Any other mums fed up with mess and constant cleaning?

[poshsinglemum]

It is constant.

DD is adorable but i am drained by the constant mess;

Crumbs on the carpet after ever meal and snacks.

Piles of dirty laundry and no drier.

Washing up as tend to cook from scratch.

Mould on window sills.

Nappy bin always seems full. Ditto rubbish bins.

Also dd goes in rubbish bin and pulls out plastic bottles, tea bags etc.

Finger prints on sofa.

Bathroom.

The house never sems to stay tidy,

Is this normal and how can i keep on top of it? I've no man to help out

Feel free to add your own gripes.

Yes. Except the man makes more mess. Particularly washing up. He also offers to do DIY which pre-baby I'd probably just have got on with myself or paid someone to do. Obviously the constant drugery and lack of income means nothing gets done at all now.

So the mess is nicely set-off against a background of piles of books on the floors, bare bulbs, pictures waiting to be put up, half painted rooms and the nasty blue carpet that was in here when we moved in.

I deal with this by being selectively blind. And not inviting people round.

No snacks near the sofa. Sit at kitchen table.

Only 2 boxes of toys downstairs at any one time. Rotate them.

Make them clean up after themselves as soon as they possibly can.

I hear you, i've got a dog as well as 2.5 ds so add in dog hair, muddy foortprints and the occasional accident to clear up in the morning, it's like having 2 kids!

I tidy and clean the sitting room daily to ensure that there is one room which is not ready to be condemned, which makes me feel a tiny bit better.

2.9 yo DD has to help put toys away at about ten to 6, and then the electronic babysitter telly goes on for half an hour while I tidy round before bath. Quick hoover after she's gone up and I'm done.

Do not talk to me about the rest of the house though. I lock myself in the sitting room with the laptop and ignore the mould elsewhere.

We have a lot of mess, but I do have an absolute rule of no food anywhere but sitting at the table, except apples now that the dcs are old enough not to smear/ forget about them.

Makes a lot of difference; food mess is the worst

My main problem is that we have NO DINING ROOM! Therefore we have to eat in the lounge. I put a wipe clean mat down but still. And we have a lovely three piece suite that was cream.

Oh - live in tiny home it's a tip -thanks to horribly sexist dh rather than ds. It's reasonable clean and to get it that way I get to bed post midnight - but not worth it as dh says it's a tip always -so perhaps he'll cover his nose when sneezing - put his clothes is washing basket rather than floor, put his fag ash in ashtray rather than floor (i Blame mil) aim for toilet bowl etc. - I don't care anymore - ds has my attention and shit - there's a toy car on the floor.

Do you care? My dh does but as he's the mess merchant hso e needs to change! Have fun - dont be a slave.

Giveitago, I can only imagine he must be a stallion in the bedroom because he sounds a bit useless otherwise - why do you put up with it? My dp is no saint when it comes to the housework but if he pissed all over the bathroom floor or dropped fag ash everywhere he'd be out on his ear!

PMSL at the vaseline and muffin incident James'Banana.

I spent 45 minutes making the kids a cup of chai tonight only to watch my oldest DS (9) simply let go of his full mug splattering the contexnts, which included milk and honey, into my gorgeous if a little tatty Persian rug.

Almost nightly I clean toothpaste pictures from the shower room mirror, wee puddles from the floor and the seat and bin place in storage a constant stream of art works each day. I shovel lego back into its basket and pick up shoes and coats every time I walk through the hall. If ever I get the chance to sit on the sofa I have to pick all the cushions from the sitting room floor and put them back first.

There's always sticky bits on chairs, tables and door handles as well as the grubby tide mark which is visible on every wall.

All of this means I can't even start on the dirty window frames which need a good scrub not to mention the glass itself.

OMG the work is endless and yet so deeply unsatisfying as the results are so transient.

Sorry. Bit bleak!

Erm .... there's great stuff as well about having kids. Or something.

yup
it's soul-destroying

ok slight exaggeration
but it's BORING

I particularly hate meal-time mess and the endless endless washing

pmsl Spidermama! Apart from meal-time mess, there's also the endless menu planning and catering, a bit like being a cook in the army!

THIS is why I only had one DC.
I am appallingly bad at house keeping type stuff, but I do my best.

We have been known to tidy up singing,
"there is so much mess, there is so much so much mess
And when tomorrow comes, we can do it all again.
And it really doesn't matter if you clean the floor
'cause when tomorrow comes we will just make more"
especially post-wine...

I have phases of being really on top of giving them all jobs to do. And it is better then. Quite good at the moment - after dinner they ask what their job is. One takes plates through, one wipes table, one sweeps crumbs from under table.

I don't use it as a way of earning pocket money or anything - they do it because they are part of the family. I always thank them for helping.

dd1(8) recently went through a phase of not wanting to help as it "wasn't appreciated" apparently. Can I use that one?

Then I relax and they get out of the way of doing it. I need to be more consistent.

We do have a big basket in the hall for shoes. And gues whose shoes are always in the living room - dh's of course.

I've started letting dd1 make eggs or pancakes for breakfast at the weekend and the 2 younger ones wash the dishes afterwards, amid lots of splashing.

I sooooo identify with everyone here. [repeatedly banging head against wall emoticon].

But how come everyone else's house is so much tidier than mine...????????

Oh yes... there ALWAYS something to do/clean. But hey housework is never completely done.. kids or no kids. Kids just make it worse! A thankless task that seems never ending!

I find making lists of the odd jobs helps. Then when I get time (haha) I can pick something to tackle. Or hand it to DH at the weekend and say Pick something!

I was chatting to a friend about this the other day and we both agreed that as long as it tidy/clean at a glance then its fine. Ie My friend didnt notice the finger prints on the patio doors/ the bit of unpainted skirting board in the kitchen.
She also pointed out some of her "Things to do" which I too hadnt noticed.

Ive resigned myself to a bit of mess/toys everywhere. DD is 16mths and we have another due in May so its only going to get worse!!