Motivated Mums - how do you do it?

[~Ash~]

I recently got an app on my iPhone that is called MoMo (motivated moms) and it has lists of what housework you should do everyday - it has your normal everyday tasks (like laundry and cleaning the kitchen) and then has a few extra tasks each day (like changing the sheets, or mopping the bathroom, etc). It is supposed to stop you having to do a big clean on any one day - keeping your house clean all year round.

I have been trying to keep up with it for a few weeks now and although I love the idea, I just don't have the time together with uni and having time with DD. The only way I could fit it in would be to have less sleep... and that's not going to be a good thing for anyone lol

I was just wondering how you keep on top of the housework? Do you do something little everyday on top of your daily routine or spend the weekend cleaning everything?

[helle]

If there is any mum out there that will post and honestly say that they keep ontop of all their housework all the time... I'll shoot myself in the foot

[Winter]

I certainly don't but just that app alone is making me want a smart phone, I need the prompting! I do a big clean once a fortnight and it takes all day and even then I still don't always get everything done. I *try* to stay on top of things once DD is in bed but when DH is away I find I am knackered at the end of the day and just want to plonk down on the couch and not move. Hoever, I do love having a clean house so am trying to be better.

Really wish I had inherited that tidy-as-you-go gene that some people seem to have. Would make life so much easier. DH & I both have messy genes and DD has a double dose of them!

[Muppity]

I certainly don't but just that app alone is making me want a smart phone

I know!

I wish that my house was cleaner and tidier but DD makes sure that it isn't. (And when DH sits is front of the TV complaining about how messy the house is while I am cooking or doing the dishes or folding nappies or whatever I think it can stay that way!)

[mummy of 3 boys]

i totally agree with helle

i do one big clean weekly and thats generally on DF's day off so i have help cause otherwise its either forget the kids to clean or give the kids the time of the day, however i do clean the kitchen and do some laundry almost everyday other then that pfft not mmuch gets done!

[mummy of 3 boys]

winter, i love a clean house too but with kiddies it just is impossible i reckon lol

I clean and then there toys all over the house again, crumbs you name it so you tend to give up lol

[MrsB26]

I do a bigish clean on the weekend when dh is home and i dont have the kids 'trying' to help. Whatever i can get done in a hour gets done - eg bathroom, floors, surfaces, walls. If it takes more than an hour ten it doesnt get done cause i want to spend time with my family. During the week i vacuum a few times (which takes less than 10 mins) and wipe up the surfaces the kids have put hand marks on and clean the loo. As well as the laundry and kitchen cooking and cleaning daily.
Feels never ending doesnt it!

[Calluna]

I certainly don't but just that app alone is making me want a smart phone, I need the prompting!

Me Too!! How cool!

I am a "tidy as you go" person, but everyday I do stack and unstack the diswasher, do some washing and pack up the toys before sitting down to relax for the night. I usually do one other chore a day - washing/ mopping/ clean bathroom/ etc.

I find that if I sit down mid housework that's it for the day. I wont get back up!

[*Ang*]

I have 3 kids and somehow I manage and DH works away alot too. It is achievable, its just a case of getting up off your butt and doing it - sorry but thats the truth. Oh and turning the computer off too!

On a daily basis I : clean the kitchen, do a load of washing, put away washing, and do general tidy -ups around the house. Then I always do something else from my usual chores everyday - some days it may only be one thing like ironing or mopping the floors. But you will never come to my house and find it a pig sty.

On weekends I get DH to help me with the bigger things like changing sheets (I find the beds hard to lift) or the gardening.

And incidentally before you say "Oh but she mustnt play with her kids", I do and we have a great time.

[helle]

I try to make sure I have the kitchen area and/or lounge clean and tidy as they're main areas of the house. if it gets to much we can always hibernate in the lounge and I can just pretend the rest of the place is in the same state XD. It's a very rare occasion that the rest of the house is clean all at the same time. (read; never)

[~Ash~]

Well that makes me feel a little better!
I hate feeling like I can't do it all - everyone else always seems to be able to - but then I remind myself that they had probably been blitzing the place before I arrived lol
I just wish there was an easy way to keep on top of everything so I didn't lose half my saturday cleaning

[~Kim~]

dunno...define housework?

I use a similar plan to Flylady's. I've done it for years so it just works.
On one day a week (usually Sundays) I do a quick dust (and I live in the desert so there's a LOT), empty all the bins vaccuum in the arvo while the kids are outside or in the bath and then mop when they go to bed. That day I also change all the sheets and towels.
Everyday I make the bed as soon as I get out of it.
I deal with the kitchen at night before I sit down or it never gets done.
I unstack the dishwasher with DS' help every morning.
I wash/hang out a load every day.
I fold as I get off the line and put straight away.
I shower at night after the kids are in bed (or straight after the gym) and wipe over all the surfaces. I give the toilet a quick clean every couple of days. On sundays I clean the screen but I spray shower spray every day (we have hard water and it's yuck).
I do a quick tidy after brekkie and one before bathes every night.
Sweep as needed.
Occassionly i do one of Flylady's tasks for the day, but usually it's little extra jobs as I see them....today it was cleaning out the cupboard under the sink.
My DH works away, so I need a routine or I'd sit on my bum all day, but none of the jobs really take me more than 10minutes each.

I need tidiness for my mental heath, so that's what works for me.

[Phteven]

Maybe I need that app. I try but I just end up falling off the wagon and one day I look around and realise that if someone were to walk through my door I would be embarrassed.
I hate visiting people with spotless homes. It makes me feel so inadequate, especially if their children are better behaved and do more extra curricula activities than mine.

We can't afford a cleaner at the moment but when we could DH refused to pay for one on the grounds that it is somehow immoral to employ someone to clean for you if you're not in paid employment. We had a huuuge fight about it because I think that if you can afford to provide work for someone it is immoral not to do so. He won because he can sulk for longer than me *sigh*

[Junglemum]

My floors are mopped daily, bathrooms and toilets cleaned, the washing basket is always empty, clothes folded and ironed and there's never dirty dishes in the sink..... But before you shoot yourself in the foot......

We have a full time house keeper as part of DH's job package. You should have seen the pigsty I used to live in. It would be lucky to be cleaned once a week thoroughly, it usually took the threat of visitors to get it spotless!

Seriously, one lady works from 7-4:15 every day at my place and still sometimes doesn't get it all done if I don't help out a bit. It's a lot of work keeping on top of the housework. But I do find, when I have to do housework, that doing it in 5 min blocks, like the flylady suggests, does help me.

[~Ash~]

Junglemum - I am soooooo jealous that you have a cleaner - that would be my dream!!! I can't believe she is there for most of the day everyday lol

[helle]

My floors are mopped daily, bathrooms and toilets cleaned, the washing basket is always empty, clothes folded and ironed and there's never dirty dishes in the sink..... But before you shoot yourself in the foot......

We have a full time house keeper as part of DH's job package.

that's so cheating XD

[Miss.September]

I tend to do a big clean up on Monday and then a tidy each day. Mondays are all the vicious housework tasks because after DH has been home all weekend, the house is usually a bomb! I find that it works for us, but there is always something to do each day.

[Calluna]

It is achievable, its just a case of getting up off your butt and doing it - sorry but thats the truth. Oh and turning the computer off too!

I have to agree with this. Well for me anyway, can't comment on how it is for others.

I do similar things to you Kim, fold the washing straight off the line and put away, clean as I cook so by the end the is just a few dishes, etc. So much easier than looking at it at the end of the day and going "omg it's just too much".

Have to admit though, if I miss a couple of days it is soo hard to get back into the routine, it just all seems too much!