazy and I don’t want to move. Since Leslie and Ember tend to sleep in on the weekends and I am awake at 2:30 AM, I try not to go into the rooms to pick up the clothes. Which means it stays in the dryer until they wake up.

When they get up, I don’t always think about going to get them out of the dryer, or sometimes I just don’t want to.

My routine gets thrown off.

So, come Sunday evening when I am needing to put Sundays clothes into the washer, I realize I hadn’t picked up the loads from Friday and Saturday and now I’m cursing myself because instead of having to pick up one day’s worth of clothes, I now have to pick up two.

This doubles the work and I get infuriated… sometimes I can be a little irrational.

Make Use of the Habits You Already Have

What I mean by this is that you don’t have to start living your life differently. I don’t want you to have to change up your life so drastically that you are now miserable.

Instead, look at all the things you are already doing. For example, when you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you do?

Me? I put my robe on and hobble over to the coffee pot to turn it on. Then I let the dogs out the back door which is in the laundry room.

Now, after I put them outside, I walk over to the washing machine and transfer the laundry from the day before into the dryer and turn it on.

It only takes a couple of seconds and, to be honest, I am barely aware that I am doing it because I’m still half asleep.

I didn’t create new habits, I just added one more step to the habit I already had.

Create a Cleaning Routine Out of Your Every Day Habits

To do this you’ve got to understand your habits. Take out a sheet of paper and write down your entire day as you recall it. From your morning routine down to your evening routine.

When do you brush your teeth? When do you bathe? Every little thing you do.. write it down.

Tomorrow, make a conscious effort to watch that routine you wrote down and add any little extras, or habits, that you do that you haven’t written down.

I bet you can’t think of every habit you have. That is because you don’t think about your habits. You just do them.

Do this for a few days. When you can see what your actual daily routines are and what habits you have, then you can start adding to them.

Like I did with the laundry. My evening routine, after I bathe, is to go through the house and turn the lights off. Now, as I go through the house, I grab the dirty clothes from the day, put them in the washing machine, and start it.

Since I am already walking through all the rooms, I just take an extra second and scan for dirty clothes. It’s only one day’s worth of clothes, so I can hold it all in my arms and walk it over to the laundry room which happens to be the last room I check the lights in.

This adds no extra effort for me. It’s super simple and I’m not worrying about having to “do laundry”.

The Takeaway

Creating a cleaning routine doesn’t have to be difficult and it will likely look different for everyone. You’ve got to tailor your cleaning routine to your lifestyle. You might find that the cleaning you have to do as your “maintenance” cleaning differs from mine. That is okay.

The important thing you have to do is figure out where your maintenance cleaning fits into your everyday routine. Like I did with the laundry.

My dishes get picked up and put away while I’m cooking dinner. My counters are wiped right after I put the leftovers that I’ve fixed into containers as I serve dinner. The floors are swept in the main rooms as part of my 3 extra cleaning minutes in the mornings or evenings from the cleaning routine I’ve created for myself beyond what I do as daily habits.

With a little effort, you can keep a clean house as a working mom. It just takes finding the right tools and course of action to achieve it. Feel free to contact me and let me help you figure out how maintain your home.