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Original poster

how do you keep on top of your housework?

75 replies

Emma1404 · 15/03/2006 10:16

i have an 11 month old dd, who is quite demanding and clingy at the moment. i live in a 4 bed house with 3 toilets and im finding it totally impossible to keep on top of the housework. HELP!!

OP posts:
dyzzidi · 15/03/2006 10:20

i get up 20/30 minutes before dd aged 12wks to give thins a blitz. We have three toilets and four bedrooms aswell and it all gets very dusty as they are still building on my estate. I find if i leave it until after she goes to bed i am too knackered to do anything.

I also use bathroom wipe/ floor wipes /kitchen wipes etc and wipe things down whenever she goes to sleep!

notasheep · 15/03/2006 10:30

Once dp gets a job i am determined that we get a cleaner,or dps beer money could pay one.

I would love to have an immaculate house but prefer giving time to dd and ds,they grow up too fast!

cod · 15/03/2006 10:32

do it really fast and have cleanign stuff heifdden allaorund hte house

compo · 15/03/2006 10:33

I don't keep on top of it!! We try to clean the toliet after we use it, wipe surfaces when we cook etc. Hoover every 2 days once ds is in bed - downsatirs that is. Upstairs hasn't been hooverd in a while! Dusting doesn't get done.

Original poster
Emma1404 · 15/03/2006 10:33

i did use to do that, as im quite a hous proud person but to be honest dd gets up at 6.30am and is on the go til about 10.30 then has a nap for maybe an hour. in that time i tidy up the kitchen, put washing in, hang wet washing up, get iron out, and try and catch up knowing that any minute she will wake up. she sleeps very light in the day and i never used to hoover when she was a baby so i couldnt possibly potter up stairs in case she heard me.

OP posts:
Piffle · 15/03/2006 10:34

I have same size houe as you
Keep a cloth in every toilet and spray cleaner. Wipe seats and sink after kids in bed, so clean for the morning.
I clean the d/s loo every day spray and wipe.
Bleach loo 1-2 a week, over night, soak n flush.
I clean the bath or shower when I'm in it use bathroom power which requires no scrubbing really, I keep a scrub pad in the shower for lime scale.
Hoover upstairs once a week I do this while dd watches the teletubbies or plays with lego in her room. Or I do it saturday am while dp watches dd.
Downstairs tidy as you go, I have a living room blitz straight aftr dd is in bed, then can relax in nice tody room.
When dd sleeps in the afternoon I de clutter.

Bozza · 15/03/2006 10:37

I just used to take her around the house with me at that age. Still do now she is double that (22 months). Or she would go and get a book and then I would break off and read it to her and then send her back for another while I furiously scrubbed the toilet bowl. Now she likes to think she is helping which sometimes works, sometimes doesn't.

The other day she found the bowl the washing liquid goes in and was insisting I filled it up so she could start the washing machine. The absence of any dirty washing in the vicinity was apparently not relevent.

Bozza · 15/03/2006 10:43

Also I never iron in the daytime. Always after the kids are in bed. I did find the washing problematic when DD was that age because she would cry about being left but I couldn't carry a wash load downstairs and her as well. I also have a problem with hoovering upstairs because DD is scared of the hoover. I get DH to do this as soon as he gets home from work once a week. Then he will hoover the actual stairs while the kids are in the bath. I can hoover downstairs while she has a nap because it is only the living room and the dining room. Everything else is hard floor and swept.

notasheep · 15/03/2006 10:45

I never iron

CountessDracula · 15/03/2006 10:46

I have a cleaner

Or we would live in a dump

jac34 · 15/03/2006 10:47

I'm off work this week and have not done very much at all.
In a normal week I do wasing every evening,(after everyone has stripped off),dry it,then iron it in the morning, before dropping the boys at school,then going to work.I also wipe over the kitchen in the morning and generally tidy round, put clutter back where it belongs.
On a Friday I bliz the house, do bathrooms, kitchen, dusting,change beds, hoover, extra laundry like towels and bedding.
I seem to do more when I've got a deadline,or only a small amount of time to do it in.
As I've said I've been rubbish this week.I'm suposed to be doing ironing now, then painting the bathroom door, but I'm sat here instead.
I'm seriously thinking of not bothering with either, and go shopping to the village instead,and have lunch in a cafeSmile

MrsMuddle · 15/03/2006 10:55

I'm feeling very inadequate. Sad I don't iron, rarely hoover upstairs and only clean the downstairs bathroom when visitors are coming. And I've no excuse - I work PT and my DSs are both at school. I'd rather read than do housework.

Jackstini · 15/03/2006 10:57

DH does nearly everything and I have a cleaner who does top to bottom once a week - best twenty quid ever spent Smile

Original poster
Emma1404 · 15/03/2006 10:57

all very good ideas...think when i go shopping next ill buy three sponges, 3 packs of wipes and 3 cleaners to put in the bathrooms. I also have wooden flooring in the hall, dining room, kitchen and utility which always shows dust and bits of straw (husband works on a stud) and it doesnt matter how often i sweep it. I have just invested in a dyson all floors. my dd doesnt mind the hoover.

OP posts:
Original poster
Emma1404 · 15/03/2006 10:59

id love to have a cleaner, but not sure i would like anyone being in my house cleaning while im sitting there reading the paper, or worse still, going through all my bits if im not there.

OP posts:
GDG · 15/03/2006 11:00

I don't really. Keep on top of tidying more or less and keep on top of washing. But ironing builds up and the things that get left are bathrooms, wooden floors and dusting. I neeeeed a cleaner!

GDG · 15/03/2006 11:01

In terms of the bathroom, I often go round it with flash wipes quickly if I don't have time to do a proper clean. I keep those in teh bathroom so I can wipe round the loo (kids can't aim properly Grin) and sink.

purplemonkeydishwasher · 15/03/2006 11:03

i don't.
my house is a tip.
Do i care? NOt particularly.
When you've got a screaming teething 6m old attached to you all day it puts things in perspective!

Jackstini · 15/03/2006 11:08

Emma - I just make sure I am in 1 room - working/on computer/filing when she comes round. Don't feel guilty in the slightest!

smoggie · 15/03/2006 11:11

We have a cleaner who comes once a fortnight to blitz the place. Justify it to myself by the fact I work p-t and have 2 under 3yrs!! I tidy up and sort out once the boys are in bed but have to admit to leaving more than I should as am too knackered. Will hoover once a week put I'm afraid I just don't get time to clean bathrooms - just leave this to the once a forthnight cleanersBlush Was thinking the other day that I should do the loos more often as ds1 is now using them, so might use the prev ideas of having disposable wipe thingys in there to make it easier. I'm a bit fanatical about the kitchen though and sweep floor every day and mop a few times a week. I'm constantly worried about keeping on top of things but coming more round to the realisation that it'll never be as clean as I want, so try not to stress too much. Have a sil with an immaculate house and two girls - have only just admitted to myself that I can never live up to her standards of bleaching the loos every day!! (nor would I want to really - eughh think of the smell for the poor LOs).

Original poster
Emma1404 · 15/03/2006 11:20

i think what makes it worse for me is that i look after dd all day, cook tea for when dh gets in at 4.30pm, clean up afterwards, and then go cleaning in an office from 6pm for 2 hours. by the time i get home i just wanna crash out. look at me thou....little dd is fast asleep and im on here. OH WELL!!

OP posts:
smoggie · 15/03/2006 11:52

Emma-not suprised you don't fancy cleaning yours when you've been out cleaning for others! Could dh be pursuaded to help out when he gets in? I go through phases of having a meltdown with dh to give me more help, but tbh, he leaves the house at 7.10 gets back at 7.30pm has food and collapses. Do have to remind him though that I haven't exactly been sitting around on my arse all day so he's not the only one knackered, but would be nice if once in a while he said 'would you like me to tidy up/do the bottles/put the washing on/sweep the floor/get lunches ready for tomorrow/ etc. ' without me having to NAG!

saltire · 15/03/2006 12:01

Although my 2 are older now, I often have a house full of childminding kids! If i have them in the house, i will dust the living room, and give them a cloth each so they can "help" child labour i know. If i only have one CM child, and i have to do soemthing upstairs, i'll just take her with me.
I wash the kitchen floor every night after i wash the dishes. When one of the boys are in the bath i will clean the toilet, sink etc.
Hoover everyday after tea

Bozza · 15/03/2006 15:56

I think DH should be doing some of the work tbh.

fennel · 15/03/2006 16:07

i just think, when they grow up it'll be nice and clean without them. only 17 more years of squalor til youngest leaves home.