The organised mum method

[NameChangeCity123]

To ask if anyone has found TOMM useful and if so, do you use the journal, app or podcast?

I have started following on Facebook but there seems to be a lot of people saying their work either never stated or start often but never stick to it.

Is this worth trying?

Thanks

@soughsigh

I've been following it consistently for over a year and love how clean the house is. I have heavily modified it to suit my house (I have 2 bathroom days because I have 4 bathrooms) and use a bullet journal to organise myself - the app isn't customisable enough for me, I am very anal.

So you find the bullet journal method useful? I've seen videos on YouTube but it seems quite complicated?

@NotVictorianHonestly

Personally I get on much better with A Slob Comes Clean. It's much more realistic because it's written by someone who hates cleaning and organising. She has a podcast (but you need to start with the early episodes) a blog and various books.

Never heard of this - will give it a listen, thanks

@StrictlyAFemaleFemale

I've been introducing TOMM for the last few weeks, a little bit at a time and it's slowly making a difference. I don't know what happened to the print outs but I've got better at doing a little bit here and there, one load of washing a day, given the dc specific jobs. I have a hard time sticking to it rigidly because DH works shifts, and when Im at work Im out of the house for 9 hours.

Overall I like it.

Sounds good. Hoping to get in a good routine whilst on mat leave so I'm in a good set up for going back to work

I've been following it for over 3 years (since DD was about 8 months). I think it's brilliant. I've read both the books (TOMM & TOTT) and have applied the TOMM time management principles to other aspects of my life, and have tweeked TOMM quite alot to make it bespoke for my life.

I don't use the APP or journal. They didn't exist when I started, so i have always had my jobs lists written up in a spreadsheet which i can access on all my devices.

I follow it, it does work. I don't usually do everything on the list but know I'll be back to that area the next week. The baseline level of clean in my house is defo higher. I've customised it, I prefer having a bathroom day so do that on a Wednesday instead of hall and stairs, and do hall and stairs as part of living room or upstairs, whichever works. The laundry every day defo helps, it only counts as done when it's away! You have to keep the faith at first, after about a month I got as far as channing the window, which was unheard of.

I did it kinda a few years ago but prefer a tweaked version of The Fly Lady. Love her app as well.

The basics seem to be washing and putting away one load of laundry each day, tidying as you go, everything having a home, and only doing 30min housework per day on top of that. I do all of this and find it really works, but I don't have s strict rota I stick to.

Hmm, apparently I'm already doing it and more. Who knew 🤣. I hoover, clean floors, dust certain things, clean the bathroom every day aswell because if I didn't the house would look like a fucking bomb had gone off. I run a business from my house and have people in and out every day so it has to be clean and tidy.

I've really struggled with the method, tbh. I work, have a toddler and a DH with PTSD/anxiety/depression. It's hard to stay on top of it when I'm out of the house a lot of the time and the people in the house aren't helping. Who wants to be at work 10-11 hours and then come home and do dinner, put the child to bed and then around 45 mins cleaning/tidying/sorting? Great if you're a SAHM or have time at home regularly every week when your DH and kids aren't there.

I do like the podcasts to potter about to, although the fact Gem's co-host is an MLM rep and they talk about it so casually every now and then grates on me because I'm fiercely anti-MLM. I skip forward if it's mentioned but wish they'd leave it out.

I do like the podcasts to potter about to, although the fact Gem's co-host is an MLM rep and they talk about it so casually every now and then grates on me because I'm fiercely anti-MLM. I skip forward if it's mentioned but wish they'd leave it out.

There are 2 different podcasts. One is just organised mum. I found the life laundry one a bit negative so stopped listening.

I agree that it isn’t magic - if you consistently do housework for 45 minutes each week day your house will be cleaner whatever method you use.

What you get from TOMM (and similar) is structure and encouragement.

I’ve followed it for a few years. The trick is not to stress too much, if you haven’t done everything in the 30 minutes it’s fine because it’ll still be there next week. For example today is front room day, if I don’t have time to do the skirting boards that’s the first thing I’ll do next Monday. Also the level one jobs (washing, bathroom etc) it can literally be wiping the bathroom sink down as you clean your teeth, next day clean the shower when you are in it etc.
Im out of the house from 6:30-21:00 most days, sometimes Dh or dc do the jobs, sometimes we don’t.
Try it, if it works for you great, if it doesn’t you’ve not lost anything.

I believe this method is at least 12 years old and yes was named after her son Tom and started when her PND kicked in when she was trying to be the perfect wife and mother.

Yes I follow it and have done for years before the app etc. You can break the 30 minutes down into 3 x 10 mins or 2 x 15 mins and work it around your life. My kitchen day is not Thursday for example.

My children have stripped their own beds and put them into the washing machine before school on a set day every week. My bins are emptied twice a week one of those days being the day the bins are put out for the bin men. I have 2 children, once they started secondary school they were given a bin to be responsible for. One does recycling, the other the kitchen and bathroom bins. They also had a dishwasher rota.

It is mainly about establishing a routine so that stuff gets tackled every week and roping everyone into it, kids, partners. She has lots of videos showing her doing this in her last house which was a 4 bed, 3 bathroom house.

There is a difference between tidying and cleaning. Your house has to be tidyish to make cleaning easier. One of the jobs I did as a student in uni holidays was housekeeping at a hotel. That teaches you how to clean fast and effectively. ie I use no rinse products, I am not cleaning a sink once with cleaner then again with water to remove the cleaner.

I think establishing chores for primary aged children is essential to them becoming used to doing things. At 4 they are responsible for their lunch tray including scraping any left overs. Therefore at home they set the table and cleared their plate from 4. And no they do not get paid, no one pays me to clean my own house.

I am a routine demon - I'm v tidy but also lazy, so little and often suits me better. Seeing people talk about TOMM on here made me create my own "version". I do about 45 min each morning. It has to be the morning as I absolutely crash in the afternoons!

Usually involves putting laundry away & the next load in the machine, then a split between kitchen, bathroom & hoover 3 times a week, a "focus" room where I dust the skirtings & poke the extenda-arm thingy at the high ceilings as well as a usual wet dust a morning a week, then wet dust the rest of the place a morning a week. One day the kitchen gets extra tlc, one day the bathroom and one day the bins go out. Test the smoke alarm a morning a week, too or we forget. Clean up mess- eg cooking splatter etc as we go and don't usually do housework at the weekends- just a laundry load and daily dishes. It does help with making stuff cleaner. Live in a small flat though so my "focus room" rotation is pretty frequent, too.

My only issue is that occasionally we do still have to put time aside on a Saturday to clean the fridge, wipe down the bathroom cupboard or mop- the jobs I never quite get round to in the week. I pay someone else to clean my oven & when we have the cash, I'll pay someone else to do the other "missed" jobs and a deeper clean every few weeks too, as that's what I hate and it would really just underpin my cleaning.

DP helps if he's home, but when the office is open so he's away midweek I'm obviously flying solo so I tend to run it how I like it.

Wouldn't say we're the cleanest but we're not the muckiest by any means. Basically if anyone wants to pop short notice/ surprises us, we check the loo is clean, put stuff away & plump cushions and stick the kettle on, occasionally we hoover.

The bullet journal system is quite simple if you ignore all the arty farties. The basic system is here: