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!'

@SylvanasWindrunner

But you can always change it to suit - if you don't have much to do on hall day, for example, you can add bathroom stuff in to that maybe? I steal from hall day to do kitchen stuff!

Thank you that makes more sense!

I want to start this as find housework so overwhelming and end up stressing all weekend trying to get on top of it all while DH is off work to help out with our 2 year old as I just don't have the time to do it when I'm home alone with her!

How would you guys recommend starting? I think I will do the level 1 jobs + the bootcamp camp days for the first week and then the declutter as and when I have some time to do each room. Is this how everyone starts off?

I didn't do bootcamp, it's taken me 3wks to get to the point where everything has now had a turn. The main thing was keeping the faith... Yesterday was the first day I did everything on the list.

@BabyBunnyMama the whole philosophy is little and often, so even if you just do the level 1 jobs and maybe one or two things off the daily list gradually it will get better.
My hall only takes about 10 minutes as it isn’t really a dumping ground, so today I’ve also spent 20 minutes shredding some old paperwork.

Thursday is a busy day so I don’t usually have 30 minutes for the kitchen so I’ll probably bump that to Saturday.

Gemma, the ‘mum’, designed the system to help her cope with after she had her baby. If the order doesn’t work for you, tweak it a little.

Indecisivelurcher I'd go for a separate utility. Our washing machine is in the kitchen but we've got our 4th tiny bedroom shelves out for storage and the tumble dryer. I know we should be folding and putting away every load of laundry every single time. But sometimes I just can't be bothered to be honest, so it's good to be able to shut the door on a basket of laundry or a load in the dryer.

I'm all done except for a load of laundry. I timed myself today just out of interest! So I barracked the dogs in the kitchen with me and set Eufy off while I had a cup of tea. Then I did a quick clean of the bathroom - bath, sink, toilet. Dusted through hallway - picture frames, skirting boards etc. Cleaned stupid huge mirror. Wiped down wall right inside front door - it gets scuffed with people/dogs coming in and out. Hoovered and spray mopped hallway and bathroom and did a quick mop of outside porch. Emptied dishwasher, cleared draining board and gave it a clean. Took 40 mins. No interruptions today!

This may have been answered as I CBA to read 9 pages but the thing that always trips me up when I look at TOMM is the 'one load of laundry a day' thing, I'd find this manageable on fine days (or on cold days with the heating on) But when we get stretches of miserable days I find one load of laundry can take two full days to dry and I'd run out of airer space.

There was a discussion up thread about heated airers. We have a tumble dryer so don't know much about them but they seem quite effective!

Surely one load of washing per day is only sensible if you have a large family and have enough to fill the machine? Is it not wasteful to have the machine running every day with only a little washing inside? I guess like PPs have said, you can tailor it to your own family needs.

Think modern washing machines nowadays register the weight of washing and add water accordingly, so small loads use less of stuff. You used to have half load settings but they got rid of those as it's all done with sensors now!

We can usually fill anyway but if you don't have enough to do then you can just adjust. We need to do daily or we get in a pickle!

Thanks for the thoughts on utility vs cupboard/cloakroom!! Despite loving the idea of a utility, current thinking here is to do a Cupboard/cloakroom. Because if we don't do it we'll have things like coats, wellies, dog food, recycling bins, vacuum and mop all out in show / homeless / have to build a big cupboard somewhere else anyway and we can't work out where. Find these decisions quite difficult, don't want to get it wrong!

@SylvanasWindrunner

There was a discussion up thread about heated airers. We have a tumble dryer so don't know much about them but they seem quite effective!

Thanks, will have a look for those comments, we have a heated airer but don't find it very effective

We have old fashioned maid in our kitchen. High ceiling and velux window for ventilation washing dries overnight usually.

EdithGrantham We've got a Dry:Soon heated airer from Lakeland and find it pretty good. I hang on every other bar though, so not to overload it. I've also got their drying pod which dries things really quickly. You do have to hang items on hangers, but I don't iron , so once dry they are ready to put away. It folds down/comes apart for easy storage too.

www.lakeland.co.uk/53211/Dry%3ASoon+Drying+Pod

Happy kitchen day (or whatever day it is for you)!

Got ahead of myself last night and managed to fit the the oven shelves and liners in dishwasher so one less thing to do today.

Robot vac due this afternoon, very excited!

Everything day here, more or less. I've had a lazy week; I wasn't feeling great the first couple of days, I was exhausted and kept getting dizzy when I moved around, so I got nothing done but the dishwasher and laundry (I'm finally well enough trained that I'll be doing those on my deathbed ), then yesterday I had a half-assed go at catching up: got the bathrooms done, and tidied the office. Today I've hoovered everything in the house. I'll dust around the sitting room and then call it good(ish).

I'm on a 1200 calorie diet, new ADHD meds and a doubled dose of blood pressure meds, plus there are 3 symptomatic cases of covid in DS's class (that we know of!) so it's anyone's guess which of those was affecting me.

Even after a crappy week, though, the house still isn't as bad as it used to get at times. It's tidier and cleaner, and DH and the kids are being a tiny bit quicker to pick up after themselves when I ask (if I'm specific about what they need to do, only give them one task at a time and then supervise to make sure they don't get distracted). Baby steps...

As for drying laundry, I cracked years ago and just tumble dry everything, all the time, unless there's a really nice day. The never-ending messing around with drying indoors drove me mad, I hated the mess of having the clotheshorse in front of the sitting room fireplace and I wasn't happy with all that water evaporating into the house. We're total cheapskates with the heating to make up for it; it's almost never on.

@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername Gosh, you're up against it at the moment, aren't you?! Bloody good work to get some stuff done with all that going on!

Augustus is here! And much excitement from toddler DD who has been chasing him from room to room giving us live commentary on his antics. He found his way home, clever boy. Need to work out a schedule for him!

Interesting take on kitchen day here... Have swept up the dust?! Did a load of washing before it was unplumbed...

Sorry you've been feeling crappy @UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername

@Indecisivelurcher ooh, I really want to know what you're having done to your kitchen, especially as it looks the same shape as mine and I need ideas!!

@Popitdontstopit So we had a long thin kitchen diner, the dining end is/was very dark and tight on space, no natural light. Then a side door into a small back extension and then double doors into a small conservatory. We are turning the dark end of kitchen into a w.c. and cupboard/cloakroom by putting up a stud wall, then enlarging the side door into the back extension which means taking down a load bearing wall, taking down the conservatory and making the brick extension bigger. So instead of small dark rooms it will be open through the kitchen into the back extension, which will be big and light as having a lantern roof and bifolding doors onto the garden. As an added feature we're getting the roof planted out with wild flower mix. We won't have a kitchen diner any more but we will be able to have a bigger table and host Christmas etc, and space for a second family area with a sofa and tv, somewhere for the kids to hang when they are older as their rooms are very weeny, particularly DS. It's going to be quite a big and light space I hope! We are blowing the only money we expect to ever have on this to make it a 20yr house for us. I am very nervous today as the wall is coming down!

Oh wow that sounds amazing! To be honest, your before sounds better than my plans for after! We have a kitchen the same width as yours, opens out at one end into a slightly bigger area where we've a round table that seats 4, but it's a squeeze and we hardly ever use it together. I'd love room for a bigger dining table and also a downstairs loo (already have a small utility). I'm lacking the imagination. I think the space not working for me, and being very dated, contributes to me not being that bothered about cleaning - even if it's pristine, it still looks crap
Good luck for today!

Wow, your kitchen is going to be fab! We spend so much time in our kitchen - it's definitely worth spending money on it I think if you can. It's the main hub of the house for us as DD's playroom goes off it, so I'll often be doing stuff in the kitchen while she's playing, or sitting at the kitchen island to get some work done, etc. Ours is luckily quite big but we did spend a small fortune recently on building work, which included building a utility room.

I ordered the Organised Mum journal that got released yesterday hoping it'll help me be a bit more organised in general! Going to look at it over the weekend.

Augustus has been trundling around this morning, chased by DD. He is still pulling up so much fluff and gunk, I can't believe it given I hoover downstairs every day quickly and then do proper hoovering on focus days! He's brilliant - I now want one for upstairs but can't justify the expense so will just keep carrying him up and down as needed!

I’ve wanted a robovac for ages, but my vacuum cleaner refuses to die and I can’t justify having both.

I’m definitely thinking of a heated airer. Pre covid I’d hang on the airer before work and fold it all up after dinner. Now I’m WFH I see washing all over the place all the time and it’s really starting to bug me.

And I’m not sure why I need a spray mop, but I think this thread is converting me.

@Redcrayons: with a robo vac it’s still a good idea to vacuum carpets once a week or so as normal hoovers have more suction/ you can also use them for other things (like upholstery, fridge coils etc…).so you might ‘need’ both

I've used my spray mop for the first time today - though I didn't even use the spray but, I had got a method floor spray so just used that - still a lot easier and the long rectangular shape went easily between the toilet and basin, those kind of smallish spaces. It also dries really fast as a lot less water.

Another one joins the spray mop cult!

My mum just got hers and she messaged me this morning saying how dirty her floors had apparently been She, like me, is a reluctant mopper it seems

I didn't do FF today but in my defence I was working most of the day and now DD is due home. I was meant to clear a cupboard but I might get DH to do that over the weekend as I'm out with DD Sunday morning so it will keep him occupied

All level 1s done though!