To ask you to tell me how you keep on top of all the housework! Please help :(

[AshamedAndNeedTips]

Have namechanged because I'm so embarrassed.

I have a 3 bedroom house, with 2 reception rooms and a large kitchen/diner. One bathroom upstairs. We have the children's toys in the main living room and have the dining table in there aswell, as the kitchen is really cold. I will be moving the table back into the kitchen this week to make more space.

I can't keep up with the housework. If I clean two rooms during the day, the others are left unclean. My children leave food and crumbs everywhere. I am constantly hoovering/cleaning/wiping after them. I can never do the WHOLE house in a day - my baby will cry or need feeding/nappy change. Then I'll get distracted and things get left.

Yesterday I bagged up one bin bag of clutter around 2 rooms. I have a pile of ironing in the spare room (about 5 loads of washing) that I don't get time to iron because I'm constantly cleaning the main living room and kitchen. Even then the kitchen is a mess ALL the time, because my Dad is living with me at the moment and he is constantly in there making food. He's ill and I can't expect him to do washing up aswell, and even when he does, he leaves food on all the plates, so I tell him to leave it. DH doesn't help. He works from 7am to 11pm 7 days a week (yes no lie).

I feel like I am constantly trying to clean but then get overwhelmed and I think I'm getting depressed, because I just slink into the bedroom when DS is asleep and stay on my phone trying to ignore the crap around me.

Before DS was born I gave the whole house a spring clean and tried to keep on top of the shit, but it's just got our of control again.

How do you keep on top of everything? How the hell do I keep everything clean when I have a crawling baby who is now crying for me every 2 mins.
DD goes back to school tomorrow. Please help me. I feel like I'm getting depressed in the mess.

I have a similar house and 2 small babies. I would stop all ironing immediately, if you hang things on the drier ok then they wont crease that much.
I also keep my lounge toy free and the dining room has now become more of a play room where I can shut the door to the mess. That way, I feel ok about my house if guests drop by.
I have loads of storage boxes/seats. Everything is slung in there (especially if there is a knock at the door!).
All washing once done is taken straight upstairs and put into peoples piles. Every spare min I get I might hang some up.
When Im bathing the kids I clean the bathroom at the same time or take washing in and fold it up.
I do the 15 minute clean of each room as well but only concentrate on the kitchen, bathroom and lounge. The bedrooms are only tackled at the weekend.
Buy a small handheld vacuum. I love mine. I hide it under the sofa and whip it out every time there are crumbs.

When they have their dinner they are kept in the high chair for as long as possible. I use this time to do the dishes and generally run around frantically cleaning. They get random bits of food chucked at them to bide me some time.

I try to get relatively straight at the end of the day so that it all doesnt build up on me.

You could do what my friend did - ask family for a cleaner for Christmas! They all chipped in enough to get someone for a couple of hours every fortnight. Made all the difference to keeping on top if the big jobs that prey on your mind.

And lower your standards! I'm genuinely amazed that there's anyone in the world with the time or inclination to Hoover the same bit of floor more than once a day!

That's not meant to be rude by the way, I'm totally in awe....

I work full time. DH works more than full time. We have two kids youngest 7 oldest 12.
4 bed roomed house. Etc.
We do not Hoover twice a day! We only iron what we are about to wear. We sort kitchen out on an evening after eating. I chuck some washing in once a day.We blitz lounge areas sat am and all the family does this! We give the house a thorough blitz in school hols.
People can take us as they find us. Every now and again I dream of a perfectly tidy house but then I remember that people with those types of houses have bugger all to do all day but clean!

I agree with some of the others - Lower your standards and don't think about doing everything all in one go.

Break it down into small amounts. take a break in between jobs. Use a timer and set it for 5 or 10 minutes or however long you can manage.

Think about safety first - clearing anything that your DC shouldn't get hold of or things you don't want them to get hold of.

Prioritise what must be done and do the other jobs later.

Write lists if you like that kind of thing, it can help declutter your mind.

You are welcome to join us www.mumsnet.com/Talk/good_housekeeping/1588165-Stepping-our-way-through-Autumn-old-and-new-steppers-welcome HERE if you would like to.

Wanted to try to help but I'm not the tidiest myself!

But one thing that sprang out from your op - don't let your children eat and wander. My dc are slowed to eat at the table only. Or on the sofa as a special treat if its something non crumby/chocolaty etc.

Join the weekly Flylady thread over on MSE.

JUST JUMP IN THEY ARE A LOVELY BUNCH

Marking my place to read later

I too, feel your pain, op. I have 4 dcs five and under. The youngest being nine months and she always wants to be held. I'm in a three floor, 4 bedder, two receptions and, annoyingly, four toilets. Not sure why there are four toilets??? I struggle at the housework thing but lurk on good housekeeping and pick up a lot there. My top tip is concentrate on keeping clean the rooms you spend the most time in. For us it is the ground floor - kitchen, dining and a small reception room. Hooks, storage both essential. No hallway here, so looks messier still. I haven't attempted fly lady, but have just picked up the tip of keeping the sink clean, and I try to extend that to the hob also. I am by no means perfect, but think the place does look a lot cleaner if floors and bench are clean. Also (and completely against what I think is environmentally sensible) I have brought those house cleaning wipes, bench tops etc, they really have helped... Good luck.

(Disclaimer: things have kind of gone to pot for me recently, so I may not be the best to take advice from, but I started again today)

I don't get on with flylady. Too pink & twee and way too many emails.

What did work for me was a system called Habithacker. One small step every day for 90 days and you have a clean & organised house, plus a system to keep it that way.

It's really great.

Another small thing that has helped... I bought one of those rechargeable upright vacuum cleaners with the detachable handheld bit. I run it around the dining area after every meal (DD2 has food allergies so I try to keep crumbs to a minimum as we aren't a totally dairy/egg free house). I also use it for spot cleaning here and there. Means I only do a full hoover once a week or less.

Have skimmed through the responses, so sorry if I've missed it, but not sure if anyone has mentioned Home Routines app? It's brilliant once you personalise it! Set the jobs you need to do each day. I put everything, literally make DS breakfast, make me breakfast, rinse breakfast dishes, wipe kitchen worktops etc etc. You get a gold star each time you tick something off I separate mine into morning and evening jobs, I also have weekly activities that need doing eg bleaching toilet is every day, big clean of the bathroom is weekly. I don't have set days for the weekly stuff, I aim to get it all done by friday at the latest so weekends don't need as much doing.

Agree with a PP re your dad, if he's well enough to be making a mess of the kitchen he needs to be tidying up after himself, or doing other things around the house to help you out. Can he watch the kids for a couple of hours so you can get jobs done? Why is your DH working such long hours, do you desperately need the money or is he choosing to work so much? Big chat needed I think, if he's out 7am til 11pm every single day he will be a virtual stranger to the kids and he needs to do something about this!

OP, why is your husband working so many hours? Even if he's running his own business, he's going to make himself ill with that level of stress / constant working. He needs to start scaling back on this. If he could be at home for bedtime 2 nights a week, so he could put thie children to bed and give you a 30 minute window to have a quick whizzround, that would help.

I've just had a mad sortout of DS' toys ahead of Christmas - we have a friend who runs a toy stall on an animal charity's Christmas fair in mid-December so it's a good reason to be ruthless. I've got a cupboard in the living room with his puzzles, doll's house, toy till, duplo in, and his toy cars now go in a "really useful" box underneath it. All other toys go in out study in big black crates from B&Q, I've labelled the front of the boxes so DS knows which is for his kitchen things, farm etc. It's really helped us. DS can now play with his farm / Mr. Potato Head etc because all the bits of a toy are together rather than the farm house being spread around 3 different crates, and it takes me only a few minutes to chuck everything into the right crate so the living room is clear.

And I agree with everyone else about your dad - he either needs to wash his dishes, even if it's just rinsing a snadwich plate under the tap, and leaving it to drain, or he can have a bowl of hot water by his chair to put plates into so at least you aren't trying to clean dried on food from the plates later in the day. Get your baby a sling, get your older children helping out as they can - DS is 3 but can now put his cars in the really useful box and shove it away, and can now see the benefit of clearing toys away to make room for something else on the floor - and give up on ironing, only iron what aboslutely needs ironing.

These are the B&Q crates. Pretty they aint but they stack on top of each other and are pretty much indestructible, even when DS tips toys out to sit in one as a boat.....

Ikea Expedit is great for toy storage. Massive boxes to store it all in, or shelves for books.

Could your dad entertain the kids? Read to them, or board games, while you tidy up?

Are you taking any multivitamins? You could be low on iron, which might be why you are feeling like this?

I've got an Ikea Expedit coming today. We already have some Trofast storage, but really need to get into the habit of actually putting stuff away.

I'm sure your house is a lot better than mine. I don't iron anything, just hang things up. Do you really need to be constantly cleaning kitchen and living room? A few crumbs are inevitable with young dc. Sometimes I Hoover the front room, then a few minutes later there seem to be new crumbd, yet noone's had nothing to eat and you think, where did those come from?

when i get back from the school run
i tidy up the lounge , dust and hoover, wash up and clean kitchen floors
i dont iron
i only have a 7 yr old and 4 yr old they go to nursery and school
i hate mess

I sympathise!

I too find it very hard to keep on top of housework, laundry and ironing. My main problem is that DH and my DCs won't lift a finger in the house and are all incredibly messy. I can clean the house from top to bottom one day but the following day it will be filthy and look like it hasn't been cleaned in months. I'd say it takes me anything between one and three hours each day just to clean up everyone's mess, then on top of that there is the regular cleaning, washing, ironing, shopping, cooking etc etc. It's just too much. Mondays are particularly bad for me as they all make a lot of mess on Sundays and won't do anything at all to help clear it up, and so on Mondays it takes me the bulk of the school day to tidy up after everyone.

And dusting every day!

try fly lady, we have got a new thread, it basically helps you declutter a little bit of your house every day this is the thread it may help you a tad without exhausting your self. And of course a lot of support.

Yes, I have a cleaner, but still Hoover a lot. I have five children and a dog remember.

The cleaner is only here two hours a week and does a proper clean of bathrooms and toilets, dusts, and hovers throughout. She also mops kitchen/hallway/downstairs loo.

I don't Hoover upstairs the rest of the week, just downstairs several times a day. I also never mop.