Today I have a guest post from a new mom and one of my favorite new (at least new to me) blogs to read! Enjoy these really good tips (I learned some new tricks, myself!). Need more advice? The solution for me was  getting rid of clutter.
Hi! I’m Hannah and I blog at Simply Add Coffee. I’m a wife to Harrison and Mama to our little 5-month-old daughter.

When my husband and I brought home our little girl as first time parents, we had a lot to learn and figure out! One of the biggest challenges for me was to learn how to clean house and keep things neat in our home. Of course, I knew how to clean before, but like most things with a new baby, it was very different than before.

As a working wife, I usually did most of the home cleanup on the weekends when I had more time available. But now, as a stay-at-home-mom, my Saturdays weren’t any less busy than the other days, so I had to figure out a new system.

The system and routine that I use now would work for a stay-at-home parent, or a working mom or dad. These are my 4 Simple Rules for a Clean and Tidy House:

Rule # 1 – Leave the house straight when you go to bed.

I quickly learned that if I wake up to a messy house, my day feels like it starts out as a failure and goes downhill from there. But if I wake up to a neat house, I can get started on today’s work instead of cleaning up from yesterday. For me, this means making sure all dishes are loaded in the dishwasher and cleaned and laundry and toys are picked up from around the house.

Rule # 2 – Do one cleaning task a day.

Cleaning an entire house can feel overwhelming, but I made up a list of all the weekly cleaning jobs and assign one job to each day. Then if for some reason I miss a task one day, it’s only one task and not the whole house that missed getting clean.

Rule # 3 – Set a timer to complete work.

The work we need to do will find a way to take up whatever time is allowed for the job. So if I give myself the whole day to do one task, it will probably take all day to do it! But if I set a timer for 15 minutes and I have to be finished when the alarm sounds, I will get it done.

Rule # 4 – Take a few minutes and quickly straighten up the house before dinner or sitting down for the evening time.

I have found that if I set my 15 minute timer and just quickly (very quickly!) walk through each room of the house and straighten things up it makes my evening a lot easier. I pick up dirty dishes to take to the kitchen, put any toys away, take any laundry or shoes to closets and straighten any books or paperwork that are out. I try to do this before my husband gets home from work, but I definitely do it before I sit down for the evening, whether that’s for computer work or watching TV. And when that is done, I don’t get to bed time and then worry that the house is a mess (which takes me back to rule #1!).

These are just a few simple things that help me as a mom, do you have a routine or system that works for you?