Rules of Being a Mom #7

Rule #7: Find your cleaning rhythm.

Now I have no idea how you moms who work full time do it. Not a clue. I'm no supermom--and I'm fortunate enough to be able to stay home during the day.
A tiny piece of my sanity is connected to the cleanliness of our little apartment. Having twins, I'm scrambling for every scrap of sanity I can find. So I try to keep up with the house. When the girls were first born and we were in survival mode, it was the last thing on my mind. But now that we've got a routine and even some sleep, I'm finding that I can keep up with the house too, mostly. I'm a list person, but these days, if I make a complete list, that's all I have time to do. So I'm learning to have a rhythm instead.
Every day, I do one load of laundry and one load of dishes. The laundry is easy. I put my girls on a blanket in front of me and keep them entertained by covering their faces occasionally with the clothes I am folding. (This will become 20x more difficult as they are old enough to undo what I've done, I know.) The dishes are more complicated. I can't do it while a baby is sleeping, because it will wake them up. Occasionally they may have to fuss for 10 minutes while I load the dishwasher. But I keep my sanity that way. I clean out the cat box every time I give the girls a bath. There are a few other things like that. None come to mind at the moment. Please don't ask how often I clean my bathrooms thoroughly. But I'm getting there.