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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

Thanks for 'a slob comes clean'!

29 replies

NoToLandfill · 09/05/2022 20:38

Hello this is a BIG thank you to the mumsnetters who have mentioned the slob blog on here. I'd found team TOMM and fly lady but I just can't stick with it. Well slob lady is the real deal!

I'm listening to her podcasts. I bought the book- without losing your mind one. As that's truly how I felt. Moved to a bigger house but there's still stuff everywhere & a big old mess.

So I'm baby stepping my way through, but everything I'm trying is working for me & my family.

Thanks!

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 09/05/2022 20:40

I love her. Her book helped me so much. I'm on day 15 of the 28b day challenge in the appendix and still listening to the podcast.

JackieWeaverhasendedthemeeting · 10/05/2022 17:27

I've found her strategies really helpful and quite freeing! I don't do the weekly laundry 'bit' because there is no way it would work for us, but I appreciate her honesty on her podcasts: I must admit I have tries TOMM and FlyLady but found them both a bit patronising and preachy - Dana K White's podcasts and blog posts are breezy, funny and easy to listen to.

WakeWaterWalk · 10/05/2022 21:42

I love her too OP. I'm glad you've found her!

Original poster
NoToLandfill · 10/05/2022 23:55

Yes the others are a bit preachy. And ironically Dana is quite religious, yet she seems to keep that quite separate from the blog work.

Surely she must be ADHD? But no matter, it works for me.

5 min room pick ups- yep. Doing the dishes- yep. Dishes math - definitely true. Every week our house is becoming a nicer place to be.

OP posts:
EmmaH2022 · 11/05/2022 00:01

Maybe I should check this out but findamentally, all these things are asking me to be tidy... 😂

Drywhitefruitycidergin · 11/05/2022 00:21

Omg - 10 mins into podcast 1 and she has basically described my life.....
Thank you OP - this could be a game changer.....

Original poster
NoToLandfill · 11/05/2022 07:54

Well no Emma22 it's for if you want to live in a calm tidy house. But can't seem to manage to achieve that. If you like living in a mess then go right ahead, it's your house.

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 11/05/2022 08:09

In one of the blogs she mentions ADHD but I don't think she has or wants a diagnosis. But it is funny how she calls different aspects of ADHD things like time passage awareness disorder, slob vision, and the perfectionism she describes as well.

EmmaH2022 · 11/05/2022 10:22

Oh dear, I seem to have said the wrong thing.

I will check this out too, thank you OP.

TabithaTittlemouse · 11/05/2022 19:59

I need to look at this! I do love TOMM but sometimes I need something else.

Original poster
NoToLandfill · 11/05/2022 20:06

Sorry I didn't mean to come across as cross! It's just not really about tidying at all. And if you don't want to tidy then that literally is your call!

I'm finding it helpful actually that she doesn't talk about ADHD at all. As I suppose it really is irrelevant to what she does - helping us that are like her, in de-slobifying our homes.

For me its life changing. Rather than feeling a failure for not managing fly lady or team TOMM.

OP posts:
NovelFarmer · 11/05/2022 22:53

Thanks for this thread! I had never heard about her before but have now been loving her podcast.
She’s brilliant!
Inspired to do some decluttering now.

ArnoldArnoldArnoldRimmer · 12/05/2022 08:09

Thanks for the recommendation, have downloaded episode 1. I have ADHD and 3 little kids so my house is in chaos!

WakeWaterWalk · 12/05/2022 10:14

TOMM seemed way over the top in terms of expectations and energy expended when I looked into it. (Did I read on here the creator was dialling back from cleaning all day? This explains me finding her whole approach and intensity mystifying.)
Flylady seemed more in the spirit of appreciating you may not get much done this day / week but knowing you will have another bash next on the next rotation, so don't despair. I learned from that.
Dana not wanting a show home anyway then just living and doing other stuff and finally noticing the state of the house when guests are due is me to a tee.

I don't think it makes me ADD.🤷

WakeWaterWalk · 12/05/2022 10:15

Should have said " means I have ADD."

CornedBeef451 · 12/05/2022 10:23

I love Dana, I always recommend her on here and in real life.

My house has dramatically improved over the last year or so as I've decluttered at least a quarter of our stuff.

Another good one is Minimal Mom, she is more YouTube based rather than a podcast but a lovely family just figuring out how to live in a tidier house.

With both of them I love the honesty and when they show before and afters.

Good luck!

BertieBotts · 12/05/2022 11:17

Nobody said it means you have ADHD if you relate to her. Just that those of us who have ADHD (visible in other areas too) can see strong parallels in what she says, on multiple occasions and that her whole demeanour (even just the way she tells stories) is very ADHD.

Or maybe you do have it. Most adult women are undiagnosed.

BertieBotts · 12/05/2022 11:27

Anyway, I came back because I'm struggling with the 28 day challenge. I feel despair because I'm technically on Day 18, but I haven't even LOOKED at it since Monday, I was three days behind then, and I haven't done any of the dishes or kitchen sweeping let alone clearing bathroom clutter since then.

This is supposed to give me "hope for my home" but what hope do I have if I can't even stick to a 4 week challenge for 2 weeks Hmm

I have gone back to day 12. Hoping that it will be easier to work out what day I'm on if I attach it to the date and I think day 12 was also when I stopped looking at it originally anyway.

I think half the issue is I cannot, absolutely cannot get my head around doing stuff just before I go to bed or first thing in the morning. Those are my two zombie times. Plus I often end up rushing to bed because DS3 has woken up and I need to do my teeth and get to him ASAP. I have tended to be doing it at 11am, which did work well, but now it's all falling apart I'm wondering if the lack of doing it at first thing/last thing is the problem.

WakeWaterWalk · 12/05/2022 13:05

I am just saying she is relateable either way.

Purpleavocado · 12/05/2022 13:19

I think all the methods have value, as they are all about consistency. I haven't done this one, but I've done Flylady in the past and currently do TOMM.
I'd say the most important part of any of them is to just put a timer on, or TOMM podcast and just get on with it. Don't overthink it making endless lists, just put the timer on, get up and start. 15 minutes a day makes a huge difference, as does doing a load of laundry every day.

picklemewalnuts · 12/05/2022 13:26

@BertieBotts I don't know the system, but identify with your feeling.

Id Stick with 11am if it mainly works for you, but what about lunchtime? I'm getting such a lot done at the moment by taking 5,10 mins at lunch or while I'm cooking the dinner. I have a little mental list of 'wipe things down', or 'clear some surfaces'.

WakeWaterWalk · 12/05/2022 13:36

I physically can't work as fast as TOMM requires. (Which is partly why why I fell behind with housework in the first place.)
I couldn't do a 28 day blitz consistently either Bertie. It sounds like too much in one go.

Original poster
NoToLandfill · 12/05/2022 15:03

I've bought into the take back your house course with slob comes clean & 2 other bloggers. Seems like they all complement each other on slightly different takes on the topic. It's a year program so I'm not feeling too overwhelmed or behind.

The 5 minutes room pick ups really are possible if that room is decluttered and everything has a 'home' to be put back into.

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 12/05/2022 16:32

It's not really a blitz, it's literally just:

Wash the dishes (or run dishwasher) every day for a week. By the end of the week she also has you wiping down the counters.

Wash dishes + sweep kitchen floor every day for a week. Doesn't need to be a full on sweep, just making sure there are no big objects on the floor. We have a robot hoover so in theory - easy peasy because I don't even need to do the sweeping.

Wash dishes + sweep kitchen + quick glance into bathrooms and remove anything that shouldn't be there every day for a week. And once you've done this once, the floor and bathrooms are literally a two second job because there's nothing to tidy up.

Wash dishes + sweep kitchen + declutter bathrooms + 5 min tidy up (which starts off hardly making a dent but over time can be really effective).

It's nothing hard and actually all of us fill the dishwasher and it's DS1's job to empty it so it shouldn't be difficult at all Confused

I just find habit forming really tricky. It took me decades to train myself to remember to clean my teeth every day Confused I do like the idea of a daily routine that can be built on. But tend to feel a bit despairing at things which get SO bad if you just forget them for 2-3 days. Dishes math (etc). Argh.

Maybe I'm being a bit hard on myself because I did go around and fill up the DW and wipe the counters, and the counters were noticeably less filled with random crap even though I had initially thought the kitchen was a disaster zone.

WWW so true she is very relateable. I think a lot of people have these kinds of thinking errors she describes, like the one where you tidy up by putting things into piles but then get interrupted by kids or whatever and the piles never get put away, thereby creating more mess. I have started the "Take it there RIGHT NOW" rule and it does mean that the little I do stays done, instead of me doing a lot and then it getting undone immediately.

picklemewalnuts · 12/05/2022 18:35

How about going back to the start, or just sticking on day 7 for a while?

The Couch to 5k repeats the same session until you want to move on to the next one. Some people complete it really fast, others don't get to the last episode, but they are still moving a lot more than they were before!

If it takes you twice as long to complete the challenge, so be it.
You could do a 14 day challenge, then start again.