I think the tag line in my signature says it all:

"On a quest for a self cleaning house..."

Like Carmen, I don't really have a big "Spring Cleaning" list of things to do. I clean daily, I clean weekly, I clean when guests are coming over and how in the world did we live with fingerprints on the light switch covers for so long?

As our family has grown, my need for organization and tidiness has too. But unfortunately as our family has grown, the mess has also increased. *sigh*

I suppose I do clean seasonally but it's an odd schedule. At New Year's time I love to clean out cabinets and drawers from all over the house. I take everything out of the linen closet and throw away the old stuff and then refold and put everything else back in. The linen closet remains tidy for about a day before one of the kids needs their super special Spiderman washcloth and tears everything down from the shelves.

At the beginning of a new school year, I take the time to sort through old school supplies, backpacks, jackets, etc. I still love the feeling of a new notebook and freshly sharpened pencil even though I don't go to school anymore.

A few weeks before Christmas I organize the toy room. With 5 kids, we have way too many toys, books, and stuffed animals already before the new Christmas gifts arrive. I pitch all the broken toys and fast food prizes, donate a bunch of unused ones, and occasionally box up some favorites that I know they'll want later. The sparse remains are sorted together by type and placed back into their bins and bookshelves. The "toy room sweep" happens at least one more time during the year but the Christmas one is the biggest.

The kids' clothing is also another seasonal task that I do in the late spring and fall. I take everything out of their drawers, throw away the badly stained unwearable clothes, and sort the rest into "can wear again next year", hand-me-downs, and "donate." Then I bring out the boxes of carefully labeled clothing I saved from last year and refill the drawers and closets. I'm itching to do this right now but we're in that odd middle stage where the weather bounces back and forth between sweaters and tank tops every other day. It's weird doing laundry with shorts and winter coats all mixed in together.

If you have any good leads on that self cleaning house, please let me know!



Katie Fleck is a stay at home mom of five, Zach (9 years), Emily and Ally (8 year old identical twins), Kyle (5 years), and Kelly (4 years old). On a quest for a self cleaning house and 27 hour days, she writes at Ramblings of a SAHM.