I'm wasting my children's lives by cleaning

[wastingyouthondishes]

And I go through the same routine every day.
I wake up, think this is the day I get the whole hpuse clean before they get back from school, spend the next 6 hours cleaning, sigh because I've not even finished 2 rooms, pick them up from school and try to finish while they scratch eachothers eyes out or feign diarrhea so they camt possibly pick up a barbie. I have a toddler at home all day who constantly swipes every fucking item onto the floor. He's recently discovered how to empty a drawer and this week I've not had a clear floor in any room for longer than 2 minutes.

It comes in ebsand flows, I always find myself posting this stuff when I reach toddler stage, but now I'm old enough and I've had enough kids (4) to realise that I'm wasting my toddlers last days at home with me before school starts and my children's lives after school.

I'm not a pig (all the time) and I don't live in a bomb site always but if the police or an ambulance had to enter my home for an emergency today I'd be contacted by social services for potential death via lego induced fall! Oh and throwing toys down the stairs! Toddler is 2 and still learning but I can't keep up with the mess.
DH works full time and he's spending every day after work helping me clean and then making dinner and tidying up after too and I'm still not making a dent because my kids keep bringing everything out before I've even put it all away.
considering locks on every door and just locking each room when I've finished and the kids can live in the bath!

I go to bed every night upset its not done and I've not gone to the park but I can't live like this. We are decluttering but it's slow and they sneak stuff back in the house from the bags.

Its not always this bad but its been over a week and the kids keep taking toys into my room because their floor is full! despite me tidying all day!
I need it all out don't I? Aghhh!!!!!

-pure rant-

I have a cleaner come in once a week for a few hours and it helps so much. It sounds like a big declutter would help also, and/or finding a place for everything in your home. A few years ago I resolved to always tidy as I go, and I have a rule that I never leave a room empty handed as there is always something in each room that needs to be in whatever room I'm going to. For things that belong upstairs I leave them at the foot of the stairs as I go around the house and bring the pile up whenever I go upstairs. I no longer need to assign a few hours to cleaning every week. I just do little bits throughout the day. Bathroom sink needs a clean? I wipe it down after I wash my hands. Spill on the floor on my way to the kitchen? I grab some kitchen roll and wipe it on the way back. I have bins in every room so I don't have to bring things out of the room to bin them. Another rule I have is to always make sure the kitchen is clean and living room today before I go to bed Granted I only have the one toddler so I'm sure it's a much bigger deal for you. I used to constantly battle the cleaning and now the house is usually reasonably clean and pretty tidy. Having a place for everything in my home though, that has been the biggest game changer for me.

You have way too much stuff. Each child gets one chest sized toy box to fill, couple large toys and everything else goes to charity. It should not take 6 hours to clean two rooms, that's absurd.

I always remember the comment I saw somewhere "why doesn't Mothercare sell rakes?"

It passes, you are right to evaluate how you spend precious and fleeting time with your young children. Just push it all into a mound or basket whatever. Toddler unlikely to get ill from swiping items on the floor you can't keep up with that one.

I can garuntee that most of the toys you don’t need or they don’t play with
get rid of all that plastic food for one
anything with batteries that makes senseless noises
anything under their age limit
toy rotation works
lock all the rest away
or high shelves for games etc
map only older responsible children can reach
give the toddler somethings to throw like mean bags
(it’s a phase )
put him outside to throw things !!!

And also
try to relax

Bean bags I meant 🤣

Your not alone and don’t listen to all the negative comments.
i know exactly what it’s like , i have 3 children under 5 so I'm cleaning up after 5 people every day.
people forget just how easy it is for a house to get trashed when you have young ones and it’s never ending. So yes it can take hours unlike some are saying!
I felt like this was all my days consisted of and I ended up so obsessed with cleaning that it took away time with my kids and I knew I had to do something.
i started organising and decluttering one room at a time and i was brutal with it.
the kitchen and front room would get messy constantly throughout the day so i decided to clean those areas once kids were in bed.
this has given me more time with my kids in the day.
sounds silly but maybe make a weekly rota and pick certain areas to clean each day. I do this and I also make time on my rota to spend time with the kids unless they are at nursery.
dont stress yourself, its tough work and just know you are not alone and it happens to the best of us 😊