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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

My house is driving me nuts, I want a tidy house please

23 replies

nutcracker · 09/07/2007 16:38

It just won't stay tidy, even if I do mnage to keep up with the house work, it just seems to sort of, all of a sudden explode and there it is, a living room full of crap. Where the hell does it all come from.

I am pretty sure we don't have too much stuff, as I am quite good at chucking stuff out, but we still seem to have loads of piles with no homes.

HELP

OP posts:

bagpuss · 09/07/2007 16:42

You need baskets nutty, and maybe some cupboards too. We have cupboards and I tend to chuck everything in them and then dh and I do a sort out once in a while. Baskets are good for the little bits and bobs that need to be sorted more regularly - again we have a few and the house stays pretty tidy on the whole.

snowwonder · 09/07/2007 16:43

me to nutty......

i just walked up the stairs and thought to myslef even if i didnt work and spent allday cleaning my house still wouldnt be tidy it is a complete bombsite the whole time i really dont know how people have lovely tidy houses....

now my gadren is a bomb site as i just emptied the shed which has gone on freecycle as girls would like a trampoline,ararghhhh

yorkshirepudding · 09/07/2007 16:43

Message withdrawn

laundrylover · 09/07/2007 16:54

me too!
God it gets me down and I just get so cross at all the mess!!!!! Sometimes I go crazy and throw it all in the corner which makes me feel better .

Mind you my cousin recently smashed up her dining room chairs in her garden as she hated them so much which made me better about my tantrums!

OhNo40 · 09/07/2007 16:55

If you find anywhere with a stock of tidy houses, I'll have one too please.
I suppose it would help if DH would bin the junk mail after he'd read it instead of leaving it on the kitchen side, and if I could be bothered to enforce "toys upstairs at night" which was the original idea, and if the cats wouldn't shed their fur (especially just after I'd vacuumed).....

Original poster

nutcracker · 09/07/2007 17:12

LOL you lot

Just trying to think which areas are the worst, and it's definatly washing, and paperwork, plus toys of course.

I think storage is a problem. Ideally i'd like under the stairs making into a multi storage cupboard thingy, but my dad won't do it.

I have a huge unit from ikea, which has 18 shelves on and they all have junk of various descrptiotns on.

OP posts:

snowwonder · 09/07/2007 17:16

my big prob is storage to, i have quite a big kitchen and only 4 wall cupboards in there, - thinking of adding to this

washing piles always in the kitchen

my prob is i work in day then sort girls out and by the time they are in bed i am to tired to do much,

and weekends is my time with them

my dad is taking them away for 4 days soon so maybe i should use the time well, but i want to go to the spice festival inj london not clean my house,

No one ever dies regretting not cleaning there house more... (hope not anyway)

OhNo40 · 09/07/2007 17:28

Nutty - 18 shelves sounds OK but would be better with doors on. Much better for morale if you can't see the rubbish. And then there's the dust - cupboards get a lot less of it and less dust makes the place look better (I know cos I dusted last week for the first time in ages and was really quite impressed with the result, tho DH pointed out yesterday that the bit at the bottom of the landing railing was covered in dust. Hardly surprising, it never occurred to me to dust there in the 9 months we've been in the house, and it obviously hadn't bothered him for that long either).

Original poster

nutcracker · 09/07/2007 17:45

Hmm i could do with another kitchen cupboard too.

Basically, what I need is, a huge skip and then lots of nice cupboards and shelves for whats is left.

Oh and i need nice tidy kids....hmmmmmm not gonna happen is it.

OP posts:

Original poster

nutcracker · 09/07/2007 17:46

I might sell the huge ikea unit actually.

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ShrinkingViolet · 09/07/2007 17:49

Look at where you dump stuff in each room, and move/rearrange/get rid of what ever piece of furniture you put in on. I no longer have a coffee table because it was only there to hold piles of stuff. And don't ever start a filing pile, or a sock basket. They never ever go away.

bagpuss · 09/07/2007 18:00

Ikea billy is what we have. Doors are on the bottom half and you can get tonnes of junk in there! Open shelves have baskets on and baskets on top of the shelves too (dh's computer junk goes in those). Paperwork still gets out of hand but I have a butcher's trolley in the kitchen and that has a big plastic bin underneath which all post ends up in once it has been read and actioned. Every 6 months or so I shred and then file any that are important.

Original poster

nutcracker · 09/07/2007 18:03

I wish I had brought the Billy stuff, always regretted that thb.

I need a unit to go under the stairs, but everything seems to big or tall.

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peanutbear · 09/07/2007 18:05

its the joys of having kids, nice tidy lounge poof kids are there

clothes, toys, bits of food, empty cups, and a constant momomomom noise

bagpuss · 09/07/2007 18:07

You can get a sort of stepped pine frame which has plastic bins from Ikea - they are quite cheap. That would fit under stairs and you could get a lot in that - ds2 has a tall and a short one in his room and they have a good amount of toys in!

laundrylover · 10/07/2007 09:44

We have a basket under the coffee table that is meant to hold newspapers and mail and then get sorted out which kind of works but now it is full of things that 'need to stay'!

I also try the old 'things at the top or bottom of the stairs are for going up or down' system but men seem to have a brain bypass on this one.

I keep dirty washing in the baskets in bedrooms and only bring it down to wash and then straight out. In fact laundry is the one thing that I am in control of although my washer is moving to the garage next month so will have to adapt!

We are having a new kitchen with less storage so some ordering of crap is going to be essential....

TinyGang · 10/07/2007 10:05

My parents house is tidy within an inch of it's life.

I went there the other day to water some plants while they were on holiday and checked round to make sure all was ok.

The living room carpet had the Wimbledon mowed lawn look to it and it smelled faintly perfumed in there. I swear my mum had backed out of the room with the vaccum cleaner, then sealed it and gone away on holiday, leaving the room (and house) pristine.

She is very house-proud and is always cleaning. Considering it's only her and my dad there it's crazy.

When I was at home, the endless cleaning was a major source of angst. She was always a huge martyr to it, and wouldn't to anything on the spur of the moment because the cleaning had to be done first. It was quite depressing at times and would cause rows.

I vowed I'd never operate like that.

Now with a home of my own and 3xdc constantly tipping it all out again I veer towards hating the inevitable mess because of my upbringing in a showhome; and then resenting feeling resentful about it as a kind of inner rebellion to my mum.

Talk about screwed up I am always in some kind of inner turmoil about mess/cleaning/ and not wanting to turn into my mum over it.

Original poster

nutcracker · 10/07/2007 19:50

Well tommorow is huge tody up day. Should of done it today but ended up going out for lunch with my mum instead.

Ds's bedroom is a complete tip so he is going to help with that wether he likes it or not, and then I will do the rest. There isn't one single rom that doesn't need doing.

On that note, I am off to make a cuppa and head upstairs to iron and watch tv.

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LoveMyGirls · 10/07/2007 20:00

You need storage before you can start tidying really nutty, even cardboard boxes would do for now and then one by one as you can afford it replace them with wicker or plastic boxes or units?

Everything needs to have a place.

Never leave a room empty handed

Clean the bathroom when the kids are faffing about getting into bed. (if its upstairs)

hoover first or last thing

hth a bit

flibbertyjibbet · 10/07/2007 20:12

My storage ended up taking over the house. So I have regular clearouts, not only does it get money in if I bung the better stuff on ebay but clearing out is just so theraputic and makes me feel cleansed inside somehow!!
Be ruthless, get rid of everything you don't need any more. Stuff we are saving from Ds1 for ds2 I box up, label with the season, and bung in the loft.
Our house is only tidy cos I don't have clutter and I hate big toys, we only have toys that pack away!

ammy1 · 10/07/2007 20:45

i love tidying... crickey i was even drawn to this discussion because of it. i never really do a big tidy-up though. all i do is have a place for everything (especially paper work, files for each thing so i put post away as it arrives) and then i just (automatically almost) tidy up as i go along. as a child i was so messy but now i have my own place i need 'order' or i feel out of control. ummm... it's a control thing i guess!!!

jajas · 10/07/2007 20:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cleaninglady · 10/07/2007 21:31

i love tidying too but little and often is my secret - if it gets left and then an hour or more needed to sort it then i would drown under toys/washing [insert anything else here] so tidy after every meal - toys tidied before ds has afternoon nap and then again after tea - seems to work as my so called tidy house does get positive comments but they havent seen inside the cupboards..........
a mum at school did say to me "they wont remember a tidy house but they will remember having fun" about the dc's

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