Tips to keep on top of the house

[Whoopsadaisy900]

Hello all, tired exhausted stressed mum here.

I have a 3 bed house, it's actually decorated really nice and when it's clean it's lovely, but keeping it clean with 3 children in near on impossible and I often think I must be doing something wrong if I find it this hard

Have you tried The Organised Mum Method?

https://theorganisedmum.com/about-tom/

Offer dc in the Freebies section of Gumtree.

Instantly tidy home...

Is it cleaning or tidying thats the issue?
I think for many people, a good declutter makes a huge difference. When spaces are clutter-free, cleaning can be much simpler (like not needing to lift or move ten decorative things to wipe down the kitchen counter)

i love my spray mop so I can think "floor could do with a wipe over" and within 10 seconds be doing it without the faff of filling a bucket. Similarly, I keep a few cleaning cloths and a multipurpose cleaner in most rooms so if I spot something I can do it right then.
I have a bin and a donate box in every room too (well, no donate one in bathroom).

How is your sleep? Everything is SO much harder when you are sleep deprived.

Do you have any help? How old are the children?

It just sounds like you have 3 kids to be honest! I can recommend Organised Mum method, but keeping a tidy house with 3 kids will be knackering.

You're not doing anything wrong.

Just go with the flow . As long as the bathroom and kitchen are clean the rest is unimportant. Focus on tidying and deep cleaning one room a week and let the rest go .

How old are your kids?
Do a tidy up together at the end of the day with some music on and give them chores to do.
My ds thought hoovering was such a privilege at 7. I bought a spray mop and a cordless hoover. My teens think they're great.

If they're young, then just keeping on top of it is good enough.
My gauge was as long as I wasn't embarrassed if someone dropped in. So keeping on top of kitchen, downstairs loo, hallway and living room was essential.
Everything else as and when.

Is it actually dirty? Or just messy.
Messy is fine with three kids.
Dirty - do one room a day, or every couple of days.
I find inviting people over gives me the incentive to clean/tidy up every so often

I've found decluttering has made a massive difference. I've got 3 kids too. I listen to a slob comes clean podcast. It's the only method that seems to work for me. The house is still not amazingly tidy but it is so much better than it used to be....basically every thing that you can get out of your house is one less thing to tidy up!!

Get rid of clutter
Get in the habit of taking something upstairs/downstairs to put away whenever you’re going there anyway
Use ‘dead time’ eg waiting for the kettle to boil, to do a quick job like wiping surfaces
Depending on your DCs age, get them to help
If you can get up 30 mins earlier to get jobs done.

TOMM is good but I found you need a good starting point and I struggled to keep within the 30 mins eg changing beds could take me that amount of time alone!

Both work full time, mostly out of the house. We do an hour and 20 minutes a day to keep on top of things - not always at the same time but I get more done if I do at least a whole hour in one go. DH does his bit too so it's not all on me and speeds things up.

Kitchen - 15 minutes
Utility - 5 minutes
Bathroom - 10 minutes
Downstairs loo - 5 minutes
Front room - 10 minutes
Snug - 5 minutes
Dining room - 5 minutes
Bedroom - 5 minutes
Hallway/landing - 5 minutes
General wherever needs it - 15 minutes

This time of year my optimum cleaning time is 6am- I struggle more in the winter when it's dark all the time.

Disclaimer: we do also have a cleaner who comes 2 hours a week and does a proper clean of at least 2 areas.