Howcome I can declutter several times a week and yet everywhere is still messy ??

[nutcracker]

I don't get where I am going wrong.

(I'm loving this thread)

Please don't stop - this is great.

Maybe Anna can tell us something about the use of bowls instead of mugs in France?

nutty doesnt want to knwo abotu MUGS in paris fgs
or fat english peopele

i went to a poncey borading school that made you drink tea out of bowls cos that was what they did in the 16th centruey

poncetastic

I'm loving this thread too. House is such a tip at the moment. Always is when we have a weekend away.

We use the back door to come and go and had to move four things out of the way of the front door when someone rang on it yesterday evening!

Plenty of overweight French people (and mugs!)in this neck of the woods. The regional dish is chips though!

Anna' original advice was good. I have those storage boxes and they cost £1.50 for a decent sized clearish plastic box, and an extra 80p for a lid. Lots of my children's toys are stored in them and they slide under their single pine beds. They also each have a tall billy bookcase in their bedrooms, partly with books on and partly with baskets containing toys on.

I think not allowing toys or only minimal toys downstairs is good. We have all the craft stuff etc downstairs, then a few games and puzzles in a cupboard. Other than that all we have downstairs just now is the playmobil. Although DD's pram/pushchair/carseat/highchair go up and down at regular intervals.

True. You don't have to go to Ikea for plastic boxes.
We usually tidy up once a day. The amount the kids do depends on how tired they are.