To just wish that one day, it would all come to an end?

[SpaghettiTwirlerAndProud]

All the washing, the dirty pots, the housework. Why does it never end? You finish it all, then it all needs doing again! What's the bloody point?

I just want it all to be done and that's that.

Is it really that unreasonable? My house seems to think so :(

About 18 months ago I was on the cusp of laundry equilibrium. DC1 was almost potty-trained, no accidents to wash up, and DH had given up rugby, so I didn't even have his muddy kit to deal with every bastard week.

Then I went and had DC2, who is on a one-baby mission to spread food and bodily fluids all over himself as much and as often as possible. Is ten explosive dirty nappies a day normal? I don't think it is.

Oh Christ, he's just sneezed pudding all over my top, and the table, and himself.

YANBU

But think of this, if your house was pristine that would mean your Dcs had all left home!!!

And while we're at it - what's with the ENDLESS round of meals - prepare, cook, clean up and then as soon as it's all done with, there only seems to be about half an hour before it all starts again...

YANBU

You wouldn't fill in an application for a job that offered...

Operative required. Must be skilled in the use of hazardous chemicals. Must be prepared to lift and carry heavy items without any formal manual handling training. Must be prepared to deal with bio-waste. Must be prepared to provide nutritious meals three times per day. Must be skilled in logistics and transportation. The ability to keep calm under significant pressure will be an advantage. Preference given to candidates that can be in two places at the same time.

Remuneration: Below minimum wage - All bonuses will be paid in snotty kisses.

And here !

In laws have gone home today after a 3 week enforced stay . Now I don't mind , there was no way round it, but due to the circs at one point last weekend I had 15 people sleeping in the house . Have got 3 days off work, and all I can see is every single laundry basket (all 5 and the 2 laundry sorters ) full to the brim. Dh helps out every day with at least 2 loads , but I feel like king fucking Canute looking at the ever growing tide.

So far, I have done 5 loads today, and the pile looks no smaller . And one of the machines decided to start leaking . Great .

And. Don't even start me on catering for the masses .

Lol woolyback.

I feckin hate the drudgery, but when its really getting me down, I imagine when they've all gone and I'm alone and buy meals for one and a pint of milk lasts a week.
And then I have a little weep on one of the unmade beds and feel glad I've got them all to complain about. I still shout at them as soon as they get home and dump bags/coats/shoes all over.

Maddening and never-ending though it is, I'm with thebody and mayaswell. It's bedlam here but when I go to see my parents it's just so clean and neat and sort of sterile it makes me sad to think that might happen to my house one day. knowing slummy self imagine it won't

URNBU OP just how i feel though washing doesn't worry me, love hanging out washing on the line and do only minimal ironing these days but yes the rest is so tedious and never ending. I wish i could be more laid back about chores and untidiness!

DD is only 10mo, so 17 years left :( The dog is 5 and a greyhound so probably will live another 10 years , and DP is 23 next week so I'm stuck with him for a few more years yet will I ever have a clean and tidy home?

I have a friend and every time I have been to her house, it is spotless with not a thing out of place, even when I've just popped in for 5 mins so not expected. Beginning to think she's an alien or summat, it's just freaky thigh 8'm sort of jealous as I scan my messy hovel.

I finally got to the bottom of my ironing basket last week and found a short-sleeved summer t-shirt size 2-3 years. DS2 is 5 1/2

I am also of the opinion that dush helps build a child's immune system :o

dust not dush

wine :o

Gawd, the thought of the nest being empty makes me very nervous.

Woollyback

I know how you feel so much we could be two halves of the same brain, so, in my opinion YANBU.

I would like to find a square metre of my house that is not filled with the following:-

crumbs
spilt liquid
scraps of paper (usually DHs)
drawings (on scraps of paper -DCs)
magazines (strewn willy nilly)
dirty clothes
toys
books
school bags (only 2 DCs, so how come 20 bags in hall)
trainers
socks
bottles of juice
receipts
hay/woodchip (from pets, gets stuck on socks and carried EVERYWHERE)
TV remotes ( one TV, how come 8 remotes?)

And the list goes on, honestly, if I do find that clutter free bit I'm going take a picture of it and entitle it 'Sanity'

I don't cook for me at all. One job less. Dc have hot meals at school/ nursery 3 times a week and i fill up the slow cooker with something yummy on Tuesdays which can be rehashed several times.. (dh is away a lot, but gets fed a proper meal when he is home).
Bloody washing tho', can't keep up and if i do manage by some miracle to empty the basket, i find the festering pile in the bottom of ds1's cupboard and/or dh comes home with a suitcase full (and I find his festering gym kit in a bag somewhere else). If someone can tell me why 3yo dd can manage to work out that dirty clothes go in laundry basket, and put them there (and even get wet ones from wee accidents straight to the washing machine without prompting), but 6yo DS and Dh definitely old enough to know better still leave their dirties festooned randomly round the house, i would be glad to know.
And breathe. Sorry.

Oh and on the rare occasion dh puts some of the clean laundry away, i have to go round afterwards and reallocate everything to the correct drawer. I do NOT understand why it is hard to tell my knickers from dd's FFS (she is 3!!!). Let alone the odd socks "paired" up and everyone's t shirts in the wrong place. Oh dear. Sorry OP you seem to have hit a raw nerve..

Feel EXACTLY the same!

Clean sporadically, dh cooks, ds away, iron what I'm wearing in the morning, new washing machine with 15min wash cycle, dishwasher.....

....sorted.

Oh I feel your pain. I too get fed up with the groundhog day ness of it all. And I resent that it eats into time with my kids just playing or being. There is always something big to be done on top of the general housework too.

I've tried flylady on and off for years and when I'm flying it feels much less of a chore or at least structured so I sometimes feel that I have enough done for that day. But I work, and am a lone parent to 3 children and cant seem to fit flying in easily.

I can't help but think that the amount of time I waste on mumsnet distracts me from both housework and the kids but I think of it as my company, even though I am more of a lurker than a poster. (Rarely see other grown ups)

On a good day I feel less frustrated by imagining an empty nest, and also by remembering that I once had an immaculate show home despite having 3 children. It was just as hoonoo describes her friends house. I also had an EA partner who lost the plot if a thing was out of place despite the fact he never lifted a finger at home. Both these thoughts leave me relatively at peace with the endless stuff lying around and the endless routine....yes it might be messy at times but its home. Before it was only ever a house!