Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

does the state of your house ever get you down?

108 replies

alittlebitshy · 04/06/2006 16:19

if so sign up here and reassure me.

I'm quite a "clean" person, and don;t like mess, but by nature we have a fairly cluttered home cos we have lots of books, dd has lots of toys and we're just not cut our for the show house-home that a few of my friends have Envy.

right now it's getting me down. it always seems to need hoovering, the kitchen always looks as if it is a few days post it's cleaning day (again, it's neat but cluttered, and i clean up and put away as i go along but it never looks as nice and minimalist as so many i see. plus it is deffo not new and trendy.

there is a strange smell in our porchy bit. my mum reckons it eminates from dh's stdy (I never clean it, it is his domain, and he is a messy so and so and the thought of it frightens me plus he is always working in it so i can never get the time when i have the time iyswim, even if i felt so inclined).

it is getting me down... mainly this nelwly appointed scent.

argh.

i wonder if people think i live in an utter hole. I don't think i do, i try and keep it clean and as tidy as i can, but i don;t think i'm good enough. waaaaaaaah.

c'mon, make me feel less of a slattern.

OP posts:
ProfYaffle · 04/06/2006 17:02

YES YES YES.

Like Betty we're very slowly doing up our house but because we're paying for it as we go along it's taking forever, there's always some bit of work being done somewhere, it drives me daft. Even when I do clean up it still looks a mess cos of the old carpets, horrid decor etc.

Still, last major building work (attic conversion) done now so we can get new flooring throughout the house, re-decorate just about everywhere then that 'just' leaves painting the outside, turning front garden into parking space with drop kerb, installing saniflo loo, re-roofing and re-wiring the garage.

[weary emoticon]

FioFio · 04/06/2006 17:03

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted

MissChief · 04/06/2006 17:23

too often - end up tidying for when viewers come round so much better than it was..

Smurfgirl · 04/06/2006 17:29

My house is minging. I hate it. Hate being a student and sharing a house, bleurgh.

EmmyLou · 04/06/2006 17:30

Just got some 'grown up' curtains and blinds after having a large piece of grey felt from dh's workshops held up by nails hung across front bay window for the past 4 months. Our house is on village main street. EVERYONE walks past it on way to school.Prior to that we had filthy white curtains, again made up at last minute from canvas cloth dh happened to have at work. They were meant to be temporary, while I was b/f dd2 (teenagers once walked past and said "eeuugh! Its sucking her tit!" That was 7 years ago. Could have flashed to scare 'em off but am too cowardly.) Angry

Dog lies on same window sill (wide window sill, big border collie) and terrorises other dogs he dislikes when they walk past. He also leaves salivery and dog-snotty smears on window panes and dirt and hair on sill. For all to see. But at least he's not on the sofa. We are known as 'the house with the dog in the window'. I fear for my new blinds and curtains.

expatinscotland · 04/06/2006 17:31

it's not graffiti, it's art.

psychomum5 · 04/06/2006 17:42

the state of my house is getting me down right now cos I can't do anything cos I still recovering from car accident:(

DH is trying his best, but it's just not 'my kind of tidy' IYKWIM....

he has finally agreed to a cleaner tho for a few weeks untill I am recoveredGrinbut only so I stop nagging himBlush

mind.....she will only be able to do once a week, where-as I do every day normally. Can you imagine what it is going to be like with 5 kiddies....arghhhhhhhhh

DumbledoresGirl · 04/06/2006 18:25

Are you OK psychomum? What happened? I have missed your story.

Tommy · 04/06/2006 18:30

mine does....but obviously not enough for me to do anything about it Sad
I think it's the bigger sorting out type jobs that I'll need a couple of hours for (which I never get) that get me down. generally, we tidy up every evening and sort the kitchen out it's just everything else - clothes that need sorting out and putting away in the vain hope that one day I might have another baby, paperwork, hanging pictures etc etc

mustrunmore · 04/06/2006 18:33

My house always needs cleaning.How can sooo many toast crumbs and raisins appear overnight??! But I'm so disinclined to lug the hoover downstairs. We have also only cleaned the windows twice since we moved in, a year last March Grin

twinsetandpearls · 04/06/2006 18:56

Mine gets me down especially when my Mum comes round and peers down her nose at our house or tuts and says "It was sucha lovely house when that nice family before you lived here"

I just don't have time to clean as I have two jobs and am studying for a degree and a professional qualification as well as being a Mum and partner and wanting some kind of social life.

Our doesn't really get outrageuous but before I had dd I was immaculate. My house always looked like a showhouse. I get by by always having people over as it makes me keep on top of the housework. We all just have so much stuff, dd has too mnay toys, I have too many books and clothes and dp seems to collect dvds.

I tidy up every day and have a cleaning routine but it has to be done before I go to work which means I start at 4 in the morning on a teaching day or five on a normal day. If I do it last thing at night it means starting at about 9 or ten and not having chance to relax - and often I have school work or studying to do until gone midnight.

I did have a cleaner when I started work but I wanted to increase my pension payments and I joined a gymn so we couldn't afford to keep her on. I am also a bit of a control freak so found it hard letting someone else clean my house.

We are also doing our house up, and dp is a nightmare at starting a job and then moving on, so I have no ceiling light in our bedroom, the flooring in the hall is unfinished, the skirting board in the front room is unfinished and he has ripped the tiles off the wall in the kitchen and left them.

I find that my house reflects my state of mind and vice versa- so today it is in pretty good nick, the ironing is up to date , even the skirting boards have been cleaned! The lawns are mowed and I have got dp doing some jobs so I feel calm and have been able to catch up with my studying.

twinsetandpearls · 04/06/2006 18:57

EmmyLou are dog salivas the window I hate it!

twinsetandpearls · 04/06/2006 18:59

I also think we are being conspired against as well, have just popped into a neighbours house, came back and said to dp that her house was immaculate. He then reminded me that her 3 kids had been in our house all weekend as had 2 others whose parents also probably had immmaculate houses!

noddyholder · 04/06/2006 19:00

We are mid renovation too so are surrounded by dust and are living in one room atm.Ds loves it but after 6 weeks it is getting painful tbh and there is no end in sight atm although the kitchen is sort of getting there!I am a great believer in throwing out stuff and recycling and car boots for teh rest

EmmyLou · 04/06/2006 19:05

I play the game of go-on-mumsnet-and-ignore-children-then-see-how-much-they've-trashed-the-house.

Grin
DumbledoresGirl · 04/06/2006 19:16

Mustrunmore, I asked dh if he could add cleaning the windows to his list of jobs to do today. Ours haven't been done at all (outside) since we moved here last July!

dewmeadow · 04/06/2006 19:23

our windows are pigging!! thank god no one can see our house except the postman and friends allowed to see our house in an untidy state

mustrunmore · 04/06/2006 19:27

Glad its not just me then Smile

lapsedrunner · 04/06/2006 19:28

yes, on a daily basis Grin

psychomum5 · 04/06/2006 19:33

dumbledoresgirl......was in nasty car accident last week and car was written off (not my fault I hasten to add!)

have now got severe whiplash and severe muscle spams throughtout body and have been on a cocktail of strong painkilling drugs. Am now on tablet pethidine as nothing was helping and altho I am still getting some break thro pain it is at last giving me some relief.

One good thing about the pethidine....am feeling rather floatyGrinand so house isn't getting to me as badly as it normally would. having said that tho, I am still moaning according to DH, so god knows what I would be like should I not be floatyWinkBlush

Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 04/06/2006 19:47

More than anything else.

I'm opening an ebay shop when we get home from holiday (seriously).

BonyM · 04/06/2006 19:53

Yes - the state of my house frequently gets me down.

I wonder if anyone manages to have a perfectly clean and tidy house when they have a very active toddler.

Most days I only manage to get the bare minimum done - ie. load and empty the dishwasher, put some washing on, prepare meals.

Dh and dd1 are also fairly untidy and we have so much stuff - can't see how we're ever going to have a completely tidy house tbh.

Mind you, Mumsnet doesn't help - ok, this has prompted me to log off and go tidy...

Blossomhill · 04/06/2006 19:55

I get eaten up inside by the mess in my house.

As a SAHM I have this thing in my head that the house has to be tidy when the kids come home from school (mad I know). So I spend at least 2 hours tidying each day. Now within half hour of them being home it gets messed up again and the cycle starts all over again.

I think it's called fighting a losing battle!

charliecat · 04/06/2006 20:15

Yep at least once a week I stomp round in a rage about the mess swearing under my breath and throwing out days worth of lovely things the girls have made.
Its half term here and on Friday I banned the kids from upstairs, just so that for ONE DAY I could go upstairs and not have to spend half an hour making it walkable through again.
AND my kids do tidy up after themselves. Its the bits that linger needing to be put away...sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I have a box in each room that I lop things into before a visitor comes round...he he he, then i hoover and it looks ok.
In winter its like a laundry in here...rant rant...

EmmyLou · 04/06/2006 20:16

I have permenant bag on foot of stairs for charity shop. Dh is always coming home from working abroad (tidy hotel rooms for contrast?) and saying "This house is full of sh*t! Get rid of it all!" I do have to remind him that we have 3 children and - oops, yes, would you believe it, they are his kids too. Grrrr.