How to keep your home clean with kids around

It’s a vicious circle: just cleaned a corner and only seconds later it’s dirty and messy again. Parents know what this is all about: as soon as kids enter their lives, it seems cleaning (up) turns from a regular into a permanent task to keep homes clean and cosy. But because parents’ days never have enough hours, it’s hard to keep up with chores. Here are tips and tricks for a clean home and how parents can keep their cool.

Crumbs around the highchair, a spilled glass of juice, toys all over the place, and the bathroom a mess after a splashy bath. Before you can even start cleaning floors, dust catchers, and the bathroom, you are busy to take care of your kids’ toys, messes, and crumbs. But what’s the best way to tackle spontaneous dirt challenges in a family home – and what to do to prevent them from happening? To be honest: completely avoiding them is a riddle no one has solved yet. Kids and chaos just go together. However, here are some ideas how to avoid and reduce dirt which help you clean less and spend more time with your loved ones:

Sometimes you may wonder if there can be anymore sand left on the playground – measured against the amount you find in hallways after the kids take off their shoes. If it’s not playground sand, there are rubber boots leaving dirty mud crumbs around the house. Once the dirt has found its way inside, it secretly transfers into every single room. This results in so much more cleaning. To make dirt stay outside in the first place, there is a simple solution: outdoor shoes better stay outside – except for when there’s a potty emergency. In the latter case, dirt crumbs can quickly be vacuumed with a powerful cordless stick vacuum cleaner which sucks up dirt and debris on all kinds of surfaces and in every nook and cranny.

Picture this: The kids are in bed, the kitchen is clean, you’re ready for a cosy couple evening on the sofa – but the cushions are covered in cookie crumbs. Of course, you can quickly vacuum the sofa with a flexible Bosch Unlimited vacuum cleaner and its upholstery nozzle. But wouldn’t it be best if there weren’t any crumbs in the first place? In an ideal world, there’d be a solution: the preferred place to eat is the dining table. This would not only prevent crumbs on sofas, in beds, and in other corners, but also make kids eat consciously.

There are some precautions you can take to make the dining area a quick-to-clean place. The floor around the highchair is usually a collection of food leftovers the kid has dropped unintentionally – or during a temper tantrum. A large plastic floor protection usually used for desk chairs can be a big help and lets you still see the floor or carpet underneath. Whatever falls you can easily wipe or vacuum after eating time. This also helps in case of tipped over glasses and spilled juice.

Most important in this case: washing hands after eating is a must do. This way, kids learn basic routines of hygiene – plus it prevents smeary fingerprints on mirrors, windows, and furniture.

Small floods while hair washing or bathing, experiments with mum’s make-up, trying out dad’s shaving cream, or turning siblings into toilet paper mummies. Kids can get quite creative when it comes to making a mess in the bathroom. And while it might be exhausting in the very moment, these incidents make for the best photos and great stories to tell when they’re older. While we can’t prevent occasional incidents, we can improve everyday dirt situations. Wiping dry wet surfaces in the bathroom keeps them clean for longer. From the age of two, kids can help with this task.

Also, worn and dirty clothes should stay in the bathroom's laundry basket. Fluff, hair, and other dirt can be vacuumed with an extra powerful Unlimited 8 Vacuum Cleaner or with an Intelligent Unlimited 7 that reaches into hidden bathroom corners thanks to the handy FlexTube and multiple different accessories.

There’s no limit to children’s creativity. Water colours, modeling clay, stickers, markers, and some papers is all little artists need to create a beautiful mess – not only on their small kid’s tables and their clothes. Sometimes, even the wallpaper turns into a piece of art… Here’s what you can do to enlarge creativity while keeping the mess small: cover sensitive floors with an old rug to protect it. An old shirt protects kid’s clothes from sticky glue and water colour stains. And when it comes to art on wallpapers, it’s time for yourself to get creative: A large frame can define an official doodle area for kids. For tipped over glitz jars and scraps of paper, only a powerful vacuum cleaner can help.

Have you got a single place to keep vacuum cleaner, bucket, cloth, and cleaning agent? Most likely, you will never need them in this very corner. For quick in-between cleaning, it is optimal to place cleaning agents where they are needed: toilet cleaner in the bathroom, furniture polish in the living room, etc. Of course, always store cleaning agents out of reach of small children to keep them safe. For spilled juice and smudgy faces and hands, it’s good to keep paper towels or a washcloth close to the table or dining area.

Additionally, you can place a cordless Bosch vacuum cleaner on the wall at a central place in your home. This way, you always have them at them at hand when needed. Within seconds, the whole Bosch Unlimited range can be turned into a handheld to master smaller cleaning tasks. Younger kids can also use the handheld to help in the household.

An empty glass on the living room table, a toy on the floor, a full diaper bin. In cases like these, ask yourself: Can I clean and tidy this in less than five minutes? If so, finish the task right away – unless you’re in a complete rush. This will shorten your overall cleaning to do list. Especially older kids can follow this tip, too. For example, when it comes to taking their school bags to the place where they belong.

Bosch has a great range of vacuum cleaners for every job. Some handheld models are so easy to handle that even your kids will have fun vacuuming with them. The high performance Unlimited 7 vacuum cleaner offers maximum flexibility thanks to its bendable tube and numerous integrated convenience features. With the Unlimited 7, you can master different use cases effortlessly and with a convenient cleaning experience. Discover more!