NOPE!! My kids have chores that help ease some of the workload around here but there is never enough time in the day to get it all done. Schoolwork is more important. Last year I wouldn't do school until the house was clean and we would end up starting our lessons later in the afternoon. That didn't work for us so then I tried to make sure that it was clean at night. That lasted for awhile but there's always something going on to get into the way. So this year we don't care what the house looks like as long as the diningroom table is clean and the kitchen counters are wiped down with no dishes on them. I try to vacuum in the morning and make sure the kitchen floor is swept and mopped before the kids get up. There is always a pile of stuff on one of the couches because I pick up all the odds and ends and try to keep it in one place until we have a chance sometime during the day to put it all away. We take about 30 minutes to clean up after lunch then get back to work. If you were to visit my house on the weekend you would think we were nasty pigs because I would rather spend time with my family than have a clean house. Actually, that's when we get most of our company so I wonder what they think of us...This next week is our off week (we school 3 weeks on,off 1) so we are going to work on getting the kids rooms organized in the mornings and then play in the afternoon. Hopefully I'll have it done by Wednesday and I'll start working on the rest of the house.. I already warned my husband that the house was going to be a mess when he came home this next week. In all actuality it usually is anyhow,but he don't know that because when 5 pm comes around it's time for the mad dash to get the house looking somewhat clean so he "thinks" I have it all under controll. LOL.. My question is... Does your car look like your house?? Mine is NEVER clean!!! And that is more embarrassing than having an unexpected house guest to me..
I try to keep it "presentable" or within a 10 minute hurry up and straighten up. Most of the time it is ok to be honest. But during certain times of the year - nope....not happening. Like canning season - I had a ton of different ones all going on during the same time so the kitchen was a wreck. Now - we were away last week - so stuff we brought back is piled. But it should be back in somewhat of an order later today. Bathrooms are my biggest pet peeve..... I dislike dirty bathrooms - so I at least try to keep all those clean. DH does his own laundry - and so does DS. DS's problem is that he doesn't put it away once he's done. DH - well he'll sometimes try and help me catch up with laundry - but then leaves it all in the baskets and won't put anything away. That bugs me because if I still have to do 1/2 the work then it's not helping really because I didn't have TIME to do it in the first place. DD's room - tornado room - plain and simple. We are TRYING to clear out her room because it is her turn to get her room painted and we want to get her new furniture (double bed, real dresser, etc) and DH won't do it until the room is clean. I'm debating a rake - but honestly it's just finding the time. And she does need a bigger dresser - she is such a girl about clothes and has a ton no matter how many we donate.... Still opting for a maid though.... with 2 dogs in the house we have a lot of dog hair which really bugs me as well. Can't wait until they put down the new hardwood floors in our family room this year! So much easier in my opinion than carpet!!
no clean house here either. I just try to get it clean enough that I'm not totally embarrassed by company coming by, lol.
I declare a sisterhood of honest women here. I love hearing that you are all human like me. Some day my house might be clean and everything in it's place, but I am afraid it will be a very lonely, empty home when that happens because I don't think it will happen while my kids are still living at home. My grandmother made me a sampler when my oldest was a baby. It said, "Cooking and cleaning can wait till tomorrow, because babies grow up much to our sorrow, so quite down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep." I live by that. I just substitute "rocking" with teaching, playing with, reading to, enjoying, or whatever we are doing.
I have penciled in time to clean the house next week. Honestly, I hate a messy house but there are only so many hours in a day and I am already working at least 14 of them every single day. But next week I will have a break from the website and my job as farm inspector. This week I have 35 inspections to do and it involves an overnight trip, so complete waste of a week. Next week I have ducks being delivered so maybe I can clean the barn too...(wishful thinking!)... But my bathroom and the school room (well OK and my office) are the only rooms that are horrible. Next week...I will have time! :lol: My son's bathroom got cleaned last week (by him and I was out of town) and my daughter cleaned the kitchen, so at least those parts are doing alright.
No clean house here... I was just wondering how you all keep up, I opened up HSS and there it was My question. I am so glad you asked. At least now I know I am not the only one with a messy house. I do have the girls help a lot. I just was looking around thinking I need to pull out the furniture and get rid of all the dust bunnies behind them and in the corners. I don't know when that will get done. I also need to go pick my corn and tomatoes and can them. Oh well we do what we can in a day and keep plugging along. Right??
My house is a complete mess! I don't take and/or have time to clean it thoroughly all the time. I keep up with laundry, garbage, dishes and grocery shopping. Deep cleaning or pick up only gets done once in a while. I need to expect more out of my kids. They tend to make a mess with toys all over and just leave them there. My house is so bad I hope and pray no one unexpectedly comes over. About my car....my van is fairly clean...we have a few crumbles from granola bars and cereal, a telephone book, an old newspaper, two pair of sunglasses and two books. Oh ya...we do have sand from the beach still in the trunk area. My van never gets as messy as my house probably because I bring in stuff from the car and pile it on the junk counter and on top of the microwave.
I seriously need a maid. Today. Ever since I canned peaches about a month ago it seems that my house has gotten out of control! It didn't help when my dh came home with all the curriculum from work and it filled the living room. I still have boxes laying around, and now we have papers from coloring, cheerios from the kids feeding the baby on the floor (please don't' judge me...the floor was cleaner than her highchair at the moment , pens, markers, crayons, clothes (4 yo decided the living room is her personal changing area). The kitchen is a whole other mess that nearly scares me every time I look at it. I told my dh yesterday that it would be easier to move and leave everything behind rather than clean the mess! Some times I can actually keep the house clean for a whole 2 hours...of course that is when the kids are gone. I have just come to realize that a messy house is part of having a family of 7. Even with chores done, it still looks messy sometimes. I am just glad that I have such close friends that when they come over and see the mess I don't care and they don't judge me at all for the messiness.
It sure s nice to know I am not the only one with a messy house And my van is just as bad as the house, maybe worse, LOL.
Oh, heck no! I wish my house was spotless and could pass a white glove test but it will never happen. My older girls do chores they switch chores every friday so one will be responsible for emptying the dishwasher and putting away the clean pots and pans that I hand washed, take out the garbage (kitchen and both bathrooms) and sweep both bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room. The other one will clean up the living room and my ds picks up his toys and then they vacuum and keep the hall bathroom clean. Each of the girls will keep their shelf neat and straightened up and they are responsible for their rooms and their laundry. I wash my laundry, towels and my ds laundry and dh does his own. He also does the grocery shopping since he's in "town" and has the car. I text him the list and do almost all of the cooking. I'm good if people stop by unexpectedly if the kitchen is pretty clean and the floors are vacuumed my son's toys could be strung all over the place but as long as those two things are happening for me I don't care how people see our house, I live here not them.
I love your grandma's quote. I think I'll add it to my signature on emails and boards where I can have a signature. not sure I can have one here yet... my house is a mess. I try to attack a room each day plus the kitchen every day. I keep coming up with schemes to get everything done but they don't last long. and I don't even REALLY homeschool yet. I'm just an internet addict.
I haven't read the thread....but my house is often messy and the laundry behind. I used to be better at this but with 3 kids I homeschool and one one year old I chase...things are crazy. Oh and did I mention I like to be online more than clean? LOL.
We have a chore chart and we all need to work it or it gets scary FAST. They are laminated and at the end of each week the kids get a bit of allowance based on what got done. that being said the guys often do other things that aren"t on the chart if asked, it just goes with being part of the family. I ahhh.... need to go do the lunch dishes it's almost 5 here
We all clean for 15 minutes before storytime at night. If it doesn't get done then it stays that way. Our apartment is never completely clean, but it is amazing how much we can get done when all five of us are racing the timer.
My car is worse than the house. I HATE having the grocery bagger carry out the groceries. If I have all my kids with me we carry them out ourselves. Last night it was just me and my daughter and we had way too much for the two of us to carry so I had to allow the bagger to help. When I opened the back hatch the plastic Easter eggs, that we bought from a yard sale, came pouring out. I stood in embarrassement as the young bagger ran all over the parking lot collecting them for me. SO EMBARRASSING!! And THEN when I went to shut the hatch a baseball bat go in the way and I had to have my daughter climb in the back to move all the junk so I could shut the door. I seriously need to clean this thing. The front part of it is ok. Needs to be vacuumed but that's about it. The back for some reason always has stuff in it.
Oh, don't get me started on the cars! We can't open a door without something falling out. My daughter has at least 2 pairs of shoes and 20 BRATZ dolls in there, just for beginners. lol.
I tell ya what - I'll give away a free course from my website to anyone who can guess how many Diet Pepsi cans I have sitting on my desk right now...LOL...:lol: It isn't as bad as it could be...my personal best was 12...I Tweeted about that and you could not believe how many ladies relplied...I think they had messy desks too - but all of them said I was the worst. Liars. :wink:
There is a woman in my church/neighborhood who homeschools with two kids (7 and 13) whose house is immaculate. According to her, she's ADD, and she has her closet organized not only by color and type, but -I kid you not - by size. Her skirts hang by size and color, her blouses are organized by sleeve length. And she puts her shoes in boxes with pictures of the shoes on the outside. ?!?! She makes me feel like a positive failure if I don't remind myself not to compare. But it's so nice to know I'm not the only messy-housed homeschooler. I think I'm going to email this to my husband, who thinks that the house should always be immaculate. Of course, he's on the road all the time, so he has a skewed view of life. I have some girls from church come over each morning before school for a class I teach, so the family room gets cleaned up every night. We run the dishwasher at night before bed, and it must be emptied before I let anyone eat breakfast. Then everyone is under strict orders to put their dishes away or suffer the wrath of MOM. LOL. My 6 and 8 yo are under orders to do a quick cleanup of the upstairs and downstairs bathroom each morning, also before breakfast, a la Flylady. They don't do a great job, but it keeps it moderately presentable, especially with four boys. They also have their own laundry responsibilities; my oldest two are supposed to put their own clothes in the washer, I usually switch them, and then they fold and put them away. My 4 yo DS puts his in, and I fold them, and he puts them away, usually with help. They have their own days, and I told them if it doesn't get in, then they don't get clean clothes for the week, sorry. (Monday is sheets & towels, Tues girls clothes, Weds boys clothes, Thurs my darks [and towels again], Fri my lights, and Sat my husband's work clothes. I throw them first thing in the morning and usually have them dry by lunchtime.) All of that keeps up with the general day-to-day garbage. The kids' rooms look awful, and my bathroom could use some help. The kitchen, eh.
