Any routines that work for disorganised person?!

[piggypeppa]

Hi, I constantly feel that I never get on top of the housework. As soon as put the ironing away I turn round to see the laundry basket full again!! I have 2dc, ds at school and dd is 2 and is home with me except the two week days when I work. My dh is a teacher and works really long hours and I feel a bit of a crappy faliure that I'm not more organised. I find it quite hard to get things done when my dd is awake as she tends to 'help' and it wakes 10x as long and when she has her nap I veg out for an hour. I just never seem to get into any form of routine and then end of spending 1-2 hours on a Sunday getting it all looking respectable. I want to become one of these people who do batch cooking and keep on top of it all! Any suggestions of what works for you?

sod that. you sound perfectly normal and shouldn't feel a failure... failure just depends what you measure yourself against.

i would say though- only iron what is necessary...if you fold straight away after drying, most clothes are perfectly wearable and ironing pile is much less depressing. this would free up more time for vegging cleaning/tidying.

Yep, think I'm my own worst enemy really as am bit of a perfectionist - annoyingly! Just wondered when others get things done, a friend of mine gets up an hour before kids, does 30 mins chore then showers and all ready for the day by the time the kids wake -arghh!

i'd rather get an hours sleep and be smelly.

Have a look at www.flylady.net. It might not be of any real help but it might give you some tips/advice that might help. Its difficult when you have a child at home to get things done - just do what you can when you can. Look after yourself too - the children won't notice what the house looks like.

I tried Flylady but have joined the slatterns thread and it works for me!

Watching this avidly for tips as you sound exactly like me piggypeppa!!! I either feel like i'm ignoring the children doing housework or vice versa! So as a general rule a suff the housework and play games! I just wonder how people do it?! (Maybe i should get my arse bottom off the laptop and actually do some housework...)

That's lovely that you are letting your dd help, in the end she will be naturally tidy. I always had a rest when my dd napped.
No answers really, only just learning to be organised.
I think planning meals (vaguely -I'm talking bread cheese and apples here, baked potatoes and tuna, pasta with mince) and doing a wash the minute you get up helps.
Also getting out of house as fast as possible to stop getting bogged down, set timer in morning for tidying then go.
Never be afraid to hve friends round when it's untidy either. I used to not let people in for fear of what they would think.

im like you piggy, i find the thing that works for me is to do things as i go along, one of the best tips i got on MN is to do the bathrooms when im in there. ie; when im brushing my teeth, do the sink, when im in the shower, giveit a quick clean. but really to keep the filth at bay, i do things as i see them or as im going along. and the kids will learn really quickly to put things back where they "live". do the dishes while the kettles boiling, or if its dinner, then do as much as you can while its cooking so you only have the ones you eat off to clean at the end. and agree about the ironing, only do the totally necessary. fold everything else and iron as you need to wear it. there really is nothing more depressing than an evergrowing basket of ironing.