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Housekeeping

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Original poster

I went to the house of some people who didn't have children yesterday

101 replies

Cappuccino · 31/08/2008 11:51

it was like an oasis of calm

it was all grown up and there were fresh flowers in vases at coffee table height

and there was carpet (we can't have carpet because of dd1's walking frame, no 'shoes at the door' for us because her wheels are unwipeable and covered in crud)

there was a little table with a laptop on and some lovely stationery

it looked like to clean it you would just need to wander around with a feather duster and run a vac round

you wouldn't have to move a load of shite and then pry up squashed raisins

I came home quite depressed

OP posts:
PuppyMonkey · 31/08/2008 20:24

Orm - precisely why I'm so jealous!

expatinscotland · 31/08/2008 20:26

exactly, puppy!

same here.

Xmas day without kids was brilliant!

we went on swanky holidays to hot springs, met up with my folks or his folks and his childfree brother for holidays in the sun or skiing trips.

swilled champers or mulled wine, ate gorgeous food, bought each other lavish gifts, etc.

had lie ins till at least 10AM.

woke up to clean, lovely home or self-catering or chalet.

Janni · 31/08/2008 20:30

I ate crisps under a duvet today so DD would not hear.

My flat is actually kept to a better standard with three kids in it than when DH and I lived together BC - we were slobs!

You will have immaculate houses for one year after your children leave home. Then they will start bringing grandchildren to stay on the assumption that you adore noise and mess

Janni · 31/08/2008 20:30

I ate crisps under a duvet today so DD would not hear.

My flat is actually kept to a better standard with three kids in it than when DH and I lived together BC - we were slobs!

You will have immaculate houses for one year after your children leave home. Then they will start bringing grandchildren to stay on the assumption that you adore noise and mess

wonderstuff · 31/08/2008 20:32

xmas without kids is fab, you can always visit other peoples kds to get your fix then go home! last pre kids xmas we stayed inbed til hangover went then ate lots then got pissed with mates bloody brilliant

pippylongstockings · 31/08/2008 20:38

Loving all the secret noshing confessions - I too nibble behind open kitchen cupboards - although my son has dog like ears and pipes up 'what you doing mummy? what you got ?' I swear he can smell the chocolate on my breath!

I spend what seems like hours just doing the most trivial tasks - just washing up seems to take hours because you have to hunt the whole house to find all the plates, cups bowls, spoons etc.

morningpaper · 31/08/2008 20:51

expat did having children set fire to all your cash? Christmas with chalets, hot springs and champagne?!?!?

I used to work for Crisis and de-louse homeless people to avoid drinking sherry with relatives and listening to ticking clocks

expatinscotland · 31/08/2008 20:54

my divorce and the last recession in the US took care of that, mp!

like i always say, when times are good, ride that wave as long as you can, baby!

CapricaSix · 31/08/2008 20:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

morningpaper · 31/08/2008 21:02

expat

I once spent Boxing Day with about 26 nuns all aged over 70

I'm SO GLAD I had chlidren for christmas day if nothing else

expatinscotland · 31/08/2008 21:05

any church i set foot in would probably burn down, mp .

naturalblonde · 31/08/2008 21:07

I remember a time when getting up at 8 was obscenely early, and I would roll over ang go back to sleep for at least 2 hours. now it's what passes for a lie in [sigh]

penona · 01/09/2008 08:37

We used to have a house a bit like you describe, and to be honest are still coming to terms with the fact it is disappearing.

Cream carpet in the living room is filthy, stinks from being damp all the time where beakers of water spilt

Posh sofa has snot streaks on it

Curtains for french doors covered in grubby handprints

Hallway scuffed from buggy etc etc

But the lack of lie-ins is the absolute worst. I can't imagine how I am surviving on so little sleep.

But we spent 4 years trying for this, as I keep having to remind myself.....

Love the sneaky eating by the way. Cake in the toilet really made me laugh. I usually sneak into the fridge!!!

noddyholder · 01/09/2008 08:50

I lived like that for 10yrs with ds and his endless mates and it was hard work but we were buying and selling houses so had to keep constantly spotless for viewings and photos.Now we are renting we have realised what we were missing and live an a pigsty most of the time

TheGirlWithGreenEyes · 01/09/2008 08:53

I remember when before kids we used to have lie-ins at the weekend and felt annoyed when neighbours children were being noisy in the garden at 10 am - it seemed ridiculously early for them to be out playing.... of course mine now all wake at 6.30! I am now amazed that their parents were able to keep them indoors and quiet for so long!

Whenever the mess gets me down I try to remember the poem I learned at school, which roughly translated goes:

There was jam on the door handle... but I swallowed back the cross words which were welling up inside me because I thought of the day when the handle would be clean and the little hand would be gone.

DANCESwithLordPottingtonSmythe · 01/09/2008 09:00

LOL this thread has made me laugh.

We have friends who don't have a cream carpet but have an immaculate house with 'objaaaaaays' dotted tastefully around. They also have a maaaahoooosive tv which is his pride and joy . They are expecting their first (much wanted) baby at the end of the year and are busy repainting the house top to bottom in preparation (lots of beautiful white woodwork . Because I love them dearly I won't be churlish but just to say... things will change...oh yes...thing will change.

turtle23 · 01/09/2008 09:21

I saw the scariest thing ever yesterday. Went to the house of a friend with a 2 and 4 yr old and 4 week old baby. It was spotless, cream carpets, the lot. I wanted to rescue those poor kids immediately. Imagine being a toddler in clinical surroundings like that. EEK!

thefortbuilder · 01/09/2008 09:32

we have trainer toilet seats in eac of our bathrooms.

i long for the day when they magically disappear again

CapricaSix · 01/09/2008 09:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JODIEhadababy · 01/09/2008 09:53

PML as the comments on here, I personally didn't live the whole 'clean house' life style before, but do miss being able to sleep through a hangover (when the opportunity comes about to have a few drinks without thinking 'I've got to get up in the morning')

My bug bear, if you can call it that, is the stair gates! I can't wait until I can navigate the stairs without having put down what I'm carrying to open/close the bloody things!!

pippylongstockings · 01/09/2008 10:34

So at what age - (if ever) do kids stop just dropping things on the floor?

I find they have such a short attention span it like - Oh yes drink, drop it to go and play, drop toy and get book, drop book pick up lego, scatter lego everywhere, knock drink over that I have picked up from leaking on floor, throw all the cushions on floor, wander off into next room to start all over again - it's busy work being little!

My house looks like a bomb has hit it from about 10 min after the kids get up until 10 min after they have gone to bed. then it looks vaguley passable but not ever really clean.

mrsruffallo · 01/09/2008 10:39

All that perfection would wear off though.
You can have a tidy house in aboyt ten years, but your lo's will never be this age again

JODIEhadababy · 01/09/2008 11:04

I know MrsRuffallo and I wouldn't have it any other way

NomDePlume · 01/09/2008 11:05

My house is like the OP, aside from coffee table (naffo imo).

pippylongstockings · 01/09/2008 11:08

It's the fact that DH has seemed to join in with the mess that I begrudge!