Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Multiple births

When do you start showing with twins? What is life with twins like? Join the conversation on our Multiple Births forum.

Flip

Original poster

Cleaning

19 replies

kristatwin · 29/10/2008 12:32

HELP, all of you with twins, how do you go on cleaning and getting anything done, mine are both just walking now, and cant seem to get anything done, they are into everything, do think though that i have a cleaning disorder, as i cant stand a mess, is it time to just give up, and let them trash the house (not literally), when do you all clean, and get things done !!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

hattyyellow · 29/10/2008 17:17

Hi Krista - do they have a lunchtime sleep? I think that's when I used to do some housework..and anything else I needed to get done that day!

SimpleAsABC · 29/10/2008 17:18

I worked for a lady who had twins, I was there to let the cleaner in and to let the mum go out and get the shopping done.

She also had a toddler under 3 at the time too!

Original poster

kristatwin · 29/10/2008 17:47

Yes, they do have a lunchtime nap, but i am so tired myself, i have a rest then !!

OP posts:

Original poster

kristatwin · 29/10/2008 17:47

Yes, they do have a lunchtime nap, but i am so tired myself, i have a rest then !!

OP posts:

MarsLady · 29/10/2008 17:49

I got a cleaner and decided to take the advice of a lovely old lady. Why clean the mess until the mess-makers are gone?

Seriously though I decided that I'd get a cleaner so that even though it still gets messy at least I know it's clean!

Mine are now 4.5yo and are finally at school and it takes most of the week for the wondrous, glorious just had a cleaner look to vanish

Original poster

kristatwin · 29/10/2008 18:05

Hi, did have a cleaner for the first year, but now moved into a bigger house, hence bigger mortgage, think it might be what hattyyellow said, clean when they have there nap, no rest or the wicked !!

OP posts:

hattyyellow · 29/10/2008 18:11

We did have a cleaner when the girls were first walking, living overseas and DH's company paid for it every fortnight. House was a tip by the time she came again!

A great tip I learnt on here was to do the bathroom while they have their bath - still do!

glamourbadger · 29/10/2008 20:09

We had a cleaner for the first year - I couldn't have survived without her. She left of her own accord when my twins were about 14 months and it seemed a lot more manageable from then, I wasn't so tired and could get things done during their sleep. I also do the bathroom while mine are in the bath. You have to be in the bathroom anyway so may as well make use of the time!

Neenztwinz · 29/10/2008 20:39

I am also dreaming of a cleaner at the moment! I had one when the DTs were first born (in May) but I hated having her in the house, she really annoyed me with her constant twittering, telling me her life story, and she didn't do a very good job! I sacked her after about five weeks when she mopped the bathroom floor without sweeping it first (and then lied and said she had swept it, later admitting she hadn't, 'but I swept everywhere else' )

Now I just wish it did itself! I really don;t have the inclination but it does depress me, looking at fluff on the floor etc and thinking 'that really needs a vac and I can't be bothered'

coochybottom · 30/10/2008 10:25

I split my tasks up and did things on different days. I also got my DH to do the hoovering for me every weekend. They are at school now thou so I do it all then. I still wash little and often as ironing a few bits each day is far less daunting. My DH was also good helping me with cooking the tea. I never used to do anything when they had a nap and just made sure I sat down with a coffee and a biscuit!

PazzaPlusTwo · 30/10/2008 14:08

i have no advice since i am on the verge of divorce /widowhood over it.

DH hates mess but can't see real dirt or fluff building up, doesnt even have a problem with the toilet not being cleaned before people come over . i dont mind untidy (and if i'm only going to have to get the stuff out again in half an hour anyway, why bother putting it away?) but i hate dirty.

i am being strong and refusing to own the problem, or i'll end up doing it all as well as working. i want a cleaner once every so often so i can play with the girls when i get home from work and even - heavens! - relax occasionally. and a cleaning rota so we have FACTS to argue about, not opinions.

we are now entrenched for a long stand-off, stalingrad-style. place your bets.

...

ps: he will crack first

pps: bitter, moi?

tkband3 · 30/10/2008 18:37

I'm afraid that when my DTs were babies, I looked on a cleaner as almost a necessity, rather than a luxury . Like krista, I slept when they slept at lunchtime, and even if I had done a bit of housework then, I couldn't have hoovered, as it would have woken them up - and they were too scared of the hoover to do it when they were awake .

So the cleaner came while I was at twins club with them and I came home to a gloriously clean house. I only stopped having a cleaner this year, when they started going to nursery 4 mornings a week, so I felt I really couldn't justify the expense. But as soon as things get a little easier financially, having a cleaner will be top of the list again - particularly as that will mean I am back at work so like Pazza, will not want to be spending any spare time I have doing cleaning!!

I have had to get used to having a dirtier house and the fact that it is never all clean at the same time, which has been hard as I am very anal - but I'm getting there .

Neenztwinz · 30/10/2008 20:43

I also get DH to do the hoovering at the weekends, sometimes he even gets the feather duster out too .

Pazza, hold firm girl!!!

Egg · 30/10/2008 20:50

My toddler and DTs all go to nursery one day a week together so I have a full on clean and tidy up then. Otherwise I do odd bits of hoovering etc when they nap. They are in love with the Dyson handheld dustbuster thing though so I do that all the time when they are on the floor, they squeal with excitement when I hoover their clothes .

Original poster

kristatwin · 31/10/2008 12:28

Thanks ladies, just been reading the threads, i cant stand a mess, and seem to be cleaning more than spending time with the twins, but i know i will have to do it all when they go to bed, and by the time there bedtime arrives, i am completely wiped out, so i try and do most of it in the day, i think the harsh reality is that i need to ease up on the cleaning.

I wish i could try and be more untidy (insane i know) i go round to my friends sometimes and it looks like a bomb site, but i feel i have a organized mind when the house is clean, does that sound MAD !!

OP posts:

Neenztwinz · 31/10/2008 21:49

No I understand, I feel the same... but we kind of live in one room in the house (the kitchen) so I just keep well on top of that and let the rest go to pot until it is so bad that I have endless enthusiasm to clean it (about once every 2/3 weeks!). Just do bits and pieces other than that - as long as there is not endless clutter lying around I can cope.

coochybottom · 31/10/2008 22:09

I am the same,kristatwin and find that if everything is at least tidy I feel better. See if it helps to split your jobs into small chunks and accept that you cant do it as thoroughly as you would like. Ditch anything that isnt really necessary but do what really annoys you. In my case I cant stand dust & bits on the floor. HTH xx

accordiongirl · 04/11/2008 23:58

Get a cleaner! (If you possibly can...) Even if it is just for the floors and change the beds. DP can iron. What are weekends for. And sleep when twins sleep. mmmm sleep when twins sleep. mmmmm....

kathryn2804 · 09/11/2008 21:20

What's cleaning?

Flip