Where do you start

[lemontrees22]

Would be really keen to read some cleaning tips on keeping a house in order!
Feel like I'm struggling at the moment...
Have a 4 year old...who loves to make mess!
A DH who is fairly tidy but can leave things until they are messy.

How do you prioritise?
I have a fairly large house - 4 bed. Two gardens - back and sides. And a pool to keep clean.

Help!

I do FlyLady. Come join the Fledgelings if you like. You just do whatever FlyLady says so the thinking is taken out of it.

I don't know, my house is a tip. I did TOMM for a bit & it was doable but feel like we're always sorting out a room so stiff from there is all over the house. Been a wardrobe in the halll for a month!

TOMM works for me. You don’t need to bootcamp. Just straight into classic TOMM and things will start to get better.

I go from room to room each morning. I keep the doors shut to each room until they are clean and tidy, then they stay open.

I don’t tend to keep much and declutter as much as I can

also tend to do one job a day that’s not the normal (eg aside from laundry and dishes)

so today I got baby wipes and cleaned picture frames. Another day I might do the mirrors or the light switches

I don’t really have a plan but my house is immaculate and also I tend to batch cook so I don’t have kitchen mess to deal with (freeing up time)

Another who has found TOMM useful. I did not do the boot camp either, just started doing the jobs.

The house is cleaner and there's less clutter too as you tend to get rid of things that are bothering you along the way.

The gardening section might be helpful for plans with the garden, I haven't come across a version of TOMM for the garden yet though and I'd be outsourcing looking after the pool.

Declutter as much as possible - this is a lifelong task but I find it really helps if you really consider everything that comes into the house in the first place. So no impulse purchases - children’s magazine with toy at the shop etc.

’don’t put it down, put it away’ - use this mantra.

Get everyone involved - even toddlers can tidy their toys away at the end of the day, start early and you won’t regret it.

Keep on top of the daily jobs - laundry, dishes, bins emptying. I’m always sending things back to their rightful home. Which does mean the stairs often have things destined for upstairs on them.

Do less frequent jobs frequently - like a PP I will often do an extra but occasional job when I spot it needs doing. Eg the washing machine seal, wiping down the cupboard doors in the kitchen, cleaning the microwave. They feel less overwhelming then.

sadly there’s no shortcut to just doing the jobs but there’s processes you can put in place to make it easier and more second nature.