I’m a mum-of-15 – the two simple tips I swear by to help keep my kids’ rooms clean that makes my life so much easier
KEEPING on top of a messy home can be bad enough with just two of you in the house – so imagine having a big brood to clean up after.
Well, that’s the reality for mum-of-15 Nancy…but luckily, she’s come up with two simple tips she swears by that helps to keep her kids’ rooms clean.
The busy mum, who runs the YouTube channel Real Mom Real Solutions, shared a video explaining how her first hack is to sort through her kids clothes and toys at least twice a year.
“The kids went through and they cleaned up all their stuff and sorted everything into their bins and they did their laundry, but now their bins are way too full,” she says.
“It’s overflowing and stuffed full – he’s got long sleeves in there from winter, short sleeves, he has stuff that probably is too small and needs to be rotated down to the next kid.”
So Nancy says it’s important to switch out seasons of clothing, get rid of worn-out or never worn clothes, and rotate clothing sizes, removing any clothes that are too small.
“Also, go through their toys and get rid of any broken or things they no longer play with,” she adds.
Next, Nancy advises minimising the quantity of clothing and toys each child has.
She goes on to explain how she allows each child to have 7 play shirts, 2 holiday shirts, 3-4 pants, 3-4 shorts, 3 Sunday/dress pants and shirts (boys), 3 Sunday dresses (girls) and 10 socks and underwear.
Nancy also points out that parents often think that buying their kids toys and clothes shows them love, but warns it can actually be a “burden on them.”
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“A lot of parents think that buying a lot of toys and clothes for their kids show them love but they don’t realise that it actually is putting a burden on their kid,” she explains.
“It’s giving them too much and more than they can handle and more than they can maintain.
“They can have all the toys in the world but it’s not very fun when you’re constantly cleaning your room because you have too many toys.”
But when it comes to how many toys each child should have, she admits it’s a little more difficult to put an exact number on.
“It can vary depending on your child’s age and ability to manage their toys,” she says.
“Also, we consider a collection of dinosaurs or a bag of blocks to be one toy.
“We do also have some toys that some of the kids share or are more community toys – like they will put all their Nerf guns together and share them all, or their cars, dinosaurs, or even costume/dress-up.”
The video has since racked up thousands of views, with many quick to praise Nancy for sharing her useful tips.
“This is what we are doing this week! When we can’t have the whole house cleaned in 20 minutes, it means we’ve got too much junk!
“We have 11 kids so it adds up quick,” wrote one.
A second penned: “My 9-year-old daughter just came to me a couple of days ago asking if we could just get rid of some of her stuff.
“She said it’s too hard to keep clean. This was so great to come across, perfect timing!”
A third noted: “Great tips! Thank you so much for sharing.”
And a fourth added: “Such a simple and doable solution!! Thank you!!”