Parents’ Tips For Keeping up With Housework
From outsourcing to chore charts, learn how to conquer your home’s to-do list with helpful tips from these parents.
by Julia Pelly
If you’re a working parent, this is going to sound like a tale as old as time. You know, when the days are both never-ending and over way too quickly? In between getting everyone to-and-from where they’re supposed to be and keeping up with work duties, chores can fall to the wayside. This often means that working parents spend their weekends cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry instead of spending quality time with the ones they love the most.
This past month, we talked to real working parents to uncover their best tips and tricks for keeping up with housework, and here’s what they had to say:
Robert, father of two, ages 2 and 5
“Keep a chore chart for yourself. I know tons of parents have chore charts for their kids, but keeping one for yourself really helps avoid everything piling up to the point you spend your whole weekend cleaning and doing laundry. I do one chore each evening and that usually works to keep things neat and organized enough.”
Amelia, mother of two, ages 1 and 4
“Outsource! Seriously, it’s worth it. There’s no way I’d be able to keep up with everything if I didn’t have the extra help I have with meal-prep, cleaning and laundry.”
Julia, mother of two, ages 3 and 5
“I commit 30 minutes per evening to uninterrupted cleaning. It can be tempting to sit down when I’m exhausted from work and my kids are finally in bed, but keeping up by doing a little bit each day really keeps things moving throughout the week and helps avoid having to spend all weekend cleaning and catching up.”
Sarah, mother of two, ages 9 and 5
“I make sure my kids pitch in. They’re young, but they know they can’t get out a new activity until the previous one is put away. They can also help with a lot more than I realized they could. My 9-year old helps clear the table and load the dishwasher right after dinner, and my younger child helps by picking up their toys and matching socks while I fold laundry.”
Lydia, mother of three, ages 7, 3, and 1
“Find a better method than splitting everything 50/50. Divide up chores based on how efficient each person is at them and how much they like or dislike them rather than having each person do each chore every other time. Even if it makes sense on paper, splitting everything 50/50 is usually way less efficient and ends up taking way more time than just letting each person choose to do what they’re good at or what they like.”
Monte, father of two, ages 5 and 2
“Do what you can and let someone else do the rest. We take care of most of the day to day chores around our house, but make sure that we have it on the schedule for someone to take care of the lawn, clean the gutters, and do our laundry. Having those chores off our plates means we really can spend our time away from work relaxing and having fun.”
No matter how many people are in your household, chores can easily overwhelm and slow down day-to-day operations. From these tips, you can cherry pick what works best for your home, and maybe even decide what’s worth throwing in the towel on — like laundry.
