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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

House is a bomb site 24/7!

7 replies

georgieeb487 · 24/04/2023 17:26

Single mum to two under fives and also two dogs, my house seems to be a mess constantly but im cleaning around the clock and it's rare that I sit down for longer than five minutes at a time. Can anyone offer some advice please? I do also have two dogs so they contribute slightly. My girls are the best however they seem to leave a trail of destruction wherever they go and it feels impossible to keep up with it. They're ages 2&4. I feel like im not spending enough time with them either because im Constantly cleaning or cooking. It's causing me massive anxiety the house always being a bit of a tip with the amount of cleaning I do. Genuinely cleaning the floors and wiping surfaces like 5 times a day, sweeping and hoovering the same too. Recently been diagnosed with with really severe anemia too so this is just killing me off😢 ( I say a tip, we don't live like animals but everywhere seems to be dirty, sticky or untidy for 80% of the day). Tia, from a very very tiered mummy☹️

OP posts:
Thisisthedawningoftheageofaquarius · 24/04/2023 17:29

this will pass but in the meantime: get the kids to tidy up after they finish with something.
also look at the amount of stuff eg toys - too much stuff/clutter always looks messy.
no point tidying up multiple times - consider just doing once at the end of the day? It’s a short term thing and will improve!

imisscashmere · 24/04/2023 17:41

I feel your pain.

I’d suggest a quick clean up after each mealtime, and save the rest of your cleaning for the end of the day when they are in bed. Can you try to do that?

theseriousmoonlight · 24/04/2023 17:48

No advice but i feel your pain. I was literally just thinking about how much of a tip my house is! It was tidy yesterday but my dds (2 & 5) are playing with toys, I've got 2 sorted bags of washing to put away, I've done breakfast, dinner and tea in the kitchen (I've tidied as I've gone but it needs cleaning yet again) and I'm wiped out after the school runs, a trip to the dump and a quick visit to the park with dd2.

I'll reset again tonight after they're in bed but the merry-go-round will start again in the morning. Take it easy on yourself. Little ones are chaotic but they're only little for a short time.

Nocutenamesleft · 24/04/2023 17:59

Honestly. You don’t need to be cleaning floors 5x a day

relax a little. Don’t stress so much and it will get better. My house was terrible for years! My kids are older now and it’s much much better but I got so sick that I kinda gave up a bit and trust me. No one cared. My friends were still my friends and it was ok.

georgieeb487 · 24/04/2023 18:05

Thank you for your replies everyone. I'm trying not to get emotional reading the replies, I've been so overwhelmed by it all. I think it's easy to assume that everyone's house is spotless round the clock. Think mum guilt plays a part in it as well, I get overwhelming guilt if I don't manage to get it all done, but then the same guilt when I'm cleaning and not sat with the girls. I was leaving it till the evening last year but so many times I'd accidentally fall asleep in the evening and then wake up to a tip, so that wasn't really working. I do still go round everywhere once the girls are asleep but try not to leave to much. I've just got rid of lots of clutter, maybe I need to invest in more storage solutions next!

OP posts:
SeaToSki · 24/04/2023 18:15

Only allow them to eat and drink sat in the kitchen. That reduces crumbs and sticky finger smudges massively

Only allow crafts and arts sat at the kitchen table. That reduces mess massively

Try and put some toys in boxes and put them on top of your wardrobe or behind the sofa, so they cant get to them. Then every two weeks switch the ones that are out with the ones that are stored.

Put out of season clothes in boxes away from the action. My dc would pull stuff out of their drawers and so I minimized what was in them to clothes that would work for the next week.

Only have 2 sets of shoes by the door. Wellies and everyday shoes. Everything else, put in the back of a cupboard. Same for coats, just one each. Again it reduces what can be messed up and so what you have to tidy

Put childproof locks on every cupboard and drawer, so they cant get into them to ‘play’

Put hook and eye catches on the very top of the outside of every internal door so you can keep them out of rooms you dont want them in without having to say no all the time. In an emergency they will just burst free, so its not a safety risk. Then they cant ‘play’ in rooms you dont want them in and spread the chaos

Put away all your ornaments and pretty stuff until they are old enough to not throw things etc

You basically have to strategically set up your house to make life easier. You want to cut down on the amount of work needed to tidy/clean

Theoldwoman · 26/04/2023 05:21

I would start with your own bedroom. Strip the bed, wash all the bedding then make up . Clean the windows. Dust everything. Vacuum. Mop if hard flooring. Declutter wardrobe and bedside drawers if applicable. That way at the end of the day you have a calm and peaceful environment to sleep in. It will motivate you to do another part of the house.

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