Is anyone else's house permanently a mess??

[Raskova]

No matter what you do???

Had an impromptu BBQ yesterday, cue lots of rushed hoovering and cleaning. It's already a mess. Probably because of the BBQ but I've just been informed another person is popping round. Off I go again...

Yes. I clean and tidy then DH DD and DDog just seem to create a new vortex of chaos and I'm right back where I started.

Donate half your stuff. Problem virtually solved

We live in a one bed flat with x 2 children. It's always tidy apart from odd toy as we don't have space to store so don't keep anything unless used regularly

Half the clothes you think you need, half shoes, half toys, half cutlery, half everything

I need tips to deal with this too. Ours is a permanent tip!

Yes. Permanently. It drives me mad.

Ooh - vortex of chaos - love it. It probably describes our place some of the time.

Yes. If I tidy and clean one patch, the dc's trash another behind my back. 5yo DD is going through a wall drawing, and gouging phase so even the walls look a bit crappy these days. She doesn't sleep either and I'm too tired, and busy, to start tidying at 10pm at night.

Ahhh, 'vortex of chaos' has cheered me up.

What really bugs me is people who say the house is tidy because they're out at school / work all day. So are we, the dc's can do a lot of damage before school.

We're house hunting for a palatial ex-council house which will give us 1/3 more space, storage and brick walls so I can put shelves up.

I tend to give up bothering! Which just makes it worse admittedly but it just feels pointless even trying to tidy when its messy again 5 mins later

My house is pretty much always a mess and I do get despondent sometimes as it is fairly soul destroying trying to keep on top of it. I've just had a whirl around and it looks ok but there are certain rooms which always look dreadful whatever I do.

Do you have lots of interests? Our house is just full of sports gear, bicycles, horse stuff, dog etc. Can't halve that and give it away as we enjoy it all too much.

Clothes bug me and I don't have any storage space whatsoever as our house is well over 300 years old and I guess they just didn't have any possessions when it was constructed!

Yep.

I always thought it would get tidier as DCs got older, mine are in their 20s and it is still a tip!

Yes. I seem to spend my whole life cleaning. The cats shed fur. The sofa cushions shed feathers. The dc shed crumbs and lego and loombands and books and bits of paper. There are always clothes needing to be put away...

I don't think it helps that it's really tatty (rented) so it never looks properly clean even when it is

Other people tell me it is clean and tidy though so someof it may be in my head!

I have what started as a neat box of toys but is now basically a pile in the corner.

I have a rottweiler that sheds a spare rottweiler of hair everyday.

I never have time to put clean clothes away, though I do keep then hidden in laundry baskets.

I started after I posted and then got drawn away to collect a car from the mechanic. All I have to do when I get back is Hoover the stairs, kitchen, hallway and lounge, shove her toys back in a pile and hopefully mop in the time x gets to pick his mate up from one mile away go to the shop and come back. Not sure it's possible. Especially as DD has fallen asleep in the car...

And I'm only in the bloody house two/three waking hours a day. It makes no sense

Yeah mine's the same, and I have a tiny house and chucked half my belongings away! What really grinds my gears though is when my mum comes round and tut tuts at things and goes on as though I don't do anything - any spare time I get I'm washing and cleaning! I can't help it if it's ruined 5mins later!!!

Just to cheer you up, I thought I'd share that it doesn't get much better! Feels like you just get through the teens phase, complete with lolling all over and huge feet and cans of energy drink. Then they bring the DGC round and you're back to square one! Hope that helps.

Artandco has the only solution. You have to reduce your belongings to an amount which can be stored in your house. Otherwise it will always be total chaos. It has taken me a very very long time to realise this. Slowly reducing everything. Books clothes and so on. And coats. I mean how many coats do people need.

Sorry Artandco was meant to be bold not crossed out!

Yes !! No matter how good I think ok doing at keeping on top of it there's never a time when everything is in its place . In fact we don't even have a place for everything !

I made a New Years resolution this year to de-clutter I've been going at it since January and I'm no where near finished think it doesn't help living in a house smaller than your needs as well .

I agree but I honestly honestly don't have that much stuff. Clothes is an issue, I'll admit. Possibly toys. And I need a dishwasher.

I need a cleaner.

Everytime I clean it spotlessly, I think...

i will keep on top of it this time, I will

I've not managed once

I saw a meme once that said "Cleaning your house when you have kids is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos."

I swear I tidy the same space 12 times a day. It's like my kids hate the look of the floor with out their blocks, figures and crumbs all over it. They could just be trying to tell me they hate my rug and I'm not getting it. Add my drop it and leave it DH (I swear if he walks in from work tonight and empties his pockets and bag on my counters and stove again I'm going to scoop it all up and chuck it in the bin!) and my house is a perpetual mess.

Yep, ours is a total disaster area. Two preschoolers and a distracted and messy dh, plus me not being that tidy to start with = utter mess.

I clean it weekly, and hoover every day or two, and tidy daily, but it is always short lived.

Worst is the table, which just disappears under crap piles. I tidied it completely last Monday, and they have covered it again already. That's without my rubbish on it too. Dh had covered my place at the table with newspaper by lunchtime, and I only bought the paper this morning ffs.

There's a minimalism thread in this topic (would link but on crap phone I'm not sure how to link to threads). Some of us are there mainly for decluttering tips, some of us are more minimalist in philosophy, but we're all friendly! We post links to blogs and books, ask advice, share our tips and generally encourage each other in minimising the stuff that takes over our lives and the effort needed to maintain it all. It has really helped me streamline my home and life.

I massively decluttered recently - took a load to the car boot sale last week! But we seem to accumulate things. Children bring their artwork home, their toys get scattered, books are taken down to read then just... dropped.

And it's dd's birthday this week, so more shit will appear and the house will need another declutter, and waaaah!!!