Can I ask those of you with little DCs and clean homes...

[everythingisawesomee]

To please share your wisdom?

I have one DC at home and one in reception.
Love cleaning/hoovering/mopping but hate tidying before being able to clean and doing mind numbing stuff like folding and putting away laundry.
It seems like my house is permanently covered in sticky handprints, Lego, stuff not put back in its place or everything piled on worktops and surfaces.

I've recently visited a new acquaintance who has twin toddlers and her house was like a picture out of a magazine. She's always so chilled and organised, in clean, uncreased clothes and a freakishly clean car so I guess the perfectly clean and tidy house makes sense but it's like black magic to me.
She also always seems to have lots of spare time when she's not working so it's not as if she spends days upon days scrubbing her house.

Can anyone managing to achieve a clean, tidy, uncluttered home without spending most of your emotional energy or time on it please tell me how you get it done?

Good to have a word for it!

I've read on here a few times about washing their kids hands.

Do people really not do this? Even after eating?! Surely everyone washes their kid down after food? Hands, face etc?

Easy clean up hacks also include;

Huge wicker basket for toys. Throw a blanket over.

Slow cooker meals - takes 10 mins to throw in and zero hassle or mess.

Hoover every 3 days.

Hire a window cleaner, gardener, cleaner if you need to.

Tidy up after every task and encourage your baby/child to. Eg. We can't go and have dinner till we've tided the toys away. We can't go and have a bath till we've cleaned the plates up... etc.

My kids much older now, but I was pretty strict. Food and drink only consumed in kitchen, sitting down, so no crumbs or sticky hands. Only a couple of toys out at any one time, finished with one, clear it up. Everything in it's place, and a place for everything. Saves time when they get older too, as they are both neat freaks.

@Debradoyourecall

There are people on here commenting that they have young children but they still manage to clean by leaving them to play and encouraging them to put toys away. So maybe your children are not that young anymore? I have a baby trying to cruise. I put her in her cot while I wash my hands after nappy change and in that time she will often manage to bang her head on the bars or get her foot trapped and start screaming. She can’t be left to wander as I clean as she finds every cable in the house, every toy she shouldn’t chew on, every way to get herself in trouble! And she naps for only about twenty minutes a day now. So how do you clean around a child that young?! I have given up and clean while she’s in bed.

I let mine roam, but we have baby proofed the house eg. Tv on the wall, cables hidden, baby socket plugs plus our house is open plan. I always watch too - never out of my eyesight. I find it easier too as when they're restricted they aren't the happiest.

I also tidy when playing with him and chat to him whilst I do it.

When they can feed themselves - you can clean and tidy the kitchen too. (From about 9/10 months).

I think it comes more naturally to some than others and you shouldn't give yourself a hard time about your house. Enjoying your children is far more important! Unfortunately I was born with a sight obsession with tidy/cleaning and can't help but do it without realising!

I put mine in the bath straight after their evening meal. I shower their breakfast off on weekends too (when they are allowed the chocolate cereal or we have cooked breakfast). Other breakfasts it's a wipe with a flannel, or more recently proper hand washing at the sink because obviously it's better and they love singing "happy friday" or whatever day it is to the tune of "happy birthday". My eldest can't stand having dirty hands so washes her hands a lot. I am a compulsive hand washer. Must wash my hands 50x or more some days. Lunch is packed lunch style, nothing smeary, again hands wiped.

We still have sticky hand prints everywhere.

@footprintsintheslow thank you, I will keep bearing in mind that it does get easier!

@Mamawell thanks - I think one of my problems is that we have an old fashioned house non-open plan house, lots of corners. And a very adventurous baby. So I’m going for ‘clean enough’ instead of ‘immaculate’ 😊

[quote Debradoyourecall]@footprintsintheslow thank you, I will keep bearing in mind that it does get easier!

@Mamawell thanks - I think one of my problems is that we have an old fashioned house non-open plan house, lots of corners. And a very adventurous baby. So I’m going for ‘clean enough’ instead of ‘immaculate’ 😊[/quote]
Absolutely! As long as it's not filthy that it's a hazard to the baby, then it doesn't matter.

The most important thing is your babies well being and safety! Imagine if you were in the bathroom cleaning and your baby has an accident! Defo not worth it.

I regularly have to tell myself this as I struggle badly with OCD. 😓

Mine are 3 and 2. They love hand washing and we do before and after every meal and after every loo visit. They eat 3 meals and two snacks a day seated in the kitchen. No food allowed anywhere else.
We also do (actual not hidy) tidy up time between games/toys - they have to put away the previous stuff before the next lot comes out. I hoover daily and have an admin burst as soon as they're in bed on top of the cleaner once a week.
My house is mostly still a total shit tip though...Handprints / face prints on the french doors, handprints on the gloss kitchen units, crumbs everywhere (hard floors through out) and there are always dishes piled next to the sink despite me loading the dishwasher and putting it on after breakfast and after dinner and before bed.
I'm working from home at the mo which means I can keep on top of washing and things but the avalanche of clutter and grime is constant.

despite me loading the dishwasher and putting it on after breakfast and after dinner and before bed

Three times a day? Bloody hell, that's a lot.

Yes! Maybe because we cook from scratch for all meals so one load would be pans etc. But there's constant dishes (I blame DH who uses a clean glass/cup every time he needs a drink and gives the kids a bowl and a plate or two plates for every meal so I've gone on dishwasher strike and he now has to do it!).
If I worked part time or didn't work it'd be fine but I do 40-50 hour weeks and don't sit down for dinner til 8/9pm as it is.
Op maybe the answer is a cleaner twice a week?

Storage
Not too much stuff
Cleaner or equally clean and tidy partner

And yes to the comment above 'not letting your kids explore much'. My SIL is like this... she limits the kids to one big box of playmobil (as in that's their only toy...added to over the years but no other types of toy), and TV/tablets. No craft stuff etc. And being a reception teacher I did many home visits to people who did similar. Often start school having never held a pair of scissors and their general curiosity and creativity sort of suppressed. That sounds really harsh I know, but there is way more to life than a tidy home.

We have. 14 month old and a dog. 2 of us and both work full time. The house is a constant shithole and I am currently begging dh to agree to a cleaner as we can afford to but he doesn't like spending money and stuff he can do himself. But he cleans the bathroom, that's it. Doesn't see the constant mess everywhere else.

2 hours a week is more than enough I reckon, would be £100 a month. I want to trial it till Christmas and see if our lives are improved!

I don't know OP, I think some people are naturally better or it's been instilled in them growing up. Our issues are:

• our kids are really messy and frankly I just let them play, I'm not policing one toy out at a time or anything like that.

• DH is very messy but has total self-blindess about it. He actually truly thinks he's tidy, it's extraordinary

• we have a lot of stuff, not good at getting rid of things

• we have a large house and it takes forever to get thinks back to the right place, clean everywhere etc. For example the washing machine is 2 floors away from the bedrooms. Drives me mad.

• rubbish storage although I've tried to address this as best I can.

• I hate tidying up and cleaning and would rather do anything else, it doesn't come naturally to me and I'm not good at it

• we spend a lot of time in the house, both WFH and kids at home most of the day. I remember fondly the days when they were at nursery and we were in the office

We have a cleaner once a week which is amazing, but it's more the tidying that grinds me down. There's stuff everywhere all the time.

@Mamawell that is so true, a very good way to look at it. We will have time to clean when they are older and embarrassed to spend any time with their parents 😂

@DontBelongHere my DH is just the same. He'll blast tidy/ clean when nobody is allowed to talk to him or diatribe (meanwhile I have to sort kids/ meals etc) and then goes nuts when it doesn't stay that way. He is incredibly messy but can't see it. I'm quite untidy but clean so between us it is chaos and kids are learning their bad habits. It's hard to change so I'm trying to do it gradually by asking my kids to help as they love a nice bedroom but love playing Xbox more 😓. My storage is full of seldom used stuff which I need to bin/ charity and use for the daily clutter

We decluttered when i was pregnant so apart from the few toys he actually bothered playing with there was not much to tidy, when he was little it was the only time we were on top of the housework and actually tidy.

And no we did not have a secret cleaner, can't say i would feel the need to keep a cleaner a secret

Have fewer things, clothes, toys. If they don't play with them anymore, donate them. You will not find that missing sock until you throw out the one you do have.

A lot of people here say they hate tidying, which is the entry level criteria for a clean house. You lot will have to love yourselves as you are, and go with the flow

At the moment? A cleaner, someone who does my ironing, gardening, a nanny’s and very tidy dh.

Any suggestion that a tidy house means your kids will run off into the distance the first chance they get is frankly, ludicrous.

Our house is currently a shit-tip quite frankly. We do struggle a bit to find the motivation as the children trash it as soon as we’ve tidied. There is a spectrum. Some people have lovely, tidy homes while still allowing the children to explore etc. But there is certainly a portion of people that are a bit uptight. One of my friends has a beautiful house but she is very controlled with how her child plays. We will never be a one toy at w time household but I would like to be less messy.

When the kids were young, I had storage boxes for everything; crayons, toys , etc
I also got them involved in clearing up after themselves.
I would do little, but often. So I would do twenty minute bursts of cleaning every day.
On Saturday mornings I spent one hour focusing on one particular thing. It could be polishing picture frames.
Also Op, I would clean up before visitors came

I don't like the one toy out at a time method that some are mentioning. But there is definitely a balance to be had. Too many toys means there isn't any space to play meaningfully in. But limiting to one type of a toy at a time limits creativity.

For example my toddler likes to build something with her wooden rainbow (thank
God she plays with that now) and then the cheap B and M plastic dinosaurs all go and live amongst the rainbow land.
They wouldn't be toys I'd have thought go together but she's made that up herself.

I'm extremely short sighted. For the place to look clean and tidy, all I really have to do is take off glasses or take out contact lenses.
It's a method used very frequently in this house.

Effective storage. We have drawers of toys, and just rotate which ones are out at one time, not only does this make it much easier to tidy, but also by the time they've been rotated through DS is interested in them again. Also I've found being organised helps. After work whilst cooking tea I'll be doing something like washing up, putting washing on etc whilst it cooks, and then when he is in bed I do a room a day to give a proper clean etc, and pop my headphones in and listen to some music; I dont take too much time so still time to relax after. If I lived alone it would be tidier, but organisation basically, and having stuff stored so that it isn't always out.

I have

• a weekly cleaner
• an ironing lady
• a play room with a door I can close
• a DH who does his share
• children who mostly put things away (youngest is 6, much training was required)
• a 'lost it' box, into which things my children leave lying around are put. I only put things in the box which they like/want/regularly use. In order to retrieve an item, they must first put another away. It is remarkably effective and takes me less than 5 mins per day.
• loads of v disorganised storage 😁