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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Am I a dirt bag??

40 replies

xkatyx · 30/03/2012 10:39

my lovely mum has come over to help clean up today because I have a tummy bug (been up all night getting sick)
All 5 kiddies are also not well ages 9,6,1,14 weeks twins.
The last week it's Been tummy bugs colds and coughs.
So my mum comes over this morning to lend a helping hand but instead telling me how dirty I am, I must admit since the twins have been born things have been slack towards the major clean I.e skirting boards, windows etc, but everyday the bathrooms and toilets all get bleached, and everywhere gets wiped hovered washed everyday!!!

I'm feel awful today as it is and then being told I should do all those jobs at night when Kids are in bed :( I don't finish till gone 9 at night as it is and then exhausted ready for bed for the night feeds.

Should I do more am I a dirt bag!??

OP posts:
BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 30/03/2012 10:42

Come on!!! Seriously, who wants to clean their friggin skirting boards at 10pm!! Course you're not a dirt bag, you sound like you do a jod job so ignore your mum....I'm sure as us kids get older our parents forget how hard it is and on come the rose coloured spectacles to their parenting/household skills!

puds11 · 30/03/2012 10:42

im a dirt bag and only have one child Blush
so i have no excuse

StripyMagicDragon · 30/03/2012 10:43

If your house isn't radioactive or cordoned off as a public health hazard, then you're fine.
You have 5 children, two of which are only 3 months! Don't be hard on yourself, it's a lot to do. Now go and rest as much as possible!

valiumredhead · 30/03/2012 10:44

I pay my ds to clean the skirting boards - it's his favourite job!

LentillyFart · 30/03/2012 10:44

Skirting boards get cleaned? This is news to me!

Embrace your inner dirtbag - you'll feel so much better for it!

Original poster
xkatyx · 30/03/2012 10:45

I honestly don't stop all day it's constantly go go go!!! If someone offered to have all 5 children so I could just get in and do all that then great!! But no one will.

I am now bring moaned ay because I put all my 1 years old stuff in bags so they go to the twins in few months! Saying why are all these bags everywhere ahhhhhh there in a wardrobe organized!!

OP posts:
HellonHeels · 30/03/2012 10:45

Skirting boards and windows?! WTAF?

You have five children to care for - I bow down to you. I have no children and have not attended to my skirting boards for some years time. These are minor things and they do not matter.

WorraLiberty · 30/03/2012 10:45

Believe me, when your kids are all grown up...you won't look back on their childhoods and think "I wish I spent more time cleaning my skirting boards"

As long as it's livable, it's no-one's business.

Hassled · 30/03/2012 10:46

Has your mum ever had 5 kids including twins?
Ignore her - and get well soon.

takeonboard · 30/03/2012 10:48

I do the same as you and I have 1 child Blush I think you are doing brilliantly, her comments are not helpful at all.
Lots of people say I am a clean freak, I feel like such a cheat - I am obsessively tidy and polish shiny things until they gleam but the skirting boards, windows, inside cupboards are filthy and no one notices!

Original poster
xkatyx · 30/03/2012 10:48

Other than my apparent skirting boards everywhere is clean, everywhere gets scrubbed every morning then after kids in bed I wipe over everywhere and Hoover ready for next day, I feel awful today as it Is and to be getting told off like a 5 year old isn't making me or kids feel any better :(

OP posts:
FondleWithCare · 30/03/2012 10:50

Well you do more than me and I only have one baby. You really clean your toilet and bathroom every day? And hoover every day? You should become more of a dirtbag, it's much more relaxing.

TheBigJessie · 30/03/2012 10:51

Keep going to bed at nine pm. Try and keep the house hygienic- you know, clean kitchen, no rotting food on the floor. But this is no time to stay up cleaning to your mother's standards!

Do not run yourself into the ground, for window cleaning!

TheBigJessie · 30/03/2012 10:53

When my twins were three months, I think considered washing up, and the laundry to be enough housework.

My MIL didn't. So she did it. Because she's considerate, and she could quite well see that the reason I wasn't doing more, was because I didn't have the time!

Original poster
xkatyx · 30/03/2012 10:55

Yes with 2 older ones and a 1 year old I need to follow them with the hoover because she will eat anything on the floor (she is the dirt bag :) )

I feel really upset as I feel unappreciated as it is, she knows how much I do every day the amount of cleaning I do motto mention the washing .. God she is pulling sheets off my bed whilst I lay on them!!!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
xkatyx · 30/03/2012 10:56

Gosh my spelling is awful today

OP posts:
IAmBooyhoo · 30/03/2012 10:57

you are not a dirt bag. you are an ill mother of 5 young and ill children your mother needs to have a word with herself.

LunaticFringe · 30/03/2012 11:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

switchtvoffdosomelessboring · 30/03/2012 11:08

My twins are nearly 3 and I've still not got round to cleaning the skirting boards or washing windows.

Hopefully I might manage it before they start high school.

Original poster
xkatyx · 30/03/2012 11:13

I have been thrown out of bed now!!! Just feeding twins then I'm going back to bed!

Thank u all, was feeling pretty useless before

OP posts:
WibblyBibble · 30/03/2012 11:15

I've never cleaned my skirting boards. I only have two kids, neither currently ill or disabled. Your mum is more mental than a ferret.

Quenelle · 30/03/2012 11:16

Send your mum home if she's just going to make you feel bad. You can do without that sort of 'help'.

Hope you all feel better soon.

hathorinareddress · 30/03/2012 11:18

Send your mum round here.

DedalusDigglesPocketWatch · 30/03/2012 11:19

I pay my 4yr old in smarties to wipe surfaces (fronts of cupboards, sticky fingerprints off walls/stairgates etc) it is not perfect but I doubt it would get done otherwise. I only have 2dcs btw and am a bit of a lazy slattern :o

TheLaminator · 30/03/2012 11:19

I usually clean the skirting boards with babywipes when im sat on the floor playing, but certainly not at 10pm!! The windows have never been cleaned & ive only got two kids.
As someone suggested earlier "embrace the inner dirtbag" :)