If your house and car look like small tornadoes blew through them, just wait until the school papers, backpacks, and pencils start flying. If your struggle with tidying is perennial, August is the time to get a handle on the mess and clutter before the stress of the school year overpowers your feeble will to maintain order. Your weak will to drudge through chores is not enough to maintain a tidy home; a quick glance at your surroundings confirms it. This guide is the tool you need to break you and your family free from the prison of puny willpower.
Specific advice will do little if you do not first accept the hard truth: If your home is mostly messy most of the time, it is not getting enough routine cleaning. The problem is not too many messes — to live life is to make messes, especially with little children. Neither is it that keeping a tidy house is “just too much to ask” because “my children are X ages and we do this and that and there’s no time.” The problem is too little cleaning up. I’m not saying you have to do all the cleaning. But hands must be doing the work. If nobody picks up after himself, the house (and the car!) will always be a disaster.
Now, “routine” does not necessarily mean “scheduled.” If you want to have a chore chart for yourself and your kids and that makes you feel empowered and holds you accountable,
