How do you do it?

[Messylife]

Keeping your house clean and tidy. I’m quite a hygienic person, but my house is never tidy, and I’m always noticing things like dust on the skirting boards. The problem is, we never seem to have the time to do those jobs. So, this is a genuine question, how do you do it? DH and I both work FT and have 2 DCs and a dog, so it’s a busy household! I know kids generate a lot of mess and laundry, but we have spent the whole day today tidying and doing little DIY jobs, vacuuming, laundry etc and the house is still a state. Both me and DH are exhausted, kids are bored from being stuck at home all day, and the dog hasn’t been walked yet. I can’t afford a cleaner, so what do we do? Is there a trick to this housekeeping stuff?

Nope. Just have to live with it a bit, and do the best you can I'm afraid. We have a self propelled hair / mud dispenser dog, and it is endless. Especially in the winter and coat change.

Little and often. Don’t leave it for one day.
as the tasks will be daunting.

shortcuts help- mop along the skirting boards. Vacuums have different heads to help too.
clean the bathroom when you’ve had a bath/shower- I do it whilst my son is in the bath.
wipe the sides in the kitchen after every use- when cooking-wash up as you go.

Steam mop and cleaner can shorten scrubbing tasks.

It’s just me and my 3 year old at home with a cat- I work full time so have to do short bursts

As said above, you do bits and pieces every week, if you can consistently, leaving it for too long, say every other week, once a month, etc., things just pile up. Also, encouraging the household to be tidy is important, you can tidy as much as you can, but keeping it this way as much as you can is important too.

At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot here, what cleaning products do you use in the bathroom that are safe enough to use while DCs are in the room?

@Messylife I don’t use bleach when he is around. Just diluted flash in a spray bottle(well Aldi’s own version) and a bathroom sponge.
extractor fan is on. Toilet cleaner down the loo quick scrub then the lid down.
wipe around the sink & toilet. Clean the mirror with a squeegee.
quick sweep then I’ve got a spray mop. Takes 5 mins max.
only thing after is the bath but that gets cleaned after he’s gone to bed.

short sharp bursts help