To think cleaning the house takes so much discipline?

[almostautumn]

Unless you have a cleaner that is!

DC went to bed at 7. After that I wiped down kitchen surfaces, unloaded dishwasher, washed up pans from dinner, washed up pet’s food bowls, cleaned out cafetière, cleaned highchair, wiped up food from floor underneath highchair, cleaned dining table, emptied kitchen bins, put away toys and playmat, tidied a load of other random stuff away, sorted out laundry and did a quick Hoover.

The whole lot took me an hour and I’m finally collapsed on the sofa with a glass of wine!

The thing is, I was so tempted just to say sod it and leave it all until tomorrow - it’s so hard to keep the house clean and tidy day in, day out. I know if I let it go it will be a whole load more work, but I’m shattered!

Does everyone else have a similar evening routine?

YANBU I really hate housework. I do a load of dishes, a load of laundry and tidy up the majority of the toys and empty bins daily to try and keep on top of it but my house is still a tip. I feel like I'm fighting the tide of mess everyone else creates, no sooner have I cleared a surface than someone's covered it with toys or hobby shite or dirty dishes and it pisses me off.

No, I fight that battle in the morning. I'm more of a morning person anyway.

Try and do little and often that's what I do and it's doesn't take as long.

When I had several (loads) of young dc, one night each week I stayed up til daft o clock to catch up.
Worked well.
Now when I get home from work 5/6 it's action stations til 9 pm.
Not every night though!!

Yes. I agree.

It's relentless.

Totally agree. Pre DC I preferred to blitz it in one day so there was a definite start and end point.

Now I just don't have that luxury so roughly follow the Organised Mum method, doing about an half an hour to an hour a day on average. However I find running the house to a method to make it feel neverending. Doing a bit each day does make it realistic but it also makes it relentless. Even if you are disciplined and do it all in the week, you still face it down on a Sunday night knowing you've got it all to do again.

What I find most difficult is that I know that I’ll brush and clean the kitchen floor and by tomorrow evening it’ll look dirty again and makes me feel like why do I bother. I try to get a fair amount of the tidying up done before DC go to bed; kitchen gets sorted out while they eat and I tidy up toys before they go to bed but actually cleaning is tricky to do. I was ill a couple of weeks ago so let things slide for just a 2 or 3 days and there was so much to sort out after just that.

Try and do little and often that's what I do and it's doesn't take as long.

I feel like I do do little and often throughout the day, but this was just the latest round of chaos created between 3-7pm!

I love cleaning the whole house, I do a big clean on Sunday afternoon then just keep up to it during the week.

That is exactly my evening routine. I manage to keep on top of the kitchen but the rest of the house ends up being done by one of us at the weekend. It’s relentless......especially when combined with the bottomless wash basket.....

I do the basics of wipe the surfaces, dishwasher, washing but the rest i just blitz now and then

I've just been thinking do I leave the kitchen till tomorrow or do it now. Can't decide. Housework is never ending.

It’s not just an hour a day after bedtime

It’s doing a proper clean post breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cleaning the fridge, vacuuming, keeping on top of laundry etc

But it is worth it to live in lovely clean organised home

@Viviennemary

I've just been thinking do I leave the kitchen till tomorrow or do it now. Can't decide. Housework is never ending.

Will be awful coming in in the morning

Doing it now and then will be a nice welcome tomorrow morning when you walk in to the kitchen!

I know. By the time I decide it will be too late. DH made our tea so suppose I should clear up.

YANBU
I am a sahp and my husband is currently on gardening leave, we still have a cleaner coming every two weeks.
I tidy and clean throughout the day and while one of us is putting DC to bed the other will clean, mop and hoover the downstairs.
We also have two long hired pets.

It still feels relentless and I only have one DC!
DH would quite happily leave all the cleaning and has recently said to me life would be easier if we lived in squalor.

But it is worth it to live in lovely clean organised home

This is true. Having a messy home really affects my mental health, I hate it!

Same here. Except our kids (oldest is 6) are rarely asleep until around 9 so we have to start then... We are knackered and have no time to ourselves whatsoever.

Little and often. We have set days for set things, big stuff like deep cleaning the kitchen, wash all the windows etc.

And low standards

@Viviennemary

I've just been thinking do I leave the kitchen till tomorrow or do it now. Can't decide. Housework is never ending.

DH made a steak dinner and the kitchen which was nice and clean is bound to be carnage. I'm going to go and tackle it now

DH would quite happily leave all the cleaning

Mine does clean and tidy, but his idea of a clean and tidy house is a bit different to mine!

I'd love to leave it but I know it would double it isn't a case of it'll need to be done again tomorrow.
I hate getting up to dishes. I might feel differently if I'd a dishwasher.
Try cutting the time down by wiping before they sleep.
It is a mundane pain in the arse but like you it affects my MH if it is messy.

Example of DH’s differing standards - he’s just emptied a cold cup of tea into the sink and put the mug in the dishwasher. Only he tipped the tea out all over the sink and it’s now covered in tea, rather than pouring it neatly down the plug hole and making sure the sink is clean afterwards!

Agree it's never ending. We used to have a cleaner which helped sooo much. When I can afford one again I'll be over the moon.

Finding interesting podcasts or talking books makes doing the kitchen slightly easier