Clean up, Clean up, every body do your share!

Raise your hand if you feel like your house is never clean!!!!

You are not alone! Dog mom, human mom, or care taker it seems like no matter how much you tidy you can't keep your house clean! You aren't alone! We often beat ourselves up over having a clean house. The realty is a clean house majority of the time is not feasible with a curious little one. However there are ways you can try to tidy up throughout the week to help keep the madness under control!

If you know me, you know having a clean house is not what I strive for! I love it, but lets be real a clean house with a kiddo doesn't always last. However there are basic things that need to be done to keep your home tidy like cleaning the floors and wiping things down! Oh and don't forget! Everyones favorite, laundry! I swear our laundry doubles over night... every night! I know I'm not alone on this one!

I've found involving your little ones while you tidy up around the house can really help free up some time and specifically on a rainy day it gives you some new activities! We know that our toddlers love attention and most importantly they are curious and want to be included in EVERYTHING.

Here are our favorite activities to do that help us tidy up and involve our toddler so that we can stay focused on the task!

1.Laundry: Give them a laundry basket and assign them a task! Obviously the complexity of the task depends on the age. If they are under 20 months or so the task may simply be sitting in the laundry basket ad observing you load the washer and dryer!

Our 22 month old loves collecting the laundry off the floor or from the hampers and helping us place it int he washer. She even helps move the clothes to the dryer. We purchased an inexpensive step ladder form Home goods and she helps with every step of the laundry process, even adding the detergent. Yes, this may cause the task of laundry to take a little longer, but your able to get it done and keep an eye on your little one at the same time!

2.Cleaning the floor: Roomba or no Roomba the floors have to be swept or Swiffered consistently. The great news about a Swiffer is they cost less than $10 and they are practical for you and your little one to use. We love that the Swiffer handle is adjustable so removed a section to make is smaller so it was easier for our little one to push around. Target and amazon also have some great options for kids cleaning sets that come with mops, brooms, dust pans, etc and they can follow you around while clean up.

3.Wiping appliances down: ** This is currently Izzy's favorite. We purchased an inexpensive spray bottle from the dollar spot at target. I fill it with water and give Izzy her own sponge and a couple of paper towels. While I wipe down the kitchen her "job" is to clean to refrigerator. She will literally spend 30 minutes spraying and wiping! No, the water doesn't actually clean anything but it also doesn't hurt anything. When I finish with my task in the kitchen I go right behind her and wipe down the refrigerator with my cleaner of choice.

4.Racing to pick up toys: We have really struggled with getting Izzy to pick up her toys so of course we decided to make it a competition and add music! We play music and race to to who can get all of the toys back in her individual toy bins! Again, depending on your child's age you may have to tweak it to make it a little more competitive

5. We are constantly running some type of vacuum in our house and our little one is addicted. This game doesn't take much convincing we store her play vacuum and dust buster with our vacuums so when she sees us pull our out she rushes to imitate us. She is always in charge of "cleaning the couch while I take care of the floors. This occupies her long enough for me to vacuum and also teaches her great habits!

...My Goal is to keep my blog post short and simple to make them an easy read! Never hesitate to ask more questions if you need me to elaborate!

Try out these activities and let me know how they work for your little ones.