I hold my hands up and say we are awful at tidying. We both get things out and dint put them back or drop things where we are…like a couple of bloomin teenagers!
We try to do the basics every day - tidy living/dining room, wash up & wipe down, sweep kitchen, washing on etc, and vac every other day ( unless Im sewing then try to every day as I get thread everywhere)

That will take an hour, and then ten mins to mess back up :p
Its silly really, as I hate a mess and cant relax, but never seem to keep on top of it

Frankly for me the problem is I’m a daydream cleaner - I’ll sit staring into space thinkinga bout what needs doing..and before I know it, half hour or so has passed.  So yeah, takes me a while to get cleaning done cos I hate it so much…......... even tho I know the sooner I get on, the quicker it’s done….. alas, it makes no difference I still daydream.

And I need to sort out what I do have and get rid of what’s no longer used or needed, so there is space for stuff.  Bookshelves are groaning, kitchen cupboards, under stair cupboard full of rubbish that needs sorting out and space clearing.  Upstairs, I’ve still go the camping stuff from the merican sat in my bedroom, cos 1. I am not tall enough to get to the loft and I do not have step ladders that are sufficiently tall, 2. anywhere else the stuff could go (under bed, in airing cupboard, top of build in warddrobe….. is full of stuff.  Stuff that I never use and really needs sorting and getting rid of.

3.  There is no storage in this house though, and shelving is none existant, and as the rooms are so small; book shelves just use up valuable floor space.

I know if I cleared the place a bit, it would be easier to keep tidy - oh and get the dishwasher fixed.  A friend gave me hers; but the top sprayer has come off and I have no idea how to get the damn thing back on..so it’s unuseable..and I am quite stunned how much of a difference the dishwasher did make to the tidyness of the kitchen! 

Add in things like….... no proper hall way, so when coming in from muddy walks, it gets tramped straight into the lounge, the laminate gets wet and dirty.  The playroom is also my lounge and dinning room… and it is a very small room.. in which there is only room for a 2 seater sofa admist the toyshelves, easel, play kitchen and book shelves…......... and the small dinning table that doubles as a craft table too.  So I need to sweep after every craft session, after every meal and snack and every time the kids go out and come back indoors.

And bear in mind I do need to keep the house reasonably tidy because the minded childrens’ parents often come into my house during pick ups… so you knwo I don’t want them coming into a house that looks like a pigsty.  My home is a workplace too, and as such needs to reflect that.

I did have a cleaner and I did give her up because I found I was spending an age tidying so she could clean… didn’t feel like ther was a great deal of difference..as before I tidy just I cleaned as I went along too….... and with the steamer it’s not a big job to add on…......although I’m realising she did save me some time; and she was doing jobs I don’t often get around to.

Right anyway, gotta go, Rye has come down looking a bit scared, the heating is on and is making groaning and bumping noises and Rye is insistent there are monsters upstairs banging on the doors.  Bless him.

Sarie, I commend you, it is not easy with little one’s and a sick hubby.  As you know I have chronic long term health problems and with the multiple disabilites in the house, plus home schooling I asked my neighbour would she come and clean for me and I would pay her.  She comes ever Monday morning for four hours and works right through the house.  I regularly do the bath, loo and kitchen and sweep in between her visits, as well daily tidying and laundry.  She is quite literally a God send!!

When I’ve tried to do on my own, I found “Fly Lady” invaluable, she breaks tasks down into small increments and her motto was an hour a day, that’s all.

Hope this helps and big hugs to you.

San xx

Well, typical day for me involves dropping Harryoff atschool and taking Oliver to playgroup.  When oliver and I come home, he goes off to play while I striaghten the kitchen , do the dishwasher, and straighten the living room.  Then lunch, Oliver goes for a nap and I study till he wakes up, about half two, although recently I’ve been taking an hour’s nap myself.  Then we get up, have a drink/snack, go and pick Harry up.  We do some kind of activity together, than I make dinner.  After dinner is supposed to be tidy up time in the playroom, but harry has been such a challenge recently I’ve given up and it has just been left for a couple of weeks, though its actually not that bad in there.  So we tend to just crash in front of the tv/laptop at that point.  6pm is bedtime, then I run round and do mad tidying before DH comeds home, empty the dishwasher and stack it again, the do some ironing or some studying.

Hard floors downstairs,which get swept maybe once a week, more if particularly bad, hoover upstairs once every couple of weeks, same with dusting.  harry likes polishing but has to be watched like a hawk - last week he used an entire can of spray on polish and the duster was dripping!  Washng and ironing done when needed, two or three times a week, change beds, ooh, really bad on this one, maybe once a month?  bathrooms cleaned probably once a month.  I really am terrible!

Problem is, my house is really big and open plan downstairs, whcih sounds great, but just means there is more places to get messy - by the time I’ve tidied the house which can take a couple of hours, I am way too knackered to start cleaning, and by the next day, its a tip again!  I tried doing the one room a day thing, but I like it better when I do the whole thing in one go, so i can sit down and think It’s fininshed!

I go through stages where i don’t mind the mess, then other stages where it drives me mad.  I try to do an abridged version of flylady (don’t join up unless you literally want to spend all day reading emails!!!).  Anyway the bits I’m trying to do is the home blessing hour which you do once a week and basically its empty bins, hoover whole house but not moving any furniture, change beds and some other bits and bobs.  She suggests you have a quick wipeing routine for bathroom everyday (I don’t I’m afraid!) and the same with kitchen then she has a zone a week and there is a mission in that zone each day which should take 15 mins!

http://www.flylady.net/c/lp.php

If you go into sneak peak for the week you will see the mission for each day but she does say only do this if your house is decluttered, if it is still cluttered (mine is!) then to use your 15 mins in that zone just to declutter each day until you get things how you want them.  This is what I’m trying to do and so far so good, it takes the remembering out of it and as you return to each zone (room) once a month everything gets a good cleaning every month as well as the important places kitchen/bathroom etc get kept hygenically clean as well

BeckW - 07 December 2011 06:48 PM

Yep we only vacuum once a week. It is minging by the end of the week LOL! Full clean of our house would take at least all day I reckon. Ours is a bit bigger than yours but I still think to properly clean a house takes a day. However due to HE kids ours is a tip as I never get anything done! If I’ve stuck the washing on, everyone’s fed and clean and I’ve fed the cat I think I’m doing well I try and tell myself that you’ll never lie on your death bed wishing you’d dusted more

Beck xxxxxxxxxxx

Sarie i agree with Beck .

I clean as and when i have the time and can be bothered i used to clean everyday and run around like a headless chicken but i was wasting my time because as soon as i did one room then moved onto another the kids had trashed the previous room , so the as i said i just do it as and when and bit by bit .