I am a working mother with too many kids. Seriously, I am trying to work, and keep up with all three of my children and on some days, it seems impossible! Some days I wonder if it is actually possible to keep the house clean? Then, when the house is finally presentable, it only takes a few minutes of the kids in the house to make it look messy again. It is SO frustrating!

Make a cleaning house plan. Sketch it out on a piece of paper. Now walk each room with a notebook and a pen and a camera to take pictures. In each room take lots of pictures. Then write down all the chores that have to be done to get that room just the way you want it – clean and organized.

Make lots of house cleaning checklists. Now you have your pictures, and your cleaning tasks for each room. Sit down and create house cleaning checklists for each room. For example, in the Kitchen, you can make one checklist for cleaning the refrigerator, one for the oven, and even an after dinner cleaning checklist for the kitchen cleanup.

Make a daily household chore list. While making your cleaning house plan and checklists, it is important to remember those chores which must(should) be completed daily. For instance, the dishes, making your bed and sorting through the mail.

Establish 15 minute house cleaning plans. This is for those free moments when by some miracle you have nothing else planned. These 15 minute plans are lists of 2 to 3 chores you know can be completed in 15 minutes of less. One of these lists can include, 1) sweeping the kitchen floor, 2) dusting the window sills. If you’re looking for a chore that offers a more visual impact, then another 15 minute cleaning plan can just be, Living Room: Putting everything back in its place.

Establish a family house cleaning plan. This will require a family meeting. In this way, everyone knows what cleaning jobs they are responsible for and equally important, what chores others in the family are responsible for. Also, you can layout any rules about when and how often the assigned chores should be completed.

Finally, and this is key if you are going to get the whole family involved, let everyone know the pay rate for each cleaning chore. This could be in the form of money or incentives and will go a long way in motivating children and teens to lend a hand.