Help please! House is a disaster and have a crawling baby

[agabimou]

Ok I'm ashamed to admit me and DH are terrible housekeepers. But we need to buck up our ideas because we now have a baby and I feel like we need to step up our game. We used to have a cleaner but can't afford her anymore. We have a dog who sheds fur.

What is normal routine in terms of cleaning (not looking for show home, but hygienic and reasonably ordered)

Clean sinks,toilets, dust every now and again, hoover and mop floors. And wipe kitchen surfaces :)

I think if you truly are terrible my first steps would be to de clutter and clear surfaces of all mess. Have a mess drawer/cupboard if necessary! Then clean toilets/bathrooms. Clean kitchen and bleach sink. Then hoover and clean any non-carpeted floors.
Then you’ll notice grubby bits and can deal with them as needed.

DP and I used to take it in turns to take DD out for most of a weekend morning (often just the park), while the other cleaned like a maniac. So once a week we were pretty clean and just needed the odd hoover in between.

I am useless at housework but my house was tidier when I had a baby/toddler than ever before/since .

Keep the floor as clear as possible, remove all dangerous/fragile items out of reach, hoover if they make a mess eating/playing.

I find it hard to keep the house spotless with a toddler but instead of letting the housework build up I do the normal every day (washing up/washing in/general tidy) and then a little job every day which helps me keep on top of it (polish one day, hoover the next, clean the bathrooms another day, the windows the next - that sort of thing). I don't have a rigid routine but that helps me keep the house together. Good luck!

While working in childcare we used warm soapy water to clean surfaces and diluted vinegar spray to disinfect. It is the best way to kill germs without exposing you and baby to harsh chemicals. As a tired mum I used baby wipes to quickly wipe surfaces including wiping food off the high chair then sprayed with diluted vinegar left to dry no need to wipe off. I also bought a swivel sweeper to quickly and easily sweep up food, crumbs, any other crap off the floor. For me it was easier and more convenient then sweeping into a pile then getting the dustpan and brush and much more easier than vacuuming the carpet every day. I placed blankets on the floor and put toys on them for play spaces for my baby (another trick I learned in childcare). Provides nice, clean, soft play area and tidying toys away is as easy as lifting the corners of the blanket, keeping the toys inside the blanket and putting the whole thing in a toy box or cupboard. When you want the play space again just place the blanket containing toys onto the floor and straighten the blanket out. As dd got older toys ended up every where so I made a game of throwing them into a tub and dd had fun helping. I also regularly gave myself a break from washing dishes by buying paper plates and disposable cutlery.

We have a fluffy dog -

Daily I hoover downstairs, dishwasher load and wipe kitchen sides and table, clean bathrooms and general tidy up, washing load, dry and put away.

Weekly - change bedding, dust, hoover upstairs, mop whole house through.

The Organised Mum Method!!! Can not recommend it enough!!!

Ive started using The organised mum method, it's working for me. I also love watching cleaning videos on YouTube to inspire me to be more organised.

The one thing that made the biggest difference was moving house last year and having a massive declutter and making sure I don't bring stuff in anymore.

OP @agabimou I agree with @mrsoutnumbered and @SluttyButty the organised mom method is the best thing I have found since having a baby I always like a clean house but frankly it's impossible to do everything in one go with a little one. TOMM let's you get little and often done regularly so you end up with a clean house without feeling like you have sacrificed your weekend/time with the baby. Good luck!

Yeah I've tweaked it slightly, I do living room and stairs/halls on Mondays, bedrooms Tuesdays, bathrooms on Wednesdays. I clean the toilets daily but cannot be arsed doing all 3 bathrooms everyday!

Oh and kitchen on Thursdays

I love the organised mum method!!! That is brilliant! Thank you!

I need to declutter desperately. I have been meaning to do the Marie kondo thing, maybe I should get my mum to babysit and me and DH can have a good declutter.

Thank you for all your tips! I feel better already!

I found the best cleaning that benefited my crawler was hoovering daily. It stopped the issue of her eating things she shouldn't eat and she didn't become filthy from crawling.

I broke the weekly stuff I needed to do into daily chunks 1 day dusting and bathroom next day clean windows and mirrors and bath next day washing bedding or towels etc.

Watch some home cleaning videos on the uk. It will help get you in the mood as well as give you ideas on how to clean more efficiently.

Decluttering made cleaning for me so much easier. Less to clean and wash. Less to pick up off the floor. Less to pick up to dust under too

The organised Mum method is great. I also have a young baby and a lot of days I only get time to do the level 1 jobs - throw on a load of washing, do dishes, wipe surfaces, very quick hoover, but it really does help even just having that routine.

My advice would be to get one room childproofed (by that I mean move anything really dangerous (small items that are choking hazards, batteries, anything sharp) up a height and create a good space for baby to crawl around in. This then buys you time to sort out the rest of the house.

I did my living room first and put a stair gate in the doorway so that I could shut DD in the one safe room but talk to her from the kitchen. Then I did my bedroom. DD is 14 months and I still can't leave her unattended in the dining room or study as both are full of things she'd try to eat!

So I'm having a lot of success with the organised mum method but I may have bitten off more than I can chew with the decluttering - help!! There are piles of things which need sorting everywhere! Which is obviously what the baby makes a beeline for at every opportunity!

Any decluttering tips!!

Put the piles of stuff in the least used room and shut the door! I'm decluttering and ebaying/freecycling stuff and it is safely shut in the office away from the baby.

Don't wait until you've sorted through everything to start doing trips to the charity shop, selling stuff or freecycling things or you'll just get overwhelmed piles of stif. I tend to physically declutter one room one day then the following day spend any time I have doing photos/ads for eBay and trashfornothing.

With the good weather we're having do a couple of car boot sales. It's the quickest way to get rid of things at once and what doesn't sell is dropped off at the charity shop.

I sit down one evening a week with the paperwork and blitz through while watching tv. Everything is separated into three piles, to keep, to recycle and to burn.

I go through the kids clothes every time I do the washing and put the small clothes in a bin bag. Once it's full, it goes straight in the charity shop.

I sort through their toys regularly and give away or sell old or outgrown toys.

+1 for the organised mum method and Mari kondo! I do both and love them! My house is almost inrecognisable!