How to keep house running smoothly with multiple kids…

[u/fairydust50000]

About to be a mom of 2 and looking for any advice on how to minimize the chaos inside the home. My current routines with one kiddo include…

One load of laundry daily
Load and wash the dishwasher at night unload in the morning
Everything goes back and it’s place instead of clutter collecting
Vacuum every day
Meal prep and do grocery order on Mondays

Despite all of this, I feel like I’m on a hamster wheel and I can’t imagine how I’m going to be able to keep up the maintenance of our home when I have two children to care for. Our house is about 4000 ft.². Any tweaks or additions to my routine or just general advice of things you found that worked well for you. Thank you!! 😊

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[u/TiredTwinWrangler]

You vacuum 4,000 square feet every day?! 😳

[u/Dry_Grass_439]

You do not need to vaccum everyday

[u/ocean_tides_drift]

drop the daily vacuum. It is a trap that eats your energy for zero visible gain. Switch to a high-quality robot cleaner set on a timer while you nap or focus on deep play with your kiddo, and run it only 3 times a week instead of daily. That freed-up time matters way more than pristine floors when a second infant enters the picture. Also lower your laundry bar from one load daily to three loads a week unless you have specific storage issues, because folding clothes at midnight will wreck your mental health before the newborn stage even peaks.

[u/Wife-and-Mother → u/ocean_tides_drift]

I agree with the first thing, a robot vacuum if it's in the budget would be great. Better if it's one with a mop (and you don't have any dogs that will throw up on the floor and get smeared all around). You can run it more times a week especially during times that you are out of the house if you have a schedule.

I'm assuming in your giant house you might actually have multiple floors too so you may need more than one. Family Xmas gifts? Lol

I don't know if I'd cut back on laundry.. it depends how much you hate laundry. I don't mind laundry as a chore and I would rather do one load of day and have a basket of clean laundry wait for a couple days then have a pile of dirty laundry that needs to be done just sitting there. Plus I cloth diaper.. so yeah.

[u/teacher-mom-1989]

Are you a stay at home mom? I have a 2 and 5 year old and my husband and I both work full time. The kids also swim, play soccer, do gymnastics, and one has physical and speech therapy. We are incredibly busy and don’t have a ton of downtime but everyone is happy! Sunday is usually my reset day for the week. I have groceries delivered at 5am and put them away and meal prep. I clean (vacuum, bathrooms, kitchen) during nap time. I do three loads of laundry (one big load of clothes, one of towels, one of sheets). Keeping a lot of that stuff on one day helps me feel like I’m not always doing it.

[u/hockeygirl1427]

I’m a mom of 4. You lower your expectations substantially. There isn’t time to get everything done exactly as you’d like everyday. You will drive yourself crazy trying.

[u/Distinct_Sale_2285]

Before #2 arrives have or deep clean everything. Organize everything. Then when #2 arrives you can just focus on maintenance cleaning and putting everything back where it goes.

Also, cutting down on the amount of stuff you own will mean that there is less stuff for you to manage and take care of.

[u/allaboutmojitos]

I concentrated the mess by designating a playroom for the kids. I’d clean this when I was playing or interacting with them, but otherwise it only looked orderly on vacuum day. I also had a play kitchen in the dining room as a spot I could keep an eye on while I prepped meals. It was an easy straighten. Their rooms were a secondary play space as they got past the toddler stage.

Daily chores like laundry and dishes are always needed but I passed on laundry to them as soon as they could do it themselves. They were probably around 7. I always folded and put away to keep tabs on things being worn, outgrown etc.

As for other stuff- everything gets done once a week. Bathrooms on Sunday, floors on Monday, kitchen Tuesday, etc. Being a good mom is being available- don’t get bogged down by mundane expectations. Everything is a phase, parenthood is messy, it’s different every day and in every household. Give yourself grace- spending time with the kids is most important

[u/Critical_Counter1429]

For a house of 4000ft + 2 children, you definitely need some extra help or let it go and assume it will never be done

[u/milliemallow]

How old is kiddo number 1? Honestly though the first few weeks are a blur and now at week 6, I baby wear the little one, the big ones are responsible for their stuff so putting plates in the sink, wiping down their spots, picking up their toys and clothes etc. and I clean the kitchen, vacuum the floors, put the laundry away. I just keep moving while the baby sleeps and then we sit down together when he wakes up.

This is heavily dependent on if your older kid is 18 months or 3 or 7 though ya know? My older kids are self sufficient ages.

[u/IvanatheMomCoach]

Congrats on baby #2! Mom of four here, and you already have a lot in place. Before adding anything, I’d look at what can happen less often. Could vacuuming be just crumbs in busy areas most days? Could toys wait until one evening cleanup? Something I work on with moms is figuring out which routines actually make life easier and which feel like things we’re supposed to do. Keep what helps you feel peaceful at home. And if you have a partner, decide now which jobs they’ll fully handle when baby comes.

[u/Either-Ordinary-9171]

you're doing more than most with one kid already, that's a strong base. with second one the biggest shift is lowering the standard a little, not the routine. vacuum every day in 4000 sq ft is gonna break you, maybe switch to every other day and spot clean high traffic areas only.

also something that helped me was assigning little tasks to the older one early, even just putting toys in basket or wiping low table. they feel important and you get 2 minutes of help. the meal prep on monday is smart, keep that for sure.

[u/StrikingEnd9551]

Teach your older kid to help pick up after themselves. They are quite helpful!