how can I keep my house this beautiful?

[MitchyInge]

Just been 'blitzed' by a team of Kim and Aggie types, it looks amazing, I love it but am scared to breathe in case I make it all dirty again. How can I make sure it doesn't go back to being squalid?

suppose it is just a matter of doing a little every day?

get into a habit of picking up each night and getting help from dcs with that, also clean bathroom and kitchen each week.

(if only i could take this advice)

Lucky you! Can you send them to my house please?

Invite people round regularly so you have to keep it looking great

Hi Mitchy

I struggle to keep on top of the housework, but find that writing out all the jobs that need doing can help. I have got stuck on a cupboard door, a list of all the jobs i need to do everyday and then a list of 3 jobs to be done each day. I find that if i can't be arsed or short of time or whatever, just managing the everyday jobs and one from that day's list can help it going completely tits up. It still does of course, but not to the extremes it used to

Example;

Everyday jobs:
Empty dishwasher
Put washload on
Dry washing
Put washing away
Load dishwasher and wipe down kitchen before going to bed
Pick up toys from the living room

Monday:
Hoover stairs
Sweep hall and kitchen
Mop hall and kitchen

Tuesday:
Hoover livingroom and dining room
Dust downstairs
Clean bathroom

etc

Hope this helps

hi alice! 3 jobs doesn't sound TOO bad each day, I use a wipeable day/week planner and could 'schedule' them on to that.

I know this is unspeakably lazy but am tempted to send out all most some of my laundry, the people who cleaned the house also take dirty laundry and bring it back clean and ironed. Our dryer has been broken for ages and it's grim having damp clothes hanging all over the house. Will see how long that's affordable for, hopefully most of the winter.

It's just the absolute last thing I feel like doing when I get in, although have taken my work home with me today and might be able to get something done whilst supervising this puppy party!

If you can bear to look at it, the Martha Stewart website has printable checklists for daily, weekly & monthly stuff to do

here

oh they are good too, thank you, it could just become as routine as everything else couldn't it?

Never mind how to keep it pretty yourself.... tell me more about the Whole Team of Kim and Aggies

Grapefruit i love that website! Thank you for linking it, i shall not get anything done now as i shall be drooling over all the immaculatly ordered cupboards

they're called fairy godmaids - might be a website somewhere (we might be on it soon, they took lots of before and after photos)

Hi Mitchy
So you were able to have your house blitzed. Can I be nosy and ask who were they and how much. Would so love to have this done. Fresh start and all that.

hi mumski - initially they quoted £150 to declutter and clean three ground floor rooms, I asked for a price for the rest of the house and she said £25 an hour which worries me a bit as it could easily take hours and hours and hours, although we could cap it at about 6 hours or something? not sure that would be enough for us though

there are two or three of them on each visit and they work very hard, it has been well worth it but now I want the rest of the house to sparkle too!

How do they declutter someone elses's house though? do they just pick everything up and go "d'you want this or can I chuck it?" x 1000?

my god i used to do it for £5 an hour

James is right how does that work? I'm not sure I could stand strangers looking through my junk

well a lot of our rubbish was obviously that so has gone out - mostly things just needed to be fumigated then rehomed within the house, like the mini mountain range of books who have all moved to shelves, or the laundry that was creeping over the whole house

paperwork got filed away, it's cool, have never been so organised. it feels amazing!

I'm sooo jealous! So how much did it cost in total?

Sounds like you have had fun with this company, you must now work hard to keep it like this or invest in your own good cleaner who will declatter for you on a regular basis as mine does. To have a beautiful takes alot of hard work or money or both!

there's still a lot to do, don't know if I can afford to have the other bits of the house blitzed in the same way - should probably be able to do it myself but argh

at least the areas most people see when they come in look good!