Domestic Criminal

[Matryoshka]

TD I love cleaning too! but i just don't have time to do it, between my 1 & 3 year old i am flat out all day... i usually clean late at night but lately have been too exhausted so its reached tip status

I'm just wondering how others with 2 little ones find the time to clean when you are looking after your kids?? when my baby goes for a nap, my toddler wants to play games we can't play when the baby is up, and usually after that i sneak in some computer time.

DH has offered to get in a cleaner but i don't want it to have come to that. Just can't wait until my boys can play more independantly, and are not velcro baby & toddler.

[Marlene]

You change the linen weekly???

You're one step ahead of me, LOL.

[Nelle]

I think part of the prob is that you make so much more mess when you spend so much time at home, and it's too cold to get out as much as you might otherwise.

I think Lara's hit on it really. When it was just dh and I at work/uni, our house was significantly cleaner! But kids home during the day, are relentless. If you give my #2 a spare 5 minutes, he'll find a washing basket and take great delight in pulling things out and throwing them - and I sort of figure...well, that's a safe 10mins of entertainment for him, maybe that's 10min I can spend having a cuppa.

So I guess that's what we have to look forward to - warmer weather in the short term, and school in the longer term.

[Sweet Bliss]

I have decided that my lounge room is now the designated toy/junk room....it is messy within 5 minutes of it being sparking clean, and it has double doors I can shut, problem solved!!!

My bedroom is like a tip because it is the room closet to the front door...so everything get dumped in there! lol. Sometimes I even find the bed

And because our house is new and has a fair bit of storage space, it is easy to put all the mess in the cupboards and it looks pretty neat.....until you open the cupboard and it all falls out on your head

But then I have days like today where I actually managed to mop the floors (everything else is still messy, but the floors are sparkling!), and then I spent the rest of the day lying on the floor or the bed staring into the eyes of the most gorgeous little man in the whole world....he had me mesmerised, and his laugh and smile is infectious....he doesn't care if there are piles of washing to be folded or if the doona is on straight (or on the floor!). And this time next year he is probably not going to want to just lie next to me all day chatting and gooing and gaaaing, so I am going to enjoy it while I can!

[Matryoshka]

See our house is largely open plan, the open plan area consists of what we use as a family room/lounge/ play area, kitchen, dining and display area (shelving etc). We also have a study, formal lounge and the boys 2 bedrooms.

We've been talking about having the boys share a room and make the other room a play room, but i'm not sure it would get used?

[saslia]

You change the linen weekly???

You're one step ahead of me, LOL.

and me !!

[Mak]

If your DH offers the cleaner again - bite your tongue and say YES!!!
Seriously - take the pressure off yourself for a bit. I had completely underestimated the energy and time it would take to entertain and feed my 9mo and 3yo. I like things to be clean and neat but was wasting way too much precious time trying to acheive it only for Miss 3 to completely trash things in about 2.5seconds.
I clean once a week and tidy at night. The place is reasonably clean but not like it used to be.......I clean the kitchen in the am, and keep dishes in DW too.
We have open plan too - so I have some big containers from Ikea that everything gets thrown in at night (not sorted or nicely - hidden). I figure it will be soon enough that they will want to hide in their rooms too.....
Even when it is cold we go out each day for a walk - if only to escape and get some fresh air when the walls close in!
It is still a work in progress for me....remember to be kind to yourself!!!!

[*Ali*]

I think sometimes we are all too hard on ourselves in terms of housework etc, We go and visit a friend and the house is tidy, the toys are put away, the kids are being good, and there are freshly baked cookies on the table etc- only what we don''t realise is that our friend has spent the last 2 hours before we arrive rushing around and hiding the mess under beds, in cupboards- anywhere it fits, the kids have be bribed to behave well, and they have been up since 5am baking.

Nothing comes without the cost of something else, so people with clean house, nicely ironed clothes, perfect hair etc have to find a pay off somewhere else, whether it be at the cost of spending time with their children or partners, whether it be at the cost of their sleep and their me time, or whether it be at the cost of their bank account, because they have a cleaner/ ironing lady etc. We all choose our happy medium, for me it is messy house so I can spend more time with my kids & husband, get a little bit of time for me to workout.

I guess at the end of the day you have to find a rountine that works for you, I do very little in terms of housework during the day- I put washing on peridodically throughout the day, cook/ prepare dinner in the middle of the day while Liam is asleep and Tori is having rest time while watching a movie, Pete does the dishes & sweeps the kitchen after dinner while I shower the kid and We vacuum the lounge a couple of times a week while the kids are in the shower. We usually spend an hour or 2 on a saturday morning mopping, cleaning the bathroom etc, I do my ironing on tuesday night while I watch packed to the rafters and All saints. And each night before bed I rush around and chuck the toys into plastic tubs. It works for us, I dont live in a palace, I might have weetbix stuck on the tiles, and a pile of dishes waiting to be washed, but all in good.

[Sweet Bliss]

An iron......what is an iron??? Thats up there with changing the linen weekly! (I cheat and chuck my work pants and stuff in the dryer on hot for 5 mins before I wear them, they come out perfectly unwrinkled and fluff free ).

Ali, I totally agree. I used to be that person that runs around like mad before someone comes to visit (I stayed up until 3am cleaning the night before my mums group came to visit for the first time when DD was a baby! I remember frantically ajaxing my benches!), turning the place into a show home, but now I don't bother....you take me and my house as I am....

I went to visit a new friend that other day for the first time at her house....and it was sooo messy, and she was not apologetic at all.....it was so refreshing, and I probably relaxed more while I was visiting too.

Ali, it sounds like you have a great system going