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Tidy/houseproud mums-please tell me your secrets/routines.

121 replies

Mirage · 18/01/2005 19:16

Hi,I have a 16month dd & am 20 wks pregnant with our 2nd baby.I have never been a particularly tidy person,but did begin to make a real effort once dd arrived,due to all the extra clutter/baby stuff that accumulates.

Sadly,it isn't working & when baby appears I'm going to be in worse straits than ever.I've met some really nice mums at toddler groups ect & would love to be able to invite them around for coffee without doing a huge clean up 1st.Our house is quite spacious but always seems cluttered & untidy compared to other peoples.I seem to spend every spare minute cleaning,washing ect,but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

What am I doing wrong.Do any of you organised tidy mums have any tips for keeping the mess at bay? I really am quite clueless.

OP posts:
MistressMary · 18/01/2005 21:46

Cooking time is saved by owning an electric steamer and a slow cooker.

morningpaper · 18/01/2005 21:47

(OMG I'm being sucked in to this thread while a report I need to finish tonight is lying abandoned....)

Here's my Routine For The Crazy:

Rule1 - Always go to bed with house immaculate, or else be unable to sleep (Princess and Pea phenomena).
Rule2 - Have similarly anally-retentive husband.

DD is 2.

On waking: Fold back duvet to air, open bedroom window.
Go downstairs:
Make fresh juice, wash and clean juicer.
Eat breakfast, wash and clean bowl and tea cup.
(DH does most of morning stuff with dd and cleans up after her)
Upstairs, undress in bedroom, leave jimjams on pillow, make bed.
Shower, cleaning bathroom as I go.
Put used flannels on radiator to dry (when dry, goes in laundry basket).
Get dressed, go downstairs taking laundry for the day (although DH does most of the laundry tbh).
Put on laundry.
Clean up any remaining breakfast things if SH not already done this.
Wipe all surfaces in kitchen in case a splash might defile one of them.
Tidy sofa cushions.
Get dd ready for the day.
We usually go out in the morning so the house remains UNDEFILED.
When we get back, put coats on hooks, shoes in right place, pram under stairs and all things on pram e.g. shopping removed to their rightful place.
Make lunch with dd - usually soup and sandwiches.

DD naps and I do crossword, or nap. I plan dinner and take anything out of the freezer if needed.

Afternoons dd likes to play at home - we often do craft stuff. If we do, she will spent 20 minutes at the sink afterwards 'washing up' our paint brushes etc. Whilst she is thus entertained, I clear the craft stuff proper.

Around 5pm I hoover and put on dinner while dd plays or watches telly (although this has stopped since Cbeebies put on 'Something Special' and she developed a not-very-pc phobia about sign-language.) She also helps here e.g. mixing things - she has a few recipes she can almost do by herself now, if I prepare everything for her. She grinds spices, washes veg, that sort of thing. She lays table.

DH returns at 6 to dinner. DH usually takes the washing out of the machine in tip-lipped horror at the thought that I have left it in the washing machine all day.

DH washes up then bathes DD while I do more hoovering.

Thursday afternoons is my full-on housecleaning day. I try to do each room while dd naps. I wash all the floors and do all the dusting.

In the evenings we often both work (ahem, like me now) or watch telly together on Fridays and weekends.

This post is boring ME so I hope no one else has read it.

janeybops · 18/01/2005 21:47

Having a dh who is untidier than you defintitely doesn't help things. However, not sure if I would like a really tidy one. Would make me feel guilty!

janeybops · 18/01/2005 21:49

so you hoover every day?

morningpaper · 18/01/2005 21:49

Janey: gasp only SLUTS don't hoover every day.

Harrysmom · 18/01/2005 21:52

Things seem to "fall off" my DP as he walks through the house. ie, old newspapers and magazines, mugs, plates, the odd sock, jeans and t shirts draped over anything static!! and so on.

MistressMary · 18/01/2005 21:53

I thougt sluts brushed the crumbs onto the floor? Hehe
Gawd I must have a reputation to uphold now.

janeybops · 18/01/2005 21:56

Must be a slut then. Oh dear.....

MistressMary · 18/01/2005 21:57

Me too. A nice slut though.

morningpaper · 18/01/2005 21:59
Grin
lowcalCOD · 18/01/2005 22:02

morning paper - how many kids ad how old?

Caligula · 18/01/2005 22:02

MP, I can't work out if your routine is reality or fantasy!

I aspire to such a routine, but like a Buddhist and Nirvana, know I'm unlikely to get there in this life!

Peckarollover · 18/01/2005 22:04

She has 1 DD age 2

I ASPIRE to have a routine like that - at the moment I just feel like Im shovelling snow when its still snowing

lowcalCOD · 18/01/2005 22:05

hahahahahahah
(coddy laughs)

you wait till she gets bigger!!!

JanH · 18/01/2005 22:07

mp, how do you feel about hoovering less than once a week?

lowcalCOD · 18/01/2005 22:08

janh
you are incomparabel- you haev lodads of kids whoa re up all day!

morningpaper · 18/01/2005 22:09

lowcal SHUT UP. I am busy cultivating anal habits in DD so she will also be obsessive for the rest of her life. When she spills stuff she cleans it up. Today she dropped a chess set and sat and spent 10 minutes picking all the pieces up and then put it away. She will be crazy too evil cackle

And we are TTC no. 2.

Bear in mind though that DH is as anal as me, and does as much as I do around the house.

He is not gay or even camp, before you ask.

morningpaper · 18/01/2005 22:09

Jan: shudder

JanH · 18/01/2005 22:10

"Thursday afternoons is my full-on housecleaning day." Oh please excuse me while I cackle. When I have a rush of blood to the head about once every 4 or 5 weeks is my full-on housecleaning day...mp, please come and be my housekeeper!

lowcalCOD · 18/01/2005 22:11

yes well, all will change = thats all I will say.

she'll drop her sleep tantruma and trash

a nd you will learn to love life without a hoover

CarrieG · 18/01/2005 22:11

Nick your mum's copy of 'Superwoman' by Shirley Conran!

morningpaper · 18/01/2005 22:11

See, clean people are just OBSESSED about dirt, so we are nervous wrecks all the time.

It's because our HEADS are so messed up - there's the need to impose external order to prevent or repress internal disorder.

Carla · 18/01/2005 22:11

Decided lounge finally had to be hoovered today. Threw all scattered toys into the toybox so I could actually get to the carpet, then gave it a 5 min once-over.

Collected dds from school. DD2 walked into the lounge, turned to me with a look of amazement and in all seriousness said "Mummy! You've had a spring clean!"

morningpaper · 18/01/2005 22:13

When she has tamtrums I pick her up and shut her in her room. She does it VERY rarely. Today she spent 40 minutes reading the INDEX CATALOGUE.

I'm basically your average mother circa 1890.

lowcalCOD · 18/01/2005 22:14

she is 2?
hmmm

think thats over the top

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