Can you teach yourself how to be a 'neat freak'?

[Lisa]

That's why I think I'm not a neat freak! My mum was/is one. Housework day was Saturdays when I was growing up and it ALWAYS resulted in hours of tears for my siblings and myself. As soon as the vacuum came out she transformed into a 'cleaning monster' red eyes and all!! We all had particular jobs to do (rostered) and she'd watch over us yelling and screaming that we weren't doing it properly. She'd deliberately mess things up, tip out our toy boxes etc if we hadn't cleaned to her satisfaction and make us start again. She scarred me for life

Now her housework day is Sunday and we ALL stay away! Even my kids won't go there on Sundays. She hasn't changed

Sorry to take over your thread Stevie

OMG Tinks, I think we share a mother!

My mum was IDENTICAL to your's when I was growing up. My sister became a neat freak... me, not so much.

I set myself goals throughout the day. Eg - I will go to the shops after I have vaccumed the house & put on a load of washing. I also have a to do list written up over breakfast every day which I love to cross off as I do things. I find having it in writing, sitting there staring me in the face is incentive for me. I also try to do lots of small things each day and the bigger things on weekends when DH & the older kids are here to help out.

[littlebear]

Well what worked for me was being pregnant. While I was nesting I cleaned the whole house. I mean the WHOLE house, you name it, it was cleaned. But I found after having everything clean, it was much easier to just clean the things that got dirty like the bathrooms, kitchen, floors etc. because it felt like it was only a little thing to do.

My main motivator is my state of mind. I start feeling stressed and overwhelmed if the house starts getting messy! Tidying when I'm upset helps me feel better, it sort of feels like i'm "cleaning my mind"

I clean when DS is sleeping, and I sort of do it in a routine, start with dishes and then pick one other thing per day, so dishes & floors, or dishes & washing etc. That way I have time to get everything done because it's spread throughout the week.

Just do little bits at a time and work out what suits you!

[~Kim~]

I have to say Rory put it perfectly

My main motivator is my state of mind. I start feeling stressed and overwhelmed if the house starts getting messy! Tidying when I'm upset helps me feel better, it sort of feels like i'm "cleaning my mind"

and that's exactly me.

Like at night when I do a quick tidy and the kitchen's clean.....feels nicer to relax IYKWIM? It's then my time - a time when there is nothing else that needs to be done.

[tattoo_mama]

i know the answer....
i was the messiest person EVER and when my grandma passed i lived in her villa until my folks sold it....my grandma was the cleaest person ever and mum and dad think i got possessed by her cause since living there im a clean freak too!
PMSL that probably didnt help but if anyone wants to spend a night at my grandmas and see if it works?

[Pinny-mum]

My main motivator is my state of mind. I start feeling stressed and overwhelmed if the house starts getting messy! Tidying when I'm upset helps me feel better, it sort of feels like i'm "cleaning my mind"!

Me too! I feel realy frazzled when the house is messy!

My MIL is a neat freak and after 12 years I have strated to get some good tips from her, the only thing that I can not get into a good routine is ironing, I do all our clothes the night before, I just can't think of anything worse than doing 3 or 4 days worth.. Anyone have any tips???

[tattoo_mama]

oh and Stevie....best investment if you have a pet and wooden floors/lino....
Sabco super swish wet/dry mop with the orange removable pads...iut has a fluffy pad for dry floors and a towel type one for wet, washable etc, when me and DD lived with a guy who had a fluffy german shepard it was a lifesaver! i got mine at kmart or big w was about $40 HTH

[New Dawn]

God how I hate to clean, I am so lazy, but I have been this way all my life and cant see it changing, drives BHL up the wall at time but he soon gets over it ( while he is doing the cleaning lol ) at least at the moment BHL realises that you could spend all day cleaning then the little monsters are picked up from school and you wouldnt even know it ever was clean...

All my friends and Family can see the difference between a me clean and a BHL clean... he just has a nack, and who am I to ruin that for him... clean your heart out baby...

[~MummaBear~]

i will be back in here to read some posts lol i need to clean my house!

[~Hestia~]

Pre DS I was such a slob!! Even being pregnant I NEVER got an urge to nest & I really was relying on it lol.
Now that I'm at home with DS I cannot STAND mess. I get really anxious if I feel like the "walls are closing in on me" so to speak, it's much easier to just keep the place clean than feel all worked up about it.
Things that I've found to help me: I never leave a room empty handed, I ALWAYS pick up at least one thing to take with me & put away. Doesn't matter how clean the house is there is always something lying around - usually due to DH
I do at least one load of washing per day, when DS was a newborn I took so long to put the washing away he'd actually grown out of the clothes!! So now I will not put on a load of washing unless the last load is put away. I HAVE to do more washing so therefore the previous load must be dealt with, though sometimes I'll put it away when the next load is going
As others have said I'm great at doing more than one thing at a time. If I'm making a toasted sandwich I'll tidy up the kitchen bench while I'm waiting for it to cook. If the kettle is boiling I'll put the dishes away etc etc.
I have a cordless/speaker phone so I often bring in the washing, put washing away, do the dishes, go get the mail, feed the pets while having long phone conversations/on hold.
I have a huge kitchen bench that can very quickly get covered in mail & other junk. A wire basket sits on the bench & we throw stuff in there instead. I'm usually the one to go through it regularly & deal with whatever is in there, another one of those kettle boiling jobs!!
I keep the bathrooms really clean so it's easy as to give them a quick going over. Though they were both recently renovated so have never really been dirty lol.
It's awful getting up to a sink full of dirty dishes at 6am so dishes are always done before going to bed. Actually now that DS is on solids I have to do them frequently throughout the day or I run out of clean bowls & spoons for him!!
DH is starting to get better, picks up after himself alot more than he used to. He'll also do washing & the floors whereas pre DS he rarely did!! Though he works 12 hour shifts, so I don't expect him to do much day to day.

Wow reading over all that I really do sound like a real neat freak

[thepixie]

Great thread Stevie.... I wish I could become a neat freak... I would love a clean house but I just find cleaning and housework so unsatisfying... for the time it takes nothing ever really seems clean enough IYKWIM. Also we haven't really got our place completely sorted out since moving in last year - we still have a couple of unpacked boxes floating around, lots of baby stuff to sell/ give away and the storage room downstairs scary.
Anyway... hoping for some magic tips!

[sconeonamission]

subscribing - need some tips!

[fionas]

I'm a bit better than I used to be - it's the state of mind thing for me too. I don't like the mess and don't like seeing surfaces covered.

But it did take me a while to move from being peed off about it to working out that it wouldn't clear itself. I know that seems obvious but beforehand I could just look at mess and huff and puff.

Now, my new motto is, it won't get clean if you don't clean it.

[Lulu]

The two tidiest people I know have absolutely NO clutter.Everything has a place.

I'm working hard to declutter a little at a time, it's certainly not easy but I look at it like eating an elephant - one piece at a time.