How do you keep your house clean....

[CarCiKoTab]

and tidy? I have three children under the age of 6 and, my house is like a permanent war zone of shit! Every where! I tidy up within a matter of seconds mystery items appear as if they just got up and fucking walked all on there own. The kids have there chores recycling, washing, general maintenance of their room but I am baffled how my house can remotely stay tidy unless, I do it non-stop every day.

Have you got a routine of what you do on certain days?

I don't know if I am just so stressed out about it that I think it's worse than what it actually is but I also feel zero motivation for it, it almost rugby tackles me to the ground and screams your not cleaning me!

Any suggestions? Lets keep it light hearted its too hot to be serious...

I don't bother. It's just a mess. As nicer weather comes, all eating will be done outside-have fixed a bolster highchair to one of the patio chairs.

Big boxes for toys to go in & just allow one box at a time.

Also, I'm converting our garage to a playroom/family room in the hope that the living room can be presentable & used for evenings & if guests arrive unexpectedly.

I feel like I never get the kitchen cleaned-have an old robot Hoover that I'm going to try from tomorrow to set off in the kitchen in the morning. Today's job is to find the charger for it!

A previous thread had an idea of 52 jobs in a spreadsheet with how long they take & tick off one a week-e.g. Clean skirting boards or oven etc.

I'll be watching with interest-one buy that is good is an ettore window cleaning set-so fast to clean the windows & enjoyable!

I begrudge doing windows I think its something DP should do been as he does so little, although if he does so happen to feel all enthusiastic about life and wash up that's it! He's been doing it for a week and I don't do anything old fisherman's tale more like.

See I could probably do a spreadsheet but I get a bit rebellious about 'routine' and then beg for it back once it's too late. I don't get how people can work full time, have one million kids and you go round unexpectedly and there house is immaculate.

For tidying we do a thing where everybody has to get 10 things that are lying around and put them away.

Also, I set timers in their bedrooms and they have to tidy till it goes off. Then they go into each other's rooms and criticise suggest three improvements.

I do seem to spend a lot of time cleaning and tidying. And it's never tidy. Or clean.

Less stuff is the only answer I've decided. How some folk manage to keep tidy houses with seemingly little effort is a complete mystery to me.

Clean as you go or find your own house to mess up. Dd1 told me I was crazy and laughed at me when I told her she had to wipe the sofa down after eating cereal, using the arm of the sofa as a table (we have no dining table yet)

She did not find it so funny when I "lost" the front door key just as her friends called round, funnily enough they turned up again as soon as she wiped the sofa down We lose the keys/tablets/router often. It's like a game, they have to go around the house finding where they've left mess and clean it and the keys/tablets/router re appear, it's my favourite game, not so much theirs

If you keep on top of things the big clean shouldn't take long. The big clean i.e hoover the stairs and bedrooms, wash windows, wash bedding etc happens twice a week when I have a day off.

I've just today adopted a new method, pile all things in the middle of the room, then further put the pile into place piles ready to go to their rightful place. Get the kids to take the piles and just like that one room organised. Moment of brilliance if I do say so myself, or maybe I'm just lazy and can't be arsed to waltz around a room aimlessly moving individual bits.

I like the less stuff strategy, unfortunately the other half is a bit of a hoarder using the excuse of, it might come in handy one day. Well yes one day it might but if you carry on keeping everything that "might" come in handy, by the time you need it you'll be so bogged down with shit that you can't find it!

I'm a hoarder too-the ikea expedit storage units are fab. When I started not allowing washing in the living room it was better as there was always stuff drying in there or in piles to be put away. Now it all gets done in the utility room