The Organised Mum Method

[IcanDorisIwillDoris]

Does anyone fancy joining me in following the organised mum method?

Back to work tomorrow after the summer off (work term time only) and need to get on top of a house work routine after struggling this last year or so to stay on top of things.

I suffer with anxiety and can easily get lost in my mood without structure and I like what I saw on the website. Will probably tweek the method as I go but it's a good structured plan to kick things off.

I work odd hours around the kids being at school but have a clear hour each day to dedicate to this. Plus I am sick of losing my weekends to playing catch up when I could be doing nicer things with the kids!!

Four of us in a 4 bed semi which is clean, just full of stuff that comes with having kids. It can get pretty messy!

Have done the odd bit of decluttering over the summer which has made a bit of a difference!

Looking forward to having a house that doesn't embarrass me on the odd occasion a guest arrives unannounced

Urgh. I was doing really well up until last week. Lots of changes at work meant I was literally doing 2x the amount of work & the head cold I though I had fought off cane back with a vengeance. So it's been mainly level one jobs. Most places are tidy but no deep cleaning has been done. Providing my cold lets up a bit I will be back at it tomorrow.

Did the Friday Focus today! So good to get my pjs drawers sorted 👍

Really hoping to follow it properly this week! Might be tough with a toddler and a month old but I am gonna try my best!

Wish me luck xo

Good luck clairedebear that sounds tough! I have a 4 and 1yr old and am just about at the point I can manage to do some housework with them in tow.

I have an open plan living area plus a small snug/ adult living room. Last week I concentrated on the living area of the open plan room - it gets hoovered daily anyway. I
am going to spend 15 mins dusting and hoovering (the sofa cushions and fishing toys out from under it) and then 15 mins tonight in our living room (that should be enough each week as it only gets used by me and DH for a couple of hours at night).

Let's do this!

I have struggled with guests and being back at work but day off today so up and on it! I think the only way it will work for me while doing 13 hour shifts is by being my future friend on days off and helping her out for work days which saves coming home and doing it.
Pointed out to dh last night that he has FIVE pairs of shoes in the kitchen! FIVE!

Ooh this looks good! I'd love to get started on this seems very simple, although only having 15 minutes for daily essentials doesn't seem enough? I have a dog and 2 messy children, I can't imagine not hoovering everyday because of the hair or wiping the kitchen sides and doors. Also what about ironing and washing the pots, putting clothes away, tidying general toys away at the end of the day?

I never quite got past the shiny sink stage with fly lady and I'm not wearing shoes in the house so I'm in

Same here- plus, I really gave up on Flylady when a woman wrote to her, saying how she cleaned and her family (all adults) just messed the place up, never so much put the kettle on to make a cup of tea or put their own washing in the basket etc, and this poor woman was so depressed and exhausted - Flylady's response? Just keep on doing it, one day they will see what a difference a tidy mind makes and will catch neat by osmosis from you (paraphrasing, obviously).

WHAT? This poor woman has had years of being sh*t on by her family and Flylady tells her to keep taking all of the crap and continue effectively being their servant?

I thought "Bugger that for a game of soldiers!"

And never went back.

Half an hour a day is easily doable - I do all the level one jobs routinely anyway and add in Flylady's shiny sink because I find in the kitchen everything seems to flow out from that (so if I don't know where to start I do that and that gets me in the swing). Little and often is definitely the way forward and now I have teenagers I get them doing a regular 15 minutes on their rooms - again saying spend 15 minutes putting stuff away is much more achievable than vaguely telling them to tidy their rooms. They are even voluntarily vacuuming now because when they clear up they can see the fluff and realise a quick whizz round with the vacuum takes no time. Training them to leave the bathroom spic and span is proving more difficult! I do think if you start tidy you have a better chance of encouraging other members of the household to join in as they can see what you are aiming for ie if DS comes home in a long lunch break and makes lunch for himself or a friend he gets stuff out, but then clears it all away so kitchen is as clean as he found it. Sometimes I don't even know he's been home. Getting the kids on board has been a real game changer for me.

I started last week but am struggling this week. Besides the 15 minute level 1 and 30 minute level 2 stuff how much extra time do you spend cleaning. Yesterday I spent about 20 minutes cleaning the kitchen after breakfast. Trying to get it done plus the 15 and 30 before getting out if the house feel impossible

I am sticking too much to the time - level

I didn't stick too much to the timings yesterday. Level 1 jobs - kitchen wipe over after each meal, dishwasher, hoovered main areas, wiped bathroom sink, toilet and mirrors. I also did a load of washing and put away a basket of clothes. I do it in bits and pieces and so I don't know how long I spent doing it all.
Level 2 - dusted living area, windows, under cushions and behind sofa in family living area. Then that night I did the small living room - dusted and hoovered as it is tidy anyway. I don't know how long it took altogether- maybe 40 minutes?

I find once I get started (and have permission to stop after 15/30 mins) I get into it and do a bit more. Dare I say it but I am actually enjoying it....

littlechocola I am going to be my future friend this week too. I have my MIL coming to stay to help me out with childcare while I am at work on Thursday and Friday. Wednesday is my day off so I will need to do the kitchen then. This week's Friday focus is the hall and stairs anyway - I think I will do this over the weekend. I hoover the hall daily anyway and had a good blitz of shoes and coats last week.

Bedrooms today. Ugh.

I find once I get started (and have permission to stop after 15/30 mins) I get into it and do a bit more. I think this is the key. Telling yourself you are going to have a quick 15 minute clear up feels a lot more doable than saying you are going to clean the kitchen.

I've been trying this method - very loosely - since moving house a few months ago. It's helping somewhat, but not as much as I had hoped. We downsized a bit and sadly there are still things in boxes, probably clutter mostly but working full-time it's hard to find time to unpack everything. My toddler isn't all that messy, to be fair, but my DH just won't get on board with little and often. He does a sterling job when he does clean, and is a great cook, but it's like he doesn't see the dirt until it's been driving me mad for a week. So I feel like I have to do everything to keep on top of it, because he also works 12 hour days and has a long commute, even though I also work full-time at a demanding job and do more of the childcare too. Any tips for a situation like the lady who feels like a servant? I want a clean-ish house, but don't want to be the only one working towards that.

nursingthetoddler I have the same problem. My DH cooks and will clean - but he is in the leave it for weeks and then spend hours doing it rather than little and often camp. I'm afraid I have resorted to a list. I keep it in with TOMM - tonight on his list is changing our bedsheets and dusting our bedroom. He seems happy with it so far which surprises me!
As for th boxes - I wish I knew the answer! We have 15 boxes that were never unpacked and were just shoved in the loft. We moved in 8 years ago!

Just placemarking for later. Toddler sleeping and baby laying on his tummy and trying to bf!

Think the leaving it to get bad and then spending hours is a DH thing brideslave and nursing , mine is the same.

Need to find 30 minutes somewhere t this afternoon, was it this morning and baby DS is being clingy. We are away next week so want to get things in a decent state before we go.

So I found this app called ourhome. It's a shared app and I've spent ages programming the Mon-Thurs and daily tasks into the schedules. It looks like it'll be pretty awesome because I don't really see DH Mon-weds as we work opposite shifts and he can see what I've done and what needs to be done

I managed the level 1 and 2 tasks today. The Hall is looking good. It’s pretty small and and doesn’t have space to store much but I did finally clean the mirror.
As we spent a day at home so I started in on the living room which is a disaster as we moved the DC bedroom and DC2 clothes are stil in there! It’s looking better but still need work.

Today is my day off and so I am swapping the hall and stairs for the kitchen.... DH cleaned the hob last night as he made a huge mess making a hot chocolate he was going to leave it but I think even he is beginning to see the benefits of TOMM.
I say day off, I still have my toddler at home and go to a play group with her. Plus I need to go shopping for some bits for our holiday next week.... so I think I will be limited to the 15 and 30 minutes today.
MIL arrives this evening so the pressure is on!

Good luck, bride. Your DH cleaning up after himself gives me hope! Maybe the solution is in a list or app like Alpine suggested. I don't want to nag him, but I'm tired of the monster cleaning sessions. They're exhausting and boring for all 3 of us...the weekends should be for having fun, right?

To be fair, I'm prone to monster cleaning sessions so it's not necessarily a DH thing. I can spend an hour hoovering the stairs perfectly, then can't being myself to do it again for at least a month.

TOMM is a revelation to me. My home looks like a normal family home and I feel that at any time, a 15 minute blitz would be enough to make me happy to have visitors, without resorting into the scoop and shove tidying technique.

So it's a better approach. Much better. And my motivation comes through wanting a manageable home (and this thread!!). But I miss the satisfaction of cleaning something that REALLY needs it and making a noticeable difference. Cleaning things that are not too bad isn't nearly so motivating. But perhaps I'm just weird.

I think the Friday focus is for the thorough cleaning - that's certainly how I look at it. So everything gets a thorough clean every 8 weeks.

I personally don't stick to the time limit of half an hour - eg yesterday. There's no way I could dust and vacuum 3 bedrooms and change 4 beds in 30 minutes. But I crack on.

First day of Tomm today. Hallway looks great - heaven forbid in the 30 minutes I even managed to polish the lights switches!!

I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a little more full on as it's the kitchen but at least it's relatively simple as i can do it while the boys are in their highchairs

Fallen off thread somewhat.

We have our new house. Just want to move in now.

I bought microfibre cloths for cleaning. And am debating a swiffer thing for our hallway and living room (wood floors).

Anyone else missing Gem’s instagram stories today? I’m so used to watching her in the morning. I hope she hasn’t been bullied off. Her video a couple of days ago was sad to watch.

I’ve fallen off the thread but I’ve managed to keep up the half hour a day.

The house has been so easy to manage. I finally finished bootcamping the kitchen as I wanted to do a cupboard at a time to be ruthless & pick up storage.

I just need to clean & re-organise the fridge freezer today as part of the half hour as I did some jobs last night.
OH is at work so that means I can cull the toys & bookcase in boy’s room without questions.

I really hope Gemma is okay, the bullying is not on at all. It does need to end.

& my youngest just put his wellies away. Can’t believe how well the method is fitting in with all of us. The OH really likes the different rooms on the different days.

Day off today. Kitchen done-boom!
I didn’t do the oven but that can be done next week.

I didn’t get to do the bedrooms on Tuesday so that’s going to be done later. Our room isn’t awful. It just needs a hoover, dust, windows and fresh bedding. It’s been hard to get in there as we are working opposite shifts at the moment so someone is always in bed!