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Housekeeping

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Laundry getting out of hand!

29 replies

Goodiegumdrops · 03/01/2018 11:13

I need some help!

We moved into our house two weeks before my second son was born 14 weeks ago. I don't feel we have ever really moved in. There seems to be clutter everywhere.
And most of all a never ending supply of dirty/clean/ready to iron clothes.

I have another son who is 23 months and a husband who doesn't see mess Hmm . He doesn't understand why I am getting stressed about clothes.

We have a small three bed house and zero storage. We are currently using ds2 bedroom as the spare room whilst he is still in with us. We have a conservatory which is freezing and is currently storing the double buggy, a kitchen table and other bits. The kitchen has little room too.

So please. Any ideas for laundry solutions or how to run household with two under two!

Thanks xxc

OP posts:
ShiftyLookingBadger · 05/01/2018 09:40

We moved at the end of June with 2 under 2, we still have a bedroom devoted to unpacked boxes and there's lots more in the garage! Mine are 'out of sight out of mind' so will prob be there a while to be fair! Can a relative or friend take your kids for a couple of hours at the weekend so you and DP can tackle some of your storage problems?

As for washing, I'm also drowning there. I mostly put the washing away when I'm forced to (AKA, when I need the baskets for the next week!) Confused Definitely agree with the minimal ironing. I'll only iron massively crumpled things and my favourite bits, DP irons his own things as and when he needs them in the morning.

I've also found if I collect all the laundry and separate on Friday night then all I need to do is stick the first load in Saturday morning (or even better load it Fri night and set it on a timer!)

NotEnoughCats · 13/01/2018 21:53

Is there anywhere you could put a pulleymaid clothes airer? Because it is mounted to the ceiling it gets the washing up out of the way whilst it is drying, so you're not falling over an airing rack. Other than that, I agree with re-wearing things, not ironing, and also try to keep on top of it by doing one load a day. Could you take it all to a laundrette just as a one-off, and then put it all away giving you a clean slate? As for unpacking, we moved to Australia in 2009 and shipped unpacked boxes that we'd taken with us then, back to the uk earlier this year! Unpacking and arranging things takes time. Go easy on yourself about that.

laundryneartome · 04/03/2024 06:08

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This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

IndianSummer78 · 04/03/2024 18:57

My main tip is decluttering. If you look at show home pics you'll notice there's nothing in there. Bare minimum of furniture and ornaments. No need for hardly any storage because there's hardly any stuff. If your house has zero storage you're going to need some. For most homes there'll be a chest of drawers, wardrobe and bedside table in bedrooms. some kind of cupboard in the bathroom. Kitchen with shelves, cupboards, fridge freezer. Some kind of living room cupboard. Shoe rack and coat pegs in the hallway. That's about it for basics. I like cube units, a few shelves and a dressing table too for hair things and makeup. So, you could go minimalist if you want.

At least get rid of whatever you don't use. No keeping things just in case. Ask yourself, in case of what? What hypothetical scenario can you see occurring where you not having whatever-it-is is going to be an end-of-the-world situation and what are the odds of it actually ever happening?

No saving things "for best". That comes from the days of people having barely any stuff so needing to keep one set in good condition, combined with regular special occasions. Like a birthday tea, because people had large families and they all lived in the same street (so you'd need plenty of unchipped china), or church on Sundays every week (so you'd need some clothes that weren't raggedy). People don't have "best" occasions any more, there's only ordinary life and when there's special events new things are often bought for the occasion.

If it doesn't fit, if it's scratchy, if it's obsolete, if it's worn out, if you already have a better one, if you have too many the same, if you don't use it, if you don't like it, if it's no good at its job, if it's not being played with - get rid of it. Don't expect children to make adult decisions. You decide what they're keeping, but don't be unreasonable with it and if you're unsure, put it out of sight and see if they ask for it back.

With clothes, I don't mind ironing and find it therapeutic but I don't have much time for it, half hour weekly is my limit. So most clothes are ones that don't need ironing. I'm not precious with clothes either. In winter they go in the tumble dryer - if they shrink or fall apart, they're donated/recycled. I don't care how expensive they were or how delicate they look, that's the winter system. If I'm not prepared to risk it, I don't buy it. Nothing else is practical for me. In summer, clothes go out on the line and are dry in a day. So laundry is put on each morning, dried somehow and put away each evening, all year round. Ironing once a week, about 10 items or less.

Don't iron anything I don't have to such as bedding. Bedding is changed weekly, towels changed weekly. You don't need a linen cupboard full of 20 bedding sets, a mountainous pile of towels and enough blankets to survive outside in a snowstorm when you live in a centrally heated house in a town. You need two sets, more for bed wetters, that's all.

Clothes are worn all day here (spot wash whilst wearing if something gets on them instead of changing, it soon dries) then into the wash. Babies and toddlers excluded, there's no spot washing a poonami. The thing of multiple changes of clothes per day doesn't happen in this household, people wear something suitable for all their activities. I don't faff about with stain removal, if ordinary washing doesn't get rid of it, it goes. I'm not a laundry slave.

Buy food frozen or in tins or packets that don't need to be refrigerated. These things last longer. Always put new stuff at the back so you're always eating from the front, the oldest stuff. Drastically reduces food waste. Get organized, meal plan weekly going through your supplies to see what needs using up, then shop for missing items from a list so you don't end up buying a tonne of stuff you don't need and won't use. Or living on cake all week because you shopped whilst hungry and that's all there is, and now none of your clothes fit.

Get yourself a housework routine. Make a list, stick it somewhere on a wall inside a plastic sleeve. Daily tasks. Weekly tasks. Infrequent tasks. Decide when you're going to do the dailies (first thing or before bed?). Are you doing the weeklies all at once on the same day or splitting it into shorter bursts each day? Mark down the date or month for the infrequent things so they don't get forgotten.

Don't get sentimental about everything connected to another person. You've probably got photos of them, you know they exist(ed), you know they were/are in your life, you don't need 100 nicknacks to remind you of them or every piece of babyish artwork your DC ever did. Unless it's valuable to inherit or special to them (in which case they can keep it), don't keep things from DC childhood to give to them later - they didn't want it at the time and they don't want it now. When your young person grows up and moves out, get rid of anything they don't take with them - they've left it because they don't want it. Same for exes or visiting relatives. Unless it's the car, your summer garden furniture in winter, the Christmas tree, gardening tools or your camping tent - don't put it in the loft, garage or shed. If it's in a box and you're not using it, get rid. Nobody wants to clear it all out when you get old and die.

Don't have a junk drawer. Either you need to keep it so it needs a home then or its actual junk to be binned.

Don't have too many hobbies. I'm guilty of this. I have way too much stuff for each one and constantly collect more, but don't have time to do them all. Keep life simple, pick one or two things and do them with the minimum of supplies/equipment. Same for DC, don't spend all your life driving them here there and everywhere when they're older. Unless someone's training for the Olympics they don't need to do their sport 5 times a week or all day long at the weekend, set limits so you've time to do the boring basics and have family time too.

I find getting up before everyone else so I can get ready uninterrupted makes a big difference. Either go ballistic, kick DP into touch, now he's a father he can't sit around relaxing after work until he goes to bed and all weekend. Or get rid of him completely if all he does is add to the workload. Or accept he's not going to change and you're choosing to stay anyway and put up with it, then devise ways to get it all done yourself and don't be relying on him, then there's no resentment when he doesn't do what he said he would.

There's not that much to do when you think of it. It's cooking, eating, cleaning, tidying, hobbies/fun stuff, work/school, admin and maintenance. That's it. We only struggle to fit it all in because we make it all unnecessarily complicated and own too much stuff, then it all unravels and we become increasingly disorganised. Go back to basics, keep everything simple and declutter. You'll be ok.

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