to say its rubbish, that WOHMs dont have so much tidying to do...'leave a tidy house, come home to a tidy house'?

[KhallDrogo]

I've read it on many a thread now....WOHM don't have so much to do, because kids are in childcare setting all day, get picked up, brought home-dinner, bath bed- no mess

I reckon mess-made can be plotted against time, and there is a maximum mess, where no more mess is possible, when everything is out of the cupboards and on the floor already and covered in crumbs and spilt juice. Here the graph plateaus

My kids can reach 'maximum mess' in approximately an hour. Mess saturation point

On the days I work, I definitely have as much/more to do than the days I am at home, and less time to do it in

[KenLeeeeeee]

My house has never been filthier than when I worked, even part time. I tried to get as much as possible done on my days off but it still seemed to maintain a constant level of cluttered and untidy.

YANBU.

[meadow2]

Were all out by 7.30am on a morning then back after school run then place is trashed by 6 then its tidy up time.

When your at home all day its easy to keep on top of it imo.

[thesnootyfox]

YABU. On the days I work my house is presentable. When we are at home it is a pigsty. I'm constantly walking around with the wet wipes and dustpan. Whilst I am clearing up the spilt drink my toddler is emptying the DVD cupboard. It is much easier to keep a home clean and tidy when there is nobody at home.

[FastidiaBlueberry]

YABU to assume that WOHM's are responsible for doing the housework at all, unless they are single WOHMs.

What about the WOHF's who leave their tidy or untidy house?

But otherwise, yanbu. My kids can trash a place in 10 minutes and they're not even toddlers anymore. One of them's a teenager.

[meadow2]

Its fine once they are about 4 and your not at work as they clean up for you.Dd is cleaning all the floor now and im on this .

Whereas on a work day they are too tired and there isnt enough time to make them do a massive job,as you are doing too much at work and when you come home you have to cram 10 hours cleaning into3.

[thesnootyfox]

Cramming 10 hours cleaning into 3! Blimey I don't that much cleaning in a year!

[meadow2]

I mean you have ten hours to do it not that I do that much thats why days off are good.I do about ten mins then a well deserved hr and half off on repeat!

[AmberSocks]

its not the same but whe my kids tried school last year for a term i found the house was much messier,even though now they are at home a lot more i seem to have more energy and time to do stuff.Before we were all rushing out the house at 8.20 and the i had to get the middle 2 fromnursery at 12 the ds1 at 3.10,it didnt leave much time for anything really.

[JeezyOrangePips]

There is less to clean / tidy when you are a WOHM. No lunch dishes, no morning craft etc etc.

But there is also much less time to do the stuff that needs to be done. Proportionally, probably more time is spent doing housework by WOHM/Ds out of the amount of time available.

[jojane]

But SAHM don't have 10 hours a day just to swan around cleaning a spotless house, we have 10 hours to stop a toddler drawing on the walls, sweeping up crumbs from the biscuit they have snuck away from the table, making and clearing up their lunch, making the beds for the 5 th time that day as 2 year olds favourite thing is to pull all the covers off and dump on the floor, change nappies on a wriggling toddler which often means a change of clothes, do play dough but have to hover so he doesn't run of with some and squash it into the carpet, tidy up said play dough, tidy up the box of trains he's tipped over the playroom floor before decidin to play with something else, pick up the jigsaw all over the floor, wipe up spilt juice, builds/rebuild something they keep demolishing but then want made right again, cuddles (noir ally when you are right in the middle of something) , pick up kids from school and deal with tired stroppy jildren asking for a anack every 5 min whilst i am cooking, kids fighting with toddler whos been used to playing with what wer he wants all day and not sharing, dealin with squanbles over whats on tv etc and so on, these are all things that wouldn't need doing if I was at work as someone else would be doing it at someplace else - nursery or childminder etc,
If I worked we would have breakfast, get ready and leave the house, it might be a bit messy, plates on table but it wouldn't get any messier, would then come home, kids would have been fed etc at childcare so it would be bath, tv and maybe a few toys and then bed. I would still have to do hoovering but it wouldn't be as dirty, wouldn't have put the same toy away 5 times that day, wouldn't have been as many spilt drinks etc.

[meadow2]

Everyone finds different things hard but I personally think when Im off its easy as I dont feel tired so you dont mind bimbling around cleaning it at your own pace,whereas after work Im usually tired so it gets trashed.

[meadow2]

Also dont make things harder for yourself a 2 year old is perfectly capable of cleaning their own toys.

[city1984]

o so this is going to go into. "the working parents do everything a sahp does and works on top" debate. Not sure how a person can work and look after their dc at the same time. disclaimer I do wohm but on maternity leave at mo from part time work. Plus if you wohm I would hope houework is shared with dp. All mine seems to do is makr a mess!

[JeezyOrangePips]

Who said SAHMs had 10 hours a day to do the cleaning?

I have been a SAHMS and a WOHM. Both are hard in their own way, but I had more 'spare' time as a SAHM, and that's when my kids were small. I certainly had more time to keep the house in order. I'm not complaining - I chose to work. I know both choices can be tough.

But there is definitely more time for cleaning as a SAHM. Or at least I had more time for cleaning. And more mess, but when the kids went to bed I could relax till I went to bed. Now dinner is finished at about the same time the kids used to go to bed, then i still need to do dishes, laundry, clear up the kitchen etc.

But I can only comment on my experience.

[redbobblehat]

"the working parents do everything a sahp does and works on top" lol

yeah right!

[meadow2]

Ive got all trofast ikea storage.One box out at time and fully tidied before next out.If you tip all lego out you must tidy it all up yourself with no adult help even if it takes you hours.By doing that dd no longer tips it all out. If making things items are not in box before bed they go out to the recycling.I cant deal with toys out at night.

[thesnootyfox]

I think this thread just reinforces my view that I was a crap SAHM.

[JeezyOrangePips]

Surely no one actually believes a WOHM does the same as a SAHM as well as working?

Not every mum (WOHM or SAHM) has a do to share the housework with.

[JeezyOrangePips]

Has a dp. Not a do.

[catgirl1976]

Um......redbobble

Who do you think does a WOHMs cleaning, laundry, ironing, washing up, cooking, shopping etc?

Pixies?

Or do you think WOHMs houses are shit tips?

[city1984]

That is true jeezy

[city1984]

catgirl of course wohm do all that but they can' t perform chlid care whilst at work.

[meadow2]

I do both its not that hard.Was a couple of years back but now Im used to it.Also I have routines and proper storage now so takes a lot of the pressure off.

[catgirl1976]

Well, no but if someone said they could, I missed that