The Organised Mum Method

[SylvanasWindrunner]

Is anyone doing this/just started?

We just started this week and oh my goodness, our house is clean! Someone could turn up unexpectedly and I could let them in and not die of shame!

Even toddler DD came downstairs today and said 'Oh, it's clean here!'

We have all come down with a cold from DC's nursery so have fallen slightly behind.

I missed the FF (hall) but caught up with 10 minutes today to clean part of the bannister and skirting and will finish tomorrow. I don't think we have washed them since as we moved here 3 years ago! That's what I like about the FF, now it's potentially 8 weeks and they will be cleaned again. Which compared to 3 years is pretty good!

I don't usually mn about cleaning on a Saturday night but here we are! In my defence, having one of those evenings where the baby won't settle so havent even been able to start watching something tonight.

See you all on Monday!

Ok, have ordered a spray mop from Amazon! I almost never mop the floor, it is a big effort to get mop bucket out from the cupboard of doom. So this will help. It's claiming I can clean windows with it too!

I have just finished boot camping my kitchen. Took 4 HOURS with breaks and picking up DS from work at 10pm. I can't believe how much stuff we accumulated in there and how grubby it was . I am NEVER letting it get like that again.

I had yesterday (Friday) off work and was going to do it then but I took 2 pups to the groomers and had a relaxing day with the 2 at home. Thought I'd crack on with it tonight as both DP and DS were working late (I did have a little nanna nap late afternoon ).

I agree that spray mops making floor mopping much easier. I have a vileda spinny mop thingy which does do a better job but it feels like a bit of a faff sometimes.

Those who have spray mops - what is your flooring like?

I have laminate through downstairs. Upstairs, shower room is Lino and bathroom is REALLY old (but good condition) solid wood floor.

Mainly re downstairs, I’ve always been worried that mopping isn’t good for laminate. I have one of those steam mops, but I find it a faff constantly p,iggibg/unplugging from sockets. So I tend not to bothe4 at all 🤣

Any recommendations/reassurance would be appreciated.

Hmm maybe I'll treat myself to a spray mop when the kitchen & extension building works is finished... @HemanOrSheRa that's properly hardcore!!! I think I will have to do bootcamp that when the builders finish too.

Spray mops should be fins for laminate, because they don't get the floor very wet.

I am aware that STEAM mops are not good for laminate/can get in between the layers and damage it

AFAIK what’s important is to mop a v clean floor (so sweep/hoover first), in order to not scrape grit around with your mop and damage floor

I had a steam mop briefly (months) & it damaged laminate so I didn’t bother

I’ve never had a spray mop - I can see appeal as it IS a lot quicker (friends I stay with have them), and especially handy if the issue is dust showing up on dark floors

I don’t think they actually get things as clean as a ‘proper’ mop with cleaner & hot water though

To avoid damaging laminate the important thing is not to get it super wet/leave water pooling on it. Same for wood

Tiles & Lino can get wet not so much an issue

Agree that mopping is the worst bit though
Ive split my house into ‘zones’ so I mop all the wood floors on 1 day, all the tiles on another which reduces the pain somewhat. I have vileda mops (a string mop with spinner) for my wood & laminate floors - link is below, can get at Sainsbury’s/B&M etc: it’s actually v well designed and the spinner gets the mop v dry

I have their super mocio mop for tiles (kitchen, bathrooms): this is a mop head made of a fabric like j-cloths and is REALLY good at cleaning

What I like is the mop heads pull off really easily so I can throw in the wash with my cleaning cloths/bath mats etc- then I can see that things are really clean. I like to see that the water is dirty so that there’s a point in having mopped ..

What has helped me is putting the buckets somewhere easy to get to. To reduce the faff factor, would you consider mopping all of your downstairs, and then doing bathroom floors on the same day so you only get mop out once?

I sometimes mop all my floors at once, mop myself out the front door & go out - best way to get no foot prints 😄

www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/vileda-smart-turbo-spin-mop-?istCompanyId=1e096408-041f-4238-994e-a7cf46bf9413&istFeedId=689af7a8-5842-4d88-be59-1ee5688a81b5&istItemId=ipwqmrarm&istBid=t&&cmpid=cpc&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=11413376550&utm_content=shopping&utm_term=%257Bsku%257D&utm_custom1=112560511395&utm_custom2=759-449-0952&gclid=Cj0KCQjwnJaKBhDgARIsAHmvz6dbtQRS0_6vLGr4cUYEvEGpmpNnU31bOC0aZJ4fNYbUcN2GBzLXYRQaApoUEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

@HemanOrSheRa: bet that feels AMAZING!

My kitchen is the only thing left on my boot camp & it’s always going to be a big job 😬
I’ve been doing bits all of last week (cooker hood, cupboards inside & out etc)… all in 1 go was a bold move. Any thoughts on how to stop it building up again? I’ve noticed crumbs in my cutlery drawer so need to line those & have emptied out the stuff & put the cutlery tray in dishwasher which is something I will do as part of kitchen focus on future…

I’m going to adapt TOMM to do a more frequent focus on the kitchen (1st week of every month) as I think it’s the one room of the house where letting it build creates the most work (ie cleaning a super dusty bedroom is light work vs getting built up kitchen grime off)

We have laminate and no issues.

I did a 'proper' mop just before spray mop arrived but haven't felt the need to since. I guess cos I'm doing it so regularly, stuff just isn't building up. I run the mop around the kitchen and hall every day after a quick hoover as it's so easy and minimal faff. Whereas before I would only mop when it looked icky, and it always took far longer, even with our Vileda spinny mop thing.

Oh and I sometimes boil the kettle and pour that and some cleaner into the spray mop bottle if I think it needs hot water, but mostly I've found it doesn't need it.

Morning! Indecisivelurcher I will admit that I didn't feel very hardcore by about midnight . In fact I was muttering 'Whose bloody stupid idea was this?' I have no one to blame but myself!

DespairingHomeowner I'm stood in my lovely clean kitchen, having a cup of tea, the sun is streaming in through the (clean) windows and I do feel pretty pleased with myself! I didn't do the inside of the oven though - that felt like a step too far and really needs time setting aside separately to do a proper job with a box of oven pride. I was losing the will to live by the end and would've been a bit slap dash.

I need to work out the best way to wash the roller blind now. It looks a bit grubby next to the clean walls/tiles/windows! Soaking in the bath seems the best option according to Google.

Thanks all. Think I’m going to look into a spray mop - buckets of water aren’t going to be easy for me, I need to be making things as easy as possible to ensure I maintain things here.

If anyone has any recommendations, then that would be great.

Am loving reading all the updates. I’m currently about 1/3 of the way through the living/dining room. I am cleaning, decluttering and decorating as I go. It’s a big room, with lots of beams, so it’s quite slow going. But I am SO pleased with what’s been done and know that it will definitely help me to start TOMM properly when everything is done.

Today’s tasks for me are to paint a radiator, fill some rather large holes/cracks in a couple of places and clean up the mess this creates. Also to give the kitchen a quick going over. Getting these done today will be an achievement for me!

You're going great guns, @Furries!

I just bought a generic one off Amazon, they all seemed to be similar. The only thing I regret is not getting one with a slightly bigger bottle - mine is 300ml I think but there are some on there that are 640ml, which would mean far less topping up with cleaner, which appeals to my laziness even more! So I'd say maybe get as big a spray bottle as you can find if you're planning to just whack some floor cleaner in there and just leave it - I use Method stuff so I just fill it up with the cleaner and top up whenever I need. I think bottle size is probably less important if you're going to fill up with hot water/cleaner every time as you'll be doing it from scratch every time anyway and probably won't use that much in one go.

Can't believe how much I've had to say about spray mops. My mum is here this weekend and saw it and is now going home to buy her own too I'm a spray mop bore.

Furries I've go an Addis spray mop. It's got a very fine spray so doesn't over wet the floors. You can pick up cheap non brand replacement pads easily. Amazon seem to do good deals on multi packs. I picked one up in Adsa for about £1.50. I sling them in the washing machine with cloths/tea towels. I definitely mop our floors much more frequently (pretty much daily ) using the spray mop as it's so quick and easy.

www.dunelm.com/product/addis-spray-mop-1000119805

I think you are very wise taking time to give every room a thorough going over before you start TOMM properly. I'm in the organised Mum fb group. There are people who really struggle because they've missed out that bit and don't understand why it isn't working.

@SylvanasWindrunner - thank you, I’ve found that reading this thread has really spurred me on so thank you for starting it! I really had got to the stage of feeling overwhelmed by the whole house and not knowing where to start so it just continued getting worse.

Your advice is great, I will definitely look for one with a larger bottle. What Method cleaner do you use for the floor. I really like their show spray so would definitely like to try their floor products.

@HemanOrSheRa - cheers, will take a look at that. I’m also hoping that I’ll get into the stage of much more frequent floor mopping (miracles can happen!). Yes, am glad I’m doing it my slightly long-winded way. It suits my brain to do something thoroughly to get a good starting point. So god knows how the house got to this stage in the first place! Well, mainly health reasons, but I’m still cross with myself. But I really think that getting to the point where I can start TOMM properly is going to be a huge help. And, as I said, reading all the updates on here has made me feel really positive about it.

@HemanOrSheRa: I’ve just spent about 3 hours on my kitchen 😭😭😭

It was horrendous… partly because of silly units without kick boards the previous owners hand built - they are lovely but there was dust under, so was on hands and knees with a dustpan/brush , my extendable duster & eventually the hoover (there was also rubble/dried up insulation foam under there … so hoping that’s a 1 time only)

The deep clean has been a major undertaking, & I’ve only been in the house 6 months (I also had a professional clean before I moved in). If someone has let things slide for a couple of years I can see it would be discouraging

I actually think paying for a deep clean to get started would be a good way if you can afford it / would be motivation to keep it clean

Lots of time to think while sweeping & mopping:

• if you can afford a cleaner, doing TOMM and outsourcing Friday focus jobs by getting a cleaning company in every 2 months might be a good way to do it (I think those deep clean companies

• giving the kitchen a bit more of a ‘go’ seems necessary- like wiping appliances etc. Not every week but maybe in rotation?

• products : I use neat flash - the floor cleaner stuff (and diluted it, but used neat for worst bits) & fairy liquid in hot water… possibly harsh for some surfaces but v effective (more so than sprays, some of which seem a bit of a waste of money. This is what I remember my mum using so she clearly knew her stuff

• mopping a really dirty floor - boiling water & going over with fresh hot water at the end makes a difference

• I can see the value of the time limit to stop you losing the will to live!

• I do think your house gets cleaner/it gets quicker. Once you’ve deep cleaned you can ‘see’ the dirt/spot the areas you forget that it builds up in (in my case, the unit next to dishwasher was filthy)
• this is one big advantage of doing your own deep clean, building up a picture of where dirt accumulated in your own house

• lastly, after a big cleaning session, I like to clean my tools - mop heads etc get a wash, but I have also washed out my dustpan, hoover attachments etc … they get filthy too. Means I can’t do more today which is probably a great thing

I’m a sweaty mess (got started pre shower) but now my house is clean & I’m ready to go 😄

@Furries: good luck with the jobs! Getting your house straight and then cleaning to maintain makes some much sense …

@SylvanasWindrunner: you might be pulling me over to Team Spraymop soon! If you are doing it everyday then pretty sure it would stay v clean

Last thing to say … I’m pretty impressed with the RoboVac … it seems to get a layer of dust I miss. I hadn’t realised but it has little ‘sweeper’ brushes on the side to bring dirt into its path (kind of like a road sweeper) so gets dust that’s hanging out in table legs etc

I can’t see myself needing to do much to downstairs floors with that going regularly, I don’t expect it’s strong enough to replace a normal hoover on carpets but will give that a go later :)

Monday - Mirrors
Tuesday - Toilets
Wednesday - Wet Stuff (sink bowl, shower etc)
Thursday - Taps
Friday - Floor

Thanks @Furries I love this and will be using!

@Furries: my own tips for making things easy:

• have a second cleaning caddy upstairs (I have the bedroom products, dusters etc in a caddy in the bathroom). Then you can dust/do surfaces etc in little pockets of time
• if you can afford it/have space get a second set of tools for upstairs too (eg a stick vacuum… I don’t have this but it would make things easier)
• keep either wipes (which I don’t tend to use) or an e-cloth, or a plain duster & spray in the rooms you use most to make things easy

Having less stuff also makes it easier, & a really good tip I read from Mari Kondo

• don’t store things where it’s easy to use them (although that’s obviously a consideration!), think about where it’s easy to put them away …
• example: I always have my hair brush lying around as it doesn’t have a ‘home’. I need to find a place for it near where I use it (to dry my hair - next to dryer) & make it easy to put away … I.e. clear some space in a drawer

I use Method wild rhubarb for floors, it smells really good. And their peach blossom and rhubarb surface anti bac sprays are good too. I didn't want anything too chemically as it goes straight for my lungs! Although I do have some fresh linen zoflora I use for some stuff.

And I just have a bunch of cloths that get chucked in the washing machine.

I do need a cleaning caddy actually. Off to have a look! Today's excitement is trying to get some tea stains out of a mattress that have been there since tea was invented I think.

@LadyDanburysCane

*Monday - Mirrors Tuesday - Toilets Wednesday - Wet Stuff (sink bowl, shower etc) Thursday - Taps Friday - Floor*

Thanks @Furries I love this and will be using!

Funnily enough, I found where I originally saw this last night. It was on a thread here a couple of years ago.

Thursday was actually “Thower Thscreens” as they couldn’t think of something beginning with T!

Either way, I’m going to utilise it once I get properly started on TOMM.

@DespairingHomeowner - good tips, thank you. Will definitely get myself sorted with a caddy of stuff to live upstairs. I’ve got a stick vacuum as I find it much easier to carry around the house - now just need to make sure I ACTUALLY carry it round the house and use it 😂

Doing this process in my living room I am definitely seeing how much easier things would be with less clutter. Think I will be much more mindful going forward re nick nacks - I’m a bit of a sucker for shabby chic trinkets around the home. Am going to now aim for “if it doesn’t also have a practical use then I don’t need it”.

FGS - I blooming HATE spiders, am a complete scaredy pants. There’s a ginormous bastard sat on one of freshly painted walls 🤬

Ugh, I hate them too. I can manage with a glass when they are in an easily accessible place like the floor, but walls are perilous because I'm always worried they will fall on my head or face and then I would just die. But I'm also conscious of not passing on my fear of them to DD so I have to do this faux 'Oh wow, look, a spider!' stuff when I really just want to throw something at it and run away

You need one of those spider catching things that scoops them!