Is your house like a show house all the time?

[amialazycow]

So I'm sitting here in my living room, I'm not long in from work and the place is so untidy. I'm fed up of being the only one that does anything so I'm just sitting down and having a cup of tea. There's just bits of shit every where. I mean it's not completely horrific but it's just not how I want it to be and I'd die if I had unexpected visitors.

Is this how it generally is in most homes when people are chilling or are people tidier than my family?

@Albioncreed how does a SAHP do that with pre-school age kids? I find my house is tidier since working full time from home, the kids aren’t around to make mess and I can have a tidy on my lunch break. During my mat leaves I just spent my time trying to entertain/comfort the kids, there wasn’t time for cleaning. Both of mine wanted to be cuddled constantly or they screamed

My home is minimalistic as otherwise it really would descend into madness with busy jobs and loads of messy children. I keep "things" to a minimum.

However, despite this it probably goes in cycles of being OK then really messy then OK etc etc.

We had unexpected guests at the weekend. We have a very long dining table and had a takeaway at one end of the table while there was clean laundry folder up at the other end including pants and socks ( although they weren't really visable)

They were unexpected guests so what do they expect!

Diningroom (where I have sofas as well as table etc, so often sit in there with visitors or to read) always clean and tidy. Downstairs loo kept respectably clean. Kitchen always cleared of washing up. Apart from that it's mayhem. My Nana always had a 'parlour' that was kept child free and always tidy for visitors and I sort of operate on that principle - if someone turns up I can make them a coffee without them fearing they will contract some sort of disease, they have a pleasant place to sit and a loo they can use without catching dysentery.

If by ‘show home’ you mean one of those weird advertising houses designed to make you buy a new build, which are furnished with deliberately undersized items to make the rooms look less cramped, and look like someone just bought the Next home catalogue, no.

If you mean, is it tidy, but has an artfully arranged bowl of long-life fruit on otherwise empty kitchen worktops, still no.

I must more uptight about tidiness than I thought, because I am a bit shocked by the descriptions on this thread of empty food wrappers and yoghurt pots etc left lying around. I wouldn't be able to relax if there was actual food litter scattered about and would have to put it all in the bin before I did anything else. Aren't people worried about mice?

Horror show here. Within a 2m radius of me right now:
-2 tubs half full of stuff to donate

• a partially constructed paper chain on floor
• some scattered shoes, socks, school bags and jumpers
• bits of halloween costume
• a foam minecraft sword
• PlayStation controllers /cords etc strewn on sofa
• a very dusty cat (alive, asleep, not at all bothered about grooming his own fur) and
• a shelf that's supposed to just hold keys but also has eczema cream tubes, a random assortment of stationery and school notes, 3 disintegrating craft projects, various bits of lego, and a jar with several teeth in that the tooth fairy should have tidied up earlier.

The rest of the house has a similar theme. I'm having tea too as a coping mechanism. Also biscuits.

My partner says I expect to live in a show home all the time but I disagree- I think people have different levels of this is a shit hole. To me, my house is awful if the floors are unhoovered and the bathroom hasn't been deep cleaned once a week. To him it's a shit hole if there's stuff everywhere. He doesn't see dirt, he sees mess. I don't mind mess because everything can be reset each evening, I see the dirt that needs cleaning.

Same

My mistake!!! I was actually meaning where the kids were school aged. I had convieniently forgotten about how much work toddlers are. Probably still scarred from it that I’ve blocked it from my mind!

apart From mat leave I’ve always worked at least 4 days a week. And I remember when DS was smaller, my day off work was the hardest day of the week!

And yes! My son always wanted cuddles all the time when we were at home

Not a show home no but it is clean and tidy and everything has its place. I have a couple of friends who have homes that are immaculate -to the extent it looks like no one actually lives there. There isn’t even a kettle and toaster sat on the kitchen worktops.

I don't have a toaster on worktop either. It's rarely used so It goes in the cupboard. I have a quooker so no kettle. I love a clean clear worktop

No.
It doesn’t smell like one either. We have a dog and a 11 year old that stashes Quavers wrappers under his bed (thankfully not the worst thing to cause a cheesy smell).

Yes it's is it's good for my mental health.

No.

No matter what corner I neatly arrange the kids mountain of tat into still does not improve the Feng Shui.

Haha! No.

That's me ^^ I live alone, am not well, have no real life, am a freak maybe but not a control one.

It used to be. I had tons of energy. And just one child! Now not so much! I hate it looking mucky. But I can't do it anymore.

Mine is tidy the night before the cleaner comes (joint effort: me, dh and ds for 30 minutes or so once a fortnight) and for about 6 hours after she's been