I don’t know any Mom who hasn’t mastered the fine art of multitasking. It’s like a child enters your life, and you’re suddenly injected with the necessary DNA to get numerous things done at once — possibly while half asleep or covered in spit-up.  We all know Mommies mono-task at their own peril.

 Last week I shared 5 reasons why we should embrace spring cleaning . Well, whether you've braved that annual ritual yet or not, here are some practical tips to get some simple household tasks done, all while getting your home a little cleaner.

• Use bath time with your kid as a designated time to clean the bathroom. After you’re done giving him all the scrubbing and sudsing he will bear, let him play in the water for a few minutes while you polish the mirror, give the counters a wipe-down or tidy up the medicine cabinet … all while keeping a close eye on him, of course!

• While you’re sitting in your car waiting for your kid to come out of school, clean up the food wrappers in the backseat and wash down the dashboard with wipes I stash in the car.  Yep, a booster seat sure does look (and smell) better without random food crumbs all over it.

• Catch up on the latest gossip with phone in one hand and a wipe that’s shimmying down walls, tables and cabinets in the other. 

• Put your basket of clean folded laundry in the middle of your hallway. Yes, I really said middle. As you walk from room to room doing your daily tasks, fish out clean items from the basket as you go.  Walking to the kitchen?  Grab those tea towels!  Walking past the linen closet?  Pick up those sheets and pillowcases and put em away!  Bonus points if you can get your kids to do the same.

• For the extra enthusiastic:  Skip a trip to the gym and vacuum while doing some squats, lunges and arm exercises.  Hold your vacuum with one hand while carrying a small weight in the other. Rotate the weight from arm to arm and get seriously buff while sucking up that dirt!  

I figure that as a Mom, we are never not doing multiple things at once. It’s just a question of whether we are juggling four things or 14.  So might as well get some cleaning done while we’re at it!

What multitasking cleaning tips do you have?