Question for people with two or more DCs aged three or under, and who do NOT have a cleaner or any regular childcare. How clean/tidy is your house?

[SpawnChorus]

I find cleaning/tidying with the DCs in tow virtually impossible. They whine and fight and generally do their utmost to hinder me (e.g. turning off hoover at the wall, rubbing their hands on mirrors as I'm polishing them etc).

They have zero interest in 'helping' me, and refuse to play quietly or watch CBeebies while I get on with it.

I am despairing.

The mere thought of cleaning now sends me into a bad mood.

So for those of you with two or more young DCs, how do you manage it?

PMSL NMC- thats just the Aspies

and the week after....

I have to do a formal daily pants check, its so..... demeaning

LOL

Needmorecoffee - if only. That would be easier. I have 15 months between my two and if I didnt do this stuff we would never leave the house.

Oh Yes that is the best cleaning tip I ever had - GO OUT. The house stays clean if nobody is in it to trash it.

So we are out every morning and most afternoons

I have dd (5), ds1 (2.11) and ds2 (8wks). I intend stringing out the "I have had a cs and a hysterectomy and a vertical incision and I must not hoover" for a good few months yet. Yesterday dh announced that he needed to do some exercise and was therefore going to go swimming; I snorted and said if he wanted exercise then the stairs needed hoovering. Actually he is pretty domesticated. He cleans the bathroom while the dcs are in the bath.

I've trained ds1 to think laundry is a game - he likes loading the machines and pressing the buttons, and also running around putting clothes in the right rooms too. I can't even contemplate not using the tumble drier at the moment.

Ds1 likes unloading the dishwasher too - I hand him all the plastic items. Which seems like most of the load these days.

We have a playroom (the "dining" end of a long sitting room) and the dcs lob all their toys into it every evening.

So, I don't hoover, I don't do the bathroom, I haven't dusted or cleaned windows since we moved in last Easter. That leaves the kitchen. Well, I wipe the surfaces most days. I'm thinking about doing the floor tonight, haven't done it since I got home from hospital 7 weeks ago and who knows when it was done before that.

Nobody ever lay on their deathbed sighing "I wish I'd done more housework".

I was getting into a right state about the state of my house and this thread has really cheered me up!

My DS1 is 18 months and although he 'likes to help' this only lasts a few minutes and usually ends with more mess than tidy. I'm also 7mnths pg with problems with my pelvis (no hoovering or ironing so the physio told me!). I also should not lift DS1 so going from one place to another in the house usually involves a long game of chase and convincing.

Who knows what state the house will be in when DC2 is born!

I did like the idea of going out - not only is there less mess but whatever mess there is you don't see it!

My tip if you've got helpful LO's who continually turn the hoover off, is to plug it in somewhere out of reach - for me it's in the kitchen plug sockets at shoulder level. When I'm upstairs, I plug it in behind a piece of furniture.

The DS's have a hoover, mop & brush apiece, so we do jobs 'together'.

All the toys have their own plastic boxes, so they get put away into those. Stray bits get thrown into a communal box which I sort once a week or so.

I clean the bathroom when they're in the bath. I clean the bath when I'm in the shower (over bath shower).

I hoover every night at 6pm. This is our 'witching time'. So to avoid the crying and whinging I throw everything out of the way and hoover up. It seems to quieten them for some reason?? Even if you just chuck everything into a box together, you feel better once the floor is clear and hoovered. I've also just bought a handheld dyson, to blitz 'problem areas' between major hooverings.

I had a 22 month gap and am about to do it all again ...They are now 4 and 2 and the house is returning to a little normality

Basically, when you have very small kids, the house IS very untidy. You are bascially doing physical, untidy work in the house all day.

I think

a. don't stress and don't feel guilty if you can possibly avoid it. Go out quite a lot, then more mess cannot be created in your house, and you won't see the mess.

b. Don't look too much at the mess. If you wear glasses-take them off quite a lot . If you find it hard to relax with the mess around you in the evenings, get atmospheric/low lighting/lamps.

c. I don't much bother putting laundry away, tbh. I sort it into piles and bung it in the correct room, then we just take the clothes from there.

d. If you are DETERMINED to clean, here is the only way I have found to get the kids to accept me cleaning. Bascially, I tell them I am going to do it. Then I do it. They can help, they can play, whatever. BUT you have to do this for several days, even weeks, before they get used to it.

oh and

don't tidy

put things in boxes and, if need be, stack the boxes. If you are organised you can stick things in boxes according to the room they SHOULD be in, then just take them to that room at some point. But if not, just have a pile of boxes, and hoover (if you can bear to) round it.

I think a lot of this is about accepting that this is a temporary situation, which we do not see reflected on tv.

Have you got lots of Shirley Hughes books? She is wonderful, her houses are NEVER clean, but always appealing.

We have builders in right now, so despite ANY efforts to tidy, the house is constantly covered in thick layers of plaster dust.

I do try and hoover and damp dust if I can, but between tripping over DS's toys and DH's junk, it is not very tidy.

I'm trying to get into good habits before I go back to work in May, as I know it'll all go to pot then.

I do TRY and clean both loos at least every other day..... which is an improvement on earlier years!!