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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

Right, I need some very basic help on doing household tasks with a demanding toddler around.

35 replies

Pruhoohooohoooooni · 04/10/2006 11:04

Feel very lame, but have had to farm my son out today (to his grandmother) because I have a mountain of washing-up. If he is around I will never get it finished.

Tips please for getting the big things done in the house whilst dealing with a toddler constantly asking for things (not unreasonably!).

I cannot ever imagine doing something like eg spring cleaning a room with him around. I'm assuming you all do things like this so how do you do it with young children around?

(PS have obviously gone down the dvd route but of course it doesn't last!)

OP posts:
Original poster
Pruhoohooohoooooni · 04/10/2006 11:04

Incidentally I haven't farmed him out yet and am not wasting all my precious time on MN!

OP posts:
TwigTwoolett · 04/10/2006 11:04

tv

colditz · 04/10/2006 11:05

Buy a dirt devil hand held think and get him to hoover.

jessicaandrebeccasmummy · 04/10/2006 11:06

cbeebies mainly although Jess seems to like to "help" at the moment.

She will sweep the floor with a broom or put a baby wipe in her hand and she will clean almost anything!

I also have a stair gate on my kitchen door so if im in there and i need to get stuff done, she cant get in!

TambaTheVampireSlayer · 04/10/2006 11:06

Stair Gate
Cbeebies
Jaffa Cakes

TwigTwoolett · 04/10/2006 11:07

chuck him in the garden and shut the door

lego

bowl of soapy water in the kitchen

play dough

food and tv

Original poster
Pruhoohooohoooooni · 04/10/2006 11:08

Stair gate an impossibility in our house, but tbh if he wanted to get in, he would just lost the plot until he did.
I have a very determined child. Very.
I am hoping he will use this power for good in his future life. Right now he tends to use it for annoyance.

OP posts:
Cappuccino · 04/10/2006 11:09

get ye to the fly thread

we only do 15 minutes a day

we don't spring clean

TwigTwoolett · 04/10/2006 11:12

'splain flylady please .. the thread scares me

Bozza · 04/10/2006 11:15

I do not have stairgates and I my toddler will not watch TV unless I am sat with her commenting on it.

I have two methods. One is sending her for a book and breaking off and reading it and then sending her for another. This occasionally backfires when she brings 3 long books and strops if I don't read them. Making the cleaning to reading ratio rather low.

The more frequent method is to have her "helping" me. So when I am cleaning the bathroom she dusts the shelf with the perfumes on. She enjoys taking off all the bottles and replacing them. Obviously the shelf doesn't get very clean but I can cope with a dirty perfume shelf if I have managed to clean the toilet and basin. Or I get her to clean her step with a baby wipe while I am doing the other bathroom. She enjoys sorting the washing and loading the machine.

And downstairs cleaning I usually do at night with DH - but that is because I work part time so cannot fit it all in on the other days. Cooking she always stands on a chair next to me - even on a Sunday when DH and DS are available to entertain.

Cappuccino · 04/10/2006 11:15

you clean your sink before you go to bed

you set a timer and do 15 mins a day

she tells you what to do so you don't stand in the seething centre of it all thinking it all needs to be done today

you sit down and read a magazine and wait till tomorrow when she tells you to do something else

that's it, basically (actually the thread scares me too, and I'm doing it )

it has been the best thing I've done in ages because it gets me out of that 'ohmigodthewholehouseneedscleaninginonefellswoopitcantbedoneohwoeohwoe' business

TwigTwoolett · 04/10/2006 11:19

sounds good .. I'll play tomorrow .. cleaner here today

Cappuccino · 04/10/2006 11:20

you big cheat

Tatties · 04/10/2006 11:22

Pruni, how old is your lo? Mine is 18mths, sounds very like yours, don't get much done around the house during the day... Sorry I'm not much help but it's nice to know I'm not the only one. It always baffles me that people can get loads done, then it transpires that the child naps for 3 hours during the day or something! I'm lucky if I get 45mins out of him... Will watch this thread with interest...

foxtrottingtotransylvania · 04/10/2006 11:23

I'll admit that cleaning is not my priority with toddlers, just concentrate on the basics which don't take very long. Get a mini hoover to just do a quick pick up crumbs, no need to get the big hoover out. If you have space/cash for a dishwasher, consider getting one, it will transfrom your life.
My LOs love dusting the banisters, cleaning windows & mirrors with an old sock (i do a little squirt of cleaner & they rub like mad)
Otherwise, yes cbeebies, lego etc to keep them occupied.

oliveoil · 04/10/2006 11:25

I have 3 duster, 1 for me and 1 each for dd1 and dd2.

They 'help' making the beds - I 'can't do it' without dd1 sorting out the corners, make a huge fuss etc. Gets v draining however and 3 beds can take eons, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

erm, they use the swiffer thing on the floors

basically, they help and everything takes twice as long and drives you mad!

Tatties · 04/10/2006 11:25

'ohmigodthewholehouseneedscleaninginonefellswoopitcantbedoneohwoeohwoe'

That's exactly how I feel about the cleaning Cappucino! Maybe I should get myself over to the fly thread too?

lockets · 04/10/2006 11:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

oliveoil · 04/10/2006 11:32

I have a bag of plastic tat (party bag guff, MacDonalds toys etc) that gets tipped onto the kitchen floor if I want to do any cooking, keeps them occupied for a bit.

Mine are not interested in the tv, apart from 10 minute bursts. I have seen the start of that bloody Aladin DVD about 100 times and nothing else.

TwigTwoolett · 04/10/2006 11:35

every sahm should have a cleaner (much as every wohm should too) but more important when a sahm I find

ProfYaffle · 04/10/2006 11:45

My tactics are:

  • ignore as much dust/dirt as possible *involve dd as much as possible. Standing her on a kitchen chair at the sink and giving her stuff to wash is a good one. Cbeebies me and dh take turns to do bath time. Whoever's not doing the bath has tidy round, put toys away, load dishwasher etc take 10 mins (although dh is pretty shoddy at this tbh)
ProfYaffle · 04/10/2006 11:46

Oops, didn't mean to put Cbeebies in bold. Probably a freudian slip though.

acnebrideofFrankenstein · 04/10/2006 11:53

Grandparents.

my mum apparentl did it all in the evenings when we were small. No wonder she and dad are divorced.

Bozza · 04/10/2006 12:00

Don't really see why a SAHM needs a cleaner more than a WOHM. I would love one but cannot justify it. Will probably be able to afford one when DD goes to school which will be just when I don't need one.

I find the worst thing is tidying up because you are moving from room to room and up and down stairs and DD is calling "mummy where are you" and makes it down about 5 stairs before I am on my way back up. I know the answer is to keep things tidy in the first place.

mummymonster2 · 04/10/2006 12:13

I don't think there's anything wrong with with farming them out. dd(3.9) and ds (1.8) go to nanny for 1 afternoon a week to give me a chance to sort my house out.

I used to feel guilty about sending them, but they look forward to going and wish they could go more often.

I don't get so stressed about getting everything done anymore because I know I have those few hours every week.