to think that you can either have a clean, tidy and uncluttered house OR happy children but not both?

[GreenTeapot]

Or can you manage both? How do you do it?

Christ does anyone actually enjoy playing?!
Hats off to the organised tidy ones on this thread..am going to take some pointers from you and set up some tidy systems in this house...it's training the rest fo the family to do it that'sthe problem

dreaming yes my gran was a laundry slattern. She would make me wear the same shirt all week, I used to hate it so much I usedto get up in the middle of the night, wash the shirt in silence in the bathroom sink, and then iron the thing dry. Had to do secret hairwashing as well as my gran was too tight to put the immersion on for a bath more than once a week.

I think it is very important to have a wash every day, and to wear clean clothes. Children are mighty cruel when they pick on unwashed kids for being 'fleabags'.

'Also, our DDs never have to stress about whether they have clean PE kits, clean underwear, clean uniform. They know exactly where to find paper for drawing, their school books, their recorders, the trainers. So, it's all pretty stress free.'

This is basically the opposite of what I grew up with! It kind of sucked, the chaos and stress and then in the end you had to wear your stinky PE outfit anyway and dread all morning the teasing you would be taking.

I'm pretty merciless about laundry these days.

My house is clean (thanks to the cleaner) and tidy (thanks to me) and my kids don't seem to sob themselves to sleep at night

Does anyone remember that poem posted here, years back? It was about this exact subject...

Our problem is we don't have much space or storage - I have three kids in a two bed flat.

And actually it isn't that untidy, it would be impossible to live here if it was, but my mum never really worried about mess and her mother was a single parent with two jobs and no time for cleaning so mum never got the 'cleaning' thing and I was used to washing up in the sink, clothes on the floor and a hob that could walk off by itself.

It's funny, MIL automatically cleans as she goes - she will cook for 12 people every week, and all the washing up is in the dishwasher (rinsed first, natch) pots washed and put away in seconds. Sadly this never rubbed off on DP.

I would leave it til the next day. I am a slattern aren't I.

By the way, I don't think it really matters to kids - unless you are the living in squalor.

As a child my house was spotless. Until mum hit the menopause, discovered watercolour and forgot about housework. I didn't like it so I took over where she left off and became obsessive about it. People wanted to share with me at university because they knew that once a week I'd clean the flat like a mad hoovering scrubbing machine when the communal filth got too great. Then I moved in with DH who has a grime and chaos filter and over the years, after endless arguments and minor improvements on his part, I have had to adjust my standards or go quietly mad. And I have 3 DC who have inherited his Special Powers, allied to the ability to cause instant chaos, to the extent that I call DS2 Mr Entropy.

So now I clean the house on a Monday to the best of my ability. The rest of the time we get by through a combination of nagging the DC, nagging DH, and emergency shock cleaning. It's not ideal and I still feel ansty when it's really messy but we get by.

My friend is an "artiste" and her house is quite quite indescribable with her projects (never mind the dcs) all over the house. I love her very dearly and she fulfils the messy part of me so I don't have to do it, but you should hear her poor dd begging to live like a "normal" family.

It took me a day to clean out the girls room yesterday. I did that and the hall cupboard and came away with two black bin liners of broken toys, rubbish etc

Welcome! But don't expect to find,
dishes done, floors ashine...

Orm - when I met dp I thought he had had a party, but his house always looked like that. I tried over the years to do the compromise thing, but in the end I got the bullwhip out and said it's got to be my way and that's the end of it and trained and indoctrinated him until he understood.

"sallystrawberry Fri 31-Dec-04 00:03:51
Juniperdewdrop showed me this poem ages ago, it is my mantra Ive printed it and stuck it on my pantry door

COME IN BUT DON'T EXPECT TO FIND
ALL DISHES DONE, ALL FLOORS ASHINE.
OBSERVE THE CRUMPLED RUG, THE TOYS GALORE
THE SMUDGY FINGER-PRINTED DOOR
THE LITTLE ONES WE SHELTER HERE,
DON'T THRIVE ON SPOTLESS ATMOSPHERE.
THEY'RE MORE INCLINED TO DISARRAY
AND CARE FREE, EVEN MESSY PLAY
THEIR NEEDS ARE GREAT, THEIR PATIENCE SMALL.
ALL DAY LONG I'M AT THEIR BECK AND CALL.
IT'S "MOMMY COME! MOMMY SEE!"
WIGGLY WORMS AND RED-SCRAPED KNEES,
PAINTED PICTURES, BLOCKS PILED HIGH
MY FLOORS UNSHINED, THE DAYS GO BY.
SOME FUTURE DAY THEY'LL FLEE THIS NEST,
AND I AT LAST, WILL HAVE MY REST
AND WHAT REALLY MATTERS MORE?
A HAPPY CHILD OR A POLISHED FLOOR?
(author unknown)"

That's quite revolting, Bast.

I feel sick

GetOrf I got called 'dirtbag' -- close enough!

Also, apparently I smelled like 'stinky feet'

(thank god I figured out how to clean up before kids got really nasty!)

You see, i get the sentiment but I can';t stand these fridge-magnet poems.

Yesterday I cleaned the girl's room only to fin the two year old had scribbled over my lovely bl;ue-linen armchair. I am just rubbish

Really Hully? You don't want a personalised copy then?

What was that IKEA storage system people were recommending recently over Trofast? Can't recall the thread, but suspect people here might know what I mean.

Why do people leave pens in reach of dc? Never understood that.

Norman, granted, fridge magnets are unnecessary mess.

It's because it keeps them quiet