7 Steps for Conquering the Chaos

7 Steps for Conquering the Chaos

Danielle Guenther

I first saw this image by photographer Danielle Guenther when a series of her hilarious shots of parenthood went viral. You can see this and all the other shots in the series here. What struck me was how these staged shots so perfectly captured the overwhelming chaos of parenthood.

I’ve always been a bit of a Messy Marvin. They say opposites attract, so of course I would marry a neat freak with a very low tolerance for visual clutter. This has been one of the biggest tensions in our relationship since we first moved in together. Add two dogs, two babies and all their respective accoutrements and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Our house pretty much looked like it had been searched by a SWAT team at any given moment and we could never find what we needed when we actually needed it. Within the last year, I finally started getting a grip on organizing our living space in a way that works for all of us.

Things just work better in a clean, orderly house and I’m convinced that my toddler’s behavior is directly impacted by the level of order in our house. When things are in place, I have a sense of peace that allows me to be calmer and more spontaneous with the kids. Keeping things tidy with kids is certainly an uphill battle, but one that is winnable. Here are my top seven steps to cut the clutter and conquer the chaos.

• Don’t let mail in your house. I know that sounds crazy, but doing this will keep paper clutter at bay. When I was about 8 months pregnant, we invested in a professional organizer to come to our home and help us get our messy lives in order before the birth of our second baby. One of the first lessons she taught us was to process the mail at the front door and only allow essential items to make it past that point. In fact, we were to only bring items into the house that had a designated place to go. So I process the mail on the console table in my entry way. Junk mail and envelopes are immediately put in the recycle bin and items requiring action like bills are put in their respective bins in our family command center.
• Create a shoe station at the front door. There are many reasons to ask folks to remove their footwear before they enter your house, especially when you have small children. Science has proven that we often track all sorts of dirt and bacteria into our homes on the soles of our shoes. We placed a shoe rack on our front porch next with a politely worded sign asking visitors to remove their shoes. This significantly cut down on the amount of vacuuming required to keep our floors clean.
• Corral the toys and baby gear. Before I had children, I swore I’d never be one of those parents who had toys and baby contraptions all over every room of their house. Oh, how things change! When I realized we’d become those people, I immediately sprang into action. With only three bedrooms and a second baby on the way, I decided the guest room would have to be sacrificial lamb to the cleanliness gods. We swapped the guest bed out for a comfy sleeper sofa and use the closet for toy storage. That way guests still have a place to sleep and toys have a somewhere to live. It is now the most popular room in our house and the best part is when it is a mess, we can just shut the door!
• Read this book and then do what it says! I don’t even remember how I learned about Marie Kondo’s book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing,” but thank goodness that I did. It’s a short read and the simple concepts really changed the way we approach cleaning and organizing. You may have friends who talk endlessly about how they ‘konmaried’ their closets and garages. It has amassed a cult following because it works. Taking the time to process your belongings really frees up time and space for other endeavors. I can now take cute, spontaneous photos of the girls without having to crop out background clutter. If you come to the book with an open mind, it can really be life changing.
• Get your little ones involved in the process. I know, I know. I used to laugh whenever someone mentioned this as a way to keep an ordered home with little ones in tow. Trust me, it will work and it will also teach your littles that cleanliness and order are things worth striving for. My oldest is just 2.5, so right now I help her clean up toys, before moving on to another activity or before leaving the house.
• Schedule quick “pick-ups throughout the day.” Let’s face it, when you have a baby on your hip (or in a carrier) and a toddler running around like a tornado, it can be tough to stay on top of it all. But just 10-15 minutes here and there will make a huge difference. In our house, those times are immediately after waking up, before leaving the house, after lunch time, at the beginning of nap time and just before bed. Depending on your schedule, kids ages, etc. those times might be different for you. But if you’ll just commit to a few quick cleans throughout the day, it’ll make a huge difference in the visual clutter of your house.
• Get out of the house after breakfast and don’t return until lunch/nap time. This is a game changer! Once I felt comfortable enough leaving the house with both babies, the cleanliness level rose exponentially. If you follow the other tips, then your house will already be tidy when you wake up in the morning. Get dressed, prepare breakfast, toss the dishes in the dishwasher and get out!!