How has having children impacted on the cleanliness in your home? Share your stories with Cif to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Cif have asked us to find out whether having children has had an impact on your family's cleaning habits.

Here's what Cif have to say: "We all know that children see the home as a playground, and playgrounds get dirty. But we also understand how difficult it can be to clean up after your child, so we want to help make that process as easy as possible."

Do you and your DP/DH (if applicable) find yourselves doing more cleaning since you've had children? Or less? How have things changed post children in this regard? Do you find yourself looking for the anti-bac cleaning products now or were you always partial to this type of product? If your home gets cleaned more now, is it more likely to be a quick clean here and there to tidy up after teatime etc? Or is it do regular deep cleans as well/instead? Are you now more likely to look for quick convenience products like wipes? Or – has nothing changed?!

We'd love to hear your views. Everyone who adds their comments to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher.

Please note your comments may be used by CIF on their pages on MN and possibly elsewhere (anon of course) please only add your comment if you’re happy with this.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

I have a cleaner who recommends cif! She cleans. I just try to cope in between.

We defiantly deep clean in fits and starts, but I think we always did this anyway even before DS came along! We are however VERY tidy, always have been which has been hard with a small LO to get used to! Always have a tidy round before bed, before leaving the house for the day etc, and always clean and tidy the house, do washing etc before going away from home for the weekend or a holiday (HATE coming come to piles of washing and dirty bathroom or kitchen). We have a small 3 storey house so keep a cleaning kit on each floor for convenience. LOVE wipes- soooo convenient! Wipes, bleach and anti-bac surface spray are the main components of my cleaning arsenal!

since having children.... oh my. so much more cleaning to do, much less time to do it in.

i used to buy jif [old gimmer] but had to swap to supermarket own brand...

am i allowed to lie on the floor and tantrum about the name change from jif?

I never had to clean the walls before kids. Why the chuff do they have to drag their grubby hands along the walls? Up and down the bloody stairs.

And sticky door handles. Have to clean/disinfect door handles now.

I'm not even remotely bothered about anti bac products (esp as my DH has a massive conspiracy theory about excessive use of anti bac products being the reason there are so many children with allergies these days) but the major post children difference is how often I have to sweep the kitchen floor. I feel like bloody Cinderella some times. Oh and using baby wipes to clean all manner of marks off the sofa. Baby wipes are amazing. As long as you try not to think about what they are doing to your baby's skin if they have that effect on the furniture...

it needs a lot more cleaning now as the kids make so much mess, so before once throughly cleaned it would stay nice for few days, now it needs doing more than once a day

Having children means loos need cleaning much more often. I do keep an anti-bacterial spray handy next to the loos. Bath, shower all need cleaning more often too because we're a larger family unit and both my dc's play football most weekends and get v muddy.
Untidiness can become overwhelming unless good habits are re-inforced (everyone puts dirty clothes in washbasket, shoes put in one place, coats/jacket hung up etc).

The house as a whole is not cleaner due to the time pressures that children bring.

The kitchen, however, is much cleaner after DS had campylobacter last year even though it was almost impossible to have come from our home.

Especially now DC2 is weaning I've been scrupulous about keeping work tops clean, fridge shelves clean and tidying visible mess away to facilitate that. It does mean some late night cleaning but I'd hate to give either child food poisoning.

With a baby who takes tiny naps I am definitely more likely to reach for the wipes. I would say I am more likely to clean now, although it's harder. Particularly vacuuming- trying to find that magic window when baby is awake, not hungry and someone else is free to watch her while I do it, is no easy thing!

Having children has led to a bigger messier house. It has also led to hiring a cleaner once a week. It just helps us get on top of things like the kitchen, loo, vacuuming and that sort of thing. I don't vacuum otherwise unless there's a giant mess as we both work full time.

Oh and I use the antibacterial wipes to clean tables, floors etcetc where necessary. Not the cheapest perhaps but the easiest.

Argh
The handprints. The crumbs. The dinner smeared over table and chair. The extra washing. The bits all over floor. The stuff left lying everywhere. ..children definitely mean more mess and dirt.

My boyfriend doesn't understand why I spend so much time cleaning. He will once we live together!

I use cif cream cleaner to clean bathroom and the kitchen sink. Also on window frames and some of the handprints

Baby wipes, useful for all manner of cleaning jobs, not just for wiping babies!
Cleaning tends to be quick 5 minute jobs that are fit in around things, laundry is done when toddler on the loo, bathroom gets cleaned whilst kids are in the bath etc.
some things are done more frequently like vacuuming, more crumbs trailing around, bath cleaning as it gets used more than the shower. Some things are more neglected since having kids like windows, oven, dusting, ironing.
Time for just the essentials really!

Before DC2 arrived DH would do a clean on Saturday morning and i would do small maintenance cleans as and when. Now DC2 is here we've decided to get a cleaner so we can have more family time together at the weekend as well as more "own" time in the evenings as DH felt he never had time to relax. W both work ft out of the house though so time is precious. We get a deep clean once a week, use a roomba to maintain the floors several times a week and just do maintenance cleans of the bathroom/kitchen if really needed. It's so much cleaner, and easier to keep clean now.

The house is not only cleaner but also tidier since having children, strangely enough. Luckily DS1 takes after DH so is happy to tidy his toys away, and having two small children encourages me to tidy my stuff away more to avoid it being fiddled with.

We use the same cleaning materials that we've always used though, and don't bother with anti-bacterial stuff. I'm of the opinion that a bit of grubbiness is good for your immune system

Yes, nothing on earth would get me to use the antibacterial stuff. I'm seriously worried about the effect the use of it is having. Our house is messier and dirtier since having kids. I haven't started using any new products though-same stuff as before, barring some heavy duty clothes cleaning routines.

We are not an entirely house-proud family although the bathroom and kitchen are cleaned daily. It's just difficult finding the time and motivation for major cleaning when it's all undone in a trice....

We have two cats and I do find that now that the children are getting older and less messy (in some ways), the cats have just stepped into the mess-making void. For a start there's always loads of fur/fluff floating around on the wooden floors. Our 'toddler' cat is also a climber so there's always surfaces to clean.

I never use antibacterial stuff - it will cause the demise of the effectiveness of antibiotics for sure.

Our DCs are very healthy without ever having had to resort to such measures (and I've never discouraged them from picking up dropped food from the floor!). I'm pretty sure it's because I've never resorted to over-fastidiousness that they are so robust.

As an aside, I'm sure I've read somewhere that researchers consider that one of the reasons for the rise in childhood leukemia is correlated with over-clean household growing-up environments.

Do you and your DP/DH (if applicable) find yourselves doing more cleaning since you've had children? Or less? How have things changed post children in this regard?

Even less cleaning I am afraid. In between nappy changes/milk feeds/winding/nursery pick ups there isn't much time left for cleaning. Its more fire-fighting the ever increasing tide of untidyness/cleaning..

Do you find yourself looking for the anti-bac cleaning products now or were you always partial to this type of product?

I'm always partial to anti-bacterial products. 2 for the price of 1 really..

If your home gets cleaned more now, is it more likely to be a quick clean here and there to tidy up after teatime etc? Or is it do regular deep cleans as well/instead?

Less, quick cleans these days.

Are you now more likely to look for quick convenience products like wipes? Or – has nothing changed?!

I use more wipes in the kitchen but still use CIF cream for the bathrooms as they need a more intensive clean.

I've been thinking about this since having seen the start of the thread. There I was thinking, wow I'm a bad Mum who actually cleans less than before I was a Mum. But do I? Having thought about it and watched my habits over the last week I think actually it is jsut the way i clean that has changed. Previously I was able to spend a couple of hours every weekend cleaning the house top to bottom, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning windows etc but this is jsut not possible with an 18 month old when you work full time as weekends are precious. So when do I clean now?

I started to notice I do little cleans. Whislt DD is eating I buzz around the kitchen and clear the dishes, clean the sink, oven hob etc. I'll quickly brush the floor of the kitchen whilst she's busy with a satsuma. Whilst she's splashing in the bath I quickly grab a bathroom wipe and do the floor or around the toilet. DH will lend a hand and quickly run a vacuum round bits whilst I am playing with DD or vice versa.

So no perhaps my house is perhaps not as sparkly clean on a permanent basis as my cleaning obsessed pre-Mum self liked to achieve but the main bits are kept tidy and cleaned more frequently probably. I also try and remember the words from the poem "Dust if you must". A little dust here and there hurts no-one but not spending the precious minutes I have with DD after work and at weekends I can't get back if I spend them doing housework instead.

I would say that the house gets dirty more quickly because there are more of us and obviously there are specific things (like the high chair or the bathroom stool) to clean which weren't there before but I wouldn't say that I am more concerned about cleanliness or choose different products to before just because of having children.

Definitely more cleaning - sticky fingers prints on the TV/tables/mirrors/everywhere.

Food in the carpet/on the floor.

I tend to use anti-bacterial wipes for everything now as everything goes in her mouth or gets fiddled with!

When my son was a baby I was very much into all the antibac products that you can buy but as he has got older and more disgusting with his habits (3.5yo) I have become a bit more relaxed! I still clean as well as I ever did but I am not so over the top about germs.

I care much more about the state of my house since becoming a step-mother. It's partly a hygiene thing - it's easier for me to feel assured that I can get rid of D&V bugs if I can sterlize the house quickly. It's also easier for me to say I did everything I could to prevent asthma/hayfever in children if the house is relatively dust- and damp-free. DH and I are a lot more relaxed about day-to-day tidying during the weeks DSD is away with her own mom. Our tidiness has been picking up again the closer I get to my due date.

I am always looking for cleaning shortcuts and have a bunch of tips saved to a Pinterest page. My latest experiment is using a Dishmatic sponge in the shower with a mixture of washing up liquid and white vinegar. I buy vinegar by the jarful to use for cleaning - I'm under the impression that it's much safer to use in pregnancy than a lot of chemicals and bleach. I also buy a lot of "plant-based" cleaners, like Method, which probably have just as many chemicals as the standard stuff, tbh, but they smell nice and the Squirt and Mop floor cleaner is really easy to use.

We use stuff like Cif cream for really heavy-duty jobs - the last one was sterilizing the kitchen sink - but we try not to use stuff like that on a regular basis. I've had asthma since childhood, so minimizing asthmagens in the air is always on my mind a bit. There is a bit of a balancing act between combating germs/damp/mildew and keeping the air relatively free of harsh chemicals.

Since having children, our house is now alot cleaner as I am more organised and have a good routine, although it is untidier than it was before as it is now a family home :) :)

I've become more immune to mess.

Actually, the house is messier, but cleaner. When DD started to crawl we invested in a fancy mop. Now we have sticky fingers exploring we tend to wipe down all surfaces including cupboard doors with anti-bacterial. The bathroom is a lot cleaner as we are more thorough with deep cleaning.

Yet there is more clutter and stuff everywhere!

we do SO much more laundry (used to do one whites and one darks wash a week - now we do two washes a day!). Some things take less priority these days like dusting and vacuuming, whilst other things are higher priority like keeping toilets, sinks, kitchen, highchairs etc really clean and germ free!

I worry less about how messy the house looks as long as the key areas are hygienically clean.