How do you hold it all together?

[diyqueen]

The house is a tip, the garden's a jungle, velcro-baby-15mo-dd won't be detached from me for a second and is a dreadful sleeper at the mo, I've just read the 'frumpy' thread and yup that's me...

Those of you who have small toddlers and are still organised, how do you do it? I've never been the most tidy or organised (and it probably doesn't help that while dd's napping here I am on Mumsnet again with a cup of tea....)

I don't know but if you find out the secret then please let me in on it

I have big plans for when DS starts a) consistently sleeping well and b) entertaining himself for longer than 5 minutes at a time. The house is going to be immaculate, I am going to lose a stone, the tax return is going to get filled in on time (possibly early). I might even stay up past 10pm to achieve some of these feats. Until then, I'm just happy if the bathroom and kitchen are clean and tidy at least once a day and none of our clothes have wheetabix on them.

I'd love to know and my DD isn't even a year yet. however, one of my friends has started using a website thingy to keep her organised. It's American and called "Home blessing" or something. She says it's a bit touchy feely for her, but gives you good advice. Some of the things it has suggested to her are:

When you get up, get dressed straight away, including your shoes (don't know how this works if you have a shower first thing) and then make your bed.

Always shine and polish your kitchen sink last thing at night. Apparently this makes you less likely to clutter it up with dirty dishes.

Set a timer and de clutter one room/area a day. The timer should be set of ten mins.

every morning wipe your bathroom basin and toilet with anti bac wipes and put toilet cleaner in your toilet, so it will always seem freshly cleaned.

There are other ones as well, these are just the ones I remember. They all make sense and when I tried it I must say things seemed a little more tidy and organized. However, I lost motivation after a few days and have never regained it. Hey ho!

Watching with interest... DS is 17 months and his sleep has dramatically improved over the past couple of months. The house is still a tip though, and I have no energy whatsoever. Don't get me started on the garden...I think I am just lazy

Mermaid, shine and polish your kitchen sink daily Really?!

It's quite easy to be honest, as you said... it doesn't help that you're sat on here 'again' with a cuppa if there are things that really need to be sorted out. We're all quick to complain we don't have time to do anything, but think nothing of wasting an hour online/watching TV.

And that's not a dig at you, I'm guilty of the same at times right now. It's tough getting things done, but you just have to find a way to stay on top of it all and prioritise things because otherwise it just gets too much and you end up in the position you're in now.

Little and often is my motto.

Your friend is talking about Flylady. It's actually a pretty good site, with excellent tips for getting in a routine. I find some of it a bit twee and but it did help me for a bit.

Now I just let it slide and do the bare minimum! The most useful tip I have is to do short bursts - 10-15 minutes of really working your backside off is more effective than an hour of slowly and half-heartedly cleaning. With little ones, constantly tidying is soul destroying so as long as the house is basically clean, I can make my peace with the untidyness. Though at times the place is still appalling

I will have no excuse once DS2 starts school in September and fully intend to be a domestic goddess and leave behind all my slatternly ways - HA!

Tootired, apparently so! I did try it for a while and I think it did make a bit of a difference. It took less than two mins, but I just lost the motivation.

That's it! Flylady! I must say, it did sound like good advice. Do you use it? What tips have you found most useful. I'm going back to work soon, so I'm hoping to try to become more efficient with house stuff.

I do a few things that help:

First time I go to the loo after dd gets up, I straighten it, wipe surfaces, bleach loo, refold towels, sweep it.

First time i go back into the bedroom in the morning I make the bed, pick up dirty clothes, etc.

As soon as I get a chance to unloaf the washing machine I refill it there and then with dirty laundry. With my laundry I do loads by person, not colour. So as soon as dds basket is full, in it goes to wash. ditto mine and dhs. towels and teatowels are reused until I get a spare washing machine cycle then all get chucked in together.

Baby plays on my bed while I dress and plays in her cot if I need to shower though I try to shower at night once shes in bed.

While dinner is cooking I clean lunch stuff, then use water for dinner stuff too.

Always fill and turn on washing machine before bed.

My house isnt immaculate but would be worse if I didnt do the abovr.

You prioritise!

I have dd1, nearly 6 and special needs; dd2 who is 3 and ds who is 6 months with reflux and food intolerances.

My house is beyond messy - it is utterly depressing how much mess and clutter there is, as well as washed clothes waiting to be put away, etc. My priorities are: the children need to be clothed and fed every day and dd1 needs to be deposited at, and collected, from school on time (or as close to it as possible!) EVERYTHING ELSE is a bonus. This includes cleaning, tidying, brushing my hair (!) laundry, toddler groups, grocery shopping.

If you strip it down to the bare essentials, it really is much easier - and when you have days on which you manage to do the washing AND hang it out, or empty the dishwasher in its entirety it feels like such an achievement!

And it DOES get easier as they get older... This too shall pass! If friends want to see an immaculate home, they can come in 4 years when my kids will all be at school full-time...

That said, I also:

• basically make the same meals each week - much easier to shop then
• do an online grocery shop while bf
• lay out everyone's clothes the night before
• use a slow cooker and make double or triple portions (some to freeze)
• clean the bathroom while ds is asleep and dd1 and dd2 are on the bath! I'm sure there are others...

There was a thread in AIBU a while back about this and it was an absolute inspiration to me! Might be worth a search...

Thank you, there are some good ideas here and I'll have a look at that website. Just in case anyone's thinking I'm a complete slattern, the basics do get covered - dd and I are clean and well fed, the laundry, washing up etc. are all done and the house is basically clean though untidy (heaps of clean laundry waiting to be sorted, toys and clutter everywhere, a year's worth of paperwork and receipts to sort through...). Short bursts is a good idea, I think I just look at it all and don't know where to start, seriously lacking in energy at the moment.

Right, off to do 10 minutes decluttering right now!

I do sometimes do the sink shining thing - the logic is that as the kitchen goes, so goes the rest of the house. When you have a sparkly clean sink, you then want to clean the area round it, so you clean the worktops then the rest of the kitchen, which gives you the impetus to do more.

I use a timer often to do short bursts of tidying.

I also find it's amazing what a difference ten mins immediately after getting up can make. Clean the loo, wipe round the bathroom, make the bed, hang up laundry/ put a load in... I find I'm either motivated to start the day like that or I drag my heels all day!

I was very organised and tidy when ds was a baby and toddler, much more so than I am now. Personally I think if I'd discovered MN back then my house would be a shit tip

Get baby to help you with chores. Give them clothes to chuck while you fold stuff. Same for hanging out washing - they can "help" - you let them run off with bits and rescue it later.

Buy some boxes so you can chuck their toys in and hide them behind the sofa or something at the end of the day so the place feels tidier.

Clean the bathroom during/after a shower. So I brush my teeth and clean sink, shower then clean the bath etc etc.

Hoovering - I used to get DS to help. He'd wave the attachments about. Now he's too scared of it but being older, I can leave him to it while I hover.

Our place is messy and cluttered but it's generally clean.

Well, it's going well, did some decluttering last night, and had a manic blitz of the garden today as dp was home and dd had a long nap as she's poorly. Feeling very chuffed with myself now - just got to keep it up...