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:
Bozza · 04/06/2006 20:22

Mine is getting me down today. We were away earlier in the week and since then have been potty training DD. Tomorrow is cleaning day (with DD in pants) and the house is untidy....

expatinscotland · 04/06/2006 20:23

start chucking stuff out, people!

liberate yourselves!

it feels great when you see the bernardo's bin and feel that sense of release.

or freecyle it like some.

DumbledoresGirl · 04/06/2006 20:25

Sorry to hear that Psychomum. Take it easy (if you can) and get well soon! (Oh and close your eyes to the housework for the time being as it doesn't sound as though you should be doing anything!)

southeastastra · 04/06/2006 20:47

i would chuck out but its not my stuff! i live with a hoarder! books and records and comics oh and kids!

i always wonder what happens to the stuff i throw away as well. Does it really matter though as long as its reasonably clean! Smile

i hate going to peoples houses that are pristine.

Mirage · 04/06/2006 21:48

Mine is enough to make me weep.We have been in it nearly a year & the only thing we have done is had it rewired.The living room is minus a fireplace & has half stripped woodchip on the walls.The kitchen & bathroom haven't been touched since the early 1970's.We have no storage anywhere,not even shelves.You can imagine all the books,toys clothes piled everywhere.

5 years ago,I wouldn't have been able to stand living in such chaos,but with 2 dd's 2.10 & 1,& running a business,I just don't have time.

One of dh's cousins met me for the 1st time last week & commented on how busy the dd's kept me.She said 'OF course,with both of them to cope with,you don't go out to work,do you?'She was copmpletey shocked when I said that I did & was trying to renovate a house too.She asked how I coped & I told her that I'm just a bad housekeeper & it is always a tip.Grin

psychomum5 · 04/06/2006 23:50

thankyou DDG, am trying to shut eyes, but tis hard.....

got some good news from DH tho about the housework...cos I am all injured he getting me a cleaner till i mendedGrin

if there has to a silver lining about the accident than i guess this is itWink

mrsdarcy · 05/06/2006 05:36

Our house is really getting me down. We've had no kitchen for over 2 months. The sitting room is full of kitchen crap. The dining room is full of dining table and plates etc. I have a laundry mountain in our bedroom.

We're renovating the house, have been here just a year, and there is no storage, so I have no routine for keeping on top of it. I also have a 10 month old crawling, no-napping, clingy baby who I am rather drippy about letting cry, so the only opportunity I have to clean is in the evening when I am too knackered.

Part of the mess built up because when the builders were in I spent the whole day out of the house with my DD, to keep away from all the dust and noise.

My DH is really pissed off about it but I just don't know where to start.

noddyholder · 05/06/2006 10:20

I sympathse darcy no kitchen here either plaster everywhere and microwave food is disgusting We are spending a fortune on takeaways and m&s

Angeliz · 05/06/2006 10:23

Mine does all the time. I am determined though and giving stuff away at a scary rate.
We are also in the process of ahving the kitchen done so holes in the floor/ceiling/walls in there too!!

Still i'm sitting on mumsnet while dd2 naps! [confused emotion!]

misdee · 05/06/2006 10:28

my house bugs me sooooooooo much.

LIZS · 05/06/2006 10:30

Definitely . Had hoped to get it straight today after the half term chaos but dd off school so no hope. Trying to sell and finding it hard to keep on top of.

UCM · 05/06/2006 10:45

God yes, I have got incredibly clean, neat BF coming to stay at weekend and have to blitz whole house. Hence being on here, looking for enthusiasm. Ours is also half done. I am the messiest person I know, but I am clean IYKWIM.

Right, onwards & upwards, up to tackle spare room with boxes & cleaning stuff.

poppiesinaline · 05/06/2006 11:12

I saw the title of this thread and it did make me smile. I am having a major blitz of the house today (quick cup of tea and MN break Wink). I am very tidy, DH is extremely UNTIDY. I give up at weekends and try and get the house into some kind of order when he goes back to work.

My house is a complete minging tip. Had long bank hol weekend with DH at home, then half term (open plan house with 3 kids) and then DS2 and me got tonsilitis, then another weekend with DH at home...... I leave the state of my house to your imagination.

It does completely get me down hence the major clean up today. When it is done I know I will feel a whole lot better... until it needs doing again Angry

poppiesinaline · 05/06/2006 11:13

Oh and I keep trying to tell myself 'there is more to life than a tidy house.... there is more to life than a tidy house.... there is more to life than a tidy house.....' >

DumbledoresGirl · 05/06/2006 11:17

Hi Poppies. Hope you are feeling better.Smile

poppiesinaline · 05/06/2006 11:23

HI DG!!!! >

Much better thanks. You ok? Have a good hol?

Right, I am off to tackle the kitchen and the lounge floor!

Miaou · 05/06/2006 11:27

I'm late to this thread but - yes I live in an untidy (and often not very clean Blush) house, and yes sometimes it gets me down. But in between trying (and failing) to sort out my business, look after dh's needs, see to ds, and do the vital bits like the washing, I like to talk to and play with my dds. My overriding memory of my childhood is that my mum was always too busy cleaning to play with us - I'm determined my kids don't feel the same about me! (although maybe they'll be clean freaks after growing up in this house - oops).

The kids do their bit to keep the mess at bay and it's nothing like the shit-tips that you see on How Clean is your House, but my mother will often pointedly refuse to have a cup of tea or say "I walk out of your kitchen in despair sometimes" mwahahahaha!!!

tyedye · 05/06/2006 12:16

CLEANING THE HOUSE WHILST CHILDREN ARE GROWING-IS LIKE SHOVELLING SNOW WHILE ITS STILL SNOWING!Smile

poppiesinaline · 05/06/2006 12:31

My friend has a little poem on her fridge about cleaning while children are growing up.... something about dust being around for ever but childrens childhoods being gone very quickly or something....

Pfer · 05/06/2006 13:27

I hope my children look back on today
and remember a mother who had time to play
with years of cleaning and years of cooking
Children grow up while you're not looking,
so quiet down cobwebs dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Says she from the pigsty!

ProfYaffle · 05/06/2006 14:07

I like that one, may I also add:

And when the Lord on judgement day
asks 'did you clean your house today?'
I shall reply 'I did not
I played with my child and I forgot'

Pfer · 05/06/2006 14:23

I like that......

Well, I'm sure I've got a floor somewhere in the house, just seems to have vanished under playdough and lego Grin, must go and find the other one of DS2's shoes that went AWOL a couple of days ago...sigh

poppiesinaline · 05/06/2006 16:04

Pfer ! Yeah that was the poem. I like that one. And ProfYaffle - thats a good one too :)

Well, on that note... I have spent most of the day cleaning Blush and now have a gleaming home. :) BUT now I am walking around grouching at anyone who messes anything up! Shock sigh.. maybe living under a pile of washing and dust isnt so bad after all....

saltire · 05/06/2006 18:00

I have 2 kids, 2 dogs, a DH who plays rugby, and i CM 4 kids. No tidy house here. In fact looking round it today you would never think it had been hoovered and polished in the living room, or that the kitchen floor and work surfaces had been washed down, and as for the bathroom and the kids room - like downtown basra! I have given up!

Angeliz · 06/06/2006 09:54

ProfYaffle, i am gonna write that and stick it somewhere in the much to cheer me upGrin