Dropping house keeping standards-how far?!

[BigBirthdayGloom]

It's the advice I keep reading and believe me, I have definitely dropped my housekeeping standards since having three children. But how far have you let things go and how do you stay relaxed about it?

[deepinthewoods]

I am relaxed about my low standards.
I don't have an iron.
I dust about once a month.
Skirting boards get cleaned prior to getting repainted- so every couple of years.
However- I don't keep clutter- if I haven't used something for over a year it is gone. I don't keep lots of collectibles or dust gatherers.
I do insist on keeping kitchen and bathroom clean. Kitchen sink, worktops, chopping board, fridge and food preparation areas are kept clean. I have a dishwasher.
Same with toilet and sink, cleaned almost every day.Windows get cleaned once every 4 months or so. I do keep up with laundry, but much easier to avoid a backlog because I don't iron.

[Pinkandpurplehairedlady]

I'm another one who has stopped ironing. I used to mop the floors daily but now its only a couple of times a week. I don't dust unless its really obvious and I've given up sorting the toys and putting them away properly - now they just get shoved in the cupboard.

I deep clean the bathroom once a fortnight but wipe round with cleaning wipes every day.

The kitchen is cleaned daily but I don't take everything out and clean behind things very often.

[jaybirdsinginginthedeadofnight]

I keep the house tidy, we are lucky in that we have 2 living rooms one which has become a make shift play room, I've those sets of three drawers in there and all the toys get shoved in there at the end of the day. Like others have said I keep the kitchen and bathrooms clean if not every day then every other day (sometimes just wipe with disinfectant wipe etc - shortcuts).

DH will take the kids to MIL for a day once a month I will stay behind and do a thorough clean from top to bottom - usually takes me all day! Or if we are having people to the house I'll give the areas that will be seen a quick dust vaccum etc

Nowhere near what I did pre LO's but I've learned to live with it, when I look back I want to know I spent quality time with them not wasted my time cleaning, as long as the places that need to be clean for hygiene are clean then I'm happy

[TeWiSavesTheDay]

I have relaxed in that I don't worry about the house being completely reset each night.

However the biggest thing that's changed since we had #3 is that I have really spelt it Out to dh that I don't have time to do more than minimal cleaning in the day And he must properly pitch in in the evenings.

[ArtFine]

Just as deep said, but I don't always clean the kitchen every day. Today for instance there are dirty dishes in the sink and counter, and that is fine, ill place it in the dishwasher tomorrow. It can happily wait.

[passwordchange]

I haven't dropped standards. I don't understand why some people think children = dirty house. My house is clean, dusted and hoovered. The ironing still gets done (including baby clothes). Yes, there is more clutter (baby toys) but it's clean clutter. I remember my sister laughing af me when I was pregnant as I was cleaning split coca cola off the carpet. She said 'why bother, it will all be a mess when the baby arrives and the carpet will have all manner of stains on it'. Really wound me up. DD is 10 months old now and the carpet is still clean (even after a particularly bout of D&V from DD)

[deepinthewoods]

You haven't yet experience how grubby and creative toddlers can be.
Your baby is still very young, at 10 months you haven't experienced the joys of toddlerhood and the mess that brings, so it's early days - you may find your attitude relaxes a little once you have an active toddler ( or two) not to mention potty training.

I well remember the state of my living room carpet when I had a 2 year old and a 4 year old- I wanted to replace it- and did eventually but during that phase there was simply no point.

[ForeskinHyena]

deepinthewoods sounds like me, never iron (except for Hama beads!) dust with an old sock or my sleeve if someone is coming round or the DCs have drawn pictures in the dust

I do keep the kitchen clean and wipe round the toilets and sinks every couple of days or whenever they need it, but thinks like windows and skirtings etc, just not on my radar.

I have hard flooring throughout the downstairs so have to sweep/hoover at least every couple of days, but tbh the dust and debris is back within a couple of hours, so it looks no worse after a week than it does after a day. I hoovered the whole house yesterday and had to empty the hoover bag...twice...

Life's too short to give a toss really.

[findingherfeet]

I used to have OCD type standards, Saturdays was cleaning day and my house was spotless...now I no longer line up the content of my cupboards in hight and food type order (all labels facing forwards) my cutlery is thrown in the drawer usually by my toddler.

I don't iron.ever.

I clean with bloody baby wipes.

Husband does thorough Hoover including skirting and door frames once a week, he's either well trained or despairing

I would like no clutter but my children have toys...I spend a lot of my life picking up bits of plastic.

I like my messier kiddy filled life far better, there is so much more to life!

[ThinkIveBeenHacked]

Dont iron.
Fill sink every morning and all dishes go in there. Wash them within an hour or so (after ive had a brew). Any dishes created after ive emptied the sink sit on the side til tomorrow.
I tidy the lounge, kitchen and bathroom as needed but our bedroom is the "staging area" so everything gets thrown in there (ground floor flat) if say we get last minute visitors.
Wooden floors so I sweep when I start to feel crumbs underfoot (barefoot all the time im in the house)
Laundry as and when I remember. At the moment I have no dirty laundry but its because ive been off for three days.

[ThinkIveBeenHacked]

Oh amd dd has a toy corner in the living room with IKEAstorage so everything gets thrown there at the end of the day.

[jenniferalisonphillipasue]

Have 4 messy dc (8,6,3,17mths), two large dogs, a v large house and no child care except school so it is fair to say my house is not quite how I would like it.
We have hard floors which need hoovering almost daily. I do 1 or 2 loads of washing per day with Sunday being ironing and putting away day. Food prep area gets cleaned after every use and dishes loaded into dishwasher straight away. Bathroom gets cleaned once per week but toilets every few days. Everything else just has to wait until I find time. Mostly this doesn't happen so it's a tip.