how do you keep on top of your housework?

[Emma1404]

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!!

This is the only way I can keep on top of things and have a life!

I have a rota. I split everything that needs to be done over 7 days. For instance bathroom cleaning day is monday - kitchen cleaning day is Friday - and then everyday I clean the floors and wipe things with those ant bac wipes. I enlist ds to help me (he is 3). He uses a baby wipe to clean his toys! He also has a mini feather duster - his future wife will thank me!!

I vac and polish (with damp cloth) every other day.

I have two linen baskets - one for clothes and one for bedding and towels and wash things on specific days!

It is an easy system which takes about 2 hours and then my day is free. If I keep this up then I can keep on top of it (I enlist dh and ds at weekends! lol)

I was never half as organised until watching that bloody anthea turner.

Is that 2 hours a day or a week?

lol 4friends! I wish it was a week - but with my family it is definantly a day

Think I now know why my house is a hovel - I've got 2 kids, dog, cat and various other hangers on and probably scrape by on 1/2 day maximum (including washing up) - sorry to hijack but what doe's everyone else do?

have a cleaner thank god, but have always wondered, if I had to cut her for economic reasons if I could face swappign cleaning with a friend. IE I'm her cleaner and she's mine. Once a week for three hours or something. Other people's mess isn't as depressing as your own and you would also get that how lovely to come back to a clean house without having done it yourself feeling.

I let my children "help" me

they both get in the bath with a cloth & lukewarm water, and scrub away while I clean the sink & toilet
I also let DS (nrly 4) "clean" the shower - again, he climbs in & "cleans" while I do toilet & sink & then I finish off the shower

they love helping

I let them dust, vacuum, unload the dishwasher & washing machine etc

NEVER too young to start - just let them help & they love it

p.s
would prefer cleaner though

my sister has a five bed house that she cleans everyday herself as well as looking after eight children and her husband (that works) her house also has three bathrooms so ladys and gents think your selfs lucky that u dont have to look after eight children and do all that cleaning

gee she must be a skinny mummy !! All that running around.

With 4 kids, 5 beds and 4 baths I was going mad. I'm also studying and working and ds works abroad. Was in tears for no good reason.
For the last2 weeks 2 domestic goddesses turn up every Wednesday and sort out my life. I've always hated housework and am so much happier to delegate. Kids know they have to keep tidy between visits. They change bedding and everything. One is my sil (has a cleaning business) so I am v happy.

i don't

I work f/t and tbh when I am at home and the children are up I want to spend time with them, apart from the basic tidying up kitchen etc. while they are eating tea etc I may whizz round tidying/putting laundry on.
My priorities are clean ironed clothes (and towels ) and nice food. If that's done then I'm happy. Do ironing once kids asleep. DH washes up. Hoover house in the evening too. Bedlinen/towels have regular change days. Wash sheets etc straightaway. Keep on top of the ironing (have just emptied basket, smug emoticon).
Hoover upstairs twice a week, I'm lucky in that I can do that while kids asleep and they don't wake.
Emma can you get dd interested? eg let her watch you/"help" with laundry etc?
TBH it's not top of my list to clean the bathroom. DH says house is a tip and it is untidy, but then three children under 7 live here.

my priority is clean toilets and kitchen.

I have a cleaner once a week but still tidy and clean daily aswell.

DS pees all over the bloody toilet,so it gets cleaned every time he uses it!

I dont, atm....

Bloody Hell, I'm a slob, all these people doing all this cleaning! I don't iron, ( anything, hate it ), I blitz the house once a week when dd is at daycare, ds in the jolly jumper looking on bemused as I wizz around to very loud music, occationally pulling faces at him. I find it feels I am always washing something up, and generally do a load of washing most days, I nag dh to do his share as we both work, he'll do it, but needs vast reminders at times.

hi clary.....what can i get dd to help me with as she is only 11 months old?

ohh hello Emma.
Depends if she can crawl/cruise/or even walk?
She could help you sort the laundry (you give her the whites and she plops them on the pile next to her etc)
Give her a bit of the hoover (I mean a furniture brush thingy) to crawl/cruise/walk about with while you hoover properly
Ditto a duster while you actually dust - I think even a crawling baby can do this.
Get her to helo tidy eg put toys in a box - it doesn't matter if she does very little, keeps her busy while you do the bulk of it IYSWIM
hth

help tidy I mean, must preview

4Friends - love that rhyme - brought tears to my eyes - am printing it out right now!

I don't bother unless I have to...the place is usually a tip because I spend hours on the internet and when DS (20 months) naps in the afternoon I use the time to relax

Enjoy your baby and let the place look a mess until they are old enough for you to have more time or more money for a cleaner !!

I only iron the kids' clothes - the adults' clothes are sent out every couple of weeks at £20 for 50 items. it is the best money I have ever spent. The rest of the place gets a kiss and a promise.

I big up what an evil destroyer my DS is to everyone so that I have an exscuse for never doing any housework. Works great

I'm so glad I'm not the only one struggling. I get up in the morning and feel like I don't stop all day - cooking, cleaning, ironing, tending to DS's needs. Work part-time too. Then DH comes home from work and yells at me that I've been sitting around all day doing nothing whilst he's been hard at work, that I'm lazy. When I work at the weekends and DH looks after DS, I come home and then have to cook, clean, iron, etc. whilst DH is still sat on the sofa infront of the TV!

I needed that moan

I do one room a day, then at least everything gets a once over throughout the week without it building up. That and dh and I are quite tidy. Will be interesting to see if I can still write this in a few months when dd is walking. The other thing is I could not live without a toy box - just throw it all in at the end of dd day.

I find it extremely difficult to keep on top of the housework with one toddler of almost 3 who doesn't just get two or three toys out but all of them, one boy of 12 who thinks that all things belong on the floor and who is computer mad and one husband who thinks that things put themselves away. I find it a constant battle to keep the house clean and tidy.

I know exactly what you mean girlchick. I also work part-time and my other job is keeping the house tidy and clean and looking after everyone in the house. It feels like I have two jobs sometimes. You certainly don't deserve to be shouted at. Sounds like you are doing a great job to me. Don't put up with that.