Small house - how do you keep it clean?

[sparklins]

I might just be completely inept...

2 adults, 2 young Dcs and DDog in a terraced house. I cleaned the kitchen thoroughly on Thursday morning as we had a new appliance installed and I wasn't sure what they would need access to in order to get everything connected.

Was out of the house and didn't cook on Friday and most of the day Saturday too - did not eat anything at home as we had events and other bits on. Kept up on the dishes. Home on Sunday and yesterday. This morning the kitchen was a complete mess again and took me ages to sort out. It probably doesn't help that its where the front door is so everyone just drags everything in.

But most of the house seems like this, I clean, do a 360 and there's mess everywhere again.

It feels like the only way to keep the house nice and clean without clutter everywhere is spend an hour + everyday cleaning and sorting it - I really don't have the time.

What am I doing wrong? How can I keep a house clean enough to be able to think straight when I'm in a room whilst also working and all the other life admin that comes with a family?

Do you have a dishwasher?

I think you so need an hour a day but that is between everyone not just you. Have you tried The Organised Mum Method. Also, declutter. What gets dragged in at the front? Do you mean coat shoes bags? Can uou get a hall tree there?

@ChangeChingyChange nope no dishwasher. Certainly something we have considered but not something we can get for quite a while.

I think you need to be meticulous about putting things away and I know I’m not so that’s why my house is always messy.

Maybe you need to declutter?

Every item has a home. As soon as you finish using the item, it goes back to it's home.

Thats a shame? Not even with 0% finance or something to spread the cost? I always think a kitchen looks messy more often than not if you don't have a dishwasher.

My other tips are to declutter massively. Get rid/store away anything that isn't essential.

Do a rota and give everyone a job. What does the other adult do? Do they help out? If not change that!!

The dishwasher is key for me (small terrace too but really for any size of house)

But if you can’t have one then you really need to just make it a habit to wash up after every meal.

For everything else- reduce your clutter as much as possible. Have good storage but only after you’ve had a massive declutter so you arent storing stuff you don’t need. Have well thought out storage. If everyone is coming in and dropping all their crap at the door/in the hall then you need storage in that spot.

Also- everyone else in the house is responsible for keeping it clean too! Tell them all they need to be tidying things without it being pointed out to them. And if you have to- make a chore chart for everyone.

You have to have a place for everything and everyone needs to be meticulous about putting things back/away where they belong. Ensure you have enough storage for everything. Spend a few minutes in each room straightening it out before bed/first thing in the morning

Have closed storage (so cupboards, or bins/baskets on shelves) & LOADS of hooks so it’s easy to put things AWAY (ie focus on the putting away bit, vs making it easy to get things out)

Create a ‘drop zone’ by kitchen door for everyone’s coats/shoes/general rubbish

Declutter - ruthlessly and often

Put 1 thing (vase, ornamental something) on any flat surfaces to discourage your family from dropping clutter

Decide how often you will do tasks to set limits & make a rota which limits things (eg 1 day bathrooms, hoovering 2x week, mop 1 x week etc)

It sounds like dishes & tidying are the time suck… can you finance a dishwasher? I dont usually suggest credit but I think it’s an amount that is affordable Over a few months and v worth it (to me)

Realistically, keeping a house clean & tidy is going to take 30-60 mins daily, esp. with kids and a dog, it doesn’t all have to be in 1 go…

Time wise, do a few ‘resets’ daily (after breakfast, early evening/kids bedtime, before you go to bed)

Keep stuff to a minimum. Try and get rid of a black bags worth of recycling or charity shop items each week. Makes a difference

Between 2 people? Or are you carrying the heavy load of it all
Between 2 it should just be regular cleaning and then a bit of a blitz on Saturday.
Nothing has to be perfect

Also, everyone pitches in. DH pulls his weight tidying and cleaning, the kids out their stuff away.

Have less shit
Every piece of it has a home
Dont put it down, put it away

2 adults? What’s the other adult doing? You have only mentioned what you do to keep things clean and tidy.

The dishwasher is absolutely key. I would look for a good second hand one, if current finances do not permit.

Decluttering is also key as is constant management of paper etc coming into the house.

Good luck, I continue to fight the good fight myself.