To wonder how the hell people keep their homes clean?

[NoGoodAtCleaning]

DP and I both work full time and have an 8mo. When I'm off work I want to spend the time with my baby, and my DP.

So the cleaning is getting behind and I'm really down about it. I'm sick of being embarressed of our home. And I'm sick of having to allocate days where I gut the whole house because the mess has built up.

Everyone else's houses are clean! My friend just had a baby and hers is spotless.

I just want to cry about it.

How do people do it?

I pay my cleaner £22 for 3 hours work, 1 and a half hours on a Mon and the same on a Fri. She is slow but reliable and it really helps me keep on top of things.

I don't have an immaculate house
but - I do a few things every morning and a few others every evening

so each morning when we get up whilst DH gets the boys teeth brushed I make all the beds and throw anything that needs washing downstairs.
after they have finished I wipe round the loo and sink so when I come down upstairs is done.

I unload and reload the washing machine as soon as I get downstairs and hang the washing on the radiators / airer.
I put the kettle on and unload the dishwasher

Breakfast.
then restack dishwasher and clean down surfaces and make packed lunch.

the above adds no more than 15 minutes onto the morning.

The rest of the day I do other bits like Ironing the washing from the day before but the next main thing is Tea time.

WHilst tea is cooking The boys and I tidy round the sitting room putting away toys
I either sit at the kitchen table with the boys or clear up pots from cooking so by the time DH comes home the main mess from the day's toys and making tea is cleared up.

DS's put the toys away in their rooms whilst the bath is running and I put away the ironing from the day. We get clothes out for the next day.

After the bath I wipe round the bath and sink and make sure the towels are hanging up.

I don't keep my house that clean. I can only really manage meals, dishwasher and washing clothes every day.

Bathroom cleaned, hoovering house and dusting once a week.

Life's too short!

1. Get a cleaner
2. Get a cleaner
3. Get a cleaner

I have a cleaner. She hoovers and cleans the floors and the bathroom once a week. But the place never really seems that clean.

What is she doing wrong?

What's wrong? There is a lot more to cleaning than hoovering, cleaning floors and going over the bathroom, that's what.

Does she dust everywhere? Clean all mirrored/glass surfaces with glass cleaner? Polish wooden furniture? Scrub down the grout from time to time? Wash sofa covers and curtains? Etc etc etc

I employ my cleaner to keep the house at a certain standard. It's not as clean as I'd like it to be - ever - but it's liveable. I don't think ANY house can be pristine when it's lived in, esp if you have DC.

When a room needs a blitz I do it myself.

As a wise MNetter said to me once (think it was Edam) - lower your standards - you'll be MUCH happier.

I have a cleaner who comes once a week and it makes it a lot easier to keep up with everything.
We both work full time, I'm expecting at the moment and we have sil and bil for dinner 3 or 4 times a week and on sundays and usually some friends on a saturday as well.
We mostly cook everything from scratch (finding it cheaper since we've had to cook for 2 extra people most of the time).

I have a few rules, I clean the kitchen after our meal every evening, put the dishwasher on and the washing machine. Usually I can put that load in the tumble drier outside in the shed before I go to bed and dh brings it back when he goes out smoking.
I usually fold it straight away so it doesn't crease too much and bring it up in a room ready to be ironed.

In the morning I empty the dishwasher and give the kitchen a once over as dh always makes himself a snack after I've gone to bed.
I'll pick up dirty laundry, shoes and everything that isn't where it should be around the house (which is not much since the cleaner helps with that once a week) and tidy it up in the morning before I start work.
I also don't usually make the bed as such but kinda fold/hang the duvet over the bed frame to air the bed.

The cleaner comes on Fridays and spends a few hours cleaning the bathroom and toilets, hoovering every room, cleaning the kitchen and whatever has built up during the week and does the ironing. (She does not iron sheets, towels or socks, we just fold them).

Plus she'll have one extra task like cleaning the oven or the fridge or do the windows etc depending on how much time she has or how much cash I can give her that week.
I probably get the hoover out once a week.
We have no carpets, just parquet and wood flooring throughout wich helps maybe and (white!) tiles in the kitchen.

deanychip-the idea of a plastic box for muddy boots is brilliant.We have an open porch,so I don't like leaving boots out in winter-its horrible putting your warm feet into frozen wellies!I'd resigned myself to a muddy hall during the winter,but I'm going to sort out a plastic box tonight.

Thankyou.

I do sometimes do some cleaning and tidying. Admittedly it is when DH is in the house to make it look as if I do do it all the time (I am on maternity leave for another 1 month).

No IDEA how people keep their houses clean and tidy. I have a DS only just 2 years old and a DD 8 months old. I luckily have a cleaner for 3 hours on a Thursday so at least I feel as if the basics are done eg wash the floor, hoover upstairs and fling bleach down the toilets. I can then do the other things after her like dusting, changing the sheets etc. I don't know what I would do without her to be honest. I justify the expense (£24 a week) by saying that is what I spent when I used to go out in the evenings and have a few drinks, transport, clothes etc!! Having 2 under 2 makes that pretty difficult.

I do try and pinpoint areas eg once every 3 months, the fridge gets a good wash out.

But I know your issue. Have young kids makes cleaning a. difficult when they are hanging onto your legs and b. undesirable when you could be playing with them instead.

Chill out, relax and enjoy your children. You can be as clean, spotless and tidy as you like when they leave you!!!!

ok i work full time, (over 4 days) have achild two dogs and a dh. my house is clean...i spnd lots of time with dd , but when she goes to bed or naps its time to straighten things up in the house,dh does washing and laundry- thats his job, i shop for food, online and cook. you need to get orgsnised and allocate jobs.
its no big deal if you have an untidy house - unless it happens to worry you. o would never dream of commenting onthe state of other peoples houses - but i like a tidy home.

I have a cleaner, without her we would live in squalor because I have lowered my standards too far...

I am utterly neurotic and a control freak.

My mental health is shot, but my home is a delight.

Seriously, when ds was a baby, I found it quite easy to clean around him. Now he is 2.4, it is hellish.

Have just skimmed the thread but......can I really be the first one on the thread to suggest FlyLady?

DadiNaNollag I would love to get to grips with flylady but the site looks so confusing! Could you point us in the direction of a beginners guide?!!

Also would you say it was compatible with FT work?

My struggle atm is

• have a ton of work every night (marking etc) - at least 2hrs - don't have the energy to do housework after that!
• we have a tiny house - have to be quite quiet at night to keep DD asleep (12mths) - so can't hoover etc when she is in bed.

I know the workload thing won't go away, but does anyone have any solutions to the quiet housework dilemma?!

Oh- and does anyone have a cleaner and a dog - if so how do they get on together?!! - thinking of getting one but don't know if they would appreciate our giant lab...

I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing that can be done, unless you employ a cleaner, or dont work! You can only do one job properly, if you work you cant be a hw. if your a hw you cant work, dont beat yourself up, embrace the chaos, and know that one day the dc will leave and your house will be tidy, but it will be a little emptier too.

My MIL whom I butt heads with all the time, said to me that the best time in her life was when the kids were little, and they were skint and she was always cooking and cleaning and running around, but shes only just realised, and she misses it, on this occasion I think shes probably right.

I am the world's worst cleaner, but found was alerted to this poem on doctors net of all things... makes me feel better about the squalor we live in...it's a bit dated but I still like it...

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rock-a-bye, Lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek-peek-a-boo).
The shopping is not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there is a hullabaloo.
But I'm playing "Kanga" and this is my "Roo."
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rock-a-bye, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958

FlyLady Beginner Babysteps if you scroll down to the end of that page it gives you a day-by-day start routine.

hire someone

Sorry off the subject butmrstumnus you are a star have been looking for that poem...only have the last verse thanks!

My house is clean but usually untidy however how hard I try, and i'm afraid I'd rather spend time with my Dc as they are growing up too fast

I have twins and did not struggle in keeping the house clean and tidy, even when I went back to work part-time (4 days a week).

DH has always cleaned the bathroom, emptied and clean the bins, cleans the kitchen and tidies up the living room in the evening.

I do the laundry, every two to three days, ironing and vacuum whole house once a week, living room is vacuumed twice a week and mop kitchen floor once a week.

Now that DTS are 4yo, they tidy up all their toys at the end of the day. We are also teaching them to put things away that they are no longer using and not to get everything out at one time.

On top of that, we don't eat ready meals. I cook and freeze or just do easy meals like jacket potato with beans and grated cheese or a quick stir fry or a simple salad. DH also cooks and we take it in turns to make the Sunday roast.

In life, one always has to do something that they do not enjoy, be it at home or at work so instead of wasting energy fretting about housework, just set a time to do it and get on with it.

No, OP, YANBU. I often wonder the same.
Keeping my house clean and tidy takes a lot of work, partic as I work three days a week. I sometimes get so frustrated because there ALWAYS seems to be so much to do and nobody else seems to spend this much time on housework! A lot of the work gets done at night or on my days off - when I get a chance! My toddler DS is not the most independent so I clean and tidy here and there - when I get the chance! It's never prefect though, but IMO having a clean kitchen and bathrooms is the most important.

With all due respect spokette, part time work 4 days a week is very different, in terms of free time left over, from working 5 days FT as the OP does.

I know I struggle to fit it in - home at 5.30ish, feed, bathe and put DD to bed which is all over by 7.3-8pm, then I need to do my work, which takes until 10/11pm then housework is the last thing I can think about, plus dd doesn't sleep well so I know I have a hard night ahead of me.

I know the answer is to get up earlier and do some in the morning, but dd is up at 6am and any earlier than that...bleurgh!!

So that leaves the weekends which is pretty damn depressing tbh!

At home from work at 5.30 - ohhh Caz10 I wish I were you! My journey to work is so long - 1.5 hrs to get back to DS's nursery - so I always make sure I've cooked dinner in advance.

Please can we swap lives??!