Michelle Duggar's Spring Cleaning Secrets

NESTING on 04.05.13

Michelle Duggar19 Kids and CountingBIO

 

Photo: DCI

Question from a "19 Kids and Counting" fan: How do the Duggars do spring cleaning?

Well, we don’t exactly do spring cleaning any more. Spring cleaning was the way I did things years ago when I was the main one cleaning and organizing. Now, with so many of us, it’s not really spring cleaning.  We clean continuously throughout the year. It’s a non-stop process. It’s not like we’re messy, it’s just that life happens.

De-cluttering is really important, for starters. I always tell the kids that if stuff comes in the house, we have to take other stuff out.  We give things to friends that can use them or sell them at a yard sale. There’s just not enough space for everything.

For the cleaning, we all pitch in. We have jurisdictions; these are our areas of responsibility for the kids. For example, the playroom is one person’s jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions have teams working on them. The laundry room is a big one. Nana helped us with laundry for 13 years, now Grandma Duggar has taken over the majority of washing and drying. But Jinger and Joy-Anna are her sidekicks, so that’s the laundry team. Joy-Anna loves to organize and she just can’t stand it when things aren’t organized.  And I’m like, “Well, welcome to the laundry room!” She really keeps it organized while Grandma keeps it clean. She can get it organized really fast; it’s amazing.

My 14-year-old twins, Jedidiah and Jerimiah, are my washers in the kitchen. They are the ones that keep the bigger dishes and glasses scrubbed clean. My younger guys, Jason, James, Justin and Jackson, will assist, too. They help dry and put away all of the dishes after the older boys have done the hand washing. We have a dishwasher for the regular dishes and silverware. They all help load that up. So, that’s the kitchen team.

Those are the biggest areas: the laundry room and the kitchen. Some of the other jurisdictions on the list are the pantry, living room, playroom and bedrooms. Basically, everyone has their area of responsibility.  Sometimes, they’ll just keep it spiffed and clean on their own, but other times I’ll have to chime in, especially when it’s time for a deep clean. But they’re all really good about pitching in on each other’s jurisdictions and working away until things are looking good.