Five tips to turn mess into a tidy home in minutes
With kids, we all need a bit of help to keep on top of the mess, here’s five quick ways that may help
Five ways to help you deal with mess
- Quick tidy ideas for parents
Yes it’s a new year, and yes we all have great plans for how we are going to do things differently in 2018. But let’s face it when you have kids, with the best will in the world, some things are just not possible.
And one of the hardest things to manage with young kids is a tidy home, so we give you some quick ways to cover up a messy home to help you avoid having to say ‘excuse the mess’ every time someone comes round.
1. Rethink what tidy means
You may have a preconceived (pre-kids) idea of what tidy means, everything has a place and everything in its place type of thing. But reality check, you have kids now. It’s unrealistic to think you can achieve this now, so what can you achieve? Accept that there will always be toys on show, but get some cute toy baskets so at least you can throw them in there when people head round.
2. ‘Messy’ cupboard
It’s a well-known fact that every home has a ‘messy’ drawer, but it doesn’t only have to be drawers, why not a messy cupboard to quickly hide things out of sight? Let’s face it, even obsessive cleaner Monica in Friends had a messy cupboard! You can even have one in every room so you can quickly make the room look tidy and well organised in a flash.
3. Think about the furniture you buy
When buying new furniture, particularly new beds, do try and choose one that has drawers underneath, this is a great way to tuck stuff away that you don’t know what else to do with it.
4. Make tidying up a game for the kids
Why not become Mary Poppins and make tidying up a game! Clearly we can’t click our fingers and everything will tidy itself (if only!) but maybe tell the kids that there is a prize for whoever gets their toys put away first (and in the right place). A small lolly ought to do for a prize!
5. Bedtime tidy up
Don’t drive yourself mad all day saying ‘come on we need to tidy up this mess’ accept that when you are at home the place is fairly untidy, just have tidy up time just before bed where everyone does their bit and have a quick sweep around at least you will go to bed with the peace of mind it is tidy for when you wake up.