The Organised Mum Method - have I misunderstood or am I really slow?

[NameChangeyMcChangerson]

I have a new baby, and my house is a tip. I kept seeing people on Mumsnet recommend the organised mum method and saying it's just 45 minutes a day. This seemed like a great plan, as I find it hard to get much done during the day with DS (and I try to be out of the house as much as possible anyway) but I thought DH and I could take it in turns to look after DS and the other one do a 45 minute blitz each day. However, I've just looked at the blog and been seriously put off by this on the 'level 1 jobs':

These never change and are the same every day. This is the minimum that needs to be done in order to maintain an orderly home. This is supposed to be a quick top-level tidy – It should take no longer than 15 minutes. These are not included in your 30 mins because it is assumed that you are doing some (if not all of them) already … these jobs come with the territory of being an adult!

Quick floor clean of main living areas. This obviously depends on what floors you have (carpets, tiles or wood floors). If you have hard flooring mop at least once a week.
1 load of laundry
Quick clean of bathrooms, this includes a mop of the floors at least once a week.
Make beds
A little word on bathrooms… bathrooms are included in your level 1 jobs but you don’t have to do the same thing in there every day. Make sure you change it up so that all areas of the bathroom are getting attention. So, for example, one day you might tackle the floors and another day you might do the mirror and sink (I do clean the toilet daily though).

I can't do that in 15 minutes! Even just folding and then putting away a load of laundry takes me that long (and that doesn't include putting the load on and hanging it up in the first place). Similarly mopping the bathroom floor or hoovering our living room (which is a living room diner, so quite large) take that long once I include getting out and putting away the hoover/mop bucket. So then I wondered whether I was just supposed to do one of the tasks on that list - but surely not as it includes making the bed?! Can other people do that stuff in 15 minutes and if so how?!

Honestly, it's so very changeable. I mix stuff around our routine here and the best bit is no cleaning at weekends other than quick level one stuff, and I rarely have washing built up. I actually get more time with the kids and hubby.

I'm off to do my living room before hitting the marking pile (teaching joys!!)

Wow, you sound very angry just at the suggestion of cleaning. If you aren't in to cleaning, then that is totally your decision. Maybe you should have a little respect for those who make the decision to clean more than yourself. Why the judgment? I don't have a cleaning issue and the organised mum method works amazing for me.

It's do-able. I'm not following it strictly at the moment as my mental health's collapsed (struggling with child's SN problems in that kind of post-diagnosis grief bit) so I'm being kind to myself letting myself go into hibernation mode till the worst of that passes but basically someone else mentioned it earlier - it's cumulative cleaning, so if you miss a bit one week - doesn't matter - you'll be back in that room again next week and it'll get done then so you get more and more covered each time you revisit through a room.

As for the level 1 jobs - to be honest - I do a load of washing every day and then sort it and pile it on the stairs and as I go upstairs I take one person's laundry to put away (kids too young to do this themselves without generating more mess than they solve), and just drip away at that over the course of the day. Something bathroom related gets wiped down whenever I'm in there - so it'll be around the sink one day, shower the next, bath the next and then the loo tends to get done just as we're leaving for the school run (so they don't ruin it with an immediate post-cleaned it poo).

Never did follow religiously though - Focus Friday turns into Fuck-That Friday fairly regularly and I jiggled the days around and merged hall and stairs in with something else (I don't have enough of a hall it warrants a cleaning day - it's "that bit where the door opens and the coats live"), but at the moment I'm in such a way that if the laundry's done and the loo's not an embarrassment it's enough for me to relax on (I'm marking time till a GP appointment to get on medication for the depression).

I refuse to buy zoflora as I think the fucking internet collectively have lost the plot over prettier pongy disinfectant.

I have been following for about 6 weeks and I can honestly say that my house has never been so consistently clean. I don’t follow it religiously but I do a little bit every day and I’ve found that by staying on top of the little jobs, I have more time for the bigger jobs. Even doing a big clean isn’t taking as much time as it used to. I used to get very anxious looking around my house and seeing the mess, the enormity of the tasks meant I kept putting them off. Now, if I’ve missed something or noticed that something needs doing, I don’t worry about it because I know I’ll be back doing a dedicated clean in that room soon enough. I have the bedroom clean scheduled for tomorrow but I know they are all pretty clean so I know it won’t be as big job as it used to be.
I have a caddy for my cleaning bits and a spare pack of cleaning wipes and toilet cleaner in the upstairs bathroom which has made a difference.

@EndOfdiscOne. Fuck that Friday 🤣🤣😂

I’m on my second week of TOMM and I can’t fit the 15 minute jobs or the 30 minute jobs into the time at all! My house is definitely becoming cleaner and tidier though, which is more important I think.

My house has been really messy and I’ve been getting very anxious about it all, it has been pretty overwhelming for us with 3 kids and work to worry about. Knowing that each room will get a clean on certain days of the week has been a game changer for me! I’m so much calmer. Sounds common sense to some people maybe but I could t see the wood for the trees.

Bingo, you don’t have to fit them all in, just do what you can in the 30mins and pick up where you left off the next time that room comes up. Same with the 15mins, just do what you can in the time. Sounds like it’s going great for you

I'm fairly new to TOMM - I've been doing it for about 3 weeks now and it has literally changed my life. I should add that I have a 2yo trailing around after me, a 6yo undoing all my work when she is home from school and I'm 39 weeks pregnant with pgp and sciatica. If I can do it anyone can do it.

I think the trick is to learn that you're not doing the level 1 jobs as thoroughly as you used to. Every morning when I wake up I make the beds - takes about 3 mins - but I'm not doing anything special, I'm just pulling the covers up. Then I put some cleaner down the toilet/spray and area of the bathroom (eg one day toilet, sink and bath, next day mirror, toilet and floor etc) and put a load of washing on (I quite often use the dryer). I give my children breakfast, run upstairs and wipe the bathroom/scrub toilet. Then I have breakfast and if I have time I whizz the hoover round downstairs. I hardly notice that I'm doing it. I don't give the bathroom a deep clean or hoover every nook in the house.

I won't go into detail on the level 2 jobs, but I have found that little and often of both level 1 and 2 has left my house becoming cleaner over time and in these 3 weeks I now have an almost spotless house and I don't feel like I do much. However I do what suits me and if I can't fit something in then I don't give myself a hard time. Our quality of life has improved and DH is no longer stressed by mad busy weekends where we try to cram everything in and is less exhausted. It's been great for us....but I'm not expecting to achieve it when I'm breastfeeding a newborn. FYI I fold the washing and put it away at the end of the day when DH is home - as it's such a small load (because I'm doing it daily) it takes 5 minutes to put away.

KMoKMo

Actually I think it’s you who may have a dirt issue

Nope. I think the science stacks up with me actually.

I can see why that with anxiety something like this is needed, but for a standard life, I do feel the obsession with spraying and cleaning our environment is too much

I found TOMM a couple of weeks ago and I can honestly say that it has made my house cleaner and me calmer. I suffer with GAD and my house causes me a lot of distress, I hate inviting people in in case they think the house is dirty, old, badly decorated and so on. With TOMM I know that I don't have to be overwhelmed by the scale of the problem as I perceive it; it's the whole 'little and often' thing that has made such a a positive difference to me.

My son and daughter are expected to pick up their toys at the end of the day. They are also asked politely to put any dirty cups and plates in the sink or dishwasher. I also ask them kindly to make their beds up neatly in the morning when they wake up. And brush their teeth.
My partner and I split up the housework and childcare between us. He does most of the cooking and childcare whilst I tackle any required cleaning. Laundry is done twice a week currently. All I have to do is to throw a load of clothes into the washing machine and switch it on.

Anything apart from small towels is washed in the washing machine and hung up to dry. I don’t have a list of chores however.

I've never heard of this method, but I'm pretty certain I couldn't have done it, so whoever said If I can do it anyone can do it is underestimating themselves.

In my experience, being able to get the place looking decent with a 'top level clean' depends on there being an underlying order and cleanliness which I've never yet achieved. Maybe I am a slob, maybe my brain just doesn't work that way.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love a clean and tidy and organised house, all power to those who achieve it. But I honestly don't think everyone is equipped to do that.

LittlePaintBox - the “method” does recommend a one off blitz to get the house in order before the “top level clean” can start.

Yikes - this method for me is a happy medium. I do enough so it's clean and tidy, and as little as possible
It doesn't need special products, I use an eco all purpose cleaner and eco floor cleaner plus other bits as needed. Mostly a microfibre cloth and hot soapy water
I grew up spending my life around horses and mud and still have a condition that means I have virtually no immune system

the “method” does recommend a one off blitz to get the house in order before the “top level clean” can start

Aha! Well, that was not going to happen when I had PND and a baby who didn't know he was meant to take long naps in the day!

Dude, it’s taken me seven years to get to a point where ANY of this feels achievable. First born is at school and second born has just started preschool. Prior to that - too hard.

I’ll tell you what though, not living in dust and clutter is doing wonders for my mental health.

I love TOMM and really wish it had been available
when my kids were little (I hated Fly Lady and Darla Shine was a Nutjob). Cynically however, I’m sooooo wondering if Gem’s DH posted this thread after the massive boom of the weird cult that is Mrs Hinch’s Army. I’m kind of excited about the idea of a backstage Instagram
Cleaning war.

@littlepaintbox that was me that said if I can do it anyone can. I did think twice about saying that because I didn't want to make it sound like "oh well I'm managing and look at me". The thing is though, when I first looked at level 1 jobs I spat my tea out and thought never in a million years. It's only "doing" it that makes you realise it is feasible. It's the little and often approach. She isn't (at least I don't think she is) doing level 1 jobs in depth every day. It's a bit of each thing and so it's like those jobs as individual big tasks just disappear - it's quite clever really.

I'm in nearly constant pain with small people running around destroying everything I do...I feel like I'm hardly doing anything yet somehow it works.

I haven’t read this TOMM but I’m known as very organised and my house has always been reasonably tidy. I think the trick is that I rarely move without multi tasting.

For example I’m sitting here with my coffee eyeing up some clothes that need to be returned to the store. When I finish my coffee I’ll go for my shower, but I’ll bag them up on the way and leave them in the hall.

I also round up and redistribute things as I walk past. Hair bobbles are a prime example. If I see anything out of place, I scoop it up. I then find myself coming downstairs with an armful of stuff, but it’s less than a minute to put it back where it belongs.

Actually it helps if everything has a place I suppose, and maybe once it’s blitzed, that happens?

Meesh we have a saying, never go empty handed.

I've followed TOMM for a while but as TheOrganisedMum said you can tweak it to suit - my level 1 jobs are a quick go through walkways with the hoover and a swish of the bathrooms perhaps twice a week. I also try and tidy during that time too - Laundry I do separately.

I have also tweaked the main plan - I give my bathrooms a thorough clean once a week and don't really do a hallway day - I merge this into my level 1 jobs. I also don't do the Friday focus but instead just try and use that day to get on top of things generally. I think focussing on one room at a time is more efficient so I think I get more cleaning done in the time allowed than I did before rushing from job to job - my house certainly seems cleaner and more organised and I can say I'm pretty much visitor ready the whole time now - no more full day cleaning before houseguests!

TheOrganisedMum I think the blog is great - as I said I don't follow religiously but it's definitely helped me to get a handle on the chaos and most importantly it's really positive - who doesn't need a bit of positivity in their lives?

@didimisssomething I agree. I'm feeling overwhelming positive since starting. It's improved my mental health ten fold. As a family we were living in chaos and exhaustion and suddenly the decks have cleared. It's enabled us to have time to do other life maintenance things and for the first time in YEARS we have time at the weekend to just sit and do nothing which has made us all so much happier!

OP - you'd be better off asking this kind of question in the TOMM facebook group or on TOMM insta. I set a timer for the 30 minute daily one room focus. The 15 minutes for Level 1 job is a guide, I don't time this as I don't wash up all our meals at one time and I can't fold up washing I've only just put in the machine.

Have you watched Gemma's instastories - she shows you how she does it in that time. With the vacuuming and mopping the main walkways check what equipment you're using. Faffing with a mop and bucket takes me way longer than my microfiber mop thing and a squirty bottle of cleaner. I have a lightweight broom that lives in my kitchen which takes me moments to sweep down our hall - we've got dogs so the hair builds up and I prefer sweeping daily and vacuuming on hall day.

Yes, sometimes a mop and bucket are needed (spillages, poorly dog incidents etc) but the microfiber thing is so quick and light. Mine's not a fancy one, just a cheapie from asda.

It's a guide, a method, you can adapt it to suit your own needs.

Making the bed for me is placing the duvet on tidily, I'm no folding corners and arranging throw pillows.

LittlePaintBox - I am naturally messy and chaotic. I'm still a way off having the whole house sorted. The Organised Mum Method does have a Boot Camp week where you blitz each room, do a deep clean and Clutter Bust.

I’ve taken a bit of a different approach as it was all a bit overwhelming (and my jobs, volunteering, parenting etc have been stress enough of late) and I’ve been doing the half hour cycle and clutter busting as and when I’m able to. My living room and kitchen are fab now – I wanted to prioritise them, my bathroom is clean, just the airing cupboard needs sorting through again. Kids rooms are good. My room is a nightmare but slowly, slowly I’m getting through a corner at a time. I sorted through the understairs a couple of weeks ago and having a clearer hall every day has made a big difference.

We had a flood in the bathroom this morning and usually I’d be having a panic scrub of everything before the plumber comes but today I’m just making sure that I’ve mopped up the leak.

If you want to give it a go, I’d really recommend it. The level 1 stuff is just what should be happening every day anyway but focussing half an hour on one room each day has been an eyeopener for me. Also it’s really helped me get my kids involved in cleaning and tidying because there’s more order and a system to it and they like the routine. The old me only really tackled rooms when we had visitors or parties. TOMM is helping me keep it at an OK level consistently.

Lol at people being offended because they can't be arsed to clean their houses and don't like it being mentioned that maybe, just maybe, it's a normal part of being a grown up