Be honest, how clean and organized is your home? - Page 3

[ScottyG]

Sort-of kind-of clean.  -Ish.  

I have a few areas that I just let be messy: my desk, my dresser.  

Then, a few things that I clean constantly: the floor by the dining table, the kitchen, the kids' play-room.

Then, a few rooms that I clean maybe once a week: the bathrooms, the living room.

The rest of the house, we clean every time someone's about to come over, as an excuse to clean.

So: babysitter coming tonight?  Bathrooms, kids rooms, everything gets a scrub.

Dinner guests: Serious, SERIOUS deep clean.

It's not the best system ever, but it works for me.  I'm a little bit messy, and a little bit rock 'n' roll.

[Laedi]

I TRY (in my mind) very hard to keep it clean.  It's pretty clean about once a month and the rest of the time I keep it just clean enough to keep someone from volunteering my house for an episode of Hoarders.

I'm trying so hard to develop OCD to combat my ADD.  So far, it's not working.

[Tumble Bumbles]

Our house is pretty clean and organized most of the time and I attribute that to a few things:

1. We only have one child so far and she's 5.5  (second due in May/early June). She's at the point where she doesn't just pull everything out in a huge mess anymore, and she's able to help me pick up/do some chores.

2. We are seriously decluttered. To the point where I donate things we actually may need lol I think that goes A LONG WAY in keeping everything tidy and organized because there just simply isn't the amount of stuff available to make it look completely crazy.

3. We basically live in the common space, so really that's all I have to 'clean' (except the bathrooms). DD still co-sleeps but we are rarely in our bedroom during the day, and her room is basically storage for her toys -- which there aren't many of because we are decluttered. She prefers being out here with me so doesn't really go in her room but to get stuff/put stuff away. So, I don't have to clean either bedroom, but for some picking up here and there.

I think those things go a long way toward our place staying clean/organized -- probably having a lot less stuff compared to your average family is the biggest thing, imo -- but I do have a couple 'hot spots' I have to keep on top of, mainly the kitchen because it's very tiny and I make everything from scratch so that can get out of control quickly if I'm not careful.

[MrsBone]

I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for complete and utter chaos when my second kiddo arrives in May. I'm sure the first few weeks will be okay since I'll have plenty of people coming over to help do laundry, clean, do dishes, make dinner, etc, but after that, I'm just trying to prepare myself for a messy house most of the time. It's hard, because I am a neat freak, and DH is not at all, but he seems to be trying harder to clean up after himself at least :) It seems after reading all these posts that having a messy house, especially when your kids are in the baby/toddler stage is pretty darn normal. Here's how I see it: Pre-baby, you had time to clean, even if it was a power clean on the weekends after working a 40 hour shift all week. You know that by Sat, you'll have 3-4 hours uninterrupted to clean the house. Plus during the week, the only person to make a mess is you and your DP, so it can only get so messy. After 1 or 5 kids, that time you had to do that is gone. It's now spent changing diapers, nursing a baby, making sure meals get made and fed successfully to your picky toddler. It's a bonus if the food actually stays on the table and doesn't get spilled on the floor, forgotten about and turns into a crusty mess that will take hours to clean later. It's time spent helping calm tantrums, tears, securing emotional well being, trying to get your kid dressed in a timely manner, changing sheets because your potty training toddler pees in his bed every night and actually trying to get out of the house to do go grocery shopping, playdates, and other errands. There just simply isn't enough time in the day to do the efficient cleaning that you were able to do before kids. Simple fact. So, if it's really important to have a clean(not neat, clean:) house most of the time, the only solution I can see besides sticking it out until your kids are older and can help or are just less messy is to hire a housekeeper, otherwise we all need to learn to come to terms with the fact that having a messy house isn't a sign of weakness, it's simply lack of time :) That's my little soapbox.

[*bejeweled*]

MrsBone, You are my hero.

Originally Posted by MrsBone 

the only solution I can see besides sticking it out until your kids are older and can help or are just less messy is to hire a housekeeper, otherwise we all need to learn to come to terms with the fact that having a messy house isn't a sign of weakness, it's simply lack of time That's my little soapbox.

[MarineWife]

Mrs. Bone ~ All of that is so true. Even when I had just one child, dh and I were both working full time and ds was in school or after-school care all day. We were only home for a few hours a day so the house didn't get messy. Now that I have 2 more kids and we are home all day I would have to spend the entire day cleaning in order to keep the house neat. It is impossible for me. There are other things I want to do. Last week I had something to do out of the house every day. By the end of the week the house was completely trashed. I spent the entire day Friday in my PJs just cleaning. A major part of our problem, as someone else posted, is that we have too much stuff. But with 5, soon to be 6, people there's going to be a lot of stuff. I don't think there's much that can be done about that.

[newmamalizzy]

We moved into our house a month before DS was born, and things were never organized.

Ugh, yes.  We moved two months after DD was born, are broke, and can't buy the organizational things that would help our very small (900 sq. feet or so) house stay clean.  There's just no home for most of our stuff, and since I'm always playing catch-up, I can never really get things clean.  Every weekend we have to deal with woefully belated home-organization projects rather than the normal cleaning tasks.  AND my sweet little baby (9 months) is the world's worst nap/sleeper, so I tend not to have more than an hour out of her presence all day, making cleaning all that much more difficult.  Argh.  I love cleanliness :(

[Katie T]

In the morning when we wake up it is totally clean. During the day it is a disaster of toys and books. I clean it every evening because I am a neat freak/perfectionist and can't stand it a mess for long. I think it is good to let the kids trash it and help clean it up. I also think being too clean with antibacterial stuff is bad as well.

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by newmamalizzy 

AND my sweet little baby (9 months) is the world's worst nap/sleeper, so I tend not to have more than an hour out of her presence all day, making cleaning all that much more difficult.  Argh.  I love cleanliness :(

Can  you put her in a sling or other baby carrier on your back while you clean?

[Mulvah]

Edited by Mulvah - 10/16/11 at 5:21pm

[mamaofthree]

i am not a neat freak, but i do keep the place clean and organized pretty well. i do have a cleaning routine, because i need it. i get a little nuts when the house is cluttered and stuff isn't done. BUT in saying that there is a load of clothes that needs folding, and a few dishes in the sink. I AM FOREVER cleaning the bathrooms. 7 people two bathrooms... means i am wiping counters daily and around the toilet and swiffering the floors every few days (this is all because it makes me crazy feeling if i look at the sink and there is toothpaste in there or hair all over the floor. no one else seems to care at all. lol)

i like that everything has a home, and everyone in my home sorta knows where everything goes. so at the end of the day when i go to bed the house is tidy and when i wake up it looks nice for about a minute. lol BUT in saying that people do live in my house and on and off thru out the day it can look like a toy quake happened in any given room. i have gotten better about only picking that up just before dh gets home, i use to follow the poor kids around the house cleaning up and they would still be playing. lol NUTTY!

h

[OhSoBlessed]

We home school which means the house is never free from kids and chaos... My DH is kinda sloppy and I am kinda OCD but I came to realize a few years back that I have to let my obsessive neat freak ideals and expectations fall short... When I obsess over cleaning I am a miserable mom and person... so leaving the house a little messy is a worthy price to pay for a happier me and family.  Instead I try to focus on areas that my family KNOWS i need to remain semi clutter free.... schoolroom, livingroom and kitchen.  

I did read in a book somewhere that there is usually a "zone" for every person... one place that if organized and clean makes you feel happy... I realized weirdly enough that it is MY bathroom.. a room I visit rarely during the day but its refreshing to see clean floor and counters when I begin and end my day.

Speaking of cleaning... the kids are watching a movie and I feel like the livingroom is trashed,... but i will wait till the movie is over and i send them to bed Before I clean up!

[ANaturalPush]

Honestly, keeping the house clean has never been a problem for me (I love a really clean/organized home - and my DH is a bit of a germaphobe anyways) - but what really helped me to get into a rhythm with the cleaning is having three dogs. Sure, they're not toddlers (we're currently expecting baby number one) but they do have a habit of leaving destruction in their wake (between bones, toys, and blankets strewn about the house - or dog food that mysteriously gets buried in our couch cushions) - it's prepped me for cleaning on a daily basis. It's almost an involuntary reflex at this point - which, I'm absolutely fine with! I think the other half of it is that my DH is so helpful around the house (without my having to ask him) - he keeps on top of things that I really despise doing (taking out the trash/recycling or scooping the cat box). I could never be OCD about organizing/cleaning - simply because I grew up being told that a home should look, "lived in" and not like a museum where you can't put your feet up or relax.

[geekgolightly]

Right now I am living with a hoarder (my MIL) and it is her house, so I do what I can to feel sane. There are piles of clutter everywhere that makes no sense to anyone but her, but I am able to keep the dishes done, and we have control over our own rooms and our bathroom.

When I move, I am disallowing clutter. This time living with her has made it SO ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that stuff is just junk. Junk! I will forever be ruthless when it comes to keeping my home free of clutter.  I used to feel badly about getting rid of stuff and "wasting money." But this is my MIL's excuse. Never again.

[KimMamaLove]

Fun post!

I am in the recovering stages of the cleaning/organized disease I inherited from my mother. It's quite liberating to be making strides with it the past 2 years! I, too, am a happier person when I don't let the status of the house bother me. Having a husband that doesn't care about cleanliness, along with two kids and another on the way has helped me in my recovery :-)

I vacuum the first floor once a week (mostly due to dog hair); 2nd floor gets vacuumed once every 2-3 weeks; do laundry as 1-3 loads become noticeable and I have time for it -- but to get it washed, dried, folded, moved to the bottom of the stairs, taken upstairs AND put away can take days; dust maybe once a month, if not longer; tidy up 3 bathrooms once every two weeks; kitchen is maintained after each meal but it's certainly not disinfected and sparkling. Everything has a place in our house, but whether it gets there in a timely fashion depends on my interest & energy level. Since becoming pregnant with our 3rd, I'm leaning heavily on the kids and husband to be team players. But I do have to pick my battles wisely. I keep asking myself, "is it REALLY necessary, or is it my own hang-up (the disease) that needs to be pleased?"

On the day that I do clean & straighten up, I can be a crazy lady about keeping it that way for the whole day. As laid back as I'm trying to become about this, I insist on cleaning & straightening up before we leave for a trip. One less thing to do when we return? Maybe. But maybe it's more of knowing the house is cleaned and NO ONE CAN MESS IT UP the whole time we're gone! hahahaha! Like I said, I'm recovering from this disease, but not yet fully cured :-)

[kay4]

Mine is no where near as clean and organized as I'd like it!  I'm working on it!