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

I clean the entire toilet but its not bad at all so it doesnt take long. There's 6 of us in house and holidays have been high traffic of people in house. It really takes less than 10mins to do bathrooms, sinks, 1 shower screen and quick mop of floor. My house is definitly not too clean...Just too many people!

I’m so in, really need to get organised as going back to work and don’t want to feel thee House is eating me alive with mess, cluttter and jobs.

Place marking to read properly later!

I do my utility room today along with hall/stairs/landing. Just back from the school run so having a cup of tea before starting.

Already got laundry on, beds made and dishwasher emptied/reloaded with breakfast things so been able to cross some things off today's list

Ive done 5mins in hallway. Its tiny, so just a quick dust of skirting boards, wipe down of handles and switches and cleared/cleaned the top of the shoe storage that always ends up full of clutter 🙈

Wash on, still to finish gutting the kitchen. Its a small kitchen but an impossibly long job because i keep taking breaks but only 1 double cupboard and 3 shelves to go. It should be fairly quick as its mainly plates/mugs/glasses but will tackle it tonight ad going to go clear the shed first and some weeding before the weather turns.

As an aside, i know this an will eventually be great because even just dping the few things in hallway makes me feel better....but as im gutting the kitchen everything is so topsy turvy eith stuff everywhere. Tell it will get better...... 😭

Ooft sorry for all the typos

I'm in! I'm sick of feeling embarrassed by my house.

I have no hallway so do the stairs on Monday’s & Tuesday’s.

I’ve done most of level 1 jobs & some extra kitchen & bedroom jobs to help make time for extra kitchen jobs as it really needs a deep clean.

@comeagainforbigfudge it does get better. It really does & everything takes less time as you’re not starting from scratch all the time.

I now have time to fit in cleaning windows & getting the house finished whereas before the house never seemed to look clean but now it’s tidy & clean even with a 3 year old & 18 month old.

Hallway and stairs done, except hoovering the landing cos the baby is asleep and it's not worth the risk! I bought my first bottle of zoflora this weekend and got to use it on the banister today - not sure on the smell though.

What's everyone's favourite zoflora scent? I've got the tropical one.

Hodgeheg I bought the lavender one this week and used it on my worktops and sinks last night. Kitchen smelled lovely and fresh this morning!
Level one
Make beds
Laundry load
Bathrooms wiped
Downstairs floors swept
All done
Plus empty dishwasher

Will do hall and stair and landing after this break. Then more boot camp on the children's bedroom. Once boot camp is complete I think next week I'll add some wiping down of walls/doorframes to Wednesdays.

Done hallways and stairs
Done the level 1s aswell.

Started on kitchen ready for tomorrow

Stripped one child's bed, two others made to do their own and put clean sheets on. Not washed those yet as I had another load on and my machine takes an ice age to wash. But clean stuff is on.
Sorted one child's clothes, chucked a load and tidied drawers. Sorted and labelled new uniform.

That's all I've managed apart from washed up and cooked twice. Food shopped and picked up uniform. I haven't slept well the last two nights and feel dead on my feet.

Will do better.

Managed a total declutter of the hallway and bagged up a massive bag of shoes that no longer fit my DC. Dusted and hoovered Hall - managed to clean the front door and window seals too. Feel very motivated hope it lasts!

@AdventuresRUs about doing the bathroom each day...I spray antibac all over toilet and sink, then wipe it all down with a microfibre cloth (toilet last, obviously!).

I have 3 bathrooms but it really doesn't take me long to do a quick wipe of each and then chuck the cloths in the wash.

In my house, a toilet not cleaned for more than 24 hours isn't great (I love my kids ).

Today was supposed to be a do nothing day but I did 15 mins
That was a quick wipe of hallway and kitchen surfaces, cupboard fronts, Hoover living room and kitchen
So I'm ahead for tomorrow which is kitchen day

I've been cleaning one thing in the bathroom daily, yesterday was the bath, today was the toilet (inside and out). I managed to Hoover downstairs hallway but I started on the stairs and baby got upset at the noise so not really sure how I'll get that done.

I've done kitchen today because I had more time available. I feel like I've been cleaning all day and I only did fridge, hob, proper wipe down of work tops, table, microwave and floor. I haven't even done the sink yet and cupboard doors, other doors, skirting boards, windows, cutlery drawer, oven, freezer, appliances etc won't get a look in. It took well over an hour and a half.

For those who said it gets quicker, how??? I've bootcamped my kitchen so only the revolting gas burners and pot stands in the hob needed a lot of work. I think the other things I did today will need doing every week I don't think I'll squeeze them into 30 mins, so when do I do the rest of it? Any tips from more experienced TOMMers?

@steala I cheat and don't do it all. The fridge especially would take me half an hour! I do the cupboard doors alternate weeks for example. Also, a spray and microfibre mop make mopping much quicker.

@gammeldragz You did loads today! Don't beat yourself up, it'll get easier and you're doing just fine.

Woohoo! I did level 1 AND level 2 today (hallway). Can see the floor again!

I had a day off today. Will do double tomorrow.

I tend to do the kitchen cupboard door fronts most days just because the smears annoy me - so kitchen day will involve a steam mop around and do some fridge shelves if I get time (I line the bottoms of the salad drawer and door basket shelves with kitchen roll so cleaning those involves just changing the kitchen roll for fresh stuff).

My hall and stairs is now a mess cos I've just ripped the plywood panels under millions of layers of gloss paint off all the upstairs doors so I can sand and paint the original 1920s panelled ones that are underneath. My hall and stairs are generally a lost cause cos the carpet's shot to hell, the plasterwork is all shot to hell and the window at the top is an original one that needs replacing - it's the last room in the house to get renovated because obviously all the workmen have been walking up and down to do bathrooms and bedrooms and the like so my giving a shit about the state of it is minimal at present. I did hoover it all but you can't tell now as there are bits of paint flakes everywhere.

I tend to do bedrooms over two days - kids room one Tues, our room Weds if I'm changing and washing bedding but that gets fiddled with depending on how the weather is so I can get it out on the line to dry. Then I do hall and stairs along with one set of bedrooms and basically do hall > stairs > upstairs hoovered a couple of times a week whenever the stair carpet pisses me off (it's dark and single coloured so shows every single speck). Kitchen kind of veers into a level 1 job really in that I'll tidy up and clean it while I've got a pan on the hob or something and then just mop up what's not been done on the proper day.

Level 1 only done today as knee is giving me aggro still but I am happy with that. FIL popped round today and I was proud that I didn't have to say 'excuse the mess....'

Still on track though as I was ahead of myself so bedrooms tomorrow to bring me up to date for the week so far. I may swap Tuesdays and Thursdays round permanently as I actually like it that way.

Glad to see we still have people on board and new people joining everyday

Worked on decluttering dd's room, still plenty to do but two bin bags of stuff out, one for charity, one for bin.

I kind of failed today. I did level 1 jobs but other than that it was a day of catching up on laundry.

Thats sounds successful to me littlechoc

Garden shed emptied, swept, new shelves put in and shed refilled. Looks full to gunnels again, but its more organised. Plus contains some garden furniture as well now

Did some weeding as well. Took far longer than 30mins today but it needed done and good timing as the heavens opened!

Trip to dump then b&q for masonery paint to languish unopened as there will never be another dry enough day no doubt

Laundry load out, brought it back in, only half dry so its in tumble dryer now.
Kitchen remains a disaster area work in progress but i did wash out the kitchen bin. Its slowly coming back together.