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?

Live in a really tiny house! I genuinely think thy having less space makes you tidier. If you don’t have room for mess, it forces you to tidy as you go. Also DS doesn’t have piles and piles of toys. We do regular donations to charity or put things away out of sight for a while and limit him to one toy box (about 40x70cm) in the front room. Kids don’t need loads of ‘stuff’. He’s pretty happy outside with just a ball or a trowel.

I can relate to this thread. I am a single mum of a toddler. My problem is that toys get everywhere. I find bits of duplo dotted around and DS keeps pulling things out.

It is ok tidying mopping but it is the toys that I struggle with.

Hi OP, I have a clean and tidy house and toddler twins, but I'm not your acquaintance.

We have very limited number of toys out, I rotate the toys once a week, and they all have their place. The kids tidy up few times a day, for example after morning play before we go out. They know they have to do it and it's easy as everything had its place in the playroom.

I have a cleaner twice a month so I don't waste my time cleaning the rooms we hardly use, but i do clean a lot in the kitchen/diner/playroom and bathrooms. I'm not going into detail how i organise and clean, but let me tell you what makes it easier: having twins. They are play together very well, they actually tell me to go away from the playroom, so i have enough time to do what I need to do. Having just one child at home is totally different, especially if that child needs entertaining. I raise my hat to anyone who survived the lockdown with just one toddler!

My advice is to declutter so you have minimal stuff to clear out and stop comparing yourself to others.

And one thing I do if I'm lucky for the twins to nap - I put my headphones on and listen to podcasts while doing house work. You don't really notice you're cleaning or folding the laundry when listening to something interesting!

@ZarasHouse I am a compulsive hand washer. Must wash my hands 50x or more some days.

I think you need medical help. This is not only terrible for your skin, but your children must get so worried if their hands are ever dirty.

I have a cousin who divided her living room in half, put the dinner table to the side and the other half is "playroom" with a different coloured rug and a kallax as a room divider. The adults half is much smaller now but you can sit in tidy peace on the sofa with a cuppa while keeping an eye on the kids.

The play area is a mess of course but it helps that there is a tidy area as well

She either has a cleaner, or has lots of help from grandparents/ extended family with babysitting giving her childfree time to clean.

We have a similarly clean and tidy home with a toddler. My partner does his fair share.

No idea. My house is fairly clean and tidy (still room for improvement though). I have four children and we like stuff so it’s about as far from a show home as can be. I am always cleaning or tidying to keep it this way.

My friend also has four children and her house is immaculate. They also like stuff but the house is just gleaming. Yesterday she said she didn’t know what to do with herself once she’d finished her chores. I never get to that point.

The only differences I can see are
Her husband and children are tidier than mine.
Her dc4 is the same age as my dc3 so I have one younger child.

I'm aiming for that but I never get there! Maybe she shoves it all in a cupboard?!

Decluttering helps, if you have less stuff it is much easier to keep tidy. Having a place for everything helps you find things, and having less things means there is generally space.storage for them. And tidying as you go, every time you leave a room try and do a little bit. That stops the massive build up of mess, it is a constant job though.

There's a couple of systems - Flylady and The Organised Mum Method too. Flylady has sections on decluttering too.