House is a disaster - where do you start?

[Cassius2]

Oh and Astrid: take solace: Personally i find some merit in letting a house get TOTALLY out of control.... when you do finally get around to cleaning it it feels SOOOO good! If it was clean all the time it wouldn't be half as pleasurable.

totally!

[Roryrory]

LOL Bath it's kind of like when you vacuum and you can REALLY hear the dirt crunching around it feels soooooo gooooood LOL!!!

[MummyTummy]

I have been following this thread with great interest because it seems my house is always a disaster. And I am another one that runs around doing one task at a time before getting distracted and never really finishing anything. Everything always gets the bare minimum and it just doesn't help that we are out most weekends and never quite get to finish anything anyway.

So on the weekend DS was soundly asleep in the car (the monitor was on!! He sleeps really well in his car seat so we don't like to disturb him) so DH and I got to work determined to get the house cleaned. Hmmmm, cleaning up the bedroom turned in to moving the curtain rail up to stop the curtains dragging on the floor, which then turned in to converting DS cot in to the toddler bed and putting in to our room. Some other things got tidied up in there and then it was time for a late dinner followed by bed. Didn't get too far at all!!!

Then I found this thread yesterday so riding on inspiration from you all, last night was to be the kitchen dining area. I stopped at midnight and all I had gotten done was the kitchen. :O Now, our kitchen is the tidiest room in the house, it is the room that always gets daily attention. The only thing that seems to get neglected there is the things that have no home that gather on the bench. So how can it take me this long???????? No wonder I can't get through a house. I can't even get through a kitchen in a night. I stayed focussed, although admitedly it is always harder with DS running about, but even he was pretty good. He just emptied and refilled the recycling crate which kept him out of trouble. So how do you all do it??

On a side note I got the dining room done this morning, but now the kitchen bench has crap on it that has no home. So I feel like I'm shuffling things from one side to the other and not really achieving anything. Please help!!

[Nelle]

I get easily distracted too. I try not to get distracted by big jobs (like curtains ) or mopping. Just write them down to remind yourself to do them later. I try stay in the one area and I create piles, a pile to go to the bathroom, to the bedroom, to the laundry, a misc pile that goes in a basket to be dealt with when I have time. This only works if you finish the job - that is, put the piles away at the end!! Otherwise all the clutter just gets spread back out again.

[Fleur]

That's why I'm a 'sweeper'
If I did one room at a time I'd never get anywhere

I start with the worst looking areas or the things that make the biggest improvement - dishes, benches, general mess, a quick dust, sweep etc, working through to bathrooms & toilets.
I dream of one day being organised & methodical but I've kind of accepted it's not likely to happen - at least not until everyone's grown -up & left home!

Our house is kind of like a log rolling downhill - it starts out nice & clean & tidy - and as it starts to roll downhill it gains momentum until you just go 'eek!' and get out of the way - then pick it up & start over

[Oorki Galoorki]

I do bits here and there then sit on the puter, organise in my head the next order of things... i get my kids to put there toys away and put the shoes away(we end up with shoes every where)
often i say to DS im sweeping now if there is any thing you still want you had better get it or its all going in the bin... he runs around like a mad man(and it saves me picking up the big bits)
DH does the dishes, i sweep around and do get the washing i sort it then through out the course of the day it is washed and hung out...
My biggest problem is folding it up again.. i have a pile that gets put away but then grows so will sit for a few days again..

[MummyTummy]

I dream of one day being organised & methodical but I've kind of accepted it's not likely to happen - at least not until everyone's grown -up & left home!

Our house is kind of like a log rolling downhill - it starts out nice & clean & tidy - and as it starts to roll downhill it gains momentum until you just go 'eek!' and get out of the way - then pick it up & start over

Ooh, yep, that is the perfect analogy for what goes on around here too!!

Doudou - I think that is why I feel like this house is always a disaster - the piles of washing just grow before I can get to them.... I almost feel like I need two hours each day to devote to cleaning, which is just impossible in this house. I like your idea of getting your LO to run around and pick up for himself. Jett is still too young, wouldn't have a clue what to do if I said that!!

Nelle - I write things down to do later.... only to find DH has thrown the list out or it disappears in to one of the many piles to never be seen again!! I think that is one of the reasons we tend to just do things as we think about them!!

Oh and DH is really very helpful around here. He does most of the cooking and dishes/kitchen cleaning and vacuuming. So no complaints around here from that department. But he is just as bad as me in the whole distraction cleaning!