Calling all domestic goddesses!

[peckarollover]

Right.......

I am a naturally messy person, as is my sister who lives with us, as are my kids (my fault). My DH isnt, he used to be very tidy but I think Im rubbing off on him as he is slipping a bit.

Now the thing is ............... I hate mess. It would be much easier if I was naturally messy AND accepting of the mess.

I hate it, it stresses me out, makes me snappy, makes me feel depressed etc

Im on a constant mission to keep the house clean and tidy and its just one recurring horrible cycle.

Once or twice a week I wake up feeling dreadful about it thinking I cant go on like this and spend whole day tidying and cleaning until it is at the level that makes me happy. Great. But we seem to be able to make mess in record time and it very easily becomes undone.

Im in the middle of another HUGE clearout. I started at 9am and will keep on going until the whole house is exactly how I like it including shampooing carpets, cleaning windows, bleaching the floors etc.

Now....What I want you to teach me is how to keep up with it. I write lists upon lists, I read book upon book, come up with rotas etc but it seems the same each time. I keep up with it for a couple of days then SOMETHING happens I turn round and look and realise its a tip again.

I know I have 2 young kids, I childmind and also have my sister living in my playroom and people are always saying that mess is to be expected especially in these circumstances but it is not acceptable to me the way it is now.

Please help me find the answer and keep it tidy this time

PPPPPPLEASE

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cod! my saviour

hoping you would see this but didnt want to get told off as you have helped me loads before.

I hoover daily in kitchen and living room.

When I am being good I do this thing I learnt on a really cheesy site "ERASE THE EVIDENCE" where after being in the room you have to hide any evidence that you were ever there LOL sounds crazy and it does work. For examply putting bread and butter straight away when used. This is obvious to most people but honestly I seem to be unaware of the mess I make.

I dont know what happens to be honest because I feel like Im ALWAYS cleaning - its not laziness as I seem to always be doing something then I look aroudn and cant actually see much improvement

Ok do yuo have a PLACE for EVERYTHING?

if not make a place for EVERYTHING, cause then its much easier to keep everything in its 'place'

also children can then be encouraged to 'put back' afterwards, and its much easier to put the things back at the end of the day and 'start again' all tidy the next morning?

not sure if this will work and its very embarassing

these are photos I took on a typical day when I was feeling really shit about how messy the house was

messy photos

The playroom was totally sorted after I took that photo but now, I could take another and its as bad if not worse.

I have got rid of ALL toys that arent loved or played with and each toy has a home but that room just ends up a total write off.

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no its the cheesy american one i mentioned before

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Instead of reading books and writing lists, just get on and do it, LOL!

When I get up in the morning I make the beds, bring down any glasses, empty the bins and throw the laundry down the stairs. Get down, whack the laundry in the machine, do the washing up, make the breakfast. Once i've had a shower then I put the clean laundry away. I don't ireon, I iron what we need in the morning. I only clear up childrens toys once a day after tea, if any tidying needs doing then I do it as and when now that I have kids. I used to do all my cleaning on a Thursday PM but I now do a room or so a day. Every once in a while DH and I will do lots of jobs on the weekend, things like cleaning the oven/fridge etc that I don't do in the week.

the ironing board was out because I also iron for other people and to get it done I have to do it in blocks of 5 whenever I get a moment

Its terrible isnt it

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Westcountrylass

EXACTLY - all this I know and your routine is how I am when Im motivated after a good clearout. What I dont understand is why I cant just do that. Something happens and it just gets so so so messy again and I cant tackle it until I can go right through again.

Your right about stop reading and just do it - Im always looking for the answer lol

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littletornado tried to take me in hand and sort me out lol

the sofa thing is my sisters bed lol - she still lives with us and i have no spare rooms so she gets shoved in there. This is 1 year on from car accident.

Steam cleaning box was out because we were stripping wallpaper off in the hall

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I was thinking of having a family meeting type thing this afternoon when I am done.

Tell them that I NEED them to pull their weight. It drives me mad when Ive spent all day tidying. Then come back and dishes all over bench, washing pulled out of dryer but not put away.

I think its at this point I think F*CK IT and rebel against it

I reckon Cod is right an dyou need to go through the toys, have a clear out, invest in some more storage. Having a home for everything is the key!

It sounds daft but 1 extra adult equals a lot extra work.

Extra dishes, extra clothes, extra STUFF, extra showers, bedding blah blah blah

I love her to bits and to be fair she is excellent with kids and sometimes takes DS off my hands so I can get things done but she is exactly like me. Dont think she sees the mess as sometimes its just left then sometimes you can see her consciously trying to tidy up

Yes, deffo, grown ups should tidy up after themselves, kids need to be encouraged to help tidy up/clear up after themselves. DS will happily do a bit of dusting and DD is copycatting now (4 and 16 months), DS will get a cloth and wipe up spills.

I've got two kids and two homes and they're both tidy (even though dh-king of clean-is not usually about.)

Ihave to be tidy and organised as otherwise i get really low.

Agree with what others say-don't over intellectualise it by reading too much about it-do it!

I like your 'erase the evidence' point-realize that this is my modus operandi.

Also.....deal with mail as soon as it comes in.

Tidy every night before bed-lovely to come down to a tidy house.

Have as little as possible,especially kids' toys and the dreaded knicknacks.

Keep kitchen surfaces clear.

Recycle (in all senses) regularly and ruthlessly.

Refuse to allow anything to fester in the hallway.

The kids rarely play with any of the toys we have.

But the ones that are still here I feel I just cant chuck - they either play with them sometimes, have just been received or I need them for childminding.

How many toys do kids need? I have no idea! I didnt think we had an excessive amount.

The stuff in the playroom is all the stuff we have -I keep toys out of the kids bedrooms and Im happy with that. They are the two rooms in the house that stay tidy - all they do is sleep in them!

Why don't you sort the toys into four or five separate groups and rotate (keeping the other groups in the garage/loft or shed)?

This is what I do with out admittedly meagre supply.

As someone who's just spent SEVEN hours (7am-2pm) cleaning just 3 rooms I'm not ina position to help but I will read this thread with interest. Our main problm is dumping grounds, I've just found last years Christmas cards lying flat on top of a bookshelf and we just alway seem to have an unbelievable amount of crap lying around. I just chucked 5 large binliners of stuff, that's how bad it was!

Thanks for the pics though, made me feel smug now my house is tidier!