If you have a toddler and a tidy home..reveal yourself!

[MessyMother]

Hi everyone,

I used to have a lovely immaculate home and then my baby became a toddler! Age old story I'm sure, but now my flat is just a total tip! I'm really struggling, I can't even say "to keep on top of things" because I'm not - more like struggling to catch up to anywhere near remotely tidy! I want to clean but there's stuff everywhere. Granted it's not the biggest place but still.

My toddler is one of those who never ever wants to play with their toys, only ever with objects or household items etc. Everything ends up in another place. Also, she eats finger foods and she's a good eater but still loads ends up on the floor, on her high chair etc. I feel like half my life is spent on the floor scooping up bits of food. Honestly, I'm forever mopping up with kitchen towel - I feel like I must be paying penance for misdemeanours in a past life or something.

After putting her down at night the next hour is then clearing up. Not even so it's tidy, you understand, just the bare minimum so that I don't lose the will to live when I come in to make my morning coffee. After that it's me flopping out with a glass of wine too exhausted to clean.

Please please tell me, if your home is tidy with a toddler are you human! How do you do it? If it's half tidy, please can I have some tips? Does your high chair look like there's been some horrible accident? Are you spending half your life on your knees armed with Dettol? If not then how?

I think it is quite telling that noone has replied

Thats toddlers for you!

Not toddlers anymore but 4dc instead so I have some experience of childhood mess. Does your dd nap during the day at all? That’s always a good time to tidy away what has been used this morning. Then the tried and tested - tidy as you go along, put away before you get the next thing out etc. Also, spend as little time indoors playing as possible. Go out for walks as much as you can, knacker them out at a park, then cuddle on the sofa watching tv afterwards. No mess.
As for the food situation - the high chairs were always disgusting tbh. The dog kept the floor clean though. It does get easier when they can keep their toys in their rooms. My friends always marvel how clean and tidy my home is but that’s because they only see the downstairs. The bedrooms look like we’ve been burgled 80% of the time

Have a tidy part of the house. That’s the only way.
So we kept the living room as tidy as possible (by this I mean hide toys behind and under the sofas, get loads of boxes for storage). So in the evening we couldn’t “see” the mess.

We do it now - kids are older but stuff stays i their room or the living room (we have an open plan area where we sit in the evening and a separate living room).

It makes it a bit easier to deal with.

Get dd in the habit of tidying as she goes, once you form the habit it's there. I swear my dd is tidier than I am. We havea tidy up song, and stuff had a place. A shower curtain under the highchair will help too, throw the food off outside or tip into the bin and give a quick wipe, with a proper clean once a week.

My home isn't perfect by a long shot but it's not messy. Could always do with another hour of cleaning though!

How old is your little one?

I'm in the more 'half tidy' than 'tidy' camp but a few suggestions-

• Get a Bibado bib, or three, to catch the worst of the food mess. Suction plates/bowls to keep crockery in one place and maybe even a shower curtain or splash mat under the high chair that you can lift up and tip into the bin rather than crawling around the floor. A long handled dustpan and brush is my weapon of choice for more dry clean ups and saves keep bending down.

-Locks on any cupboard you don't want her in. Make up a 'treasure basket' of interesting household objects she can play with each day but limit the amount she is able to get out and make mess with so it's not a huge free for all.

-Utilise any spare moments you can. If she's playing and pottering happily have a bit of a whizz around and put things back in the right places. If she's sitting and having a meal or snack take a few minutes to dash around the kitchen and wash/dry/put away/wipe the sides etc.

-Get your toddler involved in tidying up. Begin to teach her that things have a place and we need to put them back where they came from. This will be very low level at this age but I think even from very young it's beneficial for children to begin to learn to put things back where they belong. I give my 20 month old DD a specific job, like collecting all the blocks or all the animals and putting them back on the shelf whilst I whizz around tidying the rest.

Nah can't be bothered lifes too short for immaculate homes. I do the minimum possible so we are not living in filth but that's it.

Would decluttering, especially their toys, help? I have a 1 yo and a 3 yo and my place looks messy during the day when they have their toys out, but after they go to bed I tidy everything away in under 30 mins and the house is clean.

If you don't have much space this does get tough.

As for the table area and high chair, it's looks a nightmare while they are eating, but then I just wipe it off with a wet face cloth and it's back to perfectly clean. What high chair do you have, is it a plain plastic one like the Ikea one, or one that food can get stuck in?

I don't give snacks, this cuts down on the food issues too.

He goes to nursery 5 days a week, deffo helps 😂😂😂

Give out food in small quantities if they're prone to chucking it. And/or handheld vacuum.

Lots of toy storage - we have a big Ikea chest here that makes tidying easy.

I avoid toys with a zillion small pieces until they are particularly worthwhile.

Compulsory tidy-up time before nap and bed.

And a cleaner once a week

I have a tasmanian devil toddler. What I've done to try and control the situation:

-Childlocks on everything
-Have one cupboard in the kitchen full of stuff they can have
-toy rotation - only have one small box (IKEA drona) of toys available at a time.

• books all up high as DS rips them when left to his own devices
• all the stair gates
• robot hoover zooms round every evening once I've done a very quick dash round to pick up toys

Oh and a dog for the food chucking. But remember, a dog is for life, not just for weaning.

The less time you're in the house the better is my tip!

Agree with pp, the less time you're in the less chance they have to mess it up. The only time my house is properly tidy is when DM takes my 3DC for the day. Lucky if it takes them an hour to destroy the place again, they make mess faster than I can tidy.

My house is half tidy. What I found works is montessori style toy rotation. Open shelves, toys on display in baskets/trays. Sounds counter intuitive but actually stops them dumping boxes of stuff everywhere to see what's inside. Books facing forwards so they can see the covers, reduces temptation to pull them all over the floor. I use ikea spice shelves for that. Definitely not foolproof, but helps reduce the mess quite a bit!

I only put locks on cupboards or doors that contain dangerous things. Having free range access to everything else seems to remove the novelty value/ appeal and cupboards and drawers are rarely if every emptied or messed around in now (they definitely were at first) there is also totally unrestricted access to a snack drawer (healthy snacks) and a fruit bowl. A couple of times a day, my toddler gets a snack, a bowl or plate and brings it on to be opened and plated up.

Mine never liked the high chair, so either eats at the normal dining table or their own small table and chair. We definitely spend a decent amount of our lives cleaning food off floor so it's not me reducing by any means! Any droppage does tend to be accidental though, I don't think it's as satisfying to chuck as throwing from the height of a high chair :)

Gtech hand held hoover is a lifesaver and all the bits can go in the dishwasher.

We accept mess for most of the day, but encourage tidying up between games and properly pack away at lunchtime and bedtime

For messy food and games I use a tuff tray which gets stored under the sofa when not in use. Perfect for cooking activities or painting / play doh as everything is relatively contained.

There is always a pack of wipes on hand, and they're pretty good at getting one and wiping own hands by now (age 2.5) if they're dirty to avoid handprints on things.

I hope there's one or two things in there that is useful for you!!

I can tell @Sleepthieved has a normal toddler not a tasmanian devil one. My DD was like that, she'd sit nicely and do activities with a tuff tray. My DS however will upturn it, try and run round with it like a turtle shell on his back and run with the paints so he can paint the dog before I've even noticed he's out of the room.

@Spidergran sounds like I've got a goodun on the mess front. He's not slept through the night yet in his life, so there's that :) I guess they're hard wired to knacker you one way or another! :)

4 young dc, youngest is a toddler. House reasonably tidy. Don’t have lots of toys and either put away and rotate those not played with or get rid. I use a tuff tray for messy stuff and days he isn’t at nursery we do something in it even if it’s something simple, keeps him out of mischief for 10 minutes. Get them tidying from a young age, toys, books & shoes. He also loves to vacuum and dust So he is entertained and house is clean, win, win. Dc1 was like this too and at 6 still loves to tidy & vacuum. Declutter massively if you have lots of stuff and don’t replace it unless needed. We also have two dogs so no crumbs or food ever hit the floor . Snacks at the table or on a plate on the sofa.

Make tidying up as easy as possible by having ample, easy storage (IKEA is your friend here).

Child lock on cupboards and then one box of household stuff that DD can play with. Easy to tidy up if you just chuck it all in one box and don't have to put stuff back in 50 different places.

Limit the number of toys/rotate toys. You want to be able to tidy up every single toy in less than 15 mins. If you can't there are too many toys or your storage is too complex (i.e. putting every single thing back in its cardboard box instead of having all similar things in one big box).

For meal times you can get wide highchair tray/bib things to catch dropped food and save it hitting the floor. Save yourself time by emptying it at the end of the day only and not after breakfast and lunch (unless it something particularly smelly or if it's really hot).

If you can afford it get an easy to use hoover (Dyson cordless is good) so you can hoover quickly and easily (maybe while she's in the highchair and contained).

If you can, get a cleaner to do the main bit once a week.

Declutter
Don't have all toys out at once - tidy little and often
Playroom if possible, where some toys can stay out
Easy toy storage - big boxes, bags or baskets where you can just chuck things in pell-mell
Cordless vacuum and dishwasher
Cleaner once a week if possible
Load of laundry once a day
Involve toddler in cleaning, e.g. let them push a mop around, have a cleaning cloth with water on it to play with etc, while you crack on with jobs
Second PPs recommendation for bibado bibs and suction bowls. Easy to clean high chair, e.g. the cheapo IKEA one
Also second going out as much as possible!

In all honesty, my house is immaculate and I'm pregnant and have a toddler.

Sorry

Messy mat for food times under the high chair

Robo vacuum or easy cordless vacuum

Tidy away toys and teach her to tidy at end of every play session

Play outside

Endless advice...

Also my toddler naps for 3 hours a day. So that's probably a huge help.