Is your house messy? Do you battle clutter? Do you freak out when someone stops by?

Yes! Yes! Yes! That was me FOR YEARS.

Want to know the BIG secret?

Create a System and honestly, it does not matter which one you choose.

Fly Lady, Clean Mama, Swedish cleaning… Hundreds of social influencers have the perfect plan to get your house in order. Pictures of immaculate clean houses haunt my efforts. I felt defeated. As if everyone knew this secret but me, and I just couldn’t make it happen.

I searched high and low for the magic wand, (bippidi- boppidi-boo) but found nothing but a bunch of programs.

Some worked and others didn’t. Slowly, I adopted a routine, paired with my children getting old enough to help and presto, my house is cleanish!

Try one out for a bit and if doesn’t work, then switch to another until you find the perfect match for YOU.

Give yourself grace as you find a system that gets you closer to having a cleaner house. One size does not fit all. It will take time to figure out which one best suits your current situation. If you are a mom, what worked last year may no longer work this year, so you must adapt.

Here is the system I use…

Everyday – I make my bed

Every morning and night – I tidy my bathroom

Give everything a home. Places that were once cluttered, I found a place for those items or a basket to collect things until I could return it to its proper home.

Get Help! I enlisted my children to join me! GAME CHANGER! Do not do ALL the cleaning. Even kids as young as three can help. Yes, you may need to do it over, but they need to start somewhere and usually a three-year-old is begging to help.

Every Friday, clean the entire house. (Helps to have a small house! Bonus!) I tried the daily clean a room thing, but it felt like every day was cleaning day and it did not work for me. But hey- if it works for you- go for it.

Find inspiration. Watch decluttering or cleaning video to inspire you when stuck.

You win some, you lose some. The kitchen sick is still my battle (thanks Fly Lady for making me feel like a failure.) With a family my size, a glass or two constantly sneak their way into my sparkling clean sink. Grrrr!!!!

Use whatever program appeals to you most. Don’t try to make something work that doesn’t fit your lifestyle. Pick the parts that make the most sense and what goes with your flow.

AND…If you have babies, toddlers, or preschoolers, then it just might be your season and not you. The early years of parenting is a challenging time and keeping a clean house feels impossible.

“Cleaning your house while your kids are growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.” Phyllis Diller

So do not beat yourself up… embrace it. But don’t settle there either. Attempt one habit to create a cleaner house. Give yourself grace on days chaos exists and keep going. Eventually, you will get to a place where having a clean house is possible.

Happy Cleaning!