To think I just need to live in a messy dirty house?

[Ohsoworried]

I'm a lone parent to a 3yo. I work 5 days a week and he's in nursery, pick him up at 6, come home, get him bathed, snack, stories, cuddles. he's in bed at 8. I get a few bits done, laundry, surfaces wiped, Sweep etc. But I just don't have enough time to get any sort of decent cleaning done. Weekends he has clubs and again, I get a few bits done but I really need to spend time with my son and actually have a bit of time to relax otherwise my whole life would literally be mum duties and cleaning. It's starting to get me down. I'm mog lazy, I'm super productive, but I just don't have time. Does anyone else have the same issue?

Again, only OP and a small child, so not piles of washing or dishes to do, and presumably beds only get changed weekly at the most. Unless you have loads of niknaks to dust, dusting doesn't take that long, and doesn't need doing every day. I totally get why people with 3 or 4 children struggle to keep on top of things, whilst juggling everything else in life, but not with one small child, unless the OP expects her house to be immaculate at all times..

Sorry, my previous post was in response to this.

My gosh OP. You sound like your doing fab. Your schedule is busy and if you hadn't of listed your DC age I would of assumed they were primary age.

I think you need to ditch the clubs or drop your days down at work. It must be tiring for your child also.

Small kids create the most washing. Perhaps he's not fully toilet trained? Perhaps DC goes through 2 sets of clothes at nursery for OP? It's the towels and bedding. It's a lot because I wonder the same when I put it all away... and think we haven't been anyway other than school and work!

I do think laundry is a killer - especially the folding, hanging putting away. I ended up just doing each of my kids clothes a single wash and then folding and leaving in a basket from which they extracted what they needed each morning over the week - never made it back to the wardrobes! Socks were the worst - lesson learned only ever buy one colour / style of socks never have to find an odd one again.

I am in exactly the same boat
I’m a single mum to three and the second they are in the house the mess starts it’s like the forth road bridge to be honest
Bar Friday and Sunday we are out of the house school / nursery then extra curricular activities the rest of the week coming on for a quick tea and the house stays ok

Holidays and weekends are so awful I sometimes feel I need an iv of wine to get through !

As a single parent working full time, after 2 years of trying to fit it al in, I just got a cleaner. Only once a month but it takes the pressure off. This was 12 years ago and kids have left home but I still have a monthly clean.

Clean the sink and loo when he's in the bath. Even if you just squirt the loo then scrub it when you next pee. Wipe down the sinks with some spray and a teatowel buy make sure you rinse it after doing your teeth each night. Grab the bath mats when you grab the bedding to change and make sure you have a spare. Spray the shower when you've finished showering before you get out.

Why is he trashing him room so often? And in what way?

Comments like this really annoy me. Dishes, laundry, bed changes, dusting all happens whether you are in the house or not. Clothes need washing, dust needs clearing, breakfast and dinner dishes need doing and beds need changing. the point is if you're our at 7.30 there's breakfast dishes but little time to make much actual mess. Then you get in at six, they play whilst you cook dinner, dinner, bath and bed. There dinner stuff to clean up and some toys. Loo is used three times per day instead of 13. There's no lunch stuff, there isn't eight hours of play stuff to clean up. It's perfectly normal that you make more mess if you're in the house than out. It's that daily cleaning whilst gets most onerous.