Is your laundry ever completely done?

[That Is Nice]

Working moms without housekeeping help - is your laundry ever completely done? Mine hasn't been without piles to do in over 3 years. It's a continual process, never fully done.

Is your house ever fully clean? Mine is definitely not. I've been really trying hard to have all the dishes done and the kitchen/dining area clean every day and that is tough but I've been handling it.

Aside from taking care of my child, working, doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen/dining area, and some general pick up around the house, running errands and paying bills, I can't do much else.

Beds don't get made. Laundry is never done. I've got things that I've been wanting to tackle for literally months, some things over a year.

Is this the reality of working and raising a (messy) child?

Even just getting the laundry done would be a major, major accomplishment.

[lmbjer]

You have to have a system and you cannot stray from it. Once you slack off, you will pay for it for weeks.

My system is pretty basic. Laundry gets done on weekends. My loads are as follows: dd clothes, ds clothes, dh clothes, my clothes, bedding, towels/diapers/napkins/family cloth. All of it gets washed every weekend. If a particular pile is growing quickly during the week I will do a midweek load. Usually I end up doing 2-3 midweek loads.

Cleaning is done on Saturday mornings. Dust, sweep, vacuum, mop, bathrooms. Each weekend I also pick one project to deep clean. I have this built in as a reminder in my phone. I have a list of deep cleaning projects that I rotate through twice a year. Ex. Clean oven, wash curtains, wipe down living room walls.

I do not have the time to spring clean everything at once. I would rather break it up over several months. Breaking big projects into small tasks is incredibly important if you are limited on time.

Honestly I think the true key to it all is clearing out the clutter, and then picking everything up every night. It takes 15 minutes to pick everything up and it maintains my home.

Once you find a routine and stick to it, things will get easier. But you have to find your comfort level. My is clutter free, but not white glove clean. Oh well. There might be dust on the shelf by Wednesday. But my home is orderly and my kids are loved. And in the end, all that really matters is that your kids are loved - and I'm sure you have that covered.

[Ceinwen]

Originally Posted by That Is Nice

Is your house ever fully clean? Mine is definitely not. I've been really trying hard to have all the dishes done and the kitchen/dining area clean every day and that is tough but I've been handling it.

For me - it's the dishes. Laundry's okay, cause I actually enjoy the monotony of wash, dry, fold... but dishes... aiyiyi.

I've tried to be systematic and have routines, but something always comes up, last minute plans, a sick child, I have a pick up shift, etc. Cutting back clutter is helpful, but I find (for me!) that trying to have set days for chores leads to a build up of horrible housework.

It's hard. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I'm usually stressed out and saddened by the mess around here. I'm a single mom and I find myself looking at the neighbour's beautifully done yards, well maintained homes and wonder when that'll be me...

[june'smom]

Nope. My laundry is never done. My dishes are rarely all done. My house is kinda messy.

Do I like that we live this way? No
Do I have a better answer? No

I just don't have it in me to work 9 to 10 hours per day, make dinner, clean up, wash dishes, do laundry, sweep floors, etc. If I did all that, I would never play with my kids or take them to the park.

I just live with it for now. It has gotten easier now that they are a little older. hopefully I will get better at it, but I try not to beat myself up over it.

[StephandOwen]

Laundry? Yes. Usually either Friday or Saturday everything that needs to be washed (clothes for all of us, towels, bed stuff, etc) all get thrown downstairs to the laundry area. All gets done during the weekend so we start Monday off fresh.

The house is almost never fully cleaned at one time. We tackle one thing at a time but by the time we're done with the last thing on the list the first thing needs to be redone. LOL!

[pinksprklybarefoot]

Never.

Well, maybe once when... no, never.

[mambera]

One word: Outsourcing!! I my cleaning ladies.

[prothyraia]

I seriously cut back on our possessions. Even dishes- we just have one plate/bowl/etc. for each person out. The rest are tucked away in a difficult to reach location in case we have guests. I have attempted to make it impossible for us to get snowed under in housework by getting rid of anything that can pile up.

We have a short (30ish minutes) list of evening chores, and very short (15ish minutes) list of morning chores, every day. Then maybe an hour or two of more in depth cleaning on the weekend. Things actually stay fairly under control for us this way.

[That Is Nice]

Originally Posted by prothyraia

I seriously cut back on our possessions. Even dishes- we just have one plate/bowl/etc. for each person out. The rest are tucked away in a difficult to reach location in case we have guests. I have attempted to make it impossible for us to get snowed under in housework by getting rid of anything that can pile up.

We have a short (30ish minutes) list of evening chores, and very short (15ish minutes) list of morning chores, every day. Then maybe an hour or two of more in depth cleaning on the weekend. Things actually stay fairly under control for us this way.

Love this! And so glad to hear you say this because it's what I've been doing for well over a year. I have donated so many things in an attempt to de-clutter and organize.

Of course, this adds to the bad feelings between DH and myself. He doesn't mind clutter, maybe even loves it. He is a pack rat. He wants to keep everything and anything, even if it's something that isn't his and he has no use for it.

[That Is Nice]

Originally Posted by mambera

One word: Outsourcing!! I my cleaning ladies.

Outsourcing isn't an option for me, due to budget, and due to DH. He'll clean himself, but he does a really pitiful job.

I've (we've) never hired out anything.

[major_mama11]

Ha! No, my laundry has not been completely done in months. A few months back, when I was working much fewer hours, I would occasionally have it in me to fold it all after DH got home from work. But now that I am working full-time hours again (3 12 hour shifts per week), if I folded laundry after getting home from work, I would not have any time at all to interact with my kids.

[GoBecGo]

Um....i'm a SAHM and mine is NEVER NEVER done! I do NOT know how you ladies keep up in any way!

[prothyraia]

Originally Posted by That Is Nice

Of course, this adds to the bad feelings between DH and myself. He doesn't mind clutter, maybe even loves it. He is a pack rat. He wants to keep everything and anything, even if it's something that isn't his and he has no use for it.

My husband isn't *quite* a pack rat, but he has a lot of stuff. Lots of hobbies with ridiculous amounts of associated paraphanelia. He's pretty on board with paring down household and child related stuff, and honestly has made a good effort with his own, but there's still a *ton*.

The only reason we are both still sane is that he has his own room. It's a terrible mess. But whenever something of his gets left out in the rest of the house, I pick it up and set it inside the door (I can't get in much further than that, hah!). Anything he wants to keep, he is welcome to...in his room. (he's also getting a shed, heh.)

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by lmbjer

You have to have a system and you cannot stray from it. Once you slack off, you will pay for it for weeks.

That.

My laundry system is to do most of it on the weekends. I do wash a load or two during the week as needed, but the majority of it is done Saturday and Sunday.

I clean on Saturday mornings while the kids watch cartoons. During the week, I just maintain. Wipe down the bathroom while ds2 is in the tub, clean up as needed, pick up toys before bed, sweep the floor after the kids go to bed. We make beds every morning, the kids do their own, but that's one of my quirks, I need the beds made.

Dishes I usually do on my lunch break and again after dinner. The dishwasher gets run whenever it's full.

My kids really do help out alot, they love "jobs". They also go to bed at 8 every night and sleep all night so I do get some time after that to do things. My dh isn't nearly as anal as I am about things, but he does get that it stresses me out even more if there's stuff everywhere when I get home, so he does try, we just have different levels of clean.

I've decluttered alot the past few years and I try to deal with anything that comes in the house as soon as it does come in.

[Caneel]

I agree 100% on needing a system and not straying from it, the 15 minutes of management and reducing clutter.

and no, my laundry is never really done but when I do stick with the program, everything is more managable.

I while back I did a major kitchen purge and it made a world of difference for the kitchen. I now have only the essentials - one spatula, two stirring spoons, two thongs, just enough pots and pans, and so on. I got rid of all random glasses and mugs and replaced them with sets. For $9, I picked up a 24 piece juice and water glass set. Just seeing neatness in the cupboards makes it so much easier to unload the dishwasher.

Forgot to add - I keep DS clothing to a minimum, which makes it easy to get his laundry done and put away. As soon as something starts to look ratty, it goes. Too small? goes into a dedicated basket for donation. I keep play clothing, like two pants and four shirts because he doesn't need 6 pairs of holey jeans cluttering up the drawers.

[lyterae]

You are not alone, my daughter is actually surprised when she has laundry in her dresser because it happens so infrequently

We're out of the office for 9-10 hours everyday (between work and commute). I try to load the dishwasher every night and throw in a load of clothes to wash, I fold a batch of laundry in the evening while watching something on tv...

We've only started on this in the past week and I'm almost all caught up on laundry AND dishes. It's fantastic. I hate having to spend my weekends "catching" up on housework so I'm trying to make it a point to keep at it during the week.

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by lyterae

I fold a batch of laundry in the evening while watching something on tv...

I don't watch much tv, but when I do, I use the commercials. It's a few minutes where you can grab a load of laundry or wash a few dishes or whatever.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

no, never. And that is with both me and my husband tackling it.

Its.never.done. I call it the merry go round ride from hell.

[CatsCradle]

Yes, laundry is done on Sunday mornings. I get up and sort, DH takes the laundry to the laundry room and goes out and gets a paper and bagels...comes back in and throws them in the dryer. I pull and fold. We HAVE to stick with this system every week because we have a limited clothing supply. I found that the biggest motivator for doing laundry is the fact that we limit our most used clothes (underwear, etc.) to only seven days! We don't buy any extras and I'm not kidding.

Also, I only have two sets of towels and two sets of sheets for each bed, so when the laundry is being done, I put the clean sets in the bathroom and on the beds and then fold up the recently washed ones for the next week. I have no problem using the same towels all week. We do three loads of laundry each Sunday (max). I do MINIMAL ironing...so clothes must be folded as soon as they come out of the dryer. I do have to take suits out for drycleaning, but since DH and I have built up a collection over the years, I don't have to do this very often. On some weekends, I'll pull all the blankets and do a load of those. DD and I do these things together. Our co-op has a large laundry room and as co-op members, we are responsible for keeping it clean. DD helps clean the lint out of the dryers when she is down there with me. These kinds of things keep her busy and happy.

Our other motivator is that we have limited space (one-bedroom apartment), so there is no room for more than a week's worth of dirty laundry in our space. This helps us keep the apartment clean and clutter-free as well. Like a poster mentioned above, you have to have a system and not stray from it. I refuse to be a slave to domestic chores. Home should be the least of stressors, IMO.

[Mosaic]

Yup, we do laundry regularly. It helps that we CD, so we HAVE to do lots of laundry. Plus, we plain don't have enough clothes to last more than a week.

But the clutter? Sheesh, all I DO is put stuff away, and it's never "done" except for the rare occasion we get it all together before a guest comes over.