help!

[soon2befamilyof4]

Hello. I need help! Sorry I have no idea how but I am panicking now.

I have 5 weeks left until my baby is due and I have been told there is a good chance she will be early so could be any day now really. My house is such a mess, I don't know where to start. And we haven't organised any of the baby stuff, most is still in the loft!

If the baby arrived tomorrow we would be stuck! Our moses basket etc is still with a friend, we have yet to go and buy the cot and our bedroom is such a bombsite we would have nowhere to put it even if somebody delivered it to us today! The floor in our room is piled up with boxes of stuff to sort through and we have to climb over it all to get to bed! The room is tiny to start with so needs to be spotless to have space for a moses basket or cot!

My DD has suddenly stopped napping most days at home, which is what got me into this mess as I relied on her nap to get everything done.

I sorted through my kitchen last week which is almost done, but took about a week of really working hard on it (sorted through everything) and it completly did my back in.

I feel crap most of the time and have a very bad back so that doesn't help matters at all.

I have spoken to a local mum who is a cleaner who will clean fairly cheaply - we can't really afford her but we need to do something. BUT I can't ask her to come when it is this bad! She would really struggle because there is stuff everywhere.

If I can get downstair to a half decent standard then she could come and start doing downstairs once a week maybe to give it all a good clean. And then it would give me a chance to work on upstairs a bit. But it is getting to that point that is the hard bit!

How do I do it? This is all with a toddler hanging round me all day. There isn't anybody to look after her for me either really.

Any ideas?

You must be shattered and you sound stressed.

You know all you really need is somewhere for your baby to sleep and he/she can sleep in with you.

Do you have a dp? Can he help at least clear the boxes into a pile out the way so you can get to the rest of the rooms?

I know how you feel when your dd stops napping, my dd has almost stopped and I'm pregnant. I miss the hour to myself even if it was when I did the cleaning.

If you can get a cleaner for a few weeks to make life easier then go for it, it won't be forever (hopefully).

Good luck.

Have got a good proportion of the back room done just now, posting this gave me a bit of a kick up the bum. If I can get that room done then that would be one less room to worry about and that is the worst one of downstairs.

I have a DH but he works 12 hour shifts which is where is he today. There is nowhere to move the stuff to TBH! We just have no spare space!!

We moved last summer and we still have stuff to unpack. We also made all these decorating plans but nothing has been done at all. I can't do stuff when I have dd with me and my dh works long hours too.

I don't understand these woman who have spotless houses and children, I just can't keep up.

My d actually taking a nap just now, woo hoo (well she has been up since 5.30am). So I'm going to quickly surface tidy.

It is a pain when they stop having a nap - and I know what you mean about the bad back - mine hurts constantly but on a particularly bad day it's all I can do to load the washing and cook tea, and the thought of picking things up makes me wince.

But you should be getting help with this - exercise helps a lot but obviously it needs to be the right sort.

I'd suggest seeing your to and getting referred for physio.

In the meantime, try and do 15 mins here and there to gradually eat away at the piles.

I find arranging the living room so that all it takes us a quick pick up makes a huge difference.

Think about storage, group things together and gave permanent places for them.
Also a basket in a corner to chuck stuff 'pending sorting' might help.

'I'd suggest seeing your to'?? ! Er, I meant gp!

With regards to the back - I think it is just because I am heavily pregnant and still carrying around my DD (14 months) because she still can't walk so needs lots of lifting. I have been to the doctors but had nothing more than "take paracetamol and just think, not long now" like always.

We don't have enough storage which is a big problem BUT there is nowhere to put it. We don't have much stuff we don't use, but don't have the space for stuff we use. But aside from getting a bigger house, there isn't really much we can do!

I was hoping to get the back room finished today but my back is killing me now, and DD is so tired and grumpy. She isn't really ready to drop her naps but refuses to sleep unless taken for a walk or something. But I physically can't do much walking (I am also highly anemic and get out of breath, dizzy etc very easily so try not to go walking on my own.

I am going to get my bathroom done by doing something little everytime I go to the loo (quite often at the mo!) ie wash the sink one time, clear the windowsill the next etc.

Small tip: sinks and loos can be cleaned really quickly with disposable wipes (they can in our house anyway.)
If you do it every morning or every other morning after your shower it'll never turn into a disgusting, time-consing mess.
Do you mean you've got no room for more storage?
No space on a wall for a shelf unit or cupboard?

No storage space really. I rent so can't drill in big cupboards on the wall or anything like that, really it needs to be freestanding.

I don't do disposable I am afraid as we are eco friendly here. But we don't let the bathroom get filthy either really, there is never any scrubbing involved. My problem is mess more than dirt, which is why I am not 100% sure a cleaner would solve the problem.

I am 38 weeks pregnant and you have my sympathy! It is a really hard time especially when you have a baby already, anemia and back problems.

I spent ALOT of time worrying that I needed to do lots of things before the baby arrives but TBH gradually I have cut the list right back to the bear essentials anad made the most of the rare burst of energy I have had! I have bossed my Dh and DC around alot but have still not achieved everything.

Practically I would do a very basic list of what absolutley needs doing. From what you have said I would imagine, getting baby clothes sorted out and somewhere for baby to sleep are number 1.

Rope in any help you can ie DH, family etc. I agree that a cleaner probably won't help unless she is prepare to tackle the mess (I have the same issue). I started sending ironing out at 34 weeks and that has helped a lot! Also, I have been pretty ruthless with getting rid of stuff (you can't tell by the state of the spare room or baby's room)

Good luck, it will come together!

Have you tried a tens machine for your back? I'm not sure how many weeks you need to be.

Sorry I meant bio-degradable not disposable - most supermarkets have them.

I agree you'll feel loads better if the baby things are sorted - could you get a basket or clear plastic box to keep them out of the way until needed? Not the moses basket obviously, but at least you'll know if it does come early you could cope.

Could you get the lady to come and help you sort stuff out? Or is it things you don't really want someone else looking through?

Sometimes it can be quite therapeutic going through clutter with someone else there to be a bit ruthless. She might have some good storage ideas you hadn't thought of too.

I can't imagine she'd care being asked to help tidy for cash rather than clean.

I got some of the mahoosive plastic Ikea boxes to put random stuff in before ds was born. He's 2 now and the stuff's still there

They also do lots of good bags/boxes for under beds. You can get a lot of stuff "tidied away" under a cot - trust me, I know

Another one in the same boat. Cannot believe I still have four weeks to go as feel so dreadful (like I've badly overdone it) most days.
I've actually adjusted my standards. Have spent the last two weeks getting clothing and bedding sorted from the attic. My main panic now is not having a bag ready for the hospital (next week's priority). Then just want to clear the boxes / crates and piles of junk heaped everywhere. (Lots of trips to charity shop / recycling / dump I think.) A proper clean can wait quite frankly. Just don't see it happening. I need my sleep more.

Right, I have the cleaner coming tomorrow for 3 hours. I have been trying to roughy clear downstairs today and I am going to try and clear more today. Upstairs will be a mess BUT DH is off tomorrow and we will both go upstairs and get stuff done while she is cleaning downstairs. We will have DD messing things up as we go along but with 2 of us it shouldn't be too bad. Even if DH ends up playing with DD for most of it, that is still at least 3 hours I can spend tidying up and downstairs will be getting done at the same time!

Also collecting the new cots on saturday. We are getting 2 the same to go in DDs room for when the girls are sharing. So will need her room to be sorted by then and will have 2 cots to put together and need to dismantle her one. That should give me the insentive to get her room done tomorrow though.

I hate being stuck inside doing housework when it is lovely and sunny outside! I want to play in the garden with DD!

I am praying she goes for a sleep today. She is already tired and grumpy but usually just screams the place down if put down for a sleep . I might force myself to take her for a walk, but I find it really hard work TBH.

Doesn't help that DD has been waking in the night too so I am also getting up for her.

I might try the flylady crisis cleaning thing today. The 15min steps.