Tell Cif how has your home changed since having children? £250 voucher prize draw NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Cif have asked to find out if Mumsnetters have changed their homes since having children.

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."

So, have you changed your home since having children? Have you rearranged it to keep more valuable breakables out of reach? Have you rearranged your living spaces to make room for their toys? Or perhaps you have you stopped buying more expensive furniture in fear of your child spilling their drink on it? Maybe it has been a more gradual and unintentional change?

Whatever it is, we would love to hear about how your home has changed since having children.

Everyone who adds their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

[telsa]

It is unrecognisable. My most precious things are up high, but several of them are broken anyway. There is plastic clutter everywhere. All cupboards are full to bursting. We had to give up one of our studies for a bedroom. Now the other must go, which means it is impossible to work fro home, apart from with a laptop in the living room. We always had 1000s of books, now we have a massive children's collection too. Just have to live amongst the mess and hope we can find a path to the door each day.

[Chulita]

I have no precious things on display and we recently got rid of all the chairs in the living room except the sofa and bought a few soft play items instead. With the winters being so cold and wet, we'd rather have a messy house but happy children than a tidy house with frustrated children. At some point in the distant future (probably around the same time I get a full night's sleep) I'll keep the living room tidy again but until then, let chaos reign!

[Brandnewmamma]

It's only early days but my once cream, minimalist home now filled with a nikki tippitoes gym, bouncer.. The cd in the played teaches you where your nose is. When I run out of shower gel, baby bath will do!

It is happier though.. Full of visitors and cute baby clothes.

Once baby is up and about I am going to high wall storage to display my stuff or it could be a disaster!

[Tikkamasala]

Breakable out of reach, definitely! Also agree with the never ending laundry basket...

[KeemaNaanAndCurryOn]

To put it plainly, its a shit pit.
It used to be so lovely
Fingerprints everywhere. Sticky stuff. Crumbs. Its a losing battle.

[AndHarry]

Most of our dining room is given over to space for the children's toys. We've tried to keep our sitting room as a more grown up space but inevitably there's some creepage. My sofas are looking rather battered as various things have been spilled on them and DS likes to use the cushions for acrobatics or to build bear caves.

There seem to be toys everywhere. Yesterday I did have a mini strop and relocated all the toys I found in my bedroom into the children's rooms. I don't like having no adult space but it's a losing battle: every time I have a sort-out and take boot-loads of toys and clothes to a charity shop it seems that yet more 'stuff' comes flooding in.

[SometimesIAmABirdbrain]

Where do i even start?!

Pre-children, my house was tidy, all the furniture was bought because I liked it and thought it looked good in my house, and not necessarily practical. I love white and this was reflected in my decor. Everything had its place and space was plentiful.

Fast forward to now and I am in despair. 4 young DCs and because I spend a fortune on a full time nanny, i cant really justify a cleaner so I spend ages doing housework. I ebayed all my collectibles and others bits to free up space, most of my furniture is dark as as not to show up stains and i weep if i look at my carpet, thinking of all the spilt food etc. my lounge has been taken over by the children's toys and i have to adjust my expectations of tidiness drastically.

That said, i do think i do a good job of keeping the house relatively presentable and I know that when the DCs are older, i will regain some of my house back - i think..

[Pinklilies24]

I never realised how much stuff comes with having a baby! Every space in my living room and kitchen is now taken up with baby things. I also have learnt that even though my ds is only 21 weeks he seems to make so much mess. It baffles me how!

Finding toys in random places is also another hazard. Rattles in the bathroom, packet of baby wipes under my pillow, bottle lids everywhere! The list is endless! All good fun though

[Dancealot]

I love our post-children home. Before children it was very tidy, clean and quite minimalistic. Now there are lots of toys, lots more colour and many more finger marks! We are still tidy though and have lots of storage for toys in our lounge and their bedrooms. Everything gets tidied away every night, ready to be pulled out again the next day.

[LittleBallOfFur]

We had to get rid of our coffee table when DS started climbing (when he was about 1 year old), and our living room is now half playroom with toy cupboards, kitchen and train track permanently out (it only goes away when I hoover and then comes straight back out!). There seem to be dirty marks on the carpet ALL THE TIME, sometimes juice, sometimes weetabix, sometimes miscellaneous muck.

We're buying our first proper home at the moment and hoping to move in early next year, and being 'child-friendly' is at the top of our house requirements. The conservatory will become a playroom, we'll put down wipe clean floors where we can and have a lot of work to do to make the garden safe (fill in pond and make steps less precarious!).

It has been a gradual change, but I can't remember what it was like having a home that wasn't touched by children, and I wouldn't want it any other way :)

[Kipsy]

Our house is actually cleaner than it was pre-kids!
Yes, more cluttered maybe, but cleaner.
We now have slip-covered sofas, children's art displayed in every room, toys in every room, step-stools everywhere, all unused plug points covered, no water-filled vases, no candles, 10 times more children's books and DVDs than adult, safer non-bio organic cleaning agents, more thorough cleaning of kitchens and bathrooms, professional cleaning, tidier gardens, swings etc in the garden, laundry drying all day everyday, washing loads consisting entirely of pink items

[DifferentNow]

The change has been gradual but I suppose I've just become a bit less precious about my home in general.

I have less 'stuff' than I might if I didn't have children because I can't bear clutter and there's enough of that with all the children's things.

It also looks a bit shabbier than I would like as I am putting off things like redecorating and replacing large items like the sofa until my littlest one is a bit bigger and less likely to spill things/draw/wee etc on it.

[sapfu]

Dear Cif,

you now have a stupid name and should still be called Jif.

That is all.

Yours sulkily,

Mrs UnableToMoveWithTheTiimes

[MrsCakesPremonition]

sapfu - you are right. It is one of the reasons I don't buy Cif. I don't buy Snickers either.

[MrsCakesPremonition]

Or Starburst.

[sapfu]

MrsCakes I applaud you. And seriously, I don't buy Jif because they spell it wrongly on the bottle, and if they can't spell it, how do I know they can make it, HOW? I do, however, buy own brand lemon flavoured scratchy cleaner goop because it does work, but I will not have this so called 'cif' in my home.

Cif.
As if.

[MrsCakesPremonition]

I feel like I should pronounce Cif with an EU accent. .

I still struggle with BT being BT and not British Telecom.

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

Lots more toys - more storage (mostly ikea) to store them.

Now they are at school we have lots more stuff arriving home on a daily basis - letters, models, pictures etc which tends to just accumulate in places

I make sure that the kitchen and bathrooms are clean and tidy - due to the obvious hygiene issues but the rest of the house certainly is more cluttered than it was pre-dc. Cleanliness-wise I hope standards have remained the same.

[justmuddlingalong]

Clean and tidy round at night, daily toy explosion, clean and tidy round at night ...ad infinitum

[itsnothingoriginal]

We bought a house which needs updating but we're 'living' with the tired decor until the kids get to a point that drinks don't get spilled every 5 mins and crayon will hopefully be on paper and not the walls!

My DH has OCD so having kids with all the mess and clutter this engenders has been a challenge. We get through A LOT of kitchen wipes in our house - it just about keeps DH sane!

[michelleblane]

I've always been fairly relaxed about the state of the house. Being on a farm I'm used to muddy wellies and paw prints everywhere. The addition of children brought masses of toys, washing, nappies, mats, bibs, clothes, crayons, books paper.
I had good sturdy boxes in each room that toys could easily be piled into. I tried to train the children by making a game of putting crayons and pencils back in the container and tidying toys. (partly successful). I found that a little handheld vac was brilliant. It meant without cetting out the main hoover/dyson, I could quickly get rid of crumbs and spills. It was always charged. I didn't have stair gates and cupboard locks and other child safety gadgets. I was just very careful to show my little ones what was safe and what was not!. Some friends spent all the time sterilising their children's toys and all surfaces, making me feel really bad about my standards........their children always seemed to have coughs, colds of sticking inhalers up their noses or worrying about their nut allergies. I'm pleased to say my children are as healthy as anything so a bit of dirt didn't hurt!

[joanofarchitrave]

I'm a lot tidier than I was pre-children; the knee-deep piles of clothes I used to wade through fairly cheerfully and the washing up left to the weekend had to change or we would all have drowned. I now WOTH full-time and my husband is a SAHP. He is a good systems chap so the house just functions better, there is far more of 'a place for everything' even if we aren't quite at 'and everything in its place'.

I just wish I'd known how badly Calpol stains before I utterly ruined ds's bedroom carpet. He's never forgiven me for ripping it up.

[rowingdowntheriver]

It's noisier, messier, busier and more fun!

[LaVitaBellissima]

I have to say I am so glad we have a leather sofa, at least it is easy to clean. Having spent a lot of time lately potty training, I am also very happy that we have wooden floors, otherwise I think we would of had some large expenses coming up!

The never ending washing and ironing gets me down though