Lazy slattern vs lovely new house

[WTF0ver]

Got the keys to our immaculate, pretty new home this weekend. I keep pinching myself that I have such a lovely house!

Only thing is I'm a slattern and internet addicted too. How do I go about keeping everything looking neat and tidy and not descending into a pit of anxiety surrounded by clutter and messy surfaces that constantly need a good scrubbing?!

Any tips gratefully received! Obviously we've just moved in and there's a lot of stuff needing put away but how do I keep on top of things and keep it looking good? Thanks

Minimal stuff
Cleaners once or twice a week
Clean something everyday and clean any mess as it hapoens, put away what you take out
Eat out and spend most days out
No shoes at home and decent doormats

Weekly cleaner. I sometimes think I work just so I can pay a cleaner so I can have a clean and tidy house (can never find anything though as she plus things left out in drawers/on shelves. Worth it)

The organised mum method. One room per day that is deep cleaned. Your house may never have every room immaculate at the same time and if you have a family like mine there will always be clutter, but it will be CLEAN 😁

It’s too late now! You should have de cluttered ruthlessly before you moved. But never mind, still time to do it.

Be ruthless when you de clutter, aim to have as many clear surfaces as you can.

Decide where things live and make sure they go back there.

Have a bin in every room and throw things away immediately.

Tidy up before you go to bed, I pick things up off the floor, wash or dish wash cups/glasses, plump up sofa cushions, put shoes in the shoe box.

Mess breeds mess.

I’m deeply untidy, I am also not a “finisher”. But have been trying “30 seconds more”, the idea being that you spend a very short time finishing up a job properly, every time.
EG you take shoes off at the door and spend a tiny amount longer to put them, coat, and bag away immediately, rather than dumping them.
Wipe sink straight after you use it.
Make the bed immediately you get out of it (unless it’s a 3am pee...).

You get the idea.

Apparently if everyone in the house goes the same it hugely cuts down mess.

Hire a cleaner or follow TOMM. There is a FB group and free checklists on the website.

Yep, if you can afford it, have a cleaner weekly/fortnightly. Not only do you get a lovely clean house with minimal effort, you also have the incentive to tidy the house in a mad panic once a week the night before they come!

Get in a personal organiser, have then sort and organise the whole house, work with her , and declutter as much as you can. She will help you find a place for everything.

Then after that try and keep it up your self if you can’t then you might need to go down the having a cleaner in once a week.

I don't think I can afford a personal organiser. Not sure about cleaner. Just seems like I'm constantly wiping drops of water off the wooden floors and wooden (I think?) counters so that they don't go rotten.

I did have a clear out when I sold my own place but evidently need to do so again! It's just the two of us living here as well so it's not as if there's kids to clean up after too yet it's easy for things to build up and overwhelm.

I'll have a look at TOMM and try other things. Thanks everyone.

A good cure for piles of clutter is a baby, as you can't leave much out . Sadly it's a short lived victory before their Stuff takes over.

However lovely and beautiful, it is YOUR house and YOU are in charge. Don't be a slave to what's already there. If wooden worktops and floors are too high maintenance, change them. If you have no storage for bits and bobs, buy or build in suitable furniture.

A personal organiser for one day should be able to sort you house out in one day, so maybe £100/£150 . It will be the best money you can spend if it looks great and everything has a place then it will be a lot easier to keep clean and tidy. Then when it all sorted then you just do the organised mum method. Go on and look at APDO online and see the rates for your local organisers.

I'm happy being an auntie, might get a pet or two though at some point

I'll look into the organiser thing, a friend got one of those to sort out her wardrobe and take her clothes shopping, she seemed to enjoy it although I couldn't justify the expense.

Apologies OP, I misunterpreted "it's not as if there's kids to clean up after too yet..."

Start by spending 5 mins before bed pottering and putting things away, and make your peace with spending a bit more time on the housework than you'd like. All these methods are really just ways of making it less painful to spend more time per week on housework, so I would read around them and see what sounds easiest. I like the Flylady Home Blessing Hour, TOMM and Apartment Therapy "how to clean your home in 20 mins a day".

No probs :)

5 minutes sounds good. I remember once visiting a friend, who does have a kid and once DC had finished playing with their toys my friend immediately tied them away. So I think I need to do that, no leaving things until later when they're invariably forgotten about! I did wipe up a sticky oven spillage straight away tonight, go me. I'll check out those sites too thanks all!

I'm messy by natural, but a few things have helped;

• having a dishwasher
• emptying said dishwasher (I usually do it in the morning while the kettle is boiling)
• trying to minimise the amount of stuff I have, and more critically, the amount of new things I acquire
• Don't leave a room or go upstairs or downstairs without taking something that needs to be put away with me
• Designate homes for things - personally I find I'm better grouping all like items together, so rather than having scissors in the kitchen drawer, craft box and with the wrapping paper, I keep all the scissors in the same drawer- & put them back!

Great tips thanks! We do have a dishwasher, haven't used it yet!

Dishwasher is a game changer, no dirty plates and mugs sitting In the sink or around the house, just everything you use all day goes in the dishwasher as soon as you have finished using it, as there is only two of you , you will only properly need to but it on every second night, then when you get up in morning while waiting for kettle to boil just empty it out. I have trained my husband to do this job while making me a cup of tea in the morning for in bed he emptys the dishwasher out. Only thing I don’t but in is pot and pans I still wash buy hand as the take up so much room. My son use to call it the cupboard we’re the dirty stuff lives until, it gets washed.

Also ten minutes be for I go to bed I just give down stairs a quick tidy, put dishwasher on and washing machine if You know it’s going to be a dry day the next morning, ( so washing straight on line first thing). It always feels better to come down stairs and everything tidy and all the kitchen work surfaces clean.

Also I know it’s a pain but just by making the bed in the morning, it seems to make the house look tidy.

Less stuff. Having less clutter makes it so much easier to stay tidy. Everything needs a place too....no having draws or cupboards for random stuff.

Thanks everyone, my DH put the dishwasher on last night while I was out, it was so nice to come home to a dish-free kitchen! Will be clearly out stuff to charity too.

@AwkwardPaws27

I'm messy by natural, but a few things have helped;

• having a dishwasher
• emptying said dishwasher (I usually do it in the morning while the kettle is boiling)
• trying to minimise the amount of stuff I have, and more critically, the amount of new things I acquire
• Don't leave a room or go upstairs or downstairs without taking something that needs to be put away with me
• Designate homes for things - personally I find I'm better grouping all like items together, so rather than having scissors in the kitchen drawer, craft box and with the wrapping paper, I keep all the scissors in the same drawer- & put them back!

A better tip with scissors is to find a place to have a pair of scissors of some description in every room. It’s staggering how many things need to be cut open, trimmed, removed from packaging, snipped, edges tidied, labels removed, de tagged, disentangled,de snagged etc etc. It was a revelation when I realised that room based scissors saved my nails, my teeth, my temper and miles of walking.

Massive, massive declutter.

What works for me is reminding myself that I like the results of my efforts, even though I don't enjoy doing the cleaning.

Cleaning stuff in each toilet and bathroom, when I visit each room during the day I swish over it and then do the floor, main shower and bath once a week. Squeegee in the shower for wiping down walls and door makes cleaning quicker.

I aim to hoover the main traffic areas every day, if it doesn't get done there's always tomorrow.

Every week lounge and dining room furniture are moved and hoover underneath, swish over the floors (I have wood)

Feather duster every week, shake off outside. Dust, then hoover

Other hard floors get mopped every week.

Kitchen gets done as I go along. I cook from scratch and do the dishwasher thing (load during the day, put to go at night, unload in morning). Tiles wiped down once a week. Fridge wiped down/clean shelves once a week. Sink, I dilute bleach with water to spray on mine and leave overnight (ceramic).

Every time I disinfect my worktops (multiple times in a day) I wipe over my bin lid (inside as well, sometimes the main outside body of it) to keep that clean. I use kitchen roll to disinfect so on my way to the bin anyway.

Good idea, think about the results! I keep seeing things I'm wanting rid of, too many mugs etc and am looking forward to rehoming them.

I’m follow this podcast a slob comes clean its a cleaning and organising method for people who don’t love cleaning and organising. Absolutely brilliant.