Looking After Your Home As A Busy Single Dad

Being a single father – or a single parent of any gender – is a struggle. You don’t realize how much work two parents share until you’re burdened with it all. Some of it is nice work – you love spending time with your kids and getting to be with them as much as possible. It’s genuinely enjoyable helping them with homework and watching them thrive. 

On the other hand, you’ve got many other things to do that aren’t as enjoyable. You need to cook, go to work, wash their clothes, etc. As someone that’s holding down a full-time job and works hard to provide for their kids, you’re often too busy to handle it all. Some things fly under the radar and get neglected – like looking after your home. 

You don’t have enough time to clean the house from top to bottom regularly, so it can easily get out of hand. This isn’t good for you or your kids as you’re living in a messy house. Don’t worry, here are some tips to help busy single parents look after their homes: 

Hire a housekeeper

The obvious solution is to hire a housekeeper. It’s well worth doing this if you can afford to, and there are sites like https://highlandparkhousekeeping.com/ that let you hire housekeepers online right away. 

Now, there’s someone – or a team of people – who will visit your home and clean it regularly. Get them around once or twice a week and your house will remain in tip-top shape while you focus on all the other tasks a single parent has on their shoulders. 

Teach your kids to clean

I’m not suggesting you turn your children into free housekeepers, but they should learn to clean up after themselves. Teach and encourage your kids the basics – like picking up dirty clothes, sweeping away crumbs, wiping down surfaces, etc. 

Then, graduate to the harder tasks, like loading and unloading the dishwasher, washing and drying clothes, or using the vacuum cleaner. Give them pocket money if they do some cleaning tasks, and you end up with a cleaner home and some valuable teaching points. Your kids grow up learning how to look after a house and keep it clean – which comes in handy when they move out. They also learn the value of money as they work to get some. 

See if you can work from home

Attempt to work from home if your job lets you. Even if you can’t work from home permanently, spending more time out of the office will always help. When you’re home, you have extra time to do basic cleaning tasks to ensure things don’t get out of hand. 

Think about it, you negate the daily commute and getting ready time every morning and afternoon. Plus, you might get more work done at home, so you have more free time. It’s just a suggestion, so try it if you can. 

These are just a few ideas to help you look after and maintain your home as a busy single dad. It’s not easy, but there are ways to ensure your house doesn’t get neglected despite your busy lifestyle.