I'm in that place again where my house is a mess and I can't get on top of it. I've been trying the trigger memory system books that give a checklist for your main areas so your kids can help you. It works if I'm home all day, but otherwise we have trouble getting it all done. How do you do it? Do you get up super early in the morning or stay up late to finish your work? *sigh* Lately baby has been teething and I'm not getting anything done past 8pm, because he's so fussy. Someone tell me it gets better!
I know what you mean. The only advice I can give is not to worry about it too much. Your kids are little and demand attention right now so just enjoy them You could try to make a list of things that are priority and concentrate on getting one thing done. Two loads of laundry one day may be all you can get done. Saturday you may be able to clean the bathrooms. Sunday change the sheets. Toys and papers can be tossed into baskets and pushed out of sight. Don't try to make too many things a priority! Even though my kids are older, I still do this. We just got over being sick for 3 weeks. My house right now is a mess. I am so behind. I made a priority list and am concentrating on getting 'caught up' a little at a time. Its easy to get overwhelmed, especially for us. We have so many demands on our time.
I think it is important to remember that your family lives in your house. It will never be perfect. A list is fine but completing the list is something else, especially when the children are young. Perhaps you can pick one of their favorite songs and play it loud. Make it a fun song and allow them to be silly as they clean. While the music is playing, have the kids run around grabbing and putting away whatever they are able to take care of for their age. When the song is complete, then so is cleaning. It makes it fun. This way they are doing it at a set time and you are able to oversee the cleaning. You can do this a couple times a day. Do not pick to much as to what they pick up as long as they are cleaning. At their age, the main point is to get them cleaning. A little cleanup is better than no cleanup. They are still young but the older two are old enough to take on a little more than toy pick up. Perhaps a colorful cleaning rag that they get to cut out of a certain fabric or a cloth that they get to pick out at the store. When the music starts, they can dance around as they swipe the dust on furniture that isn't too complex to reach. It would make it more fun if you get silly with them! :lol:
For me I can't cook if my kitchen is dirty, and I am grossed out if the bathrooms are dirty. So for me those two areas of my home get cleaned or straightened up every day, which does not take very long. But the rest of the house I do as need. I vacume once a week, and mop my floors once a week. My daughter is also responsible for cleaning her room and the play room about once a week unless they get really bad But I also try not to worry to much if the house isn't perfect. Spending time with your children is more important then a clean house. So relax and enjoy the time that you have with them.
I have often wondered over the years how working moms get anything done. If I am away from the house more than 1 day in a week, it messes up my schedule. I always feel behind, and I'm not a neat freak. When my kids were small, I made my bedroom a priority. I kept it picked up and the bed made and the door closed. Kids were not in there. It was my reminder that I was not a total failure at cleaning my house. Now I try to keep things picked up, but don't dust, vacuum and mop very often. Even with teenagers, I still find it difficult at times, especially since I'm babysitting again. And, I get to send the baby home and have weekends off. Don't stress about it. Do you really want your kids biggest memories to be of you cleaning the house?
That's pretty much how I am. The kids are all responsible for a "big clean" (vacuum, dust, make sure everything is put away) of their rooms once a week. I dust mop the floors every morning, because we have 2 cats. I do laundry every other day (mostly). We fold it and stack it in piles on my bed as it gets done. We put it all away just before bedtime. I tried once a week laundry and it stressed me out to have so many dirty clothes. My kids are all old enough to help out, so that helps a lot! We have busy times when we just have to let things go. Last weekend, we had a four-day swim meet (Th-Sun), with two sessions each day. We were home just long enough to grab meals and sleep (not enough of that!). Monday, the house was terrible, but today we are getting it back together. My DH works from home, and though he's not really here often, our house is kind of a base for the employees DH supervises. They stop by for paperwork or other things. It forces me to be neater than I've been in the past. I don't stress if it isn't perfect--as long as we don't look like an episode of "Hoarders".
just do what you can do. Have the young ones help with the light work like picking up toys and all. Put music on dance too and they can help away. But, remember tomorrow is another day and there will always be something to do.
** sigh ** Baby is teething, house is a mess, feel like all I do is clean, but the house still looks aweful. DH drops hints about clutter. ugh! The public schoolers here are taking a 2 week spring break. I think I will too, so I can get caught up on house things!
All I can say is today I came on here thinking of posting something exactly like your post. I have not had any patience and feel like crying. I feel like I am just completely overwhelmed and will never get caught up. And I too have a teething 11 mo old who is constantly whining and crying and wanting to be held. Then the other two get whiney too in order to get my attention. Even my dh gets whiney and needy! So I just wanted to say that I feel your pain. I am always overwhelmed and behind. Sometimes I am just able to handle it better (emotionally speaking).
((hugs)) I'm with you! I know we'll get through this stage, and really the baby will settle down again in the next month or two, our lives will find some sort of balance again... Today has actually been a better day here. Baby slept a little more today, and I got the kitchen floor actually mopped up today. (tried to wipe up a juice spill 3 days ago, but it was still sticky until this morning!) Let's hope the trend toward better days continues!
My home is a mess, it's part of having kids and actually living here (as opposed to homes where the occupants are away all day with school/work/etc.). I do what I can in a day and leave the rest. There'll be plenty of time to be house proud when the kids leave home. Until then if anybody has a problem with the state of my home they're welcome to tidy/clean whatever is offending them
After my last post my hubby took the kids for a day so I could get housework done. I only got the lounge, hall, bathroom, girls room and half the laundry and kitchen done. I think I go into too much detail when cleaning. My poor hubby has learnt not to drop hints or comments :lol: He likes things clean and tidy but if the housework were left solely to him we'd feature on filth files and horders :shock:
okay here is my secret and the teens actually complain because I do it before they get up lol But I get up when dh goes to work, drag myself out of bed some days or lay there thinking of what I have to do then get up. I start the coffee I pray, and read, then check for lost dishes in family room. I start the dishwasher, I go back for a cup of coffee and chat with God some more about my day then at 7 I am or have already started vaccuming the family room, then some days swiff the floors too. The kids get the bathroom because that is thier mess. If yours are really little they can take out the trash, and wipe counters, my kids loved to wipe out the sink and tub when they were little cause it meant water play. Then you mop or swiff after they are done so the water is not all over lol For me now with older teen/young adult ages I give them chores to do but its pretty much thier own stuff they take care of. My ds who is still home schooling is here more to help so he does floors, bath and dishes not always on the same day lol I keep the front of the house up and worry about the bathrooms later.
Your style reminds me a bit of the flylady style. Always be working on something - putting things away on the way to do something, wipe it, sweep it etc. I think I need a cross btw flylady and trigger memory systems. I've been doing better this week, but it's not easy. Maybe that's my problem... I'm expecting it to suddenly get easy! :lol: Not going to happen, is it?!?
My husband and I split up into Shifts. Some people think that we both work at the same places because we are always saying, "Can you cover my shift for me tonight while I go to Mom and Dad's." or something like that. I get the morning shift. I take care of tidying, caring for the kids, and laundry. I used to have a "morning 5" which was just 5 things I had to do when I got up like start the laundry, put away the dishes in teh dishwasher, etc. When my husband got home it immediatly turns into "his shift" where he tidy's up after the kids go to bed, load the dirty dishes and turns the dish washer on, vaccuums (usually this is the 2nd or 3 vaccuuming for the day). The kids like to get involved, alot. My oldest likes to vaccuum, and patryk really likes to swiffer. The baby is learning to pick up toys too. The kids work well when I put on a cleaning song on the computer. that's their cue to get to it! lol
