Help me be a better housewife!

[JellyBeansHaveNoAgeLimit]

Myself, DH & 2 DC's will be moving to a brand new, never before lived in flat in a few week time.

At the moment my cleaning routine tends to be to ignore it until it really needs doing

Please give me your top tips for keeping on top of the housework. I would like it so i can just do a bit each day instead of spending hours catching up at the weekend!

I just realised that makes me sound like a total slattern! I do do SOME cleaning on a daily basis

Little and often? Everyone helping? If we manage to do this, we have a lovely clean home even with a very chaotic toddler! However, as I'm now heavily pregnant and struggling with various ailments we've just hired a cleaner

I find the following helpful:

We clean the kitchen properly after dinner whilst DD's in the bath (so washing up, wiping down sides, wiping table, cooker and high chair, sweeping floor)

Wash on every day and allocate a day for towels / sheets.

Quick wipe down of bathroom after I've cleaned my teeth at night. A splash of bleach / toilet cleaner every morning after shower or at night.

Hoover front room early evening and quick tidy away of toys. DH usually does this.

Thorough clean of bedroom once a week (usually weekend): putting cloths away, hoover, change beds and dust surfaces.

Mop floors once a week.

I'm in no way a neat freak. My DM cleans and hoovers everyday and lives in a show home type environment, which I find terrifying and obsessive but if we can do 5/10 minutes here and there everyday I find life SO much easier. And no all day cleaning missions, which I find soul destroying.

Oh and good products. I love Method, e cloths, e mops as well as vinegar and bicarb and bleach.

Good luck in your lovely new home.

Thanks Witt. Good luck with your new baby

First agree with your DH what he is going to do and what you are going to do. You share the responsibility.

Second decide what jobs are suitable for your children to do to help

Third get a cleaner

Lol my DCs are 2yo and 4months, their main job is to create more mess think

Same age gap that I'll have! And it's quite how much chaos one little person can generate (so far this morning, scrambled egg and ketchup smeared over the table / high chair / floor, water spilt all over the kitchen, toys strewn everywhere, wet towels dumped by the washing machine...we've only been up 45 minutes!). I can only imagine the damage 2 will do!!

I meant to add that little and often means that of you don't do for a couple of days it's not so full on bad.

I don't plan on doing a whole ton when dc2 is here. DH will take over tidying, hoovering, washing up, cleaner will change beds, wash floors, hoover, clean kitchen (so we'll have one day of civilisation) and when Dd was newborn I just kept lots of wipes to hand for doing the bathroom before visitors came over. So, in light that you are trying to be a domestic goddess with tiny tiny people, scrap what I said and just buy lots of wipes, lower standards and get DH to do washing up, hoovering etc!!