It STILL isn't tidy !!!

[Edenviolet]

We have a small three bed house and four dcs.

I arranged for a cleaner to come (my Xmas treat to myself) on sat and today for two hours each time. She was great, hoovered, dusted everywhere, made beds etc and tidied up clutter.

Last night I stayed up till 12 doing washing and tidying. Today I have done three loads of washing, tried to organise all our clutter, went through the big toy box and got rid of a bin bag full of old and broken toys, put loads of clothes away and have just spent all day clearing up after dcs and meals etc.

The house is still not tidy! I don't know what to do I want it tobe beautiful for Christmas but think I'm going to have to do my usual trick of hiding everything in my room and shutting the door!

We really do have too much stuff and too little space. Planning to get up in the morning and try again. Any tips to get things looking good with minimum effort ?

Not much use to you now, but you need to do regular and ruthless decluttering. Anyway, don't be too hard on yourself, sounds like you have done a lot.

Declutter then declutter some more. It sounds like you have far too much stuff!

We really really need to do decluttering !

From the day we moved in it was cluttered as DM came round with a van full of 'my' stuff.literally box upon box and hundreds of bags- nothing they contained was mine she had just decided to declutter her own house into mine. Got rid of most of it but had to also sort our stuff out and I was pregnant with dd2 so never got round to all of it and we have managed to accumulate far too much in the years since!

I keep trying to out time aside to declutter and organise but get bogged down by day to day stuff and never get round to it! I seem to spend most of my time preparing meals and clearing up after them.

Could you get a friend round for the day in the New Year. (someone kind, bossy and efficient) for a declutter day. Provide a nice lunch? Try and have the dcs out of the house and be ruthless.

I think the main issue is the dcs clothes. There isn't enough room in their drawers to put everything away as a lot of stuff no longer fits and needs to be taken out so that everything in there is clean and they can wear it.It also needs folding. Because I can't fit it all in drawers we have piles of clothes everywhere!

I keep a lot of what they've grown out of for the younger ones to wear when they grow out of what they have but with minimal storage its very difficult!

I plan to do it and then a typical day goes like this:

Dcs all wake up, have to get breakfast, ds2 throws food everywhere from highchair tray then I have to tidy away breakfast things etc and by the time they are all washed dressed, hair and teeth brushed and I'm ready I have everyday bits to do and then its lunchtime and so on all afternoon then bathtime and then I realise yet again I've just been keeping on top of things not actually sorting things out properly! Staying up last night to tidy did make a difference I have to admit as I felt I had a head start this morning.

Decluttering really is the only way I think. I'm tempted to just get ten bin bags, fil them with what's in piles/baskets/boxes and the cupboard in the kitchen and take it all to the tip!

Hello op, get yourself a label maker and tonnes of good quality vacuum bags. We live in a very small house and I have had to be ruthless. Down to towels, shoes etc.

Give yourself a deadline of say, two hours. Put on a favourite cd them after that forget it and enjoy your family and Christmas x

I only have one baby but you do a wash everyday. Possibly four in your house, so do you need twelve baby vests ???

Exactly. Dump, dump, dump

A time limit is a good idea, otherwise I can see myself being exhausted by the end of the day tomorrow! I know I will end up chucking things in a basket and hiding it under a big Christmas patterned fleece in my bedroom but I've tried!

Off to unload the tumble dryer and fold and put away the clothes before I go to bed.

The kids will never remember how beautiful the house was one Christmas time...stop stressing and enjoy spending time with them. Come New Year invest in some bin bags and get shot of the lot to the dump or to charity...

Oh, op, I sympathise. I live in a small three-bedroomed house too and there are four of us. I seem to spend my life tidying up and decluttering. The trouble is that clutter makes a small space look untidy, whereas it wouldn't be noticeable in a larger space. I think I do more housework than my friends who live in larger houses.

Our bedroom is the dumping ground. I'm not happy with it, but at least it means that downstairs looks tidy for Christmas.

As you say, you have tried. Now it's time for emergency measures - which means flinging all clutter into dustbin bags or boxes and hiding them somewhere.

I'm sorry your DM brought you all that stuff. My PIL did the same thing. They were always giving us stuff we didn't want and we ended up with cupboards full of things they'd given us. Then they complained that we were untidy! I now refuse the things MIL presses me to take, which really annoys her. The funny thing is that she complains that she doesn't want whatever it is in her flat - but doesn't mind imposing it on us . She won a huge box of tea bags this week and tried to give them to me, but I refused them, much to her annoyance. I had just cleared all my cupboards for the Christmas stuff and I had plenty of tea!

As Fergus says, your DC won't remember the clutter - they will just remember the excitement of Christmas and all of you having a good time together.

Oh, and I also have to keep DS1's clothes for DS2 to grow into. My mum says, "Why don't you just throw all those bags away?" (peering into the cupboard) and I have to patiently explain, yet again, that 'those bags' are full of clothes which we need. Argh!

I have managed to get the house 'tidy' by hiding things in bags that are covered by Christmassy fleeces ! Lots in my room and a few in ds1 s room in a corner that is never used.

Making mince pies with dcs now for Father Christmas and having a lovely time. Will declutter after Christmas but for now the bags are hidden and all the dirty washing is festering in the giant laundry bin hidden by the back door ! Job done.

That's the way to do it, Hedgehog. I'm sure your house looks great now. Have a happy Christmas.