Housekeeping - am I missing something?

[overweightcat]

Our house is a bit small for us but not too bad.
We have lots of stuff but everything generally has its place and I try to declutter as and when.
We don't have a dishwasher which is a chore of its own as I feel constantly chained to the sink if I don't want a mountain of dishes at the end of the day.

I love it when it's clean, it usually builds up though and then I tackle it all in a day or two and it looks great....
But once it's clean I find that if don't go around CONSTANTLY tidying, cleaning or picking stuff up its back to a mess within a few hours. I feel that unless I never sit down and relax my house will never be clean. It's so relentless and boring.

Whenever I visit some of my friends be it planned or an unplanned visit they have beautiful immaculate houses, yes with some toys etc strewn about if they have kids but it's tidy and neat and relaxing and they always seem relaxed too.

What am I missing? Is there some secret handbook I've never read???

[Disfordarkchocolate]

Lots of stuff is your issue. Either accept some mess because you want to keep lots of stuff or declutter and be tidier. Some houses have no storage and that's bloody annoying and impractical too.

[Bluemoooon]

A friend kept the toys out of sight upstairs and brought a few things down at a time, changed them every couple of days, so not much to leave lying around or to tidy up at the end of play.

[scramps]

Visit Serenely Sorted (on Instagram or FB I think). She has loads of ideas for keeping things tidy - I’ve been trying to apply them to my house (especially over lockdown when it feels constantly messy). Will attempt to post a link!!

[scramps]

No idea how to link but here’s a seen shot of the IG page. X

[Hillary4]

Know what you mean and feel the same, until.....
When l visit the pristine homes, one is childless, the other clinical
I want a home, with laughter, playing, happy, not where you can't feel comfortable in case there's evidence somebody has visited

[sassymum67]

Sounds like my house. If I put something in a corner there will be a mound of stuff there by end of week
Back to front feng shui lol

[GhoulWithADragonTattoo]

I think decluttering is the key. Then good storage for what you do need to keep. Once you’ve got the house tidy it’s fairly easy to clean. I also think keeping on top of the clutter and not let it build up again is important.

[Merryweather80]

I have a routine and stick to it so it's always tidy. My children also tidy up which helps. They know only to play with one thing at a time and to out it away before getting something else out. Occasionally there's a mess if toys but they are told you tidy those.
I keep as much as possible in cupboards, do laundry daily ( there's 5 of us) and be as organised as possible. Eg mop floors daily, wipe kitchen daily, wash up after each meal, towels washed on xx day, kids beds on xx day, my bed on xx day, toilets cleaned daily etc I find if I get out of routine it's messier and harder to get back on track.

[nokidshere]

I want a home, with laughter, playing, happy,

Interestingly you can have the above and a clean, tidy house

[IndecentFeminist]

Yup. Those polarised arguments are lazy thinking.

[JaniceWebster]

I want a home, with laughter, playing, happy

Guess who is the most happy house between the ones where people are relaxed and have time to breathe, and the house where people get madly stressed frantically running around to find missing keys/bags/letters....

We could generalise either way.

[LaneBoy]

@JaniceWebster

I want a home, with laughter, playing, happy

Guess who is the most happy house between the ones where people are relaxed and have time to breathe, and the house where people get madly stressed frantically running around to find missing keys/bags/letters....

We could generalise either way.

Just lost a post thanks to not realising that when you quote it deletes what you’ve already written 🤦‍♀️😳

Anyway I agree with this, I feel like life would be a bit easier if we could get more organised. It is difficult for a number of reasons out of our control (health mainly) but that’s why I want to try and get a handle on what I CAN. Sadly it doesn’t come naturally to either of us but I’m using lockdown (when we have fewer demands on our time) to gradually improve things.