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.

The left hand side - the counters - yes, mine can get like that if everyone's home and the dishwasher is running. Stuff piles up on the surfaces. It's the right hand side - the bike and all the bits on the table that push it over the edge for me. Those are the bits that would just never 'live' in my kitchen.

My kitchen is similar Op. we have a Wattbike and golf clubs.

God, I couldn’t live like that. Glad you’ve tidied now!

From your first photo, storage doesn’t seem as much of an issue compared to laziness in the moment. Recycling (cans, bottles etc) doesn’t need to be left on the counter, it could be put into recycling bin. Tea towel could be hung up. Cereal box away. The lid hasn’t even been put back on the butter FFS!

Small changes as you all use things could keep on top of most of it.

You’re brave OP! My first thought is that you don’t need to waste that worktop/under counter space with a breakfast bar. Get rid of it and the stools and make everyone eat at the table. Then put some more cupboards in and use those to store the junk that ends up on the table.

That kitchen is nothing to do with not embracing minimalism 😂

It looks terrible but the issues are very quick fixes, why aren’t you doing them? Don’t you have a bin for cans and bottles? Why are sauces and empty pouches and tea towels strewn on the counter top? They all have places they belong so just return them there.

It would take 10 mins to clear the kitchen table and wipe everything down. It really doesn’t look ‘hectic’, it’s you choosing to just throw things down and leave them there.

Sorry no mine is very tidy, only a coffee maker/velvetiser and knife block on the side, has always been like this even when my daughter was small, i can't stand clutter (i blame my mum for collecting so many ornaments when i was young 😂),
I need to be tidy, everything is put away as soon as it's done with, pour cereal into bowl then back in the cupboard, toys/art bits away once finished with etc.
Sides are wiped down every evening (more often if there are spills) and floor hoovered and cleaned every other day almost.
1 child age 8 and we both work full time.

Excellent point and a quick way to gain more storage space by removing the bar stools

I can highly recommend looking at Flylady. I really wish I had known about her 25 years ago! Also Be More With Less is good.
Don't feel awful. Most of my friends at the time, and many households I visited as a cleaner/carer since then looked much the same, if not a lot worse!

On the upside, I think you could nail the bulk of that in 10 minutes. Bag up rubbish (2), put things away (2) fill dishwasher (3) wipe down counter tops (2) tell kid to put bike where it belongs (1)

Can't the bike go outside in a shed or something ? Put things in the bin/ recycling as you use it and you might have room on the sides for ceral etc. You don't need to feel ashamed because that .will fuel anxiety about it then you won't want to do anything.

I used to post pictures of my whole house being a complete tip on here it was awful. I done it to force myself to get it sorted and do an after picture for something to aim for. MN was absolutely lovely and really helped me. I did get a handful of not very nice posts . But on the whole people were lovely. I still post now and then about mess but no where near like I used to . And its much better now.

Your kitchen is a mess. But it looks worse than it actually is. You could easy get all that done in 30-40 mins . You did say you tidy the kitchen every day . So its not like it stays like that for days . Going in circles must make you feel a bit fed up though.

One of the things posters used to suggest was doing a bit at a time even if was 5-10 mins worth get as much done as you can. Them have a rest if you need and them do another 5-10 mins. Or you find yourself naturally doing a bit more without realising it.

You will be fine it's easy sorted. Hope your OK 💐

I'm absolutely furious with everyone involved with this kitchen I'm afraid.

Mine is worse but I'm on my own with a 3 year old and a 16 month old plus some pets. I can blitz it so it's spotless and it takes approximately 0.5 seconds to descend into chaos again 😂. I'm decluttering like mad!!!!

I love your kitchen.
It looks busy, homely and full of love and life.
Mine looked exactly the same when the DCs were younger.

Behind every immaculate house is a very dull woman.

That's a trip hazard waiting to happen
Have you/ can you put some storage in there?
Have you got a shed/ garage for the bike?
To be honest, even when I had 3 young boys and major depression in a small house, my kitchen didn't look like that
When you put kettle on sweep the counters and bin the rubbish on the counters. Baby in a bouncy chair or sling
Does it smell?
If you have a dishwasher put dirty stuff in there
Only handle things once is a good saying
Open post over the bin. Pick things up walk then put them away.
Put 10 minutes of music on and you'll be surprised what you can do.
It's just learning new habits

If you tidy it every day, I suspect you've taken that photo at one of the worst times when there's been a lot of traffic. We've got things on the work tops due to lack of storage, but keep the rest of worktops gets a tidy, clear and wipe over twice a day - if you took a photo just before that happened, ours wouldn't look great. Having said that pepsi cans would be cleared and cereal boxes put away before then, but we've all got different circumstances and lives. I know people who've got immaculately clean and tidy kitchens, others that are worse than that (and they generally don't seem to worry about it!)

Gorgeous cat!

Sorry no way 😅

To me it's fine, it's nothing that can't be sorted out in 10 mins.

Couldn't imagine leaving the butter out though - putting things back in the fridge take seconds to do, so I'd think it was unreasonable or weird if my husband or teenagers thought it was ok to do that

Mine is worse. Small, not enough room really for modern appliances, not enough storage, old. I can get it looking presentable but it can look like a bomb site half an hour later. It's depressing. And the bathroom is worse again.

Thanks so much for the advice and honest opinions! It didn't even occur to me to get rid of the stools, I mean it's more seating for everyone as there are 5 of us plus people in and out (kids friends, I do try a speed clean!) I don't have a tumble dryer and quite frankly wish I did as the airer/clothes get me down the most it's constant with the clothes.

Ugh the bike, I know! Well my OH doesn't want it in the garden as it'll get rusty, it can go in the shed but my son uses to go to school every day and I don't have the time to be rushing to go the shed each morning and night

I'll take a guess that OP is probably feeling overwhelmed, and doesn't always have mess. Lurches from chaotic to clean and back again, if she's anything like I used to be ( occasionally still am despite adult only home)
@harlacem0507 come and join us onour Daily Project thread 💐
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Mine looks terrible, but I'm mentally unwell at the moment

Kids' toys, washing on the airer - normal.

All the stuff on the worktops is making it look way worse than it is, like old Pepsi cans and empty plastic bottles and packets lying around. Even speaking as a dyspraxic chaos goblin, I don't think the crap lying around on the worktops etc is remotely difficult to put in the bin/recycling as you go along.

Your kitchen table is unusable with a bike against it and a load of junk piled on it. Either clear the stuff off it (my guess is most of it could go in the bin) and use it, or get rid of it altogether and replace it with storage space.