Having a new baby can be the most exciting time of your life. They’re still so small, and so sweet, and you know that it’s only a matter of time before they start growing and changing! But despite the love and joy that a new baby can bring, they also bring with them a lot of mess and a lot of new responsibility, and one of the biggest things that get new parents down is how hard it is to keep a house clean and take care of their baby at the same time. What is a new mom or dad to do?
Well, relax, because there are some easy ways to prepare yourself to get your house tidy and keep it that way (for as long as possible).
Be realistic
Like anything else in life, you want to start by being realistic about what can reasonably be done. You’ve only got two hands, and now you’ve got to use them for changing diapers, making dinner, doing work, and so on. Sometimes things will be messy, and no one will fault you for having some toys on the floor. Kids are messy, and that’s in their nature!
Always Be Cleaning
Have you seen that movie, Glengarry Glen Ross? Well, for us, ABC is Always Be Cleaning! You don’t have to have the vacuum attached to you at the hip, but if you’re in the middle of a commercial break and you notice some unfolded laundry, this might be a perfect time to get a little bit of that folding done so you don’t have to worry about it later! Make a plan to do a thorough cleaning once a month and get help from professionals like apartment cleaning Boston Cleanzen to keep everything in tip-top condition.
Make it a team effort
If you’re fortunate enough to have help in the form of your spouse, extended family, or anyone else, make sure you take advantage of the support available to you! If it’s Mom’s job to make dinner, maybe it’s Dad’s job to do the dishes afterward. A burnt-out parent is an unhappy parent, and it’s better to make sure everyone is pitching in together to make sure the family functions like a well-oiled machine.
Get Proactive
When your child is old enough, they will have to learn responsibility just like all of us did as children, and they will need some kind of organization or structure to learn these things. Many parents implement “chore wheels” for these reasons. But you don’t need to wait until your child is walking and talking to start delegating and organizing the household tasks.
Put a schedule together with your family and make sure that you know exactly who is doing what tasks and when they’re doing them, so you don’t have to worry later that something got missed. By the time your child grows up, they’ll be operating on a well-established system.
No matter what, there is always some amount of stress and change that comes with a new baby. It’s an inevitable part of being a parent to juggle the needs of the home and the needs of the world, but thankfully with a little bit of forethought, you can make sure the needs of your home are always well tended to!
