How I Do It: Cleaning + An OOTD

It’s hard to believe that this was high tide last week.  Today at noon, the tide will be 4 feet higher!

How I Do It: Cleaning

A clean house is a happy house.  I can hear y’all now, already laughing.  Okay, so my house is never completely clean, there are a few toys here and there, maybe some unmade beds, but for the most part, I try and go to bed with most of it put away.  So does that make my house sad?  Doubtful.  While I’m no neat freak, by any means of the word, I still like to wake up to a somewhat uncluttered space.  And I try to instill these values of respecting and taking care of things (including our house and toys) in my children.

Routine and organization is key.  Like most routines for children (bedtime, meal time, etc.), once you start it, and do it for a few days, it doesn’t seem like such a daunting task anymore.  If everything has its place, it’s so much easier for them to know exactly where to put each toy.  I wouldn’t make it too complicated, maybe three or four different places.  Mine are pretty simple.  Books go in a certain place, then big toys, and then small toys.  As my children get older, I’ll probably start labeling bins, so they know exactly where to put specific toys, but for now, at this age, this works for us.  In my children’s eyes, I’ve also learned that toys all around the room look much more cluttered, than if they’re all together.  So what I usually do is push all the toys left out into the middle of the room, and let them put each toy back in its correct place.

Orders.  While it may seem easy to go into your child’s room, and say “You cannot come out of here, until this mess is clean,” that’s a lot to understand, especially to a young child.  Based on my kids, I’d say that it’s very rare that it actually gets clean, when attempting that approach.  I always give them specific instructions of what they need to clean.  Instead of just saying, “clean up your room,” I’ll say “put the books back on the bookshelf” or “put the small toys in the drawer.”  “Clean up your room” is a little too overwhelming for them, at their age.  If they’re in the playroom, I’ll give each child a specific thing to clean up and it just works better that way.  Logan, you’re in charge of all the Legos.  Vaughn, you clean up the cars.  Sometimes I may offer incentives if they do a good job, but not always. Taking time to clean up a large mess also makes them realize that if they get something out to play with, they should probably put it away after playing with it.  A perfect world, right?

Lead by example. If the children see that we, as their parents, respect our things (clothes put away, dishes washed, bed made, etc.), they’ll learn to do the same thing.  Instilling habits of cleanliness at an early age will <hopefully> be engrained in their minds, as they become adults.

How do you teach your children to clean?
More importantly, how do you teach your husband to clean?  Ha!


An Easy Fall Look

Oversized Boyfriend Shirt // High-Waisted Frayed Jeans // Tortoise Miller Sandals (fit true to size) // Matte Tortoise Sunnies


Many of you have asked about our weather here in Charleston and how Hurricane Irma is impacting our city.  The best news is that it’s decided to make a turn and we aren’t in the eye anymore.  The bad news is that the storm surge will hit us at around noon today, and that’s also when the tide will be the highest.  So downtown Charleston will experience the worst of it, with lots of flooding.  I also just read that there’s a water main break on East Bay which doesn’t help matters either!

3 thoughts on “How I Do It: Cleaning + An OOTD

  1. 4 feet higher tide! That’s crazy. Please stay safe.

    Love your Fall look and of course you know I’m loving the leopard Millers :))

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