Anyone else's house feel permanently dirty/messy?

[Livingmybestmumlife]

I know that my house isn't truly dirty. Firstly I do TOMM so everything gets a clean weekly, I vacuum downstairs daily, change beds regularly, mop hard floors weekly, dust, wipe kitchen cupboards down and so on and so on.

But it feels that no matter how much effort I make to keep it nice and clean it's very 'lived in'. I know that there's nothing wrong with that, it's not a show home but I do find it hard to relax with mess around.

For example there is permanently washing on airers hanging around, toys out that get put away each evening, the kitchen is in constant use with 4 of us here and one teen who never stops eating. We cook a lot so obviously kitchen gets heavy use.

No sooner have I run the vacuum around or wiped down the kitchen worktops bits appear on the floor just crumbs and bits.

Yes yes yes. Laundry everywhere, 87 pairs of shoes in the hall, always stuff out in the kitchen. It does drive me slightly bananas, but I also doesn’t see why I should spend hours tidying up after everyone.

Not usually but I’m having a declutter of epic proportions. Brought on by MiL very cluttered house. She is in her eighties and the utter hell it’s going to be to go through her stuff when she slips off this mortal coil. So I decided to have a ruthless declutter. Inspired by the concept of a Swedish death clean, hopefully many years off though I did nearly die a couple of years ago. This involves every cupboard and nook and cranny of the house. DH is currently sat opposite me going through all the guarantees and instructions manuals. A few thrown away as we no longer have the item and we are downloading the instructions to most items. Have emptied my jewellery box and gone through it, I have retired and actually have the time now.

What is bothering you is more the relentless merry go round of small children mess.

Yes x 1000!!! 3 Big dogs, preschooler and DP! It never ends!!!! It's would seem no one cares but me however!!
Roll on the summer when washing can be dried in a few hours on the line and no dog related mud!!
We are also slowly renovating so always some sort of mess in that regard!!
Cleaned the bathroom yesterday then DP and DFinlaw came and fitted the new bathroom window 🤪

Yes drives me crazy. We have a cleaner so house is clean. But we have cr*p everywhere I looked. Like shoes. Or keys. Or letters. I can’t seem to keep on top of it.

Yes. Mine.

I feel like I’m drowning in a sea of crap, the moment I get rid of clutter more just appears.

We’ve just had a baby and my sister very thoughtfully sent me a box full of things I simply will not use - 3 premade formula bottles (I’m breastfeeding), sterilising tablets (we have a steam steriliser for dummies and my pump), that sort of thing. We got about 10 bunches of flowers which after a few days needed to be cut up and go in the bin which took ages. He is a big baby so none of the newborn stuff fits him, that all needs to find homes. Everything seems to arrive in mountains of packaging. DD’s old clothes are in a bin bag waiting to go to a charity shop. We have a million board games stacked on the shelves in our lounge that we never play but DH refuses to get rid of them.

drowning. in. clutter.

Mines not so much clutter but actual dirt! Dusted and hoovered kids bedrooms on Tuesday, gone in today and dust is soo thick you can write your name in it! Where does it keep coming from!!! And constantly mud and bits on the floor, even if no one has been outside! Absolutely sick of cleaning!!

O yes I feel like a hamster 🐹 on his wheel, I have been on it for nearly forty years. Never stop clean washing and cooking . Remember my Nana say a woman’s work is never done well it’s not , and that’s with washing machine, dishwasher, great hoovers, and all the other stuff to help. It’s my own fault I have high bloody standards , have managed to get dh to do most of the cooking, but I still end up cleaning up. Thankfully he does all the gardening.

Im old enough to remember my Nana’s houses when I was little, washing done I’m a tub, obviously no dishwasher, tumbler dryer, she also managed to do loads of home baking with no electric mixer. Great homemade British food every day (steam puddings and savoury pies) roast dinners , so compared to the amount of work she did I’m a light weight.

I think one of the problems with modern homes is that we have to much stuff. Having a very big clear out and declutter really helps.

Mine. I think I almost accept it.

I hear ya. There's 7 of us here so always someone here, I'm quite minimalist and everything has to have a home but we still get mess.

Over the past few months I had many people call here and the house wasn't great, I actually got fed up with myself especially when one of my sister's called in and the place was so untidy so I gave it a scrub top to bottom and of course no one called the whole time it was perfect, the one day I left it and went shopping and dds therapist called and was waiting at the door for me when I got home, I was so fucking embarrassed, I could see her eyes burning into the piles of shite around. It builds up fast with so many of us.

To make matters worse my youngest disabled dd has decided that she hates all hoovers and has serious melt downs, she use to dislike them before and you would get something thrown at you when the hoover came out so I'd only do it the hours she's in school, so that means any afternoon and weekend mess has to be left or I use a sweeping brush and they're fucking mental as they never sweep up good and takes ages.

No not at all but I am always tidying, cleaning and decluttering. Every spare minute. So not sure if that is better? I can have mess and dirt and untidiness as it makes me feel so stressed.

I was just thinking today how relentless the “gathering of stuff” is. I only have one child and a partner, but all of us seem incapable of consistently putting things away, so there are always piles of stuff. It only seems to really bother me, so every few weeks I blitz the kitchen table or my child’s room to get it looking neat. Within two days you’d never known I’d done anything. I shall probably miss it when my child leaves home/gets too old to be constantly crafting.

Oh this was me when we had our newborn too!! Gifts kept arriving in boxes and our recycling pile was out of control but getting the cardboard out into the recycling box never made it to the top of our to do list!!

DC’s nursery floor was a sea of clothes, books and toys we’d kindly been sent but had no time to put away

Can confirm that my DC is now 6 months and the recycling, gifts and initial clutter we received when she was born has all been sorted!! Hope that makes you feel better 🤣

It sounds like you have too much stuff? Do you think you need to Declutter?

Watch Joshua Becker on YT for ideas and inspiration. It’s life ch.

No. I have never been one for clutter. I don’t keep things “just in case”. In my hall i have storage and shoes and coats are kept out of sight.

tea/coffee/sugar etc are in the cupboard. I don’t get this taking stuff put of one jar and putting it out to be shown in another jar. All i have out are the air fryer, (micro in the utility), toaster, kettle and the little egg house. Every thing else is out of sight.

start with one room. Make a list of things you beed storage wise before tackling it

No not really.
I grew up in mess ( proper mess and full on hoarding). So it stresses me out.

I just don’t have half the stuff to make the clutter now in own house. Ie kitchen aides are completely empty when tidy, kettle and toaster live in breakfast cupboard I had built, and I don’t own or other machines are small like a nutribullet and live in cupboards.
Stuff like clothes dryers I bought one that fits behind office door on half open so I can dry indoors when wet and not see it.
without clutter, it’s easy to keep clean.

You live in your house though. Of course it's 'lived in'. The only way to prevent this is to stop people using the kitchen so much etc. which I'm sure you wouln't want to do. This is just life.

Yeh. My house is a pit. My life is working, cooking, cleaning. I spent so many hours cleaning and tidying and my house is still a pit.

I regularly feel really really shit about it 😞

Yes. Two teens in a small 3 bed. No attic or garage and teen DD who has MH issues and makes a mess everywhere. We're quite outdoorsy too so have an awful lot of coats and trainers. When DD was away with the school last year it was amazing how much tidier I got the house.

Yea our house is always a mess too. It's cluttered and I've run out of places to store everything!

I had a good declutter and sort out last month, but even so there are items out on worktops, seeds in plants growing inside (no greenhouse), coats hanging off bannister, things to go to charity/skip in dining room. House isn't obviously dirty, but I know what needs doing. Luckily DH is about enjoying life, so unless it's absolutely filthy he's not bothered (I'm around a lot more so do most of household jobs).

When it comes down to it, its a home not a show palace. I've got seven friends and only one of them has a cleaner/tidier home, the others are similar to ours.

Yes. We do have a cleaner but it feels like the surface is only scratched, to be honest. I go on maternity leave in a few weeks; hoping to really organise everything then.