Just need to vent and I'm being pathetic and selfish, I know this

[SoooVeryLazySigh]

I've had enough of the housework and all the menial stuff.

I've spent 3 hours just sorting, cleaning, sorting, washing and it's not even 10% done. I have 2 wash loads (dreaded socks and small stuff) to put away and 3 more to go on.....

It's just endless. I have an average household. But the washing, the washing! and all the ironing - it's endless - I have to change the beds and wash the towels today - I only do this once a week but it feels like I've just done it.

I don't do a great deal during week as I work, I do clean as I go and do washing most days.

I'm not hard done by and I'm sure I'm in the same boat as most home owners with a family - but I've just had enough.

I know the answer - get the kids to help more, don't stress so much but it just feels relentless and so boring.

I don't have any ferrying around to do during the week or weekends and my DH does all the cooking at the weekend so I am certainly not doing it all but I feel so fed up.

Doesn't help that the beautiful sunshine is showing ALL THE DIRT (it looked cleaner yesterday with it being dull )

Anyone else or is it just me? I do get plenty of down time (I think) but this makes it more difficult to motivate myself, because all this stuff is so boooooring and repetitive.

I just want to leave it all and go out for a lovely dog walk but I'll just have it all to come back to.

I only uniforms once a week.....

WASH uniforms once a week. Honestly, this thread wasn't about finding a solution - but thank you for the suggestions. I just wanted a self indulgent moan. Silly really.....I'm going to sort out the smalls wash now and treat myself with a Sunday slob out.....

You said everyone has a new shirt every day. Can you go to every other day?

What on earth is your DH doing? You don't mention him at all in this drudgery!

Your solution:

1. get your DH to step up and share the tasks
2. get a cleaner to take most of this off your shoulders

DH is cooking, gardening, taking dog out and DIY - he is far from lazy but he works very hard and very long hours and just isn't fair for him to do more than he does.

Domestic chores are so mind numbingly dull😒

Oh god OP I feel the same. Housework bores me out of my mind! It's just so relentlessly dull

I don't understand how some people on MN do the amount of washing/cleaning they do. There's just so many better things to do.

In terms of washing, if the kids are going through puberty are they early teens? If so they can wash their own bedsheets and it only needs doing once a fortnight. The reason it feels like you've only just done it is because you have!

Also I would wash the bright dark uniform in one load and then the white shirts another, I wouldn't do a load of different washes.

How much is your DH actually doing? Because cooking at weekends is hardly much. Can he do some more washing? Or the ironing?

I agree OP, it’s bloody boring. DH does his fair share and I’m not a clean freak so don’t wash things unnecessarily, but it’s still dull. Even 10 minutes of it is dull!

He might work long hours but you are also working too? Tbh gardening is mostly a hobby, DIY, taking the dog out and cooking are all the fun tasks.

Youve got all the drudgery tasks

I know what you mean, and I live by myself in a small house - its just so boring and repetitive and will go on until the end of time! I keep focussing on the outcomes rather than the process - I like sleeping in clean sheets, wearing clean clothes, standing in a clean shower etc etc. And I also think it helps to get as good kit as possible - have a vacuum that is effective and light, if you iron buy an iron that actually steams, consider steam mops for floors and so on. Don't be a martyr to equipment that doesn't serve its purpose. Or get a cleaner.

Sweaty teen? Every day new shirt definate or you get the whole caked in grim smell thing going on I've a sweaty pre teen soap dodger and a 6 year old sen who can't find his mouth to fill it so his clothes wear the food (I've mentioned the sen because people freak out at me if I say my six year old spills more than he eats I'm sure that's normal but 🤷‍♀️)

Change beds on opposite weeks on week theirs one week yours towels get chucked in with them have you tried a colour catcher? So was as you go rather than big loads?

Kids going through puberty = kids old enough to learn how to do their own washing and make the beds.

Kids of all types above 2 years old = kids old enough to sort out the socks and find each sock's brother/sister.

Kids of all types above 2 years old = kids old enough to separate their washing into different baskets prior to washing.

OP I get you. I did a lot of the things people are suggesting but I find what remains is overwhelming. To make things worse we had our entire house decorated in white/neutrals and laminate flooring laid so now you can see every mark on every surface (even the vertical ones) every day. If the sun shines its even more obvious.

I have a group that I belong to and we take it in turns to go to each others houses and I wont take my turn because all their places are immaculate. They spend so much time cleaning etc (think Mrs Hinch types). I feel so overwhelmed I don't know where to start!

I think it is the repetition, that's the problem. It feels like I'm doing the same thing over and over, which I am! I need to spice my life up....maybe change the washing powder

One of my children suffers from ill health and would not be able to take on simple tasks. The others are pretty good.

DH does pull his weight, really does.

Give each kid a netting bag or pegs to keep their socks in pairs.Or get kids to mark similar socks and underwear with a few bright stitches, a different colour for each person. Teach them all to use the washer, dryer.

Out of all the household crap, can't say laundry really bothers me.
Must be because I'm a renter, and only have one bathroom.

I absolutely feel your pain OP, it can feel relentless.

What really helped me was something DH (who does more than his fair share tbh) said which was to accept that the washing will never be done. It's just life. So accept it like breathing.

FWIW
3 bathrooms! - LOCK ONE, put it into storage.

Kids need to ensure own laundry is in right baskets, strip their beds once per week (tell them when) and put own stuff away
I do a wash load every/every other night, and as a family we do a collective sort and put away on the weekend. I'd like to say it was bonding but it really isn't

Also house doesn't all have to be immaculate all the time, does it?

Then your next option is to get a cleaner!

It is dull and repetitive and I feel exactly the same as you every Saturday morning when I’m going through the same bloody routine! I try and keep on top as much as possible during the week and since I get a earlier finish on Fridays I try and get ahead by doing at least two loads of laundry. I stick in my earbuds, pick an energetic playlist, try not think how fucking tedious it all is and just knuckle down. I start by changing the bed, stick the used bedding in the machine then get on in the kitchen. They are the worst chores to me, once they’re done, everywhere else is pretty easy. Bathroom I do last and when it’s done I step into a sparkling clean shower. Got the whole thing down to about 2.5 hours.

I agree with pps about the ironing, just stop it. I haven’t ironed in 15 years except when traveling and I’ve needed to use the room iron to press a couple of things that got creased up in the suitcase. At home it comes out of the drier and is folded or hung up straight away.

also - if the sunshine is making the house look dirty that is a clear suggestion from the universe that you should go out

Dropping the ball really helps.

In winter when everyone wears full pjs, can beds not be done every fortnight? Change towels once a week.

Kids old enough for smelly hormones might be old enough to strip bed, wash, part-tumbled, hung up mid morning and then put back on bed that evening?

Every child gets their own laundry basket in their room (cheap fabric ones with handles), then take it to wash themselves, preferably midweek. Then you won’t get sock mix up.

Big tip. Do NOT use duvet covers ha ha.

I use a top sheet , then the bare duvet which is topped with a very light silky quilt type thing.

Changing the beds has become so much easier.

In Summer I just use the light silky quilt thing over the top sheet. No more duvet changes for me!

Buy socks all the same colour for each child.

Bed changes every two weeks minimum!

I am a slattern and as long as the bathrooms are clean and the living area/kitchen are acceptable (in case of random visitors) it will all be ok.

We are lucky enough to have a sunny, south-facing utility room, with space for some airers, as well as the washing machine and tumble drier. Best thing I got, was a simple set of deep plastic storage drawers. All clean laundry that doesn't need ironing (everything except shirts!) goes straight from the airer or drier into the relevant person's drawer. Then it's up to them to put it away themselves.

I feel like this all the time because my main bug bear is cooking and shopping and anything related to it and it's relentless. I only wash clothes when they need it. I iron as little as possible. I change bedding less than I used to, except pillow cases weekly. I only hoover, clean and dust if I feel like it which isn't that often. Maybe try to get the children to sort the socks at least, and get a cleaner even if it's just 2 hours a week. I don't know if it would work in your family but someone on here said they all had the same socks in the same colour - made life so much easier!

I hear you! Feeling the same today while I was changing beds.