Secrets of Naturally Tidy People

[Seabird]

Calling all naturally tidy people - pleease give me some tips! My house is always such a mess. It seems to me that this is inevitable with 2 under-2s, but everyone else's houses always seem to be tidy. How do they do it????

The children are at my mum's this weekend and I spent 3 hours blitzing the kitchen but I know that within minutes of their return it will be back to its usual state. My sitting room is full of piles of papers to deal with, mail order catalogues I'm intending to find time to look through etc - what does everyone else do with these? (Look at them immediately they arrive? If I tidy them into a pile I never find them again.)

The weird things is that when I worked as a lawyer my office was always immaculate! (I'm now a SAHM.)

Do I need a System??

I will be sooo grateful if anyone can help!

I say potty, steady on !

Hmm, I don't think that I can count on being tidy. But am ROFL at the mumfor1sttime's description. I'd like to see the post in a couple of years - oh for the days when the boys a) stayed on their bedroom floor whilst I cleared up, or b) had daytime naps which I could use for housework (or mumsnet, same difference). If you spend 1.5/2 hours a day tidying when the baby isn't yet toddling, how long will it take when they're pulling the house apart?

No offence intended, just remember those days with some fondness. My next spare 2 hours will come in January when ds2 starts pre-school.

But I find that now the house is vaguely tidy, i actually spend more time doing fun things with the kids. When it was a shit heap, I just felt too bad tempered and depressed about it being a shit-heap, to do anything fun in it. Now that it's tidy, I can actually cope with the idea of sitting down and watching a video/ playing with playdo/ making cards and crap, because it's not yet more mess on top of mess, it's manageable. For me, it's about being in control of my environment, and in the past when I lived in a domestic wreck for 20 years, I invariably felt out of control and unable to relax in my home. Now I feel I can - and spend quality time with kids because ironically, i'm not always vainly trying to tidy up!

secrets of tidy people: if you open any of their cupboards everything will fall on your head

LOL hatstand, that is also true (in my case).

In the case of naturally tidy people, all the contents of the cupboards will have been stacked neatly and logged. There will be a list of contents, with a shelf guide like parking guides (A1, A2, etc.) and a use by date.

So why is it that I called on my immaculately tidy friend unexpectedly today and offered to babysit for 30 mins while she popped to Asda, sneaked a look in her cupboards and nothing dropped on my head, it all looked as if it had been catalogued! Also there was no sign of that ellusive pile of post!!!! Yes I know I shouldn't but despite my pleas for tips on how she does it she doesn't give an inch . And yes I have tried hard in the past but found I got back-ache from the constant picking up and the children got a very cross mummy who just kept having a go at them for making a mess and I didn't have time to pick up a book or do any play-dough stuff etc. Baking a cake with them turns the kitchen into an extra cleaning job followed by all the other rooms that then need cleaning/tidying up while I was cleaning up the kitchen and then to top it all, we had to have quick junk for tea as it was so late! So to all you tidy people, can't you go on reality tv and let us see just how you do it for real?! not having a go at you really, just amazed and still dismayed!

Sorry Calligula, I'm not sure that is "naturally tidy", more in the region of "suffering from a Bree-type mental disorder". The actress was a counsellor, so I bet she had plenty of material to work form!

LM, I model myself on Bree!

No I'm not joking. It was during desperate housewives on Wednesday nights when I first began to make real inroads into getting a tidy house. It used to inspire me - in the ad breaks, I'd tidy up.

That woman has been my salvation.

Well that's well and truly blown my mental picture of you, Caligula

Mine too! I occasionally have my Bree face on and am always surprised and annoyed when i catch sight of myself in a mirror or shop window and I'm not her!

I am afraid I think that you have some way to go, Caligula, though I applaud your efforts and am very flattered at your emulation of me. I must add that I am rather shocked that so many of you on this site do not have systems for cleaning your homes.

ROFL.

Please come and teach me, O great one!

I tried flylady, but misplaced the timer about 4 months ago and still have not found it. Hence the mess...

I have been wondering for some time... who's Bree?????

Easy - true about the deathbed, unless you die of food poisoning from an untidied fridge?

I'm a complete slut. It's not good. I agree with Caligula that an untidy house tugs at your mental wellbeing and leaves you a bit frazzled, plus you have to spend more time looking for things.

My dh is full of good advice as he's very tidy - but he doesn't clean at all. When i first moved in I nearly puked at the state of the bathroom. I'd rather have a bit of mess but know that the loo has been bleached, basin wiped, fridge door handle cleaned etc.

But re tidiness, his basic principle is to put things back after you use them. It does help quite a bit. However I mentally list all the occasions when he doesn't do it

MaloryTowers - this will come back to bite you in the bum when he gets married and wants to show his bride his school paintings!

School paintings and drawings are a pita, aren't they? If they're nice, they go on the wall, and if they're not, they hang about on the table for about a day, then get removed subtly so he forgets about them. Then they get put in the re-cycling!

gosh, malorytowers, i have kept every scribble and drawing DD has done since she was born. i couldn't possibly throw any of it.

Seabird, I'm just the same as you! a while ago I actually printed off all of Flylady's routines etc and then just put them in the pile in the kitchen. I have a pile in every room that never shrinks (papers, letters, catalogues etc). Other people don't seem to have piles in their houses, yet my house is being taken over by piles.

My tips (fwiw):

1. Don't iron
2. Have a separate basket for everyone's laundry that it goes into straight from the washing machine. Twice a week I put it away.
3. In the evening, before bed, unload the dishwasher, get the breakfast things ready, puff up the sofas and generally clear away. Then you come down to a less depressing scene.
4. In the morning after your shower bring down a load of washing with you.

oh and buy a bigger house with more storage in.

(happy birthday btw )

I hate a mess, my house always has to stay clean. Friends with only two kids are amazed at it, but I can't live in a mess, I get incredibly stressed and grumpy and so does dp.

My tips are:

1. Put toys out of reach!! No nice organised system will stay organised if young children can get at it. All our toys are in bags in a very big box. Only one or two bags come out at a time, and it all gets streamlined every 3 mnths or so.
2. I do all my cookign one day at the weekend, and refrigerate/freeze meals for the week. That way I get more time during the week to do other stuff, plus the kitchen gets cleaned after the cooking and stays clean for the week.
3. Give up using the dishwasher. It is either full of dirty or clean dishes, far easier to wash up as u go.
4. Make sure the kids clean up after themselves No breakfast til beds made, no tea til toys tidy, etc.
5. Never go out until the house is tidy. When I get home I have far more other things to do rather than tidy up, so it has to be doen b4 I leave the house.
6. Wipes for glass, furniture, bathroom, kitchen. A quick wipe done takes no time, and if it is doen little and often it doesn't get dirty enough to need any more. I can dust in ten minutes by dashign around with one of those disposable duster things and then some glass wipes.
7. Laundry - keep on top of it, I empty the machine and put the next lot in straightaway, then get it allr eadyto turn on as soon as the first lot dry, keep it cycling constantly. ironing does have to be done, but I do it as soon as the basket is full.
8. Teach children that not everythign they see is theirs to touch. It shocks me that soem of my friends kids ahve no concept of adult things and think they can touch and play with everythign they set their eyes on. Plus sometimes, their parents think it its ok too.
9. Keep the lounge an adult area. We have baby stuff in here during the day, but in the eve it is all kicked out and becomes our place to relax and forget abt the kids for a few hours. That way the children haven't completely taken over the house and I can enjoy my home too.

Please can I clarify one point?

An untidy house isn't necessarily a dirty house. I think we're c lean enough, surfaces aren't sticky, carpets aren't all fluffy, our windows are transparent.

We're just disorganised, we're not total sluts

Slinks off, muttering about getting food poisoning from an untidy fridge, humph humph.

I don't get though how you can clean without tidying.

Hear lots of people say that they are clean but not tidy. I'm probably the opposite.