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

Or is there no hope for me haha.
I m seriously so lazy, DD isnt crawling yet but i know she will be soon, we have wooden floors and a dog which = a slight snow effect on my floors haha.
i sweep/vac..not as often as i should :redface: i k now that once she is moving around im goign to have do this every single day,
with working part time, DH being away alot and trying to be a good mummy i have a feeling im going to be utterly exhausted..
i want a clean house, i dont want to be lazy lol, i guess im just gonna have to pul my finger out hehe

anyone else care to share some words of wisdom? lol

I'm subscribing to this because I am a terrible housekeeper and also need neat freak tips.

No good news here - all I can offer is to be living with one :o

I shared a house with a neat-freak and she trained me really well. It helped that her eye would twitch if I left any mess around. She was constantly moving and it's hard to sit on your bum with someone like that in the house.

Same with exH, he was amazing so lots of it rubbed off (not THAT much though). Now I'm on my own I've gone straight back to my crap ways.

HOWEVER, I will say if you can go MENTAL and do everything one day - it is so much easier to maintain it.

I also have little competitions with myself ie - if I boil the kettle I do as much in the kitchen as I can till it boils and the tea steeps.
When kids in the bath, I tidy the bathroom.

I fold the washing in front of the telly ;), and race to put it away in the ads.

ETA - and Angel Punks does 'the waitress' thing, which I highly advise. She doesn't walk anywhere in the house without picking something up along the way.

And if all else fails invite someone over for lunch so you a FORCED to tidy.

i need to know too ive become so lazy latetly!

*subscribing* Lol.

My mum is a neat freak so im waiting for that gene to kick in! :shhh:

I reckon neat freakiness is either in your DNA or it isn't. Unfortunately my DNA contains large doses of it and so does DH's (thankfully not to the point of obsessiveness!). It may be in DS1's DNA too cos he lurves the vacuum cleaner, broom and mop - he has to have a go if they're out and throws a pink fit if you put them away without letting him have them too. One can only hope he continues this fascination into his teens!

But, even though I like to have a clean, tidy house ... I have days where I couldn't be bothered too and I find some great diversions (whaddya think I'm doing on BB). So while it's a bit anal retentive (and I promise I'm not always anal!) I will write a list of what needs to be done and cross it off as I go. Sorry, that's my only tip!

Oh, the other thing that gets me motivated is seeing an icky bathroom handbasin and/or a grotty stove :o ... rare that they get this way, but if I have managed to put off the housework for up to a week then these two things generally tip me over the edge!

Hmmm, guess I'd better go throw that load of washing in the machine and tackle the ironing. Sigh ....

Lulu, thats some really great advice, ive never thought of doing things like that lol.

The only thing i do really is say 'whenn DD is sleeping THEN ill do the HW.." she goes to sleep and then im like "nahh.. should be RESTING while she's sleeping" lol
im shocking :(


wish my DH was a neat freak...well he kinda is but expects ME to do it LOL

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*subscribing* Lol.

My mum is a neat freak so im waiting for that gene to kick in! :shhh:

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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 :lol:

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

Sorry to take over your thread Stevie :redface:

I saw in another thread some ladies talking about Flylady - so I checked out her website and am trying her methods - sounds awesome, and I'm going ok now!
Check it out - might help you :)

Im not a neat freak, BUT, I joined up to flylady when I was pregnant hoping to be transformed into a clean, tidy loving person. didnt work the way I thought it would but it has changed me immensely, I now have a morning and night routine, my sink isnt full of dishes and I can easily do a quick clean if people rock up suddenly.
Flylady isnt for everyone, it wasnt really for me, but the routine thing really works.
theres nothing I like better then waking up to a clean kitchen (at the very least!)

my mum never has one little thing out fo place inher house!
DF's mum vaccums her double story EVERY day!
DF and I are the laziest sods ever! pmsl, so not sure if being a neat freak is a genetic thing!
I try to do a min of 15 mins a day of solid housework(you'll be suprised how much u can get done!)somethings i do everyday that arent included in that 15mins
i make the bed every morning when i get up and pick up the clothes off the floor and in the ensuite
i aim for atleast one load of washing everyday and to pack the dishwasher everyday so theres no dishes on the bench (yes im one of those who puts literally anything that will fit into the dishwasher in!) and i have 3 rabbit hutches to tackle every 2 days

once the kids are in bed then i hit the lounge up and clean up all their toys and things.
on saturdays DF and i tackle it together and do the big things, cleaning showers,toilets, mopping ect

you;ll be suprised how good u feel even just having a tidy house as apposed to a clean one, it all depends on what ur happy to leave!

i'd much rather be playing with my kids than doing something im just going to need to do again tomorrow anyway!(plus we dont often get visitors so its not essential for me to keep a tidy house!)

I agree with getting stuff done whilst in the middle of something. So if I am cooking, between stirring I will either unload or load the dishwasher, wipes down the rangehood, wipe around the taps, check the fridge for manky food etc. I like to rush around as much as possible whilst DH is dealing with getting the night time bath.

I also go by the theory, something is better than nothing. So a quick wipe over of cupboard doors, even if done half arsed, is still better than it not being done, as the next time I do it they will get a little bit cleaner again.

I do like Speedcleaning for how to clean a room from top to bottom. I don't fully follow it, but when I am in the mood at least 1 room will get a full clean.

I do really struggle though, I am a complete procrastinator and can get really down when it is all a mess 5 minutes later. Also I swear that my kids hassle me more than other kids do to their parents. There are only so many interruptions I can take before giving up.

Ummm, well I'm not sure it is DNA, so I think there's hope for you ;). I Grew up with a neat freak - did nothing but make me believe I never wanted to be like that lol.
I was a serious slob, but over the last couple of years I have been fine tuning, and I'm fairly certain I'd fall under the 'neat freak' category to some.

I tried Flylady many years ago, but I didn't 'get it', and SpeedCleaning by Shannon Lush, but that just didn't work for me. I use her techniques but not her principles.

Routine is the key. Once you make something a habit it becomes very easy and natural.
For example;
Every time i finish cleaning my teeth in the morning I use my face washer to wash the basin/bench and give it a dry. Then I get a clean washer for the next day.
I make my bed as soon as I'm out of it.
I make sure the sink is clean and dry before I sit down to scrapbook/watch telly/surf the net or whatever for the evening. Then I don't have to drag myself to it later and it's so nice to get up to in the morning.

I found once I started with the little things, I was more encouraged to keep going.

Takes me 15ish minutes to dust everything, 45 to vaccuum and anther 45 to mop, so I just do it in different sessions.


I'm also a fan of multi tasking. Amazing how much you can get done in 2,3,10 15 minutes.

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I Grew up with a neat freak - did nothing but make me believe I never wanted to be like that lol. I was a serious slob, but over the last couple of years I have been fine tuning, and I'm fairly certain I'd fall under the 'neat freak' category to some

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I am the same - my mother used to say you could tell a good housewife by whether the tops of her door-frames were dust free!

I personally think that finding your own motivator and level of satisfaction is the key.

Why do you want a clean house? Is it because you are home more and think it is what you "should" do? That a good mother must have a clean house? If you are thinking things like this then you are feeling guilty, which is NEVER a good motivator (hands up those of us who were successful in losing weight by standing in front of a mirror saying "fat and lazy" over and over??) IMO you'd also be falling trap to what Betty Friedan called (back in the 1950's) the "feminine mystique" - that somehow as a wife and mother you will be fulfilled by accepting your higher calling as domestic goddess instead of focussing on nuturing your soul. If these more "negative" things are influencing your post, then I don't think you will end up with a clean house - you'll end up with guilt and angst. While I am a big fan of Flylady and all of the cleaning/organising books around these days (I have quite a collection heh heh!) I think that the latest trend is just another way to put women back in the home (pardon the soap box).

But if you want to have a clean house for (dare I say it) "valid" reasons, such as a genuine belief that mess and disorganisation is stopping you from enjoying life or that you are worried about your daughters exposure to dustmites, or maybe even that you feel your life will feel more "organised" or calm if you banish chaos from your life - if that's the case then I completely second the other suggestions here. Routine (like Skybie and Kim have suggested), reward (as wonderfully demonstrated by Lulu) and multi tasking (as described by Astrid) tend to be common themes for successful cleaning/organising.

Personally, I threw myself into the Flylady system and had incredibly detailed cleaning lists for every room as well. I got that bad that my neat freak-mother thought I was taking it too far (she has since relaxed and no longer dusts her door frames).

So to sum up - my only advice is don't try to be a neat freak for the wrong reasons. If you are doing it for anyone but yourself you'll only end up feeling resentful.

Roryrory is right. You do need to look at the reasons for wanting things to be tidier. I have only just finished some counselling and we touched on the whole expectation thing, especially in relation to me being a parent and keeping house. Basically I am to do what keeps me happy. If that means ignoring the house for a week, then doing the big clean, then that is ok. If it means cleaning a bit each day, then that is ok too. Neither is better than the other in the terms of what works for the family and myself. Sometimes we just have to accept that we are in survival mode when we have small children and that doing the bare minimum is more than enough.

omg TINKS pmsl!!!

I am not a neat freak, but I often invite people over and my house suddenly gleams before they arrive.

i guess i must have exaggerated when i said i want to be a "neat freak" lol, i dont mind mess and being generally untidy sometimes, just certain things that NEED to be done i always find im too lazy to do (sweep/mop floors, clean bathroom, dusting) and its more on the hygeine side of things that i worry not so much that i want it to be clean for someone else.
I will be having a look at the flylady (?) thing that you ladies have mentioned, i will also ne taking some of all your suggestions and try to work it into my day :)

I dont think that im a 'housewife' and thats what i SHOULD be doing, cozx for one im not a housewife, i work too so i cant be expected to do eveything lol, but if i didnt work id be more worried about spending quality time with DD and with DH when he's home.

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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 :lol:

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

Sorry to take over your thread Stevie :redface:

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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.

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!

Sadly enough, I've honestly tried everything I can think of to become a better housewife (the cleaning and all the rubbish) and I just can't do it.. I think I did it for a week, then felt 'taken advantage of' and then said stuff it and have gone back to how I used to be

I have to say Rory put it perfectly

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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"

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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.

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? :rofl:

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

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... ;)

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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"!

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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???

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

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 :p
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 :redface:

I've transformed over the past 2.5 months from a lazy hoarder to a neat freak. I've tried for years to be a neat freak but for me it was an emotional thing and it wasn't enough to just say "I want to be neat" I finally got to the point where I was truely miserable at my disordered life and home and the decision was made from the heart rather than in my head like so many times before.

It's a constant decision, like deciding that rather than just sitting down to watch TV or go on the computer, deciding that you wont do those things until you've cleaned the kitchen, or just deciding that before you go to bed each day that you'll put away the things that are in the living room that don't belong there. Never ever leave a room empty handed, take a hand full of things with you and put them where they belong.

Pick one room each day and tidy it up, just spend 10-20 minutes on it and then stop. Even if you focus only on the public areas to start with so that if someone drops by unannounced you're ready.

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 :o scary.
Anyway... hoping for some magic tips!

subscribing - need some tips!

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.

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.