Cleaning the messy house. The uphill battle in EVERY mom’s life right?

Do you have a mess maker in your house?

My little boy Kyle is my biggest ‘mess maker’ and constantly leaves smudgy fingerprints EVERYWHERE.

Little crumbs and adorable smudged fingerprints are constantly appearing on my clean counters on the kitchen island and in my powder room. Areas I prefer to look spotless all the time – both for unexpected guests and my own sanity. However, little boys love to collect small things – Legos, pebbles, stones, and other random natural treasures – my son manages to leave a trail of them throughout our home which leaves little messes daily! His finds are precious and sweet but do leave me with the clean-up task of deciding: do we keep this item or throw it away? And let’s not even talk about the miscellaneous “boogers” young boys manage to misplace!

A clean living area makes me feel like I am in control of the chaos in my life. Controlling the organization and cleanliness of the living area downstairs in our home means I’m continually striving to stay on top of the mess my young children generate.

Here are my tips for dealing with little mess makers:

1. Clean kitchen counters, crumbs, and those smudgy fingerprints immediately after they appear. You’ll appreciate the clean look right away and avoiding a bigger messy build up later in the day.

2. Set an alarm clock for 5 minutes every day and ask the kids to return their toys or clothes back to their rightful home in the playroom or their bedroom.

3. Leave a toy bin downstairs for miscellaneous finds, so if need be you can clean up in a rush for unexpected guests.

4. Keep cleaning products in the kitchen and every bathroom to make cleaning up daily easy and a part of your routine. Windex^® Touch-Up cleaner looks stylish on counters and works great for this purpose. It’s the best to have on hand for cleaning those little messes I talked about in tip #1.

5. Make it a habit to make cleaning fun and involve the kids in the process. Reward them with compliments for helping out. And when that “big mess” hits which requires more effort to clean up, let the kids join in the efforts. We often play dance music or the songs from Annie – “It’s a Hard Knocks Life” from the scene where the kids are forced to clean, during our own clean up routine to make it more exciting for everyone!

Check out the Windex^® Shineboard on the brand Facebook page for inspiration and tips to help you simplify cleaning and the mess in your life. Be sure to share your favorite tips and images from Shineboard on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!