Let’s face it, living on a ranch with two busy boys means that dirt and toys are inevitable. Here are a few tasks that I try to do each and every day in order to stay ahead of the chaos.  Does our playroom always look perfect, absolutely not! Here is a photograph from tonight!

However, with these few basic chores it makes it a lot easier to keep a tidy house.

1. When we wake up in the morning, I go through each bedroom to make the beds, put away glasses and/or books from the night before, and make sure each room looks reasonably presentable before making my way into the kitchen. I also put the boys’ clothes out at this time ready for day.  I quickly stop at the bathroom to make sure there is a fresh towel, toilet paper and the counter is clean.
2. Do a load of laundry each day, from start to finish. This includes putting it all away in its perspective places.  Yes, as my husband will say, there are still times when he must push a load off the bed prior to going to sleep at night!  Nonetheless, I find that if I do a load a day I don’t always have a huge pile loaming ahead of me.
3. Sweep the floors in the main living area of the house after each meal and if needed, prior to going to bed. I used to only sweep once a day, but I found that by lunch the crumbs were driving me crazy. Toddlers aren’t always neat eaters!
4. Do the dishes after each meal. We don’t have a dishwasher so by doing the dishes after each meal it is a very easy way to make sure the counters stay tidy.  I wash the dishes, wipe the counter and quickly put away anything sitting out on the counters.
5. Put away items as you use them! With children this isn’t always possible, but we try to put the items away after we are finished as much as possible. For example, if we are doing a puzzle, the puzzle goes away before we start playing with lego. Our playroom is the one exception as it is a separate room out the way of the main living space.  If all else fails when a guest arrives, any toys sitting out go quickly into the playroom!
6. Wipes in the bathroom! Little boys can make a mess of a bathroom quickly! I have started to use bathroom wipes to quickly clean up messes and to tidy the counter, sink, toilet and/or floor if necessary throughout the day.  This is an easy way to keep the bathroom looking relatively clean!

There are times when I get behind in these tasks as life on the ranch speeds out of control, but most of the time these six tasks help to keep the chaos to a minimum.  On a ranch, it is quite common for people to stop in.  By following these daily tasks, I can feel comfortable that my house will be relatively presentable when someone stops in!