To ask how on earth you keep your house clean?

[Wonderland554]

I've got a one year old and a three year old. I spend my life doing washing, sweeping up (one year old still in the process of learning how to not through every meal I cook on the floor), picking up toys, cooking, dishes etc etc. I just don't know how people are finding the time to clean their bathrooms, kitchens etc, like give them a proper thorough clean? I'm struggling to find the time to even hoover & polish. My husband is working away just now so it's just me and the kids for the next 3 months and I just can't bare not being on top of all of this.

Any tips/advice most welcome

Is that we are there a time of day they are happy to play and be near you while I clean ? My time with the same age gap used to be early morning . I too struggled but this worked once I realised the time we the best time to get things done . So I wd set up an activity nearby for them

• baby in chair watching older one or whatever and I wd talk to them or sing and we did our playtime / jobs before going out . Sometimes they wd help or joIn in by having a cloth of their own - baby held the cloth - watched - they grew to expect the routine .

At bath time the same - cleaned when in bath . As last resort I wd put baby in a backpack for babies on my back and hoover talking to her and she got company and entertainment . Also , if tired , I wd give them some baby lotion and let them Mess about putting it on my feet and I had a cuppa and a rest and to them it was a novelty . This only kept a v basic standard but it helped . They also helped put toys away as a race .. my teens however don't fall for the things they did when they were little !

I ask my husband to clean it while I am at work! Job done.

Some good tips here, I am very lazy and have fairly low standards but even so my messy house is getting on my nerves.

Can I ask you all if you clean/tidy while the kids are around? My four year old whines so much if I'm not playing with him that it's hard to get anything done. I feel like he should be old enough to play by himself but he can't seem to! Do I just say no?! Am I too soft?! Should I just have another child for him to play with?!

I've got long hair in this house to deal with, and it stops, a little robotic voice says "please clean i Roomba brushes and restart"

But you have to clean t every time you use it. A bit like the fluff filter of a tumble dryer.

Oh, and, I'm not sure if all robot hoovers are made equal!

thepatchworkcat I do it with the DC around. I set them up with a game/activity, play for 5 mins then tell them I've got to do some chores and I'll come back and play when they're done.
This usually involves wearing them out somewhere outdoors first though!

The house will always be there, the children won't be little for long.

The house will always be there, the children won't be little for long

True, but we are all able to enjoy ourselves a lot more in a clutter free, clean environment.

I keep on top of it everyday, however we have no choice in this.

I have to however all carpets throughout everyday and however them at least 3-6 times (at the same time not all differently)

Dust and mop everyday also, ds2 rooms gets done 3 times a day and he also has a dehumidifier in his bedroom.

Bedding and pillow cases frozen weekly, and new ones defrosted and dried the day before.

Benches have to be bleached every day also, and clothes thrown out.

We also bleach the bathrooms daily also by using detol.

Washing machine is never off as towels have to be washed daily, so because of this the washing basket and tumble dryer are forever on.

However is supposed to be hoover...

Do you have any friends with similar aged dc? I swap 2 hours of childcare every Monday with my friend, so one week she has my dc and the next week i have hers. It gives me 2 hours child free 2x a month for doing a proper clean,

I think she uses her hours to do a big supermarket shop and drink a peaceful coffee, i use mine to clean

I find most problems can be solved by lowering my standards!

In reality, for the worst jobs cleaning with a friend really helps me. Get the kids involved if possible, or one of you take lead childcare if they won't settle. Set the timer for 20 min and get the kettle on for a reward.

I keep on top of it everyday, however we have no choice in this
That sounds like an awful lot of work, why do you have to do so much cleaning??

Bedding and pillow cases frozen weekly, and new ones defrosted and dried the day before.

Did I read this right?

Thanks for all the tips! Feels like I'm 1 step forward and 2 back at the moment. I think I need a new strategy. Lots of great ideas on here.

I used to stick a plastic sheet under high chairs when they were teeny. Had a cleaner & a robot hoover & have never heard of this polishing thing you speak of

www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=purposeful%20momlife%20with%20allie%20casazza

Cheesy site but minimalism is the only thing that works for me. Feels great too. Sod hours of cleaning. Children are with us for such a short time so enjoy them and forget the "perfect house" myth. Who is policing it anyway?

Sounds like Haud is dealing with some pretty serious allergies in her house, I'd guess at dust/dust mites from the type of cleaning?

Sorry yes, I should have said, ds2 has anaphylactic allergies, above the charts and under specialist consultant care.

He has allergies to dust mite, both types of grass and pollen, and also all dogs.

He also has food anaphylactic allergies, so we have to make sure we don't cross contaminate, so he has his own separate part of the kitchen however it's still needs to be decontaminated everyday.

Our day starts at 5am for medical treatment for him and cleaning, before we go to work (we both work FT in stressful careers).

wonderland you read correctly, to kill dust mites, you can only kill them by freezing them. It would be OK, if we could line them on the wash in line, (sort off) however ds is allergic to grass and pollen, so when we wash them and dry them we brought a washing machine with a 1600 spin, so when we deforst it, we can dry them, until nearly dry and when defrosted they will be ready for when his "old" ones go through the process.

We built a cupboard in our house, that is completely dust free, so we can air dry them to a safe level.

However it is what it is.

Haud my DS (3) has been diagnosed with HDM allergy (and all animals). I e got the mattress and pillow protectors, Hoover more often (try to do it daily) and have leather sofas instead of soft furnishings.
I'm a LP with 3 DC and we just wouldn't have a life if I did all that you do.
I hope you don't mind me asking, but
how did you come to realise you needed to go to such extreme lengths? May I ask what his symptoms were before and after you decided to do all the extreme cleaning?

Oh that sounds awful. You have my sympathies Haud. I too suffer from anaphylactic allergies. For me it's been a lifelong condition but has worsened over time (started as just hives). Unfortunately the experts believe that my body is just doing it to itself rather than it happening because I've come into contact with an allergen. I wish it was something I could avoid but I have no control over it whatsoever. It sounds like your whole life revolves around avoiding your son's triggers which must be so so difficult. Lots of respect for you Haud.

Sorry yes, I should have said, ds2 has anaphylactic allergies, above the charts and under specialist consultant care
I am sorry for being so nosy and insensitive.

Your poor DS, it must be awful for him.

I don't know what else to say from I wish you well.

Not insensitive at all, it was me I forgot to say in my original post, why we have to do this.

Love from birth, he was admitted to hospital as he was bleeding from his back passage.

Then when the shit (quite) he took his first attack and I had to give him CPR until the ambulance attended, he was 16 months old, hes always had allergies, however he had a nasty accident at 11 months old and it compromised his immune system, and that's when everything became "real".

He had a cot bed that we thought was the issue, as every time he went to bed he took a bad reaction, then we brought a cabin bed and he became symptomatic two fold. He was in child care one day and he went into the storage cupboard and they had to call him an ambulance as he was having acute breathing difficulties.

A few days afterwards he went into secondary shock at home as we moved a wardrobe in our bedroom, he was 16 months old. hes 7 years and 10 months old now and we have cleaned that way ever since.

we have tried to lessen it, however he's still symptomatic and at risk of secondary reaction, so now its just a way of live.

He has been through 9 allergy testing trials and his Ige levels are above chart levels. Out of those 9 hes had 15 emergency epi pens on 1st stage testing.

Is your child under a consultant? Apparently the 7 year cycle does exist, however ds has got worse over time, not decreased in Ige.

Hoover downstairs every day (me) load and unload dishwasher every day (me or DH)
Every night, clear work surfaces and wipe them down (me)
Washing machine on ever day (me)
DH cleans kitchen floor twice a week.
Clean bathroom every other day (me) before my nightly bath.
Toys put away when DS is having bath and bedtime story (by whoever not doing bath and bedtime story)
I dust with Mr Sheen cloths about once a fortnight.
Stairs hoovered about once a week as is upstairs (usually DH on a weekend)
Always take things upstairs when we go upstairs.
Somedays/weeks it all goes to pot and we live in a mess.

More about robot vacuum cleaners...

It seems that Argos has discontinued the cheepo version that I got. But they're tremendous fun, pootling about the floor and bouncing off walls etc. while you try to work out what algorithm controls their movements.

Plus they won't rob you. My last cleaner stole £450. And yes, I was absolutely certain.