Is everyone's kitchen as hectic as mine? (Photo)

[harlacem0507]

A little bit outing but I wanted to know if people can relate to this hectic kitchen of mine! It gets cleaned and tidied every day but most things I can't seem to store anywhere as have very little storage in my house, but honestly, does this kitchen seem 'normal' or very unorganized, messy, chaotic etc? Because I'm not sure if I'm being overly critical to myself for having a kitchen like this or I do in fact need to seriously organise it better! (The white blob is my son!) For context I have a husband and 3 children aged 13, 7 and 15 months and work part time.

I understand if that's the mess just as you've finished getting a meal ready for the family (although I'm the "clean/tidy as you go" type), but none of that looks like it would take long to tidy away. There needs to be a place for everything and it should go back to that place when you've finished with it. This includes the bike which absolutely shouldn't be in the kitchen. Why don't you buy something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zettum-Bike-Cover-Bikes-Stationary/dp/B0CFF8T2QR/ref=asc_df_B0CFF8T2QR?mcid=94bb003222bc3af6b2ecd5662dc57695&hvocijid=4665224904472950085-B0CFF8T2QR-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4665224904472950085&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045740&hvtargid=pla-2281435178298&gad_source=1&th=1 and leave the bike outside the back door? It would take no time at all to unzip the cover in the morning and not much more time to put it back under the cover in the afternoon. 😊

All these mumsnetters with "anxiety" at even the thought of mess/clutter.

😂😂😂

I like your kitchen OP. Yes it's messy and I'd get a tumble drier rather than having wet clothes hanging on a drier but it's fine. Life's too short to be constantly cleaning on repeat like Groundhog Day.

OP yes of course, very normal.

I’m not a tidy freak but could never live in a home that chaotic. Even when kids were younger I never had a kitchen looking like that. Sorry. You need to tidy up and get a place for everything. Also under no circumstances does a bike live in a kitchen or an airer of clothes. Clothes areas need to be tucked away not where visitors can see and trip over.

It's completely fine and means you have your priorities right as someone with three kids.

If you aren't happy with it, set your husband on it, it doesn't need to be you.

But it's completely normal unless you are there cleaning and tidying all.day like a slave.

I know, right?

@harlacem0507 It looks like a typical family kitchen to me.

I also have the airer in the kitchen as there’s nowhere else to put it. I don’t use tumble dryers, as some PPs have suggested, as it uses so much energy and so bad for the environment. Our laundry goes on the line most of the year, even in winter when not raining. I’m quite particular about laundry and much prefer line-dried clothes and makes them last longer.

As for the other ‘mess’ it’s only surface stuff, rather than some huge hoard.

Personally, I prefer homes that look lived in. Can’t bear the ‘show home’ look and kitchens with nothing on the worktops. Looks so soulless to me. Our kitchen table is used for every meal, though. Can’t bear eating on laps on front of a tv. But to each her own.

Honestly, I was expecting far worse. It looks like a slightly cluttered kitchen at the end of a busy day. After a 5 minute tidy round it would be back to 'normal'. It would stress me out (ours is often like that...it is bigger but a work in progress, we rund a business from home etc) but after a quick tidy round would be right as rain.

With kids/baby, if you tidy it all away it's all going to return to the same state in an hour or two. So it's lovely as is..

@WildCats24 I'm with you 100©

%

Where do you all sit to eat?
when you empty a bottle or box, take it straight away to your recycling bin, wipe down the surfaces as they get used!
Coats and shoes put away as soon as they’re removed, clothes put away as soon as they’re washed, dried & ironed!
its so much easier to do everything as you go along

children need to get into a routine to tidy as they go too!

Is your house smallhence everyone congregates and dumps stuff in the kitchen? I could not live like thay and I work full time with two small children

I only get mine to your tidy photo once every month or so- but table is clear to eat and everything clean every day. Still looks like your “bad picture” every night. Luckily no bike in the kitchen but I keep finding tools in the kitchen and I store them in a jar until I dump them in the garage once a month when I clear all the clutter from that part.

I’m too exhausted by the time my kids are in bed to get it perfect.

No mine doesn’t look that like. I have 3 children younger than yours but we do have storage.

Who cares? Its your kitchen and if you're ok with it then so what? Youve got 3 kids and a busy life, people cant expect it to look like something out of Homes and Gardens. It wouldnt take long to tidy up but, by the same token, it doesnt take long for it to become hectic either.

It would be too much for me (have a 4 and 1 yo and pregnant) but I’m a SAHM and appreciate I have more time than you. Also husband would complain

I can sit in mess no problem, honestly my standards are low especially in my menopausal "can't be bothered" state of mind (I wouldn't want anyone but me and DH to use our bathroom at the moment for example), but in a kitchen, no, that is a step too far. Especially with a baby that age who tend to pull at things as they're crawling or toddling round. Accidents waiting to happen. Bike pulled down on them or anything from the mountain of stuff on the dining table.

As for hygiene, unless that clutter has built up in the space of a few hours, how are you keeping those surfaces clean, especially with a cat in the house?

Leave the dining table clear all the time, that's my motto. We use it for eating at, and then occasionally if I need workspace for eg sorting paperwork etc. but only while I'm working on it. I would never just use it as a surface to put non-food stuff on as then it just becomes "the table of doom".

I would never dry clothes in a kitchen either as they'd just end up smelling of cooking smells - yeuch.

My kitchen looks liek this afternoon I've been cooking, I'm a very messy cook.
However I try to clean it up straight away. I have young dc so can't always get to it straight away as my dh isn't home until very late so I want to spend time with my children after I've been cooking but I do clean it.
I would love to post a pic but I'd be recognised because my whole family is on here!

We've got one of these in our dining room

@CurlyhairedAssassin I'm post meno but get symptoms. I can't bear a dirty bathroom.

My kitchen sometimes looks like this by the end of the day just before and after dinner time. My husband and/or I will usually quickly chuck stuff in the dishwasher right after dinner then one of us will do a properly clean and tidy once the kids are in bed. This looks normal to me in that it looks like it’s been lived in and used on and off all day by you and young children, though obviously (as you said op) I’d never leave it looking like this for the next day.

It looks the opposite of homely.. I'm not a fan of the immaculate minimalist look either, it looks cold and uninviting to me. But when there's not even anywhere to sit down or somewhere to plonk my cuppa if I come over then.....I don't wanna come over. Or I'd have to go in another room, at least.

Can’t imagine what those clothes smell like.
It’s a combination of too many people who can’t be arsed to dump/ put stuff away.😱

I can't remember who asked if it was a small house, probably is to some but big to others, it's a standard 3 bed semi but with terrible storage (here is a pic of the floorplan I had saved, and yes I know it looks bonkers because it's a corner plot)

The bike is going outside, after seeing all these comments I know a few have said it's ok but majority are very shocked so it's what I needed..the clothes have been out away and I washed up after dinner today which is not something I normally do I always do it in the morning but as someone said how lovely it would be to come downstairs to a clean kitchen! As for the cat he is a law unto himself I can't really help him jumping on the table (ironically he only does this when it's clear of clutter!)

Oh dear that's definitely not what I wanted to hear!