I feel like I spend my life tidying up but still live in a midden - is that just a fact of life with small people?

[padboz]

How does everyone else keep on top of it?Apart from the fact that Im on the sofa typing rather than cleaning, why does every waking minute seem to be spent either dealing with a mess or thinking 'I really should go and deal with that mess' - anyone out there that doesnt have cobwebs - do you have a cleaner or do you have a plan? Help this old slattern get it together!?

Real baby proofing? Padded room with a few toys made of wood.

Plug sockets covered are a must, DD likes plug sockets. Coffee cups up high, DD really into cups right now. Fire Guard, stair gate, gate in front of kitchen - DD has just discovered the igniter on the cooker, luckily not at the same time as the gas knob! Constant attention in the kitchen now. no chairs near sink/bath, in fact bathroom door shut/stair gate (dd loves to 'wash up' and pushes her chair to the sink now. Wires out of the way, no chests next to banisters that can be climbed on.

Floor and reachable surfaces clear from small objects, difficult to do if you have older children as we find when we go to our friends house with a 5 year old, lots of toys with small parts...get your children to help. 5yo loves it when DD goes there, he likes to 'give' her safe toys to play with and takes ones away that had not already been cleared!

If going outside, nothing dangerous in garden that is accesible like garden power tools, sharp tools, fertiliser/mower fuel etc etc. i beleive mud to be fine!!!

The thing is with 18months that I have figured, is the best toys are the things they cant have, much better than baby toys!!

I find that I tiy ever couple hours with DD. She makes a mess as quickly as I clear it and if I dont clear it a little, get some order going, she falls over things and we fall over things and its just absolute chaos.

During the day, on the days I am not working, I do a bliz in the morning mainly kitchen and front room, then clear some toys etc away a few times in the day, then after tea clean it up again.

When I am working and DH is home, I come home to a complete nightmare and clean endlessly! Not sure who is worse, DH or DD!!

I have a fridge magnet that says.

'Cleaning the house whilst the kids are growing,
Is like shovelling the snow when its still snowing.
Very apt.
But I also find that moving house every few years helps, as all the dross gets thrown out and it can take as much as a year before the mess catches up.

Soul destroying isn't it? Sometimes I think I've been re-born into service 200 years ago. I spend my life tidying up.

Mind you my house is far far too small for us. You've only got to blink and it looks like a hell hole.

yep.

icod
I found this intesting site too. My house looks like a chinese laundry ,trying to get dd to iron ,have tried cleaning but now week nine after disc prolapse and bending on hands and knees to clean loo is ....cruciating ,topped up with painkillers and nice sauvignon blanc just had a rant about state schools on other thread hope they dont think I am rude??
My house is always a mess hockey kit rugby kit mud cats but I will always make a drink or pour wine for a friend.

I've obviously ranted too much, as now ds says each morning "it's not tidy enough in here" (in my defence, I had a meltdown on Xmas day, I don't normally make a fuss about it) and when the cleaning lady has been in he says "it's nice and tidy in here, Monica has done a lovely job" (she thinks this is hilarious, ds is 2.6).

It's impossible. Dh and ds are the messiest people on earth and they're both here for most of every day. I'm out 9-6 and come back to the unremitting chaos. My house was burnt down 5 years ago and I do think in some ways if it happened again, when we weren't there (as per last time) it could even be a good thing.

title implies untidy people are all adults under 5 feet 4

Dear Darth I am 5ft 3 and 3/4
not sure if this is good or not?

it's just a fact of life galaxymummy

ok so my kids say I am vertically challenged too
best things come in small packages

my dd aspires to be 5 ft 2 like her godmother

{dp & I are much taller than godmother}

oh you lovely people! I feel a bit better now. I shined my sink. Then boiled some milk with half a cauliflower cooking in it (half hearted diet soup plan - bluergh - something to do with that evil book 'why french women dont get fat' anyway thats a whole other thread) and it turned volcanic,boiled over and burned a thick crust on bottom of le cruset. house smells like a roasted compost heap. Eldest spent evening asking 'whats that smell mummy' Actually it was more like whats that smell.... now trying to summon energy to iron things that will have pasta stuck to them in 18 hours, ironed or not.

here's a good tip for getting rid of burnt food smells, or fried food smells from the house. Put a small pot of water on to boil withthe skin of an orange (or just the zest) and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Bring to boil and simmer. It fills the house with a lovely spicy clean smell! Also work in a bowl in the microwave.

Can't help re the mess though, I've just accepted it, figured I'm sharing the house with a 4 yr old flat mate.

pavolvthecat how on earth can you blitz anything in the morning ? when the little ones are awake??? this i think is the crux of my problem - i have a 13 month old and a 25 month old and if I am not totally on top of it the 13 month old will lose a finger or an eye to over enthusiastic 25 month old. I spend all the time I'm not trying to clean them actually dealing with them - physical safety is at stake. youngest toddling in a wobbly way cannot negotiate eldests 'Thats MY toy' yanks toy youngest in heap, eldest sorry cuddles / sorry kisses even more dangerous - youngest flattened by siblings guilty squashy 'oh dear didnt mean to' making eldest even more confused / frustrated : cue attention seeking. Convinced Im not getting this right

Pad - thats the thing, I only have one, and its hard enough, you have TWO!

I give DD her brekky and whilst she eats I clean sink, wipe down sides, have a coffee, then when she has finished eating, I put her little Elmer Elephant apron on her, plonk her in front of the sink on a chair with one her bottles, a plastic cups, some utensils and she 'washes up' while I unpack dishwasher from night before (what a godsend), sweep floor and make another coffee.

She loves hoovering so, and has a little baby dyson so we might hoover the hallway, occasionally, or she will 'help' me put her books back on her shelf in the hallway!

If she has a bath - whilst in the bath, will clean bathroom, obviously not the bath, will do that when I have a shower.

Front room - whatever she is doing, I tidy around her for 10 mins, but usually do front room when she is in bed, hoover from time to time, when doing hallway.

Our bedroom - well it rarely gets done!

Sounds impressive, not as organised as it sounds, and often looks worse after a tidy, despite efforts to make it look half decent!

And to me, blitz means - dont dust, dont clean under the sofa, and I shut the computer cabinet so cant see the mess!

And it sounds hard work but perfectly normal for the age you have!! I am going to wait for another one, for a year or two yet, i think!!!

I used the flylady principles to establish some basic routines.

Mornings- Bring all the laundry downstairs.
Empty the dishwasher while getting my breakfast. Quick wipe around sink and loo.

Every Day- Cleanwashing gets sorted, folded and stacked for the kids to take up each day, not allowed to pile up.
One wash a day so I can get it dried and put away, 2 loads and I can't cope .

Evening- Check diary for tomorrow, check schhol stuff, clean sink and wipe worktops, prepare clothes.

Monday- House back to rights from the weekend, obvious stuff put back, run duster thing round a few places, hoover the obvious bits.
Tuesday- Empty all bins around house .Clear out all the recycle stuff to wheelies. Water plants, check fish, change a bed, put out bucket.
Wednesday- 15min in weeks zone, 15min on a niggly thing (like put stuff in loft), clear out fridge.
Thursday- Plan next weeks meals and do list, check freezer.
Friday-File bills etc, clear desk, clear out handbag, repairs/ shoe cleaning, check car and fill up.
Saturday- wash school clothes.
Sunday-Check kids bags.

All of those things are done throughout the day, whenever I can. Its all about doing things as you go along instead of walking past that hankie on the floor 20 times thinking I really should pick it up .

Oh each week day has a room so if I am feeling energetic I might clear a hotspot (place that gathers junk), or do a more thorough clean.

Kids have a rota too for each day. (In theory),.

i used to be very untidy but have had a major turn around recently.

1. got a dishwasher, so kitchen now looks tidy all the time as no dishes in the sink.

1. major declutter, weve got rid of bin bags worth of stuff and it definitly makes things easier.

1. storage, the more the better. my two dds now have all there toys kept in a sideboard in the dining room and anything that doesnt fit goes in there rooms.

1. make the dds tidy up after themselves untill you've nagged them so much they do it as second nature.

1. have a routine even if its very basic. i do the dishwasher 1st thing then load it up through the day, wack some laundry in and put the wet stuff in the dryer then once the kids are sorted do the school run. when we get back dd2 helps me hoover/dust etc

now cant stand it when house is messy though so have to keep on top of it. though i confess upstairs is an absolute shit tip but im going to sort that once im finished decorating

oh and my dds are 6 yrs and 20 mths and ive got another one [gulp] due at the end of march (watch out for the 'my house used to be spotless but now its a shit tip' thread around that time

Congratuations spugs! Love to know how you get on - your two will be pretty close together too - 20 months is still very young to do a lot of the stuff that the books recommend to prepare siblings for the new arrival. Mine was just over a year old when the new one turned up (much prayed for fertility treatment baby followed by 'impossible' baby) Its been a rocky, messy sleepy road! There is usually a lot of food mashed into soft furnishings and I dont buy plain coloured T shirts for me or them any more - Hawaiian shirts dont show the stains!

Anyone would think we keep on top of things here if they saw downstairs. Our lovely bedroom though is currently home to piles of clean washing, stuff for charity, stuff I can't fit into and don't want to give away yet and books. Will sort some of it out when dd asleep much later on!!

Hi there,
Depends when your OH goes out in the morning, I have to say I get much of my house work done before DH goes out,
So by the time he goes to work, I have cleaned the bathrooms (if I do it every day it doesn't take more than a couple of minutes) unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, unloaded and reloaded the washing machine, made the beds and cleaned the kitchen after breakfast.
After DH goes to work I then (most days) iron the washing that I did the day before. I try to plan food for the day in my head incase I need to get anuthing out of the freezer.
If I get anything else done house work wise I feel I have done really well and if I don't then there are toys and books around the floor for most of the day.

There are some great things on the Flylady website - you don't have to subscribe to get some great tips.