Need Help from All the Mamas Who Know How to Keep a Clean House!

Lots of people like Flylady.com for instructions on cleaning and organizing-if you haven't already you should check it out.

I am a mother of 4 right around the same ages as yours I feel the same as you, what I recently started to do with my kids toys becuase thats the most common problem was have them do a race of who can pick up more toys before a justin bieber song is done.also dont procrastinate. if you walk around and see a sock or paper or anything that doesnt belong there just put it away it starts to become a habit and less clutter..I hope this helps.

Below is a verse from a needlepoint that was always hanging in our house when I was young and my M. recently did one for me. As a child I could recite it by memory and still can today. I feel your pain though. I hate messes and I hate dirty houses. One thing that helps me is to take a basket an pick up everything that needs to go somewhere else, otherwise I get distracted and start in on a different task when I go to put something away. Upstairs stuff I stack on the stairs, basement stuff goes on downstairs ect. 10-15 minutes of this every night keeps it a little more manageable. But my house is never perfect and that's okay. Don't be too hard on yourself. Make your kids help out. My daughter is 2.5 and she is awesome at helping. She helps with the dishes, the laundry, toy room. Just make it a game. And finally, Write this little verse down and put it inside your kitchen cabinets for those moments when you think about taking a bulldozer to the entire house!

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow
For Babies grow up we've learned to our sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs, Dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my babies and babies don't keep!

Try http://www.flylady.net/ it's free and will help you get on track to keeping your house clean. It basically sets you up for routines that you do everyday. You can sign up through their website and they'll send you emails on how their system works. It's a good system and it works. There's tons of advice and a good support system. Signing up is FREE, you don't pay anything. The only draw back is getting a lot of emails from them every day. Give it a try - it's not easy, but it does work. Also - they have advice on how to get your kids to do their own chores/routines. That will help you around the house and also teach your kids how to clean up after themselves.

Good luck! Everyone hates housework! You're not alone! :)

Shoes each of my kids has their own bucket to place them in I have mine upstairs in my closet,my daughter has her's in her closet,my son has his in the backroom by the back door followed with mud boots for all the kids his are back there because they always have been & his tend to get more dirty than the girls.Toys they are all in bins,a closet in their bedroom & daddy also made their twin beds with 3 drawers on each side to put toys in (really cuts the clutter).Bathroom that is always non stop after they leave the bathroom I make sure it is clean if any drips have occured I take care of it with a disinfection wipe,all towels that are wet go in the laundry hamper they take care of their own dirty clothes.The mail isn't an issue i'm the only one that gets it as i'm walking through my door I already know what it all is so one hand is for trash the other is bill's so they go into the bill pile if it is mine & usually a Parenting Magaizne I will have the AHHH moment sit down relax while I flip through it then it goes into my magazine drawer another cabinet my hubby built for me to reduce clutter.I'm sick of the dishes right now I still haven't done them from last nights dinner gross I know but i'm stuck in this I don't care mode that will hit me monthly for a few days then back to my regular non stop cleaning house is picture perfect no toys no mess no dishes the bathroom is spotless all laundry is done folded & put away all beds made everything done but i'm just too tired today to give a HOOT.MY house is a disaster area,but maybe tomorrow i'll get to moving again.I have a sick child today home from school other things going on & i'm just not feeling motivated to get up & do a lick of work besides clean the dishes & prepare dinner.
Your not alone the older the kids get the more they will be able to help around the house.Do what you can today & tomorrow it starts all over again

Have a place for everything and teach your kids and husband to help put them in the right spot after they are done using them.

If you clean all the time, the kids put away their stuff, and you throw out ever so often, then you might just have to accept that this is what happens with a household of 5 people.

Maybe you need to just overlook the mess and schedule a certain time to do the cleaning so that you don't feel like you are constantly cleaning up, laundry, etc. and have it come right back.

I hear that. When we lived in a smaller house, I could keep up with it no problem, but since we moved into a bigger house, I feel like I can't keep up at all. I finally asked a few neighbors and found out who the neighborhood cleaning lady is. This past Monday was the first day I had her come over, and WOW what a huge load off my shoulders. I'm having her do all the deep cleaning - mopping, cleaning toilets and tubs, cleaning the baseboards and ceiling fans, etc. That way I just have to do the surface stuff - keeping the "stuff" around the house put away, laundry, daily dusting, dishes, etc. I guess at the end of the day I just told myself, you know, with a full time job and a few kids, and a husband who thinks he did a ton of work whenever he loads the dishwasher ;), I need some help! I may not be able to have Starbucks anymore and will have to cut back at the grocery store as well in order to afford a cleaning lady, but to me it's worth it!

I found a big help was putting all the kids toys in bins in the basement and they could ask for anything to play with, but only a few things could be out at a time. The added benefit was that old toys seemed new since they had not seen them in a long while.
I sort mail immediately, and keep a paper shopping bag between the washer and dryer to put recycled paper in. That way if I threw something away but think later maybe I should read that it has not left the house yet. We get waaaaaay to much junk mail and I HATE that I have to spend my precious time opening solicitations for credit cards so I can shred them. We are considering signing up for LifeLock since they claim to also put a stop to junk mail. But that is a separate rant, lol!
My kids are 10 and 13 and we are coming out of the messy phase and I consider myself extremely organized, but even now there are days that I walk in and there is stuff on every surface and cat cardboard scratching pad pieces all over the kitchen, Kids help now with laundry and swiffering the downstairs and even vacuuming the upstairs (13 year old), but even when they were little they would help putting stuff in bins and pulling laundry out of the dryer into a basket, etc. They like the feeling or being part of the family and doing things, and I feel less like slave having them help. Hubby does his own laundry too since I ruined one of his white dress shirts by adding it to a pink/purple load, so maybe that tactic might work for you too! We used to have a cleaning lady but I found I had to tidy the night before so she could really clean, and decided that was too much effort, I might as well just clean a bit at a time, which I do now. Cheers.

I keep wipes around so I can wipe the bathroom counters right after I use them (gets rid of hair and toothpaste ect). And I try to focus on one room a day to work on, if I am busy its going to be a small room, if I have time I work on the room that needs it the most. Then i am not wasting time trying to do the whole house or working on rooms that dont get used much. The big play rooms I have bins I bought at Cost Plus (wicker w a lid) and all the toys that are loose get thrown into those, I also have one for blankets. They look nice and keep stuff tucked away and out of site. We also have one in the laundry roo for shoes, I am all about the decorative bins that you can just throw stuff into and then go through later and organize when there is time. The kitchen we have a rule that dishes go in dishwasher right away and then all you have to do is run it at night before you go to bed. The mail goes straight to our computer and I organize when do bills, but all junk mail gets thrown away immediately. I hope this helps even a little ((HUGS))

Before my son could read, I either took a photo of his toys or used the front of the box it came in or a clip from a circulate, and put it on the outside of some storage bins. Toys could be organized (and located) by him, so I didn't have all the work. He had no excuse for dumping everything out while trying to find something. We kept a few bins in the family room and kept other stuff in the basement play room. He had a table there that he put stuff on, and the bins stored conveniently underneath.

You could give each family member a small bin or basket for their own shoes. Put their name or their photo on the bin so even the 2 year old knows where his/her stuff goes. I put a set of hooks by the door - everyone gets their own hook for their own jacket. Put it down at "kid level".

Don't vacuum every day. A quick sweep of the kitchen with a broom after dinner is fine. Don't do laundry every day.

Put a laundry hamper in the kids' closets - their dirties go in there. Put a hamper in the bathroom so they can toss their stuff in at bathtime. You can get one with sorting sections if you want - the older kids can manage that.

Have a place for mail/recycling so the stuff doesn't make it to the kitchen counter. After the kids go to bed, sit down and watch a TV show, and open the junk mail during commercials. I have a basket for newspapers/magazines/junk mail right there, and a folder for bills to pay.
If you can, designate part of just one kitchen cabinet for folders, phone books (if you still use them!), coupons, all the stuff that winds up on the counter. Get a vertical divider from the dollar store so paperwork stands up in folders. Or, if there's room, put a small desk in a corner of the kitchen or a hallway.

Give your kids the chore chart, not yourself!!

Take just one room, and organize it. Don't look at the whole huge house - it's too overwhelming.

Keep some old washcloths or rags in the bathroom, and while you're brushing your teeth or bathing the kids, do a quick wipe-down - you don't need to be using cleaning products all the time, just wipe up the spilled toothpaste or give the toilet a quick wipe. Those rags go right in the small hamper you've already put in the bathroom.

Get off as many mailing lists as you can to cut down the unnecessary paper.

Good luck!