How do you motivate yourself to do the dazily chores and how do you do big clear-outs with children around?

[Countingthegreyhairs]

I don't need help with routines just with motivating myself to stick to them. (An adaptation of flylady works well for me when I can stick to it - but I get too easily demotivated.)

Do you have to really force yourself yourself to do the housekeeping chores or does it come naturally to you?

If the former, what incentives do you give yourself to get the housekeeping chores done, day after day? With me, it's all or nothing and I want to break this habit and motivate myself to use my time more evenly and effectively.

Also, I need to do some huge de-cluttering exercises in various rooms in the house. How do you do this when you have children around? (I mean clearing out dirty dusty roof type jobs - ones you have to wear all-in-one overalls for - not projects you can plug away at for an hour a day.)

er, meant daily chores obviously

dazzle-y ones wd be more interesting ...

I think some people are more motivated than others to do houseworks really tbh!!

i enjoy cleaning/tidying (hence nickname ) but i also buy those house interior magazines and when my house is a bit untidy etc a quick read through motivates me to sort it out !

The bigger jobs are harder though - my dc are a pre school and school so do have time to do it otherwise helpful family members to take dc off your hands while you do the bigger jobs helps!

Thxs cleaning lady. I enjoy it "in theory" or rather enjoy the results, and I have periods of being really organised and on top of things ... and then either illness strikes or work gets busy (I only work p/t) and it all goes to pot again ..then it gets me down and then I procrastinate ... at my age I should be doing better!!

does anyone have any anti-procrastination tips please??

Don't look at the big picture, tackle one task/room at a time. The big picture seems to daunting, and overwhelming.

Force myself.
I set myself a little schedule, for example:
15 mins tidy lounge
30 mins doing something i want to do like gardening
15 mins kitchen
30 mins MN ( usually stretches to about 60)

Only really do domestic stuff when ds is asleep or distracted by DH/tpys/tv other wise he want to 'help' and it all goes terribly wrong!

Thxs for responses so far - much appreciated

That makes sense ComeOVeneer - I think I'm being too impatient/unrealistic - want everything done NOW and when I don't achieve it I get dispirited - OK so will aim to break it down step by step and doggedly work through it...and keep going ....

Interesting Tigana that you include things you LIKE doing in yr schedule. That's a good tip. Again, I think that's where I've been going wrong. Being too perfectionist/rigorous on the days when I'm up for it ... and then I don't look forward to repeating the experience ....

I have to force myself. And bloody MN doesn't help! So much easier to just keep on here when I should be doing stuff.

Agree Buda - mmnsnet is just far too enticing!

Time isn't the real issue though if I'm honest (I only have 1 child and I'm lucky enough to work part-time, term times only, so have no valid excuses at all)

that's why I feel so utterly crap about it all frankly ... I SHOULD be doing so much better ...

For eg, a close friend of mine has 3 children and works 5 hours longer than me per week... and her house (albeit admittedly an easier house to clean - it's modern and doesn't have so many stairs) is 10 times more organised and clean and she is currently learning the cello...

I just need to stop whinging and buck up ...

It is because it is soo boring. The trick isd little and often. If you let it get out of control it is so hard to motivate yourself to get it back on track.

Too true ComOV. Part of this has come about because I had v. unrealistic ideas of what it would be like to be an sahm. I loved being at home with dd for 2.7 yrs but I missed the intellectual stimulation of work after that.

Now I'm back at work pt I feel I'm not doing a good enough job there (too rushed - not enough hours) and not doing a good enough job at home either ...

Apologies for the whinge fest

I felt the same when I went part time, like I wasn't giving my all to either "job". Am very content as a sahm (although am in the throws of setting up my own business from home now that the ds will be at fulltime school by sept 09 and dd is currently in year 1). I do spend a lot of time keeping the house up to scratch though (but I am rather anal about cleanliness/tidyness to the point of obsession ).

Sounds like you have your hands full COV ...I would love to work from home but I don't think I have the discipline ...

Am anal about cleanliness in kitchen and bathroom but I need to extend that to rest of house!! In some ways, I think I do housework more efficiently now I work p/t as my week is more structured but everything goes to pot when something "extra" happens such as illness or we have visitors ....

Oh excuses, excuses ...!!

I let things get noticeably dirty and that motivates me to clean it.

I have several friends who often drop by unannounced for coffee which helps keep me motivated to ensure the house is always spick and span

I could have posted your OP counting. Sometimes I am in the mood for tidying and cleaning but MOST times I am not.

I find it all a crushingly boring chore tbh and as a result we live in a very untidy house that gets a bit grubby sometimes (although not unhygienic, I do have some standards).

Despite the chaos, I don't regret being a SAHM for the past 7 years. When things get on top of me and the most I can achieve in a day is looking after DS and staring out of the window going la la la la la, I make a point of reminding myself that having unmade beds and sinks full of dishes and dust on the mantlepiece does not make me a bad person. I just have better things to do with my time.

Still, given that this is not very helpful to your original question. Well, I have three rules: do a load of washing every day, feed the children and cat in a reasonably healthy way, clean up sick, wee or poo asap.

Anything beyond that is a bonus.

What bugs me about it all is that you do something which seems to take forever and is incredibly dull to do, then five minutes later it is all undone again .

Every now and then I like to find something to clean / tidy that is actually going to stay that way for a while - a cupboard the DCs can't reach for example. It's hardly the most exciting thing I do but it is nice to come back the next day and find it still clean and tidy!

thanks Eekamoose - that makes me feel a heck of a lot better!!!

Yes, visitors (unexpected or otherwise) are a definite motivator CoV ...depending on my state of mind/state of house, I enjoy having friends drop by (I live very close to dd's school so this happens regularly) but sometimes ... whispers conspiratorially ... I have to hide when the doorbell rings ....and then I feel even worse

It's ridiculous really because I visited a new-ish friend of mine the other day (pre-arranged visit didn't drop in) and she apologised about the state of the house because she was having a bad day - and I felt really happy and almost "honoured" (if that doesn't sound too pompous) that she'd let me see her like that (previously considered her to be real super-mum type)!!

Hey ho, would like to get the house under control most of all for my own sake though tbh ....

sorry x posts BigBadMouse - yes - oh yes - 'tis the relentlessness that gets you down ...dh and I fondly remember the days when we came home from work and everything was where we left it ....

and forgot to say - wd have no problem at all with that strategy PointyDog .. could right my name in the dust on some of the surfaces here

I am hopeless too. Since I have been back to work I have been able to afford a monthly cleaner which helps, and do the rest little and often. But tis hard to, say, mop the floor, with a toddler! As for the big stuff the only solution I have discovered is that either you or DH takes the child(ren) out whilst you get in the loft etc. I have a DD who is far to interested in all that is going on otherwise.

I have no problem motivating myself or having time to do housework,it is done daily.It is the bigger jobs such as sorting out cupboards and decorating /maintenance jobs i have a problem with.There just is no time left for these plus the dc mess in everything.

I've had this conversation so many times with my tidy friends and it seems they tidy all the time. I watch them - it's constant - they never let anything build up and religiously throw things out. I try to do this (unsuccessfully). I think it's something that comes naturally to you or not! I do sort of get satisfaction out of it if I do a big tidy up (eg when having a viewing) but most of the time I find it tedious and thoroughly unrewarding, especially the Groundhog day aspect...

You are dead right MirandaG ... but I wish you weren't .... it's the constant day in day out stuff that I find most tedious of all and those are the very things I suspect I need to keep on top of the most ...

... groan ....

My little pudding - I think I shall instigate a dd out with dh day once a week - and try and capitalise on that (and resist Mmsnet!!)

Wierldly, PelvicFloornomore - the cupboards in the rooms we use frequently are very tidy indeed - but that's largely because the stuff that should be in them is spread all over the rest of the house ...sigh ...as for decorating and maintenance ... don't even go there ....

the only way i get anything done is by turning the pc off! the thought of watching cbeebies with the kids suddenly makes housework more appealing!

OK Martini82 so it looks like a ban on computer use in general, and Mnsetting in particular, is the way forward ....(although not sure I should say that now this thread has reached the home page!!)

... oh it's going to be a tough one ..