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

Be Zen about the things that you can't do anything about. You'll regret being upright about the cleaning, but you'll never regret enjoying your family.
I know that it sounds like easy advice to give and I struggle to follow it myself. I just think that once day my home will be immaculate, but it will be lovely too.

Ffs * lonely

My biggest issue is not having DH here to help that would make life a lot easier.

I usually do far ore than mouton's list but still end up sitting with my laptop so I can't see the devastation caused by the boys, some nights.

The vacuum cleaner didn't come out, today, as I'm not feeling physically up to it and the floor is dotted with crumbs and tiny bits of paper from DS1's endless cutting out.

I have a 3yr old and an 8 month old and DH works a lot.

I give DD her breakfast and DS his bottle then plonk him in the jumperoo, beebies on for DD then get into the kitchen and do bottles/dishwasher/put a load on. Or when DS naps I sit DD at the dining table with Playdoh and do jobs.

Handheld vac is a god send.

Microfibre mop and floor spray is easier for a quick run round after messy mealtimes than getting the mop bucket out.

I use a lot of wipes - floor wipes, bathroom wipes, a baby wipe if all else fails!

I have the lakeland heated airer which has made a massive difference to keep on top of the laundry

I also play the tidy up game with DD, she resists tidying massively but if I say I'll give you 10 seconds to tidy all the Shopkins, 20 seconds to tidy X she loves it and the room is spotless!

I had 2 DDs born just one year apart but, like you, feel stressed and miserable if the house is untidy and grubby.

My tips would be:

Keep disposable toilet wipes and a bottle of bleach next to each loo. Takes seconds to clean them.

When your DCs are in the bath, clean the bathroom while watching them.

Buy a cordless hoover for quick tidy ups after meal times.

Before bedtime get your DCs involved in tidying up a bit. Turn it into a game, and put some music on.

Lots and lots of storage.

Rather than pay for a cleaner which would have cost a lot and I would have felt was money for nothing iykwim? I bought things to make life easier. For example we bought a shed so I could have a tumble dryer and dishwasher. (Kitchen not big enough for WM TD and DW so the TD and WM go in the shed)
I'm also going to get a robo vac. My mum comes round a couple of mornings a week for which I am truly grateful.
Some days if I don't feel up to it or I'd rather take the tribe to the park I repeat to myself that the world won't end if I don't do housework.
House is usually still messy as I have 3 dc 5.2 and 1 plus 3 dogs.

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?!*

I had 2 more to try and resolve this problem.... it did not work

Holy shit haud. Never again will I moan about housework. Huge hugs to you
I feel like such a lazy cow in comparison. You are amazing

I've been living in a renovation zone for 2.5 years (we swore it would take 5 months 😂), so I've become used to the clutter / mess.

When I was a kid mum used to put a shower curtain under the high chair and youngest children to catch the mess, then throw it in the washing machine

Please don't use baby wipes in bathroom and kitchen areas. That's just asking for breeding bacteria

Also, I have a 2 year old who likes putting his toys in his toy box and cleaning skirting boards with a wet wipe.
DH has just done the conservatory with a feather duster for cobwebs and DS wailed because he wanted to do it. 🙂
I could rent him out if anyone is interested- he is great at toy clearing as long as he isn't tired, in which case he would just lie down and sleep amongst them.
Also, we have cleanng stuff upstairs and down so no faffing about getting it.

First do KonMarie

Then install the Tody app

Sorted.

With the tody app, do you have to constantly reschedule things or does it do it automatically for you? I had an app once that o my let you tick it off once, then it was done away with forever. Daft really, as it didn't automatically recur.

Haud, he is under a consultant but they've not really done anything. His IgE dog is 0.57, cat 2.96, and HDM 4.66 (normal range is 0-0.35).

little and often, dont let it get out of hand, tidy, clean up after they have gone to bed. dishes in soak and washed up soon after eating. And stopit saying "hoovering" its not a verb its a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners.

Haha everyone does it though, don't they? I tried saying vacuuming about a decade ago but nobody joined me so I returned to hoovering like everyone else.

I have a one and three year old and feel your pain.
Nothing really new to say here but to reinforce what PPs have said-

The small handheld hoover is your friend for dealing with mess quickly.

I used to regard floor wipes as a waste of money but find the Lidl ones great for using under the high chair after every meal.

I chuck dishes to soak for a few mins while doing the rest of the tidying after a meal because I'm a bit anal about putting really dirty stuff straight into the dishwasher.

Do little things immediately, for example, beds made as soon as one is out of said bed.

I make the DSs help put all toys away before bed because I hate coming downstairs to a mess after I've put them down for the night.

I read on a previous post that you should never go upstairs or downstairs empty handed. There's always something that needs putting away.

I let DSs play around me when I am doing jobs such as cleaning the bathroom but know that there will be several interruptions. If I get the job done over the course of a day I am happy.

Never ever let weetabix dry!

Love the weetabix tip

Get those all purpose cleaner wipes and stick a packet next to the toilet. Takes 20 seconds to run one round the toilet seat and them squirt a bit of bleach in the bowl and you're done.

If you have wooden/vinyl floors, sweep everything on the floor into one big pile - dirt, abandoned food, toys - into one big pile, then pick out the stuff that isn't rubbish and put it away. It's faster than picking up and putting away every toy one at a time.

I'm in awe of the levels of dedication and organisation on this thread that app made a small part of me wither and die
However I feel compelled to share with you all the secret of the invisible ironing pile (which I actually read on here but have shamelessly passed off as my own to DH )
Rather than have a hugen mountain of uniformed clothes sitting malevolently in the corner, I now fold them up and put them in their respective drawers. When they're needed they get whipped out and the iron run over them quickly. It's like a revelation