Keeping Your House Clean With Kids And Pets

It’s a dream for any parent to have a clutter-free home for the family. After all, it feels good to return to a tidy household after a long day’s work. While this is something to yearn for, you have to consider factors like pets or kids at home. Having them around might seem cute but not when they leave stains, odors, and dirt that compromise your home’s cleanliness. Whether you’re a seasoned parent or a newbie homemaker, here’s how to keep your house clean with pets or kids around.

Make Room For A Cleaning Routine

Oftentimes, it can be hard to clean the house, especially if you’re exhausted from work. This could cause chores to pile up and leave the house disorganized. As such, you can list which chores need your utmost attention so you won’t get overwhelmed.

Maybe it’s those unwashed dishes in the sink, the dusty curtains that need replacing, or that suspicious stain that’s assaulting your sense of smell. You can then make a cleaning routine that maximizes your free time. Make sure that the routine leaves room for prior rest so that you’ll have the energy to clean or do chores.

Groom Your Pets Regularly

Cats, dogs, and other furry pets can be bothersome to look after when they leave hair on your sofa, bed, or rugs. This becomes more problematic if there are allergic family members at home. Having pet hair and dirt strewn around your premises also looks bad to guests coming over.

To alleviate this problem, have your furry pets groomed regularly. Doing so once every two weeks should be enough. So long as your cats or dogs get groomed, they should shed less pet hair and dander at home from then on, though some vacuums can easily pick up pet hair if worse comes to worst.

Invest In Assistance Or Appliances

If you have the means to, you can hire people or buy smart appliances that can help with housekeeping. The latter is now becoming a more accessible option thanks to technological advancements today.

Automatic vacuums, for example, are now available, which can be set to turn on automatically and clean the surroundings during a certain time. This can be a lifesaver for parents who need to be at work all day and can barely find time to clean the house.

Teach Kids To Do Simple Tasks

Kids can be taught to help in cleaning up, provided they are given easy-to-understand tasks. They can be taught to pick up toys and place them in a designated container after they’re done playing.

Another simple task to teach would be having the kids make their bed after waking up. Placing the pillows and bed sheets where they’re meant to be should be easy enough to do. To keep your kids enthusiastic about cleaning, you can give them rewards like treats for every job done well.

Eventually, kids can be given more advanced chores and can utilize cleaning tools like mops, vacuums, dusters, and more.

Get Stains Cleaned Immediately

A lot of stains can get nasty or difficult to remove the longer they stay uncleaned. Common stains in the household include coffee spills, vomit, excrement, urine, or sauces. Even water can leave a noticeable stain on surfaces made of wood. The marks are called water rings, which might ruin the condition of your wooden countertops, tables, or other furniture.

Other stains mentioned above are worse since they carry a bad odor that might discomfort or even nauseate people who smell it. Stains caused by urine or excrement might pose sanitary dangers, besides the strong odors they give off.

Have Your Pets Potty-Trained

You don’t have to do everything yourself. If you have the means to, you can hire people or buy smart appliances that can help with housekeeping. The latter is now becoming a more accessible option thanks to technological advancements today.

Automatic vacuums are now available, which can be set to turn on automatically and clean the surroundings during a certain time. This can be a lifesaver for parents who need to be at work all day and can barely find time to clean the house. Speaking of odorous stains, it helps to get your pets potty-trained. Find a corner in the house that can serve as your cat’s or dog’s place, then have them trained to relieve themselves at this corner only.

Keep Some Areas Off-Limits

Designating some areas for potty-training to maintain cleanliness also means you can keep some areas off-limits to pets and kids. This serves as another way of keeping the home clean, as well as keeping your kids safe.

For instance, you can restrict the entrance to the basement, the kitchen, or the stairs to the second floor by installing barriers. These should be strong enough to not get knocked down and high enough to not get jumped over by your kids or pets.

Set Rules For Coming In And Out Of The House

Don’t just let your pets run around outside and let them in when they return. By the time they’re done with their outdoor adventures, your pets would have dirty paws that need to be cleaned. Dip their paws in water first or make sure they’re not carrying trash or dirty objects in their teeth before letting them in.

The same rule can be applied to kids. As such, have them put their shoes outside the door or in a corner beside the door when they enter. Following this simple rule can be effective in keeping dirt from contaminating your indoors.

A Clean Home For Everyone

After taking these tips to heart, you should be able to clean up your home with ease. Just remember to list the most urgent chores and set a time to clean them. Hire someone or buy cleaning tools if necessary. As well, quickly remove stains that become foul-smelling or unsightly, potty-train your pets, teach your kids simple cleaning tasks, and keep both restricted from some areas of the house or provide rules before they come in the house. If it’s any consolation, kids will eventually mature and pets can be trained by professionals.

In the meantime, these tips should help you maintain a clean home for everyone.

Resources – Better Homes And Gardens, Martha Stewart, Tidy