to feel it's impossible..

[girlwiththecherrytattoo]

to keep my house even semi tidy.

There are 6 of us, me DH and 4 dds, youngest is 7m. DH works full time.

I just find it impossible to keep the house the way I want it, it's just minging the whole time.

The laundry baskets are constantly overflowing, there is always wet washing to be hung out or dry stuff to be taken in, or stuff to be taken in when it starts raining. I have ordered a tumbledryer so hopefully that will help. There are clothes at the bottom of the laundry baskets that have possibly been there for 6 months plus.

Smelly cat's litter tray always needs cleaned, disinfected as she has diarrhoea, her food area needs wiped and cleaned. Cupboard needs swept of litter crystals and cat biscuits daily.

Kid's rooms I leave mainly to them but do need to hoover in there sometimes.

Bathroom needs cleaned of toothpastey sink and dirt rings round bath seemingly constantly.

Garden just depresses me, full of weeds everywhere, DH works so don't like to nag him.

Clutter everywhere. A letting agent came round to view our property as we are moving to larger flat and just seeing it through his eyes - messy, dirty, and that's with me trying really hard. I tidy one room and half a day later it's disgusting again. I have a lie in and it's not worth it as they all make such a mess, then I'm a bad tempered witch for complaining.

I'm not obsessive, just would like basic cleanliness, I understand a house needs to be lived in and I don't want a museum, but clean surfaces, floors ,dishes,an absence of smell -that's all I want, but I feel like it would take two people working full time on the upkeep of the house to achieve it.

Does anyone else find it this much of a struggle?

in a word,

YES!!!

Well no, my flat is always perfect not really, it's acceptable (to me) but there are only four of us plus two goldfish who don't really add to the mess! I've trained taught the DDs to pick up their own toys and put them away, that's what made the difference. Before that every room was always a sea of toys lol

tumble dryer helped me massively. everything gets tumbledried, except underwired bras, and swimsuits and footie shirts. it may mean a bigger electricity bill, but my sanity is worth that.

get rid of the cat. (but then i am not a pet person, never had one, and whilst i would like one, i have always assumed that it would be similar responsibility to an extra child, so stay far far away from them)

i switched to tooth paste pumps many many moons ago, as less mess

garden, if you cant pay a gardener, and you cant do it either and dh/dc cant do it, then you will have to learn to ignore it.

clutter? get rid of stuff. kids dont need about 98% of the tat they have.

smell? try eating only in the kitchen/dining area and stick to it. its much easier to keep a place clean if you dont have to be vacuuming up crumbs.

also, spend as much time out of the house as you can. the less time you are in the house, the less time you ahve to mess it. also, what i have found, is not to bother wastingtime ironing clothes.

Yep. Absolutely every single one of the issues you mention, except our cats prefer the garden to a litter tray. All the same, their hair gets EVERYWHERE and is a bugger to get off the curtains etc.

Very difficult, as I work from home, so while I'm on top of hygiene and try to clean 'as I go', the clutter multiplies rapidly as soon as I take my eye off things, making the sweeping and wiping more difficult.

DH went through a burst of enthusiasm for the garden a few years aback, but that's long past now. Sigh. Lawn is tidy, but patio v weedy and the slabs are light brown instead of cream now.

It's not bad on the Kim&Aggie scale, but I do feel stressed when dc invite friends round, and I know their homes are spotless .

Also, would like to move in a couple of years, and I just stare in awe at the show-home style photos of perfectly ordinary properties on rightmove etc. I would have no idea how to get my house like that.

Totally agree on decluttering, the less stuff you have then the less there is to tidy up

Fold dry washing as soon as you take it in and any that doesnt need ironing needs to go away straight away. Same with the tumble dryer, once its out then fold and put away.

Longer term, could the garden be paved or decked and then just have some nice pots? Saves time spent on cutting the grass / weeding etc?

Look at the storag you have in each room, often it seems messy because there isn't adequate storage.

Also how about challenging each kid to fill a couple of boxes of stuff each that they can sell at a car boot sale, with profits made going towards a nice day out?