does anyone else feel their house is always a mess?

[thirtysomething]

Just wondering how everyone else copes with the permanent mess created by small children - I always feel ours is a complete tip despite tidying it up every night when the kids are in bed (and I have a cleaner and I don't work!!) plus I secretly think my dh cashes in on the kids making a mess thing as he never tidies any of his stuff either, leaving coins, shoes and post everywhere! It's even worse when the kids have friends round as stuff migrates from one room to another in all sorts of strange ways...I don't think I'm even particularly house-proud !! Does it ever get any better (dd is nearly 3 and ds is 5) or should I just resign myself to it once and for all?

I seem to be in the same situation except i only have one child and don't have a cleaner - yet! My dh also never tidies anything away - sometimes is running so late in the mornings that he brushes his teeth in the kitchen sink and leaves the toothbrush downstairs. I am resigned to the mess for now, especially as all dd's toys are in the living room as we do not have another room that could be a toy room. Just rise above it all and be calm

It drives me mad!!!!!!!! Groundhog day. Mine are 2 and 4 and they never ever stop trashing the place. Ive resigned myself to a pig sty until there old enough to sulk all day in there bedrooms

Not sure how to break this to you but it gets worse, one word sums it up - teenagers. My dd's bedroom has that much mess on the loor that the only place that carpet is visible is the span of the door. And she spreads mess wherever she goes. At the moment I can see homework spread over a large area of the living room, in the kitchen she has made herself a sandwichand it looks like a four course meal has been cooked and the bathroom leaves me speechless. What is that saying, "tryoing to tidy a house while kids are growin is like tyring to shovel snow while its still snowing2!

sorry not read that but am sure its pretty bad - pressed post instead of preview!

I find if I dont completely keep on top of it - the mess just gets sooo out of hand. Alot of days I dont keep on top of it and it does my head in! Not helped by living in a titchy house and having far too many clothes/toys/things - cant seem to stop buying more "stuff" either and there is nowhere to put anything.

glad to hear I'm not alone - shame they don't warn you about messy-house syndrome in all those pregnancy books - it has certainly outlived morning sickness in duration (and boy was I sick!)

My parents have only just got a tidy house, after 18 years!!!!

Message withdrawn

This is so ressuring. Our house is always a total tip. my husband also leaves stuff everywhere and the boys rooms are a nightmare. I am not super tidy myself but i do wish they would occasionally put things away, in the laundry basket, in the bin. I do try a basic clean over once a week but it never looks any different. i have some friends who are super neat even with families of boys, dogs etc. The other thing that gets me is not changing toilet rolls- presuming I will do it eventually!

My Dining room table is permanently under a pile of clean washing and paperwork!!

In fact... I can't remember the last time I saw the surface of it..... now I come to think of it, do I still have a dining room table???

Oh to have a utility room >sigh

My dh leaves what I call nests all around the house, little piles of clothes and shoes, coffee cups, books, post, scribbles, everything. Things never get put back where they came from yet I still manage to keep my radar working, eg "Mummy where's my *", infuriatingly I still seem to know here the bloody thing is.
This house is a tip CONSTANTLY.

get a cleaner m2t

I think it does improve. Ds is 7 and for the last 2 years his toys have been consigned to his bedroom - they still migrate downstairs but a quick 10 minutes and all the stuff is back in his room (okay his room is a bombsite but at least I only have to look at that some of the time - he 'tidies' his room once a day (with my help)) and it appears to keep things under control.

Saying all that we have an 8 month old now, who's toys in the sitting room are starting to take over the whole downstairs - agh well here we go again for another 5 years!

btw all the cleaning/tidying gurus say STORAGE is the answer - if there is adequate and easy-use storage arrangements it apparently is easier to manage. Have tried this one, and yes it does work, except that no matter how much I have there are ALWAYS more toys! Oh God and it's not yet Christmas!

Have NEVER managed to get the storage thing right - despite several differnt 'systems'!!

Coddy - Still trying to sell the idea to DP. It would make his life easier as he does most of the housework anyway.

I know full well that I am the culprit in our house. I loathe tidying. I am the one with piles of magazines and catalogues everywhere. Every room is our junkroom. I'd love a utility room too just so my washing isn't drying in the middle of my dining room. The main problem (after my laziness and ineptitude at being a housewife) is of course this blumin discussion site we affectionately call "Mumsnet". Go away the lot of you and stop making my house a mess!

If your job is wife and mother and housekeeper etc - do you have a qualification in housewifery?

thirtysomething.I am in total agreement with lillibet,Teenagers are the worst.
lillibet i cant even see the carpet,when you open the bedroom door to wake them out of their pits you drag all kinds along the floor.
Bathroom is disgusting and I am always moaning at them to pick their mess up and clean the bath out after shaving their legs.They pinch all your best smellies just to go to school.
Kitchen,even getting a piece of toast is a nightmare, they cant use one worktop, NO it has to be all four of them.
Oh you can ask them to put it away and clean up after them but they make it worse so you have to do it again eventually.

I like them when they are little.

unfortunately a cleaner isn't really the answer. Your description sounds like my house - piles of everything everywhere. A cleaner can't /won't sort that out, they clean, not tidy. otoh, if you want them to clean, you have to tidy, so the night/morning before they come it's a mad rush to sort it out a bit. So at least getting a cleaner might force you to tidy.

My mum's house was/ is always absolutely immaculate. Dunno how she does it. We're all at fault, me the least bad, but still messy. But the kids are a nightmare with their ttrails of destruction everywhere, And as for dh, he'll walk over something on the floor/stairs for a week seemingly oblivious, before I give in and do it myself.
Like beccaroll says, if you don't keep on top of it, it goes to pieces so quickly.

I advocate putting toys in the loft and rotating them - adds to novelty value.

saw this subject and thought YES YES YES - I am fed up with never feeling on top of the housework! Hpw do these people with permanently tidy houses manage it? Is there a kind of system people have for getting everyhting done - like Monday hoover or something? I am always wondering about this!! Put me out of my misery tidy people and tell me how you do it!!!!!

Drawers and baskets are the way forward! I used to think everything needed to be neatly sorted before storing away - now I just chuck everything that's becoming cluttery on the surfaces into drawers or in baskets in the corner of each room. Yes, I know it's not ideal but it makes me feel better. Also: laminate floors. We've only got one rug in the front room and I'm constantly hoovering that. But I thank my lucky stars it's not a whole load of carpetted rooms instead...

Stuff. That's my problem in the house. We seem to have tons of it in piles, everywhere. Tidying is a near impossible task because I need a clear space to move things into but I have to move something first to make that clear space....sigh. Also, I am happy to chuck lots of things but no one else is. Still, there's a Guiding jumble sale tomorrow and they want donations so if I could drag myself away from Mumsnet I could load up the car and get rid of some of the clutter, tee hee.
PS What happned to the paperless society that was predicted a decade ago?? We have soooo much paperwork nowadays, it's unbelieable!

suedonim, I do Stuff into boxes too, now there are about 25 banana boxes (they stack well you know) piled about the house waiting to be sorted out - too overfacing so it doesn't get done. However when and if it ever does I'm sure we will make some exciting discoveries, like an archaeological dig (It has been going on for several years!)

SB34! It's a thread for us!!