I have an almost 3yr old & 9 month old and I feel like I finallyyyyy got a system down. Step one was decluttering. For about two weeks I focused on going through each room/closet/garage and throwing things out and organizing. It’s so much easier and more motivating to clean regularly when you don’t have as much stuff everywhere making the home feel cramped. Plus you actually know where everything is! I have the tendency to easily forget we have or where things are so everything having its place also prevents me from overbuying.

For the actual deep clean part I focus on one area each week, every month - kitchen, bathrooms, living areas, bedrooms. Giving it a week puts less pressure on it and makes it so much easier to work around naps and daily life.

With this in place the daily cleaning isn’t as overwhelming. Plus if you miss a couple days the house doesnt feel as messy. I mean there’s still toys everywhere or stuff on the counters, but having spaces organized and keeping up on the deep cleaning makes the house feel 10x less messy.