How to clean house with kids? {LG Electronics HOM-BOT}

An FYI: The following tale is part of a sponsored partnership with LG Electronic’s HOM-BOT Square Vacuum and Mom.me. All experiences and opinions are mine.

Ah, The House. It’s a beast. It can get out of control so fast. How to clean house with kids can be, well, challenging. The toys. The dishes. The crumbs all over the floor from the kitchen, through the den and all the way into the hallway and into my girls’ room. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU THERE’S NO EATING IN YOUR ROOM!?! (Just because it’s the only way for me to keep any kind of a handle on messes these days.)

Yes, I’ve been known to yell about backpacks and jackets being thrown on the floor. “Why are you so mad?!?” my cute little people demand.

“Because I am tired of picking up everything, girls. I’m just tired.” That may or not be a complaint. (I haven’t decided yet.) I actually used to sort of enjoy my housekeeping (?!?!?!) when I was more ‘stay-at-home’, but now I’m more ‘working-mom’ so I totally tend to get offended when I look at markers strewn across the floor without anyone actually using them.

And then there are notes like this left by my 5 year old, written with markers, after I yell about not picking up said markers. That’s right, it translates to “I do not like it when you yell at me!” And then I feel terrible (even though I know I’m right about picking up your own stuff around the house).

So what to do? I’m trying to set 3 major house rules to abide by every day… or else. Because I believe in the philosophy of getting kids to help around the house as early as the age of 2 (realistically, 3).

RULE #1: If you build it, you enjoy it for 2 days tops (1 night) and then we’re putting it away. This includes, Legos, extravagant dollhouses made from random objects from the bathroom that took hours and hours to put together and other complicated creations that took far too much thought and effort to just take apart and destroy hours later. We do take great enjoyment and pride in our hard work and accomplishments (and gush over them), but it must be put away before the sun sets on the second day…

RULE #2: Pile it on a tray. If the random papers, workbooks, art containers and drawing notepads seem to multiply at your house (like they do at mine) — pile ’em all on a tray in an open space, kids. Paper has always been my biggest foe, but, if everything’s piled high inside a tray, I feel like you’re good to go. Stack that stash as high as you like… until it starts spilling out of your tray and you absolutely have to deal with what’s in there.

RULE #3: The floor stays empty. This goes for markers, shoes, backpacks, random bowls of snacks, sippy cups, doll clothing, stuffed animals, tea party supplies and so on. I know, I know… you’ve got everything set up just perfectly and can’t move anything for fear of making the teddy bear mad. But guess what: If you don’t clean up the floor, then the LG Electronics HOM-BOT Square Robotic Vacuum just might suck it all up and then everything we have so much fun with will be gone forever. (Ok, it really can’t suck up stuffed animals or shoes, but my kids don’t know that…)

With cameras that precisely map floors, LG’s HOM-BOT Square offers powerful cleaning performance and smart capabilities that add a new dimension to automated vacuuming. (You mean, I don’t have to really do anything? Bingo.) The LG HOM-BOT Square features a variety of innovations, including…

Corner Master™ Technology: A pretty cool feature with ultrasonic and infrared sensors aiding to recognize its position and ability to clean around objects and walls while minimizing collisions. The vacuum’s unique square, super-slim shape also helps it access harder-to-reach places like underneath beds, sofas, tables and random little desks made for small people. The square shape also allows it to get closer to the corners and edges of walls and furniture. Not to mention, the little powerhouse HOM-BOT Square gets right back on track automatically with a new Auto-Resume feature should cleaning be interrupted.

Don’t confuse powerhouse with noisy, though. This smart little family helper ranks at 60 dB and, for anyone who doesn’t know, that’s the same level as a normal conversation… which means the quiet hum of this vacuum won’t overwhelm kids’ chatter and playtime.

Suddenly I don’t feel like yelling anymore. Or does my not wanting to yell have more to do with the fact that my daughters might actually clean up more because they think it’s so cool to watch a magical moving cleaner do it’s thing all by itself? Hm. Whatever works to get the shoes off the floor, I guess.

Check out the brand new LG HOM-BOT #LGHOMBOT and it’s fabulous two versions designed for what you might need most; one version that acts just as a vacuum and another version that includes a large slide-in microfiber mop to pick up fine residue and stains on hard surface flooring like stone and tile. Get in on their action with Amazon HERE or HERE. You can also connect with this happy-making mini-machine on Facebook, Instagram and follow on Twitter.

Because I don’t want to spend my summer picking up and yelling. Do you?