We are in the process of selling our home and we have to keep it clean all the time for showings.  Trying to do this with two rambunctious little boys and a little girl who gets into everything is very difficult to say the least.  We have to vacuum the front room two or three times a day, or more, because our children bring dry cereal and crackers in there to eat but it always seems more ends up on the floor than in their bellies.  The boys room is another story; they make a pretty good mess when they play with their toys.  One day we finally had enough of fighting with them to clean up their toys so we put a lock on their closet so they couldn’t get in and get the toys.  Now they have to ask us to open their closet, which can get a little old I’ll admit, but its better than having to clean their toys up every day.  Our little girl’s biggest mess problem is getting into the Lazy Susan to get crackers and cereal out.  We know we need to get those little child proof things for our cabinets but we don’t want people who come to look at our house to be turned off by a fully child proofed house.  As much of a hassle all this seems to be it’s actually nice to have a spotless house most of the time.  Maybe all of this will get us in the habit of keeping clean.  Or maybe not.