Are you a reformed untidy person? With a lovely home? AIBU to ask for your tips?

[KavvLar]

This is a shout out to those folk who are not naturally good at housekeeping and tidying, but have cracked it and manage to keep and maintain a lovely home. AIBU to ask for your strategies?

I have had a lovely home very briefly after a massive declutter helped by a professional. Best money I ever spent, and I LOVED it when it was all tidy. I know the upkeep is a huge part of it though, and I don’t know how to approach it.

I end up scattergunning around the house and I can just sense the chaos creeping back in. I need some sort of system to keep it vaguely visitor ready, I know there are loads out there, and I'm willing to try but would love some personal perspectives from those of you who managed to change your ways.

This is an odd way to put it I know but I liken it to weight loss and maintenance. You know when you've lost all the weight and everyone thinks the hard work is over, but the maintenance is really hard if you haven't started to think like a thin person? I need your help to think like a tidy person!

Ah but I can't relax in clutter, it's just the way my brain works.

Everyone says my house is immaculate but I don’t feel I do much. But reading this thread makes me realise that what I think of as nothing is just an adjustment in behaviour since having kids (horribly untidy prior).

So I would never leave a room where cups, plates or wrappers were in without bringing them to the kitchen and bunging them in the dishwasher / bin.

I’d never eat breakfast without wiping down the surfaces and sweeping the floor after.

I’d never go to work without making the beds and putting my p.js in the wash.

I’d never finish in the bathroom without rinsing the bath out / picking up and folding wet towels, bleaching the loo.

I’d never go to bed after watching telly without putting the cushions back neatly and putting toys away.

If I see dust I just pick up a duster and give it a quick wipe.

Also everything has a home and everything is in its home before we leave the house or go to bed.

It’s liter just a change of thought about what constitutes as ‘work’. I just do it all as I go without a thought. It doesn’t feel like a job and it never gets on top of me because we all do it as we go. If I walk in the kids room and there were clothes on the floor I’d ask them to come back and put them away before they did anything else.

I have 4 DC and I think it just developed naturally because we’d be living in a shit hole otherwise!

Thanks for all the tips!

Genuinely think they are so many variables - partner attitudes, children’s ages, childhood hangups about cleaning

(I’ve definitely absorbed my mum’s ‘i’ll do it’) attitude and has taken me a long time to get a healthier - if it’s tidy and there’s a place for everything i’ll Be able to clean it easier. Interestingly getting a cleaner a few times before a party or family gathering made me realise that. I spent hours tidying, moving things, shoving stuff in cupboards, moving piles around, throwing random bottles in the bathroom into odd drawers (rented flat - no choice about fixtures and fittings) that I just thought there had to be a better way.

I decided to spend some money on making the cupboards actually ‘work’ rather than just be receptacles for accumulated stuff.

I tried the TOMM and it sort of works but I only have a two bed all on one floor flat with very little storage so better for me to just keep trying to keep everything I can see (almost everything!) tidy and then clean for an hour every Friday when I look after my three year old. Any tips for that sort of a set up very appreciated!!

I feel so much happier when everything is tidy and clean

Have a basket/box in every room as you go through the day if it doesn’t belong in the room in goes in the box. Before bed I empty all boses to their home.

First thing after walking the dog I tackle floors and surfaces. Luckily/unluckily the dogs are hairy bugger so if I miss it the hair balls quickly gather like tumble weed so that keeps me on top of that.

Kitchen and bathroom I do alternate days.

I've de-cluttered as best I can to help reduce what needs putting away. I tidy and clean the breakfast messy kitchen before work. I tidy the supper things before sitting down to watch tv. I tidy things in the living room of an evening in the advert breaks . Thursday night is proper cleaning night, where all the bathrooms sparkle and all hard floors are vacuumed and mopped, carpets vacuumed and all rooms dusted. It takes me and a helper about 2hours. Then we have a G&T ! Beds are stripped washed and re-maid on either a Friday or a Saturday. ( and obviously made every morning by who ever is last out of it !) it's probably not perfect, but it works for the day to day running of our home.

As a result of this thread I finally got around to washing the bread bin. During which its door fell off.

On the plus side, I've hoovered, washed up, and kept the laundry pipeline moving today. Also emptied bins, changed cat litter, and swore mightily at the little buggers when they immediately christened it. All small jobs, which makes them easier, and I've identified tomorrow's bonus chore: kitchen windowsill. Now having a brew before I tackle the mountains of paper the child leaves everywhere, after which I'll be able to relax.

So sorry about the bread bin!