I am very disorganised. I try to be tidy but I think I
am quite lazy and I have to really try to put things back in places! I'm starting the Marie kondo method to try and declutter and I've taken to trying to keep surfaces clear to make them easier to clean but I always have a mad panic every time someone comes around. I would hate anyone to just drop by unexpectedly as my house is not to the standard I want it to be!!!
Are there any lazy girls / cheats tips you can share if you have managed to make it work for you?
Thanks
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Housekeeping
If you are naturally messy and lazy how do you keep your house tidy?
96 replies
justwondering23 · 02/08/2018 17:29
OP posts:
SquishySquirmy ·
08/08/2018 11:15
I have my own version of the 5 minute clean thingy that I do with dd.
It sounds super naff, but to encourage dd to tidy up her toys we've started playing "Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins.
DD runs around like a mad thing, trying to put the toys back in the right boxes before the song ends, while I race around like a mad thing tidying away everything else (plates, dressing gowns, paper work etc).
Although it started off as a thing for dd, it really works for me too 
I get so much more done in that 4 minutes than I do in 20 without music!
You've got to find the right song - that one works because it makes you go faster and faster, and takes a long time to end.
WooYa ·
08/08/2018 15:03
Gem is amazing! 
@SquishySquirmy there us along on YouTube called 'Tidy up rhumba' it's great for getting little ones to tidy
MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig ·
08/08/2018 15:53
So basically what we’re saying then is that everyone is lazy and untidy but we all think that everyone else is tidy and clean because we all actually tidy and clean like something possessed whenever we’re expecting each other to visit?
Perhaps we should all just lower our expectations?
We inherited a load of crap from the Pils house. I must have taken ten car loads of stuff to charity shops, we had a skip, we cleared out the garage and I’ve still got clutter. The trouble is the kids keep growing out of clothes and discarding old toys and the clutter just continues. We still get newspapers, letters, stuff from school etc and it’s a never ending circle of crap.
SecondTimeCharm ·
09/08/2018 09:42
DH is forever exasperated at me cos he’s a very tidy and clean person (cannot concentrate if room a mess) and as i’m the SAHP he feels my contribution to the household involves SOME housework along with childcare... but I just don’t see it I truly don’t. he ends up doing 90% of it I’m so ashamed
my other problem is once I get started I fixate on small unnecessary details - example I love cleaning the oven and do it more than we need to but the sides always messy and the sink full of dishes 
going to check out TOM right now, I love Kondo and have no issue with decluttering but it’s the cleaning... just so bloody lazy
MaryDollNesbitt ·
09/08/2018 12:14
I don't understand being house-proud. MN cleaning threads baffle me. It looks like ridiculous waste of life, is best way I can explain what I'm like.
Ah, ragged, but it's not. 
I used to be quite messy. I also had a bit of a ‘meh’ attitude to cleaning once upon a time. The problem for me was one, having a house too big for our needs, and two, filling said house with clutter. It was certainly never TV documentary worthy—probably very standard, in retrospect. But as a single working parent household, I just couldn’t stay on top of it myself. And because I couldn’t stay on top of it, I just stopped bothering to even try in the end. The thought of tackling it made me lazy and depressed and a little hopeless, if I’m being honest. It was quite upsetting. I look back and realise why my mental health kept deteriorating so much in the old house. I desperately wanted to set my DD a good example, but I constantly felt like I was drowning in chaos. I don’t say any of that dramatically either. It really did make me feel that bad.
We moved at the beginning of this year. We deliberately downsized and I decluttered like a woman possessed (Kondo really helped with this). My god. The difference—night and day levels. I’m so, so much happier. I’ve since become a total clean/tidy freak! I take so much pride in our beautiful wee home. It’s very peaceful space. I can relax and enjoy it, which is what most of us want from our home environment, I think. I no longer dread cleaning, because the place is so easy to keep clean and tidy without all the old crap to work around.
My biggest tip for anyone, besides decluttering? Gut the cupboard under your kitchen sink—the one where we generally keep all the cleaning supplies. Buy a cleaning caddy with a carry handle. The plastic one I have cost a fiver off Amazon. Organise your cleaning products/cloths/sponges/dusters, etc. into the caddy, and then place it under the sink (make sure you buy one that will fit). Every time you need to grab a certain product, take the caddy out and with you, no matter what.
By taking the caddy with you, you have everything immediately to hand. You’re not juggling bottles or rushing up and down stairs to fetch one product after the other. You’re actually seeing those random bottles you only pull out once in a blue moon for certain jobs. Suddenly, the polish and duster are right there, so why not just give the surfaces/photo frames a quick wipe down? Oh look, there’s the Windolene I bought in ’08 … may as well give the windows a going over. The bleach isn’t a stair journey away … should really go and squirt some down the toilets while I’m here.
I know it probably sounds ridiculous, but it’s been the best fiver I have ever spent. Decluttering revolutionised my tidying, but the caddy has done crazy-good things for my cleaning ‘mentality’. I’ve gone from blocking access to all visitors in my previous home due to shame, to throwing the door open for anybody who drops by.
Fontella ·
09/08/2018 13:05
I'm very neat, tidy and organised but at the same time my house is cluttered due to me liking the old fashioned cottagey type of home decor. I don't live in a cottage, I live in an 80s terrace in the suburbs but once you step inside you would think you were in a little thatched cottage in a rural village!
That's all very well but the trouble is wherever I go, junk shops, on hols, I always end up buying 'objects'. Baskets are a particular favourite but I've got some very old ornaments and kitchenalia, lamps, kitchen, throws, old mirrors and art etc. It's all strategically placed and I've got some lovely old things, but I'm fed up of cleaning around it all.
There was an episode of Four in a Bed once where there were this old couple who had a place in Wales that was chock full of similar stuff to what I've got and one of the other couples said the place looked 'like a car boot sale' and that's what I'm starting to think about my place.
The older I get I definitely think minimalism is the way to go!
Clear, uncluttered spaces are a bloody site easier to keep clean and tidy than having loads of 'stuff' everywhere.
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