how is the best way to keep your house clean with 3 boys?

Question

the more you try the less it seems to work how do you fix this problm

Answer 1

First of all, come to terms with the fact that your house will never be "clean" until your children are older and have decided to mess up their friends' houses instead of yours.

Second, start when they are little assigning differant household chores to each child and delegating the various tasks required to keep your house in some stage of organized chaos. Responsibility encourages self-esteem in kids as they grow.

As a parent of 3 boys myself, it has taken a long time for me to come to terms with the fact that my house is just going to be a busy, chaotic and loud place until my boys are grown and gone. I just try to keep the house as simple and stress free as possible so that I can enjoy my boys for who they are instead of worrying about the handprints on the doorframes and toys in the hall.

Answer 2

I also have 3 boys (2,3, and 6). I try to get one room clean a day. So, I vacuum, dust, mop the floor, etc. to just one room a day. The entire house isn't all clean at one time, but no rooms are filthy. The boys are responsible for cleaning up their toys before Power Rangers come on at 7:00. That way, their stuff is out of the way every night. To get them to this point, I had to show them to correct bucket, shelf, closet for all their toys. Then, we had a star chart where they earned a star for having everything picked up. They earned,yup, another toy (only because I knew they'd do the work for the toy). You could use popcorn, movie, pizza, whatever works. Hope that helps!

Answer 3

I have the same issues, but a few things have helped.
1. Give up my ideal of a really clean home. Someday when they are grown it will be spotless and I will love it.
2. Have one area to put all of the toys. I like the basement because I don't have to look at it all the time. They still drag stuff upstairs, but only a few things before I start making them put stuff back.
3. Have trunks or boxes in their rooms to throw their toys/junk into. Make them clean their rooms up 1 -2 times a week.
4. You don't say how old they are, but teach them how to vacuum, sweep and clean windows. It may not look perfect, but it helps a little.
5. Don't ever let them eat anything away from the table. You are just asking for bigger messes it you let them eat in the family room, etc.
6. Encourage them to play outside as much as possible and have a box outside to put their dirty shoes in before they come in.
7. Hold off on nightly dessert or stories (I'm assuming their little) until all their toys are cleaned up. Have contests to see how fast ththey can do it.
Good luck.

Answer 4

Mary talked about a vicious cycle. The way I define it is different.

Either you make them keep a spotless house and make the kids crazy, or you will watch them live like pigs and you get crazy. That's a vicious cycle.

Step out of the cycle. Decide what is acceptable. For example, I'd say untidiness is acceptable, dirt isnot. You could ask them to never leave food stuff around, but might not ask them to tidy their rooms every day.

You need to be able to ignore things if you want to hold on to your sanity. I'd guess three boys find support from each other, too. Dividing and conquering maybe another option, i.e. rewarding individual good behaviour and letting the others get jealous.

In any case, don't lose hope. One day they will grow up and leave the house.

Answer 5

I have 2 boys and a stepson who visits every other week, our home is always clean, not always organized, but clean. I agree with the tough love approach, they are responsible for thier own messes. We also have 2 birds, a dog, and baby on the way, and ya know what my boys clean up after themselves, sometimes it takes mom getting upset, most of the time they just do it, to avoid mom getting upset. Stick to certain jobs for each child and when you need other things done give them an additional chore. No one ever said familys were a democracy.

Answer 6

I've got 3 girls so I'm surrounded by chaos as well but probably a little different than with 3 boys :) Here are some things that have been a BIG help around my house in keeping it clean!

1) Make each child responsible for putting their things away (hanging up their coat, putting away their shoes and school bags) Each of my daughters have their own hook with their name labeled above it so they can put up their own coats. (This has also helped with letters) We have a shoe basket for each daughter as well where they go place their shoes when we get home.

2) In our back room there is a ledge that we've got 3 large baskets with their names embroidered on them (pottery barn) they put school stuff in there as well as library books.

3) On the stairs there is a basket for each of my older girls to put things in that they need to put away in their room. Each night after dinner and before dessert we go and empty our baskets. My girls like to race to see who gets done first.

4) I've found that having multiple baskets and boxes labeled for all the toys is also really helpful. The kids don't have to ask where they go (we taped pictures on before they could read)

5) Having a basket for my husband and I in the back room is also huge. We also seem to have a large amount of mail coming into the house so near the front door there is a basket for mail.

6) In the kitchen all the kids stuff is at their level, they are able to get stuff to set the table, eat snacks etc. and when they are done it goes in the sink for mom or dad to deal with later.

Answer 7

If you're referring to the bathroom dilemma:
-A container of Clorox wipes and Clorox spray bottle in all bathrooms

Around the house:
-Many storage baskets with lids for quick tidy-ups when guests are arriving
-I usually take one big basket into each room and throw anything that is out of place into it. Once the floor, tabletops, beds, etc. are cleared off, it is so much easier to function and clean because it just feels cleaner in that room w/o having to look at all that clutter. Then sit yourself down and sort through the basket and have a bag handy to throw out any trash OR put the basket aside and get to it when you have a chance.
-Most importantly, have a place for everything!!

Answer 8

teach them to clean up thier own messes. i come from a house where there were 8 kids growing up at the same time. 6 boys and two girls...*yeah, imagine that will ya...messes galore* my parents raised us from the time we could understand simple commands to pick up our own toys. and if we left a mess...we got in trouble. sometimes trouble was simple, like losing part of our allowance to which ever parent picked the mess up...or for worse messes...grounding or whatever... beleive me...it worked. My mom and dad rarely had to clean up our messes....also the allowance thing gave us an incentive to clean up after ourselves...after all, if you dont have any money, you can't go do things that you want to do.... Oh yeah, and stick to your rules... dont let them get away with stuff. If they leave a mes, make them stop what they are doing and clean it up.

Answer 9

Great question I am waiting to see every ones answers . I have two young boys of my own and when I start trying and I say trying to clean they are making other messes..it's a vicious circle that I can't get out of. I'm with you I need Help!

Answer 10

organization is the key. Keep bins or tots for the things that the boys play with and when they are done with there things they should emediatly put them in the bins and if they leave them out then have consequences. Not only should they have organization you can do it to to show them how important it is.