I can work or fly not both

[realitychick]

How do you do it, you working mums with tidy houses? Last week I was flying. House started to look really inviting and orderly. Washing mountains had shrunk. But I got very behind with work. This week I've been working and we're back to five heaped clean laundry baskets with me upending the lot onto my bed to find clean swimming trunks for DS, 5 mins after they should have left for school...

I'd love to know when you do what and how often. Doesn't help that both DH and I work from home and hate working in the same room :) so he spreads his stuff all over kitchen table. Really need some advice on how to get the balance right.

[mrsshackleton]

All I can say is I sympathise. I work from home too and I have a part time nanny and cleaner who do a lot of housework, laundry etc but there is still always a mountain of chores to be tackled and the place is never exactly pristine.

It doesn't help that dd2's hobby is opening drawers and cupboards and scattering contents everywhere. I just this minute found a pair of my knickers in her toy castle, plus a load of cutlery that had vanished for days.

So no tips sadly but solidarity

[SylvanianFamily]

No, no. Fly should help, not make you feel guilty.

You have to make peace with the fact that laundry must be done daily, just like teeth brushing,

Also to make 15 minute bursts to declutter - else you spend more time clearing clutter andrubbishyoudon,t need.

Then you don't have to think about it, so it leaves more head space for work - work .

In theory at least....

[dylsmum1998]

agree with Sylvanian family, I put on one wash load a day tis the only way to keep up with it.
Also try not to walk past anything that needs putting away. Pick it up as you pass and put it away. If it is something which needs to go upstairs then I put it by the bottom of the stairs for when I next go up.

Then in theory when i get home all i need to do is clean the bathrooms, unload the washer/ airer and hoover.

I also try to iron everyday (whilst watching eastenders etc), tht way i spend 15 mins tops a day ironing and we all have clean clothes

[northerngirl41]

Yup - the cleaner is the way to go. Ours sanitses everything, will tidy (heavenly!) and even do the ironing (astonishing!) and I make her day on a Friday so it's clean at the weekend when we are more likely to have guests. So it might seem perfect to people coming over, but the reality is that on a Thursday night it'll look like a bomb has hit it.

Another top tip: Don't leave a room messy. When you are leaving a room take all the stuff which shouldn't be in there out (plates, cups etc) and straighten the room (curtains, cushions etc).

It also helps if everyone in the house is on the same page in terms of where stuff lives. Washing goes into the wash basket NOT on the floor. Dirty cups and plates ONLY go in the dishwasher and are not left overnight anywhere.

[becstarlitsea]

I too found that I couldn't work and fly... But I took the tips that worked best for me from flylady, worked out my own, much less rigorous routine (so our home is not as tidy as it would be if I followed flylady properly, but because there is a routine nothing gets totally out of hand).

For my routine I just decided on my own tolerances/needs, wrote a list of everything that needs doing and how often I felt it needed to be done at a minimum. Then allocated one half hour's worth of jobs per day - just wrote numbers 1-28 on a piece of paper with days of the week, and if for instance I thought the oven needs cleaning every other week I wrote it twice on an alternate Monday etc. etc. Then I copied my rota onto the calendar (the 28 day month of my routine means I have the odd day off available to plan in!). I make it a rule that I only do what's on the rota for that day - because I work from home and if I've got work I don't fancy doing I've been known to procrastinate by cleaning! I set my timer like flylady says, do no more than half an hour, and no more than the jobs on that day for the calendar. Then stop and do some work.

I dealt with the ironing by telling my DH that I don't iron and he may iron if he so wishes.

[SylvanianFamily]

oven need cleaning?!? surely you mean 'every two weeks I sweep out cremated crusts and dropping from the bottom'?

My kids have come down with impetigo, and I'm feeling ever so guilty at the implied 'poor hygiene' aspersion.... however, at least I know that this year their linen gets changed on a rota (plus emergency changes if dirty). I would be feeling really crappy if (like last year) I couldn't confidently recall exactly when and what had got changed.

[becstarlitsea]

You've made me feel much better about the fact I skipped cleaning the oven last time it popped up on the rota! It's a lot more than cremated crusts - all the gooey gunk from roasts that sets the smoke alarm off when we open the oven door... I use that Lakeland paint-on-wipe-off stuff so at least it doesn't take long. It's just facing the damn thing, and the horror of the black dishcloths that go in the bin afterwards... Bleargh.

My niece got impetigo, and my DSis's house is immaculate - it's just really infectious and kids are always picking up scratches etc. so they're prone to it. Know what you mean about the reassurance of a linen rota. I like knowing when I last did things. It gives me written proof that I'm coping when sometimes I wonder if I actually am!

[SylvanianFamily]

Ah - that'd be 'mummy's cooking music' - the sweet sounds of the fire alarm inidcating that my oven was sufficiently pre-heated, as the crud in the bottom burnt off...

[dylsmum1998]

at mummys cooking music

[becstarlitsea]

PMSL at mummys cooking music!

[realitychick]

LOL at mummy's cooking music.

Becstarlitsea, your 28 day month list sounds exactly what I need. I tried to sort out a weekly Fly but there was so much on each day that by the time I'd done it all, it was time to pick up kids and I hadn't earned a penny all day.

Sylvanian, I do try to declutter as often as possible but I live with three hoarders. As fast as I chuck junk out, the parcels of tat arrive from Ebay and the conkers and feathers get dumped on the decluttered surfaces.

Can't really afford a cleaner and TBH I like to clean a bit every day. It's not the cleaning that's the problem so much as the tidying. I guess more decluttering is the answer.