If you go straight to work after dropping dc, do you come home to a messy house?

[Itchybush]

As in breakfast things still on the side, toys spread out, beds unmade, etc. I hate coming home to a messy house after work but I leave with the dc and we arrive home together at night.

Do you just accept it? Or wake up early to tidy up before leaving?

I’m afraid my attitude was always to get up early enough so that the kitchen was tidy when we left. I couldn’t bear coming back to an untidy house. You have already expressed your choices in your post - get up earlier or live with the mess. However, you don’t say how old the children are? Can you gradually involve them in putting away their toys and straightening their duvets?

My DC are teens now, but when younger we restricted morning play to the lounge and insisted they tidied up before we left. Made beds and put things in dishwasher before we went out (about 5 minutes).

I wouldn't want to come back to a messy house, no.

Wake up early, tidy, put a wash on, wipe bathroom down, quick vacuum before leaving. Morning stiff like packed lunches and uniform done the night before

My house is always messy🤷🏻‍♀️

When I worked outside the home we would come home to mess. Dh would tackle dishes and laundry and I'd tidy the lounge, bathe the dc and then prep dinner. It was tiring for us all.

Now I wfh so I tidy after the school run and do dishes while I'm prepping my lunch.

Yes. It drives me crazy. I go to work whilst teenage DS studies college online in the morning with hours free in the afternoon.

I come home and he’s done sweet FA. I ask nicely, I cajole, I send loving messages via Alexa. Sometimes it works, mostly it doesn’t and I fear coming home because of the arguments that will ensue if the place is a state.

If I properly lose my rag he may do it for one day but the stress of having to lose my rag really gets me down.

Sometimes I get up and do it early but early morning Mumsnet is an addiction I can’t break!

No. There's enough to do when I get home

@2andahalfpints

Wake up early, tidy, put a wash on, wipe bathroom down, quick vacuum before leaving. Morning stiff like packed lunches and uniform done the night before

You wipe the bathroom and vacuum every day before leaving??!

I get up at least 20 minutes earlier so I can tidy the kitchen, make beds etc before I leave. My job is very physically & mentally tiring and I love getting in and just flopping on the sofa for a rest and would hate to come home to a mess!

No toys on a morning, no time. Dressed and beds made before going downstairs. Breakfast dishes are a bowl and a plate and a cup, they get stacked neatly next to the sink.

There isnt a lot of mess, just a few breakfast things. Will just put in dishwasher and leave, wipe up any crumbs or spills, good to go. No I hate coming home to a messy house. Dc also told to tidy rooms and I check that beds are made and washing is in basket. I WFH now but I tidy house before the working day starts and put laundry on/ away.

We get up at 6.30am and leave at 7.40am (myself and oldest to work/school and youngest stays with GP/DH works away)

My routine is...
Up, curtains and blinds open, Lamp and TV on, through kitchen, switch on washing machine, boil kettle..
Wash and clean youngest DS who then happily plays/watches TV with a drink...
I get washed, dressed, hair and make up done.
Wake up oldest DS and I make them both breakfast and me a coffee
They eat breakfast, I empty washing machine, then I wash the few dishes, put away and wipe round kitchen worktops.
All coats on, shoes, grab bags prepared night before and off we go.

If I have time the bathroom gets wiped round too.

I cannot stand coming in to mess and starting the evening like that at 5.30pm.

I definitely need to get more organised. I wake up really early to cook breakfast, fix the packed lunches, iron the uniform and the dc (3 and 5) play while I'm doing that and use every toy in the house. The house is a bombsite by the time we leave!

@Lucked

My house is always messy🤷🏻‍♀️

Yup, me too.

My OH is home earlier than me two days a week so has tidied up by the time I get home. The third day I wfh so wash/tidy for a break and I’m at home the other two days.

There’s no way I’d be getting up earlier to be tidying and washing up! I get up earlier than I’d like as it is!!

No toys before school, we would have never left the house!
Came home to the dishes near the sink or in the dishwasher.

Toys, floors and cleaning get done the night before whilst they are still awake so they can also pitch in.

From an early age I got them into the habit of putting the covers straight when they woke up. Didn't look perfect but who cares? One of my slobby teens had a pit of a room, but for some reason, the bed was always made looool.

Do they need a cooked breakfast? Do you have a partner at home who could help?

@Itchybush

I definitely need to get more organised. I wake up really early to cook breakfast, fix the packed lunches, iron the uniform and the dc (3 and 5) play while I'm doing that and use every toy in the house. The house is a bombsite by the time we leave!

I'd suggest not ironing, doing packed lunches the evening before and sticking to simple breakfasts. And restrict your DC to the toys they can play with (e.g. "this box only") to minimise mess. And definitely make the DC clear up any mess they make!

We leave early enough that DS doesn’t have time to make a mess! He eats at nursery so I literally wake him up, pop him on the potty with the ipad for five minutes whilst I organise his bag (if I haven’t done it before I wake him up), dress him, and put him in the car. There might be a cup or two that need washing but nothing too awful.

I don’t work but get the majority of housework done including dinner before I go and drop dd3 at school. That only leaves laundry, if it’s not done before, and making the beds, when I get back. I prefer to do as much as I can as soon as I’m up, that’s the time I have the most energy.

Might just have to swap some part of your morning and evening routine around OP - prepare the clothes/ironing at night, agree about restricting the toys (eg not lego first thing!) and giving them a five minute warning to tidy up before you go.

Bear in mind that things will improve as your children get older and can do more for themselves, it is harder when they are younger

Cooked breakfasts until they could start cooking, were only done on weekends and holidays.
Pack lunches, uniforms, school stuff, work stuff all sorted the night before. Several school tops and a couple of bottoms so when weeks were extra busy didn't have to worry about trying to do a load mid-week.

They definitely don't need a cooked breakfast, I think I'll leave that for the weekends. The 3 year old is fussy though and doesn't like cereal.

I have to iron as I don't have a tumble dryer. It's only school uniform for eldest child though, so I could even get that done on the weekends. I'm just so tired! Trying start some sort of business to earn money before the minimum income floor kicks back in. Plus studying, the house, garden, pets, etc. I need a PA

I make beds when I open curtains, put all dishes in dishwasher and clean down sides/table in kitchen straight after breakfast. Toys get left where they are as I've given up on that battle.
I don't iron anything and lunches get made the night before.

I had to let my standards drop when I was still in the office. Home working via Covid has been life changing actually, I’ll never go back to office life daily.

In a way you have to accept that with small children you have to accept that stuff slips, the only way to manage everything is to be on the move constantly until you go to bed. I refuse to live like that so the house is a bit of a nightmare.

I can’t wait until my three are old enough to get rid of the toys and scraps of paper and felt sodding tips. My house will be immaculate.