please help me get organised......

[katiepotatie]

.....I need a plan to keep the house tidy,I feel i'm constantly tidying/cleaning and it still looks like sh*t heap

Declutter
Home for everything
Tackle a room at a time, not the whole house.

Can you do your laundry on a set day? I have just decided to do mine on a Monday/Thurs. Clothes will just have to wait beyond these 2 days (am about to have baby though - so this may change, but will try not to). Dry and fold it straight away. Otherwise it feels like I am doing laundry every day. That reminds me, need to put it on!

And yes, home for everything - loads more storage. Clear out cupboards and put in labelled boxes. Have just done my airing cupboard, makes such a difference. Plastic crates and glass storage jars from IKEA. Chuck out/recycle things you don't need. Always tidy kitchen last thing at night so you come down to clean kitchen in morning. Try and put more stuff away as you use it.

Split into
(a) things that need doing every day
(b) things that need doing twice a week or less.
(c) accept that a living breathing home should never be immaculate - there is always room for a wee pair of shoes down the side of the sofa, or the odd lego brick behind the laundry basket (mine's been there 9 days now, but I'll get to it).
My (a) list is do-able in 20 minutes and I am lucky to be able to do it before my school run.
My (b) list is shared out over the week at a convenient point in the day. This morning I walked for an hour after the school run (trying to lose some weight), came home and completed my (b) list which I did in about 35 minutes.
I iron twice a week but put a load through the washer every day (colours one day, whites the next).

Also, have just started trying to do a meal plan for week so less time spent food shopping (which is online anyway - highly recommend setting a weekly delivery slot) and wondering what to make each night. Make double of stuff and freeze so you have nights where you don't need to get the kitchen all messy. Also make little DC meals for freezer for this reason.

I am so useless at this but have just learned that 'a place for everything' doesn't actually mean 'a different place for each individual piece of plastic from every toy and all the right jigsaw pieces in the right box and if you can't manage this then might as well leave it on the floor' - my previous strategy. No, it means having enough baskets strategically located to heave the random piles of kids' stuff into at top speed - then it looks tidy even if it isn't! We have some baskets under the coffee table, some in each child's bedroom, and a repurposed Tummy Tub in the bathroom. Total time to tidy up: 30 seconds per room.

springlamb. I like your strategy. What are your everyday tasks? Your twice a week tasks?

Thank you :)

Have tackled laundry today, dc's clothes all done and put away. Cleaned kitchen, and tidied livingroom (although looks worse now than when I started)
yes springlamb, what are your everyday tasks and twice a week tasks?