The thing that demoralises me... and what I blame for not having a cleaner house... is that our home is old, and the satisfaction factor of cleaning surfaces is minimal... because areas like the bathroom still look cruddy even though they are technically clean

The worst room is the office.... it is a complete shambles. The best room is the kitchen... anything to do with food rivets me into action. My mother's kitchen is gross... ants in the pantry, overfull fridge etc... blah blah blah... the first thing I did when i returned from a holiday at her house (even after a 4 hours flight with unsettled kids) was to scrub my pantry because I was so traumatised by the sight of my mothers all the previous week! I literally walked in the door, dumped my suitcase and got to work!!! DH thought it was hilarious but thanked me profusely because he too found the sight of our clean kitchen soothing after such trauma (he tried to do a fair bit of cooking in my mother's kitchen as well).

I don't wash down walls as often as I would like... or sweep the floorboards.... or vacuum huge trailing dusty cobwebs from the ceilings... or clean the finger prints off the windows and mirrors... or put away clutter.

It was easier to get motivated when we owned our brandnew townhouse... but, I guess, with young kids it's actually easier to have a house with lots of wear and tear... it bothers you less at the end of the day. That's what I keep telling myself!