This post is written in partnership with LorenaCanals Rugs.  All ideas, thoughts, and opinions are my own.

Guys, you might not believe this about me, but I am a bit of a neat freak.  Clutter seriously throws me for a loop and when my house is a mess, my life is a mess.  I really wish I could be one of those moms who can let go of toys strewn about, play dough ground into the rug, laundry piling up.  I actually envy these people. But, I am not one of them.... I feel stressed all day if I leave a messy kitchen behind and carry on with my day.  BUT, I also love messy play.  I love when my children paint and use clay.  Sand and glitter do not freak me out and I even encourage my kids to gather buckets of mud and play in them.  Over the years I have developed a few hacks to successfully combine my passion for messy play and my love of a tidy house.  

1.  I married a fellow neat freak//  My husband can clean a kitchen something fierce.  He's never met a load of laundry, a pile of dishes or a bucket of sloppy paint jars he couldn't tackle. He's. The. Best.  He doesn't exactly embrace the messy side of things, but he is damn good at dealing with it.

2. Drop Cloth//  They are everything.  A large drop cloth on the floor or over the table frees me from worrying about paint spills or permanent markers.  I have three industrial size drop cloths in rotation at all times.  Ruby especially loves to look at the spills, stains, and marks we've accumulated over the years.  Each mark on the drop cloth serves as a treasured memory of projects past.  

3.  Bins//  When we are using a sensory bin inside (rice, shaving cream, oobleck) I put a smaller bin of the material inside a much larger bin.  This way when the rice inevitably spills over the side of the first bin, it falls right into the second bin.  Make sense?  No need to sweep, just dump the spill from one bin back into the other.  

4. Washable Rug// What? Yes. A machine-washable, natural rug that looks and feels amazing.  We have one in our playroom so that when the kids make playdough food for their animals or draw and color signs for the block buildings, I am cool as a cucumber.  No worries from this Mama.  "Sure guys, juice boxes and snacks are allowed in this playroom!" When they inevitably spill juice or get marker on my rug, I can toss it in the washing machine.  Amazing.  You can find this one HERE.  

What's your mess-comfort level? Are you an anything goes kind of mom or do prefer to keep things tidy? 

-Lizzie