Do you have a relatively nice / organised home? Give me ONE tip - please!

[SatsumaBoogaloo]

I am tired of feeling fed up and hopeless with the state of my house.

I am now feeling like it would take a good few days work to get it to 'accpetable' let alone 'nice'.

One tip, please, to help me get on the way.

I feel your pain as my house is my eternal shame though I do work on a "rooms people will see theory" I try to concentrate on lounge and bathroom and shut off ALL the rest in the hope that people won't be rude enough to check behind a shut door. Am also desperately trying to learn to declutter.

Put a box on the stairs fill it through the day with stuff that should be upstairs (Dc clothes /books /toys etc etc) and whenever you go upstairs take it with you .

tackle one room at a time (even if you don't finish the while house, doesn't matter, carry on where you left off tomorrow), make piles at the door of everything that belongs in a different room, then take those piles to the right room.
at least then each room has what belongs in it.

hth

storage for everything.

I know you said one but this one really works for me .

Have a quick tidy round before you go to bed and put pots in diswaher so much nicer to come down to a tidyish downstairs rather them loads of pots and clutter .

Fly lady did it for me. Sorted it initially and then keeps me going

Everything in its place and a place for everything!

Clean 1 room a day.

Throw out junk and clutter (or hide it in the attic)

If you have no dishwasher like me, wash the dishes after breakfast, lunch and before you go to bed that way they don't pile up and take ages to do.

Get into a routine as much as you can and break it down. I do the laundry on a saturday, ironing sunday, polishing and hoovering monday, mop kitchen floor and clean bathrooms tuesday, wednesday, Thursday and Friday are free!

spend just a few minutes each evening doing a couple of bits and bobs, put away the dishes, wipe the surfaces, hang up the laundry, lay out the dc's clothes for the next day. A bit of preparation the night before can save you loads of time in the morning (if your mornings are anywhere as frantic as mine!)

Put a box with a lid in all rooms containing toys - dump everything back in at the end of the day.

Box with a lid for shoes at the front door - enables you to do a quick sweep of shoes, bags, umbrellas.

I try to force myself to do one unnecessary job every day - wipe out the fridge, clean a windowsill, wash the bin. Takes 5 mins of your day and helps keep things in check.

Are your children well fed/ occupied/ looked after/ clean(ish)? If the answer to all of these is yes, then meet people in coffee shops/ the park and don't worry about it. You are a Mum not a cleaner. Or if you can afford it, pay a cleaner. Or pay your husband/ partner in kind for him/ her to help when they come home. Worked for me!!

my tip would be that everytime you look at a bit of mess e.g. a pile of toys in disarray or a crumbs all over a work top then deal with it at that very moment (barring being in the middle of feeding a baby etc..) - i am still a terrible procrastinator and used to live in a tip but embarrassingly i have learnt from my MIL (just by watching, not by being told!) that tacking little jobs one at a time does actually get things done - i have/had a tendency to get overwhelmed by the overall tip and never doing anything as a result, but if you just little jobs as you go along they don't get overwhelming and you have a sense of satisfaction that spurs you on!

I tend to concentrate on one room at a time too- as long as my living room is tidy every day the rest doesn't really matter. I find that once dc are in bed I do not want to be sat in a room full of rubbish so I make sure it is all tidied away. I tidy the kitchen while I am in there cooking, so kind of do two things at once- if I am in the kitchen waiting for pasta to boil, no reason I can't mop the floor, etc. Works for me.

My home is always clean, tidy and presentable.

My major tip is to do something as soon as you see it needs doing.

For example when I next stand up off the bed where I am sat right now, I will take the baby wipes with me to put away and pick up the contents of an old handbag that my one year old his emptied on the floor.

Everything else is done but when I next go into the bathroom I will spray and wipe the sink as my 5 year old has just brushed his teeth in there.

I literally don't leave anything to build up. The kitchen has already been vaccuumed twice this morning - once after a porridge oats spillage and once as part of my morning routine.

It probably sounds like I tidy all the time but I don't. A few minutes here or there keeps it always looking okay. My children are eating fairy cales at the moment so I will probably whip hoover around again. It'll take 2 minutes and will save crumbs laying around being trodden in etc.

Get your mum round!!

My dd is asleep and I'm faffing on on mn and putting my make up on and I can hear my mum hoovering downstairs!!

I do realise how lucky I am by the way

borrow my mum.she has a knack of organising stuff which dont even warrant organising.
she is cheap.she runs on cups of tea

Chuck stuff out into the charity shop/eBay. If you don't have things, they can't get into a mess.

Agree with posters who have said deal with small messes immediately as you see them. Babywipes are very useful for cleaning and I keep loads of them.

I also think the key is that you have to get everything tidy and organised (and clean, I'm not so good at that part ) and once you have it like that, be vigilant at keeping it like that.

lol littlemiss and cvq thats my way of cleaning up too. i invite me mum around for a coffee by the time she has left the whole house has been blitzed and there is a list of things she is coming back another dayu to do. i love my mum

My mum does that too! I don't have her round that often.

More than one tip but here is how I keep a tidy/clean house!

Keep the children out of all the rooms, they will mess them all up. Do you have a playroom? We have our own living room which I try to keep tidy. I blitz my kitchens and bathrooms once a week (clean top to bottom) and then keep on top of them the rest of the week. This makes the whole house feel cleaner. Put a load of washing on in the evening and hang it out/dry it in dryer the next morning, then you don't get bogged down by washing. Put clothes into ironing pile and do when you can but anything that doesn't need ironing, put straight away.

I am similar to goingslowlymad, I never let things get too bad. That way, you are not bogged down with your house being a mess.

bring your children to my house to make a mess.

that is how my friends all keep their houses pristine

What a great thread! Watching with interest! Fly lady is workign for me at the moment!

dp is the master cleaner/organiser-her top tip is not to let anything build up and do little bits through the day.

I am the top de clutterer and I say be ruthless with your stuff- get rid of everything you dont love or need.

flylady flylady flylady....