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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

To those who do it well - help me be a better housekeeper?

50 replies

SausageRoleModel · 01/03/2009 12:21

I've always been a slattern. Don't get me wrong its not that I don't desire to have a clean, well organised, well run home, but I hate housework which I always just saw as a dreadful impingement on my precious time (up til arrival of DD1 recently (december) I have worked outside the home in a high pressure, long hours environment, so last thing I wanted to do when I came home late at night was a pile of ironing or mop the floor). Now I don't have that excuse! But I find it difficult to get started and often end up spinning in circles as I can't decide which part of the heap I call home to start cleaning and tidying as it always seems such a mountainous task. Just keeping on top of keeping the dishes and laundry done is enough of a struggle - and then there's the really scary paperwork to deal with that I have been avoiding, actually, for years.

I live in awe of people who manage to keep a clean, tidy house - I am not by nature an efficient or well organised person but I wish I was.

Can anyone help me? I was even thinking of going back to an old fashioned rota style thing where Monday is laundry day, tuesday dust and polish, thurs do the floors etc. Would that help? How do you do it?

Can you please please give me some hints and tips? (including how to get off my lazy arse when I am procrastinating). My inability to face up to home stuff/hosuework/paperwork has just resulted in a huge unexpected tax bill wich is stressing me out and I feel I need to conquer my fears about facing these things once and for all. But how?

OP posts:
SausageRoleModel · 01/03/2009 12:22

PS sorry that was soooo long......

OP posts:
MyDingaling · 01/03/2009 12:24

Are you me????!!!

nancy75 · 01/03/2009 12:29

i dont really have a rota, but i find if you leave things they can quickly go from a bit untidy to total chaos.
i try to keep the washing under controll by doing little and often, i can't cope with having a washing day because it never all gets dry and you end up with a mountain of ironing, so i tend to do a wash most days.
i also just try to tidy as i go, if i make lunch i wash up straight away rather than doing it after i have eaten, if i see stuff on the floor i pick it up straight away that kind of thing.
i also like to have a really good sort out every few months, get rid of all the rubbish that we seem to collect, its much easier to tidy up if you have room for stuff.

SausageRoleModel · 01/03/2009 12:29

I think there may be more of us out there than we care to admit...... perhaps we should have a support group. Slatterns Anonymous anyone?

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SausageRoleModel · 01/03/2009 12:34

Thanks Nancy - I think you must be the motivated, organised person I wish I was - after lunch I'm like - "I just cooked lunch, I deserve five minutes, so I'll have a cup of tea before I do the dishes". Then the inevitable distraction/laziness/proctrastination rears its ugly head and the dishes are still htere next morning. I am trying to be more immediate about when I do stuff however. because I think it does work.

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systemsaddict · 01/03/2009 12:34

Oooh can i join please please? I have always struggled with this. Have had some success using flylady so at least I feel like it's possible, but I am miles away from a clean organised home and still really struggle with the motivation to keep going. I look at people who seem to do it 'effortlessly' and am amazed.

I thought I was doing better, then my 8 month old daughter missed an eye check last week because the appointment letter was under the sofa haven't admitted that to anyone in RL, am v. ashamed - this is just not good enough.

skramble · 01/03/2009 12:41

I have a kind of rota, not been doing it recently. But mostly I rely on doing little and often, I ain'y got no show house as it is propbably too liitle not often enough. But this is what I do do.

Get little rotines in place like...

Put dishwasher on every night and empty while I am making my breakfast.

Clean round the loo first thing in the morning, just a quick wipe with loo roll is all it needs.

Every time I go to the loo I quickly wipe something, like the taps or whatever, or I will put away some stuff or bin some empties.

Shower gets a good rinse when I am in.

Clean work tops when dinner is in the oven.

Take something upstairs every time I go up.

Put one wash on a day, means I have all day to deal with just one wash.

I just keep lifting stuff as I go really so it doesn't build up too much.

It can also help to have jobs for each day, like strip a bed and wash it, hoover all around on Mon.

Clear out the car, check fluids, clear desk and handbag, on a Tue.

And so on. Fri I check the fridge and cupboads, clear out and write shopping list for Fri night.

Do a little thing, spend 20 mins on it then have a cuppa, it doesn't seem so bad then.

SofaQueen · 01/03/2009 12:42

I think that the cheeky answer would be get a cleaner, but I don't think that is necessarily the answer. Cleaners clean, but don't do all the rest of the work.

You are obviously capable if you were able to handle a high-pressure, long-hours job. I found that once I focused and looked at housework like a work project, I was able to do it better (or more efficiently). I got a cleaner to do the things which were time-consuming and annoying, and my job was then cleared for the running and maintenance of the household.

Schedule is good as is prioritizing tasks, they provide structure. Keeping on top of things is good also. Internet shopping is good (can keep lists for weekly items, and add items as needed).

The thing I haven't mastered is overcoming the feeling that housework is a Sysiphusian task.

ComeWhineWithMe · 01/03/2009 12:44

Slatterns thread has helped me a lot .

SausageRoleModel · 01/03/2009 12:47

I looked at flylady once before and thought it seemed great - then I read the bot about starting with a shiny sink, and I got even more excited, then I read the bit about how to get a shiny sink and one instruction was something like leaving bleach in the sink for an hour, whereupon my heart sank and I made a cup of tea instead. I am so rubbish. .

Is there a certain irony that you missed an eye appointment because you couldn't see the letter? . Don't beat yourself up about it - you can just make another appointment easily, and its not as if you dont already have a huge amount on your hands looking after an 8 month old baby!

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MerlinsBeard · 01/03/2009 12:49

i am slowly getting there. I can't join the fly thread as that's too regimented for me and i refuse to join the slattern thread as that would be admitting defeat

I try and do a little as and when. eg- while the boys are in teh bath i clean the sink, empty the bin etc-everything but clean the bath-which i then do when they get out.

I have to admit that i don't always do a proper toilet clean but it does at least get wiped with a cleaning wipe every day and a quick swish with the loo brush

I keep up with the dishes now i have a dishwasher (a GODSEND!), clothes are taken from the dryer to the bedroom and immediatly sorted into 2 boxes -1 to put away (which i do when the box gets full) and 1 to iron (which i avoid like the plague until we have no clothes)

RubyRioja · 01/03/2009 12:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

skramble · 01/03/2009 12:52

Flylady can work for anyone, just don't take it all seriously.

I do always have a clear if not clean sink, it is much easier to quickly rinse things off, and you dont have to empty a minging sink before you do anything in it.

I do not wear lace up shoes inside .

I do not get the emails, they make me puke purple puddles .

SausageRoleModel · 01/03/2009 12:57

LOL@ puking purple puddles - thanks for all these hints. They are sooo helpful. Any more for any more?

PS I hate to admit it, but you probably have guessed - writing this thread was a form of procrastination. I am supposed to be doing my paperwork.

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systemsaddict · 01/03/2009 13:02

thanks sausage, I also have a 2 1/2 yr old and work 70% too, so I suppose I do have my hands full a bit I have done the bleach-the-sink thing before but only when it felt like fun, and it didn't make me stick to the daily shining for long. But I don't think it's essential. I have stuck (pretty much) to a regime of 'keeping the sink empty' instead since December which has made a difference; I decided to try the acquire-one-habit-a-month thing because all at once was too much for me. I have however only managed to acquire that one habit in 3 months so that might be a bit too slow to help much!! And yes, you do have to have a heavy internal cringe filter on for the flylady emails, but on the other hand it's the only thing that's ever really addressed how crap I am at this compared to the rest of my life.

I do tend to do better with crash-and-burn binge tidying but obv. with 2 small kids that isn't ideal.

Totally with you on the 'all a bit much, have a hot drink and work up to it' thing. I think you have put your finger on the source of my problems really.

And yes, I've also thought about a cleaner, but it's the ongoing daily tidying up, wiping down etc that I struggle with and short of a live-in housekeeper ....

DanJARMouse · 01/03/2009 13:04

DAILY TASKS - Washing/drying of clothes, sweep kitchen floor, hoover downstairs, load and unload dishwasher, swish toilet/sink.

WEEKLY TASKS - Mop floors, hoover upstairs, change beds, deep clean of bathroom/toilet, ironing.

I dont dust or polish, should really but dont! Nothing a quick swish with a babywipe doesnt sort out.

systemsaddict · 01/03/2009 13:13

sausage would you be up for an acquire-one-new-housekeeping-habit-at-a-time support thread?

systemsaddict · 01/03/2009 13:19

ooh meant to say one thing which really has helped when feeling really overwhelmed, I'm trying to commit to 'just don't add to it' - ie I just focus on whatever I'm doing and try and make sure it doesn't increase the chaos, a lot of my problems come from leaving things half-done and lying about. A few other things seem to get done at the same time, but it doesn't feel like an overwhelming thing to try to catch up on the havoc.

babycat · 01/03/2009 20:40

Hoping to use a few of the tips on here.

I'm trying to sort my house out as need to sell and once it is sorted (if I ever manage to sort it ), I need a routine to keep it that way.

Hoping a few more people post some suggestions.

lucysmam · 01/03/2009 22:30

Start in one room & work your way through the house. That first room might take all day to sort all the paperwork/tidy toys/hoover/move stuff back to where it should be but once it's done it's easier t keep clean & tidy

SausageRoleModel · 02/03/2009 09:11

sorry I deserted yesterday as I had to make sunday lunch!
systems, I like the idea of a one-habit-a-month thread. Apparently it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, so one a month seems about right (dont ask me where the magic figure of 21 came from, I read it somewhere...) but that means making the habit and having a week extra to make sure its definitely established.

Now what will my first habit be?? I am most impressed with danjarmouse hoovering every day (I think the hoovering is probably the thing I avoid most, so perhaps I should take bull by horns? On the other hand, going from nothing to hoovering every day might be aiming too high and I could crash and burn. Any suggestions? No point in dishwasher as there's only 2 of us plus babe so we don't run it every day. I do have a bath every day, so maybe wiping round the bath/sink/toilet daily could be the thing? Systems what are you going to do?

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systemsaddict · 02/03/2009 11:04

Glad you are back, thought I'd killed the thread for a while with my wild enthusiasm!

The next habit I'd like to add in is getting mine and the kids' clothes ready for the day the night before, I know it would make a big difference to our morning if we could all get ready without the laundry-basket-hunt, for some reason though I am hugely resistant to doing this.

Hoovering every day would be a huge thing for me too. I'd start with something smaller, but something that's visible so when the house is crammed with stuff you'll see it and think 'no it's OK, I have managed to maintain x and that's my first step' (rather than 'I am crap at this and it's all on got on top of me'). This is the Flylady rationale for a shiny sink, but if you are already on top of that with the dishwasher the bathroom might be a good one, as you're in there quite regularly! I don't think it matters too much what it is though, it's developing the consistency that helps.

Or start with what's bothering you the most - deal with one piece of paperwork a day? Did you get much done yesterday?

Just realised your baby is really very young, v. impressed you are making Sunday lunch already, things can't be that bad!

systemsaddict · 02/03/2009 11:10

although having said that hoovering one room every day would be very manageable, especially if you keep the hoover plugged in in the corner of that room, and would make a big difference if you did it in the room you spend most time in ...

kidcreoleandthecoconuts · 02/03/2009 11:47

I also have trouble keeping on top of the housework....when the house is a tip i get depressed. This is what i tend to try and do everyday..

  • Do at least one load of washing.
  • Hoover lounge and hallway.
  • Empty dishwasher in the morning whilst DC having breakfast. Also clean kitchen surfaces,tidy table etc while DC's are having lunch.
  • Put dirty pots straight in dishwasher so they're not lying around.
  • Quick tidy up of toys in lounge when DC's have gone to bed.
  • Leave kitchen tidyish at night so I dont have a mountain of mess in the morning!

I am really bad about ironing....I have hidden mine in binliners in a cupboard as I cant bear to look at it . Also I hate cleaning the bathroom.

Jajas · 02/03/2009 12:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.