If the shelves are dusty and the pots don’t shine,
it’s because I have better things to do with my time.
~Author Unknown
As some of to may know from my housework rant the other week, it’s not a job I particularly enjoy doing. Its probably not a job very many of us love is it? I do get a sense of satisfaction once I have done it and I can see the results and smell the cleaning products I have used as I walk into a room – this does make me feel pleased with my efforts. However, as we all know such pleasure soon turns to frustration when within a few moments of having a toddler and / or his daddy reappear on the scene, total chaos resumes and everything is turned out onto the floor, and items are left on window sills or the dining room table or the kitchen counter. Lucky me, as I own window shutters which I bought from the online store Lotiss and Thank God! I decided not to go with the curtains, cause I cannot even begin to imagine what they would have done with the curtains with paint all over their hands.
Housework is something you do that nobody notices until you don’t do it.
~Author Unknown
To be honest untidiness it manageable on a daily basis like putting away toys, throwing out unwanted junk mail, putting shoes back in the proper place etc… It’s the dirt and dust that needs to be kept on top off isn’t it? Every night I clean the kitchen and every couple of days I clean the toilet and sink – just a quick clean and save the deep clean for when I have more time. As a rule I usually dust and clean the downstairs once a week once the boys are in bed and after I have cleaned the kitchen. The bathroom is also weekly but usually on a Saturday afternoon while daddy entertains the boys downstairs for me, or if not over the weekend, then one night after my shower in the evening. Of course some weeks this is not done and it then approaches the two week mark and I start to fret that the house is a tip etc…When really it’s not that bad i suppose………although in my mind it is!
I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home…. I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby. ~Nancie J. Carmody
It was easier when it was just Burton, because when he napped I was able to do my house mum jobs like housework, cooking dinner, on line shopping etc… And then when he was awake I could dedicate my time to him without feeling like I had jobs that needed doing. With Jenson aswell now, I feel I am constantly battling with myself over what I should prioritise with my time. When he naps, I usually end up having a cup of tea, doing a bit of tweeting and playing with Burton and prepping lunch as I tend to get dinner done the night before once they are in bed (good old slow cookers). There is no point in cleaning during the day because toys, crayons etc… are being used so it would be a waste of my tine and Burton would want to ‘help’ me which would take twice as long anyway!! Besides, I like to play with him because we don’t get any one on one time otherwise. Then when Jenson is awake there is feeding to be done followed by playtime with him and Burton until his next nap.
You sometimes see a woman who would have made a Joan of Arc in another century and climate, threshing herself to pieces over all the mean worry of housekeeping.
~Rudyard Kipling
Most days the lack of housework doesn’t bother me but every couple of days I get cross with myself that the house is looking messy and there is fluff and hairs building up on the stairs, dust gathering on the skirting, strands of my hair and teeny dust fragments appear on the wooden floors downstairs and crumbs appear under the table. You know usual stuff really. Then it bothers me that I haven’t had still time to sort out the airing cupboard, put away the crap that collates under the stairs etc….
A clean house is the sign of a boring person. ~Author Unknown
Even when I do manage to do my nightly housework it is only really the downstairs and bathroom that get done – the rest of the house rarely get a look in because I just don’t have the time and I can’t clean up there at night because I would wake the boys up. And at weekends I can’t do it because for one thing Burton would follow me and get in the way, and also I want to do family things then when the OH is around – not that we always go out and do family things together!!
Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, 1966
I think what I really struggle with, and the point of this post really (I know it takes me a while to get to my point doesn’t it?), is that at the end of the day does it REALLY matter than the housework is not kept up to date? That the airing cupboard is a mess and I can’t ever find what I am looking for? Or that the upstairs carpet is a tad too lacking in the hoovering department? Or that my bedroom has become a dumping ground recently of the outgrown and no longer needed baby ‘stuff’ that needs selling? Or that my kitchen cupboards need a spring clean? I suppose that as long as the essential areas are kept clean (e.g.bath, toilet, kitchen) then the rest can wait until I have more time on my hands……!??
Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy. ~Author Unknown
I have heard it said by many that what does matter is the time you spend with your children – not worrying about a bit of dust gathering on the blinds or wondering when your OH will get around to shifting his old office chair from the hallway which he stopped using a year ago! Our children grow so fast don’t they? It’s s a blinking of an eye isn it? Therefore, do I want to look back on my time at home with them and remember that yes, I had a clean and tidy house because I kept on top of it by hook or by crook; or do I want to look back and think i enjoyed my time being a Mum and having fun with my boys, and I relaxed about the housework and my house was…. well ‘homely’?
My home is a happy one and one that looks lived in: its filled with laughter and future memories. It is not always tidy but it reflects me and my family. ~ Jenny Paulin
What quote would best sum up your attitude towards keeping on top of your housework?
DAY 7
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I try to keep the place tidy but I want to spend my precious time that I have off at the weekend with my boys. As long as the kitchen, bathroom and floors are clean everything else can wait. x
I must admit I am a bit of a clean freak although not as obsessive now I have two. I have been known to hoover and mop 3x a day which is ridiculous, so now I have calmed down a bit. I like your quote.
My house is clean but messy when the girls are up. At the end of the day when they go to bed, the toys do too and its a nice clean and tidy one again. I don’t like to do much at weekends though because that’s family time. I usually whiz round hoover, mop and clean the toilet whilst husband baths them! x
I used to clean the house from top to bottom one morning a week before I had Jack…it’s slipped a bit since then and once it slips it’s hard to keep up…..the downstairs is almost always tidy…not necessarily dust free though, the upstairs is a little dustier….I just wish I had the time to do it more often, there just isn’t enough hours in the day!
I love the little quotes…….
x
I grew up in a “show home”. We were never allowed toys out, never allowed friends to play & were too scares to sit on the sofa for fear of messing up a cushion. My childhood was not a good one and I remember my mother being more interested in whether the house was tidy than her own children.
I’m more relaxed, however it bugs me when things get cluttered. DH is first to moan, yet majority of the stuff is his! I tend to try and keep downstairs tidy & clean and do upstairs when I can, but with too much stuff (and too many people) in a rather small house, it gets harder and harder to control 🙁
Great post. I try to pretend I don’t care but I have had to accept a tidy house = tidy mind, in other words I can’t cope in a messy environment. Now I set aside a couple of hours to attack whatever needs doing at the same point each week, each week I am getting a little further. Oh and delegating, that’s really important. Just because I am a stay at home mum does not mean I should do all the housework.
It’s a very sore point in this house. As much as the dust on the skirting boards (and for that matter everywhere else) niggles me, I would much rather spend my time with the children – snuggling up, playing together and being with them. DH prefers the spotless and leave them to it approach. I have yet to work out how to balance housework/paid work/children/life – the children come first and the rest has to just, well, fit in – and if that means there’s a few more cobwebs and Dyson fills up the next time I hoover the bedroom, it’ll just have to do. I think. Maybe. Oh god, this is hard.
usually f**k it! followed a day or so (or sometimes a week or so later) by Oh F**K the house looks like a pigsty. I hate hate hate housework and begrudge it but I would quite like a clean house. I just need to win the lottery and pay someone else to do it – I wish! A friend suggested I tried cleaning as a job when I was made redundant – I took one look at her and asked if she had noticed the state of my house!
You all sound very organised and your houses a lot cleaner than mine – oh well my kids should have loads of antibodies to fight off all those bugs!!
You won’t look back on your life when you’re 90 and wish you’d spent more time doing housework.
Hubby noticed the bath mat was dirty yesterday and I said oh yes I’m a bit behind on the housework I normally clean it every week. He was visibly shocked. That quote about never noticing it unless its not done is so true.
Like Rollercoaster Mum my quote is a personal one: Why doesn’t anyone apart from me put anything away in this bloody house?
However, the toys everywhere mean that The Boy is being played with and learning, the piles of ironing show that we make a mess learning and stuff needs washing, they also show that I’m too busy playing to iron.
He who keeps order is just to lazy to look for things or I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it 😉
I wait until it is so bad I can’t bear it any more! Our house is a mess, but it’s ours – who cares 🙂
The thing is, in truth it does not matter but even now, if my floor needs a hoover, which is pretty much every half hour, even though people pretend they don’t care you can still see that raised eyebrow. Still I find housework soul destroying as it lasts no more than five mins but what I have found that has helped, is strangely carrying out messy activities, because you don’t mind clearing up after you know they have had quality time! xx
Thought I had commented on this already- actually think I did it on my mobile and then it vanished before it sent. hate it when that happens.
My Beckyism would be: You’ll never look back at the end of your life and wish you’d spent more time doing housework!
Of course if you die early of toxic poisoning then you’ll never look back at the end of your life and think anything – so a bit of cleaning is a good thing.
‘Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy’ I like this quote! However, the state of our house and how badly it needs cleaning normally depends on my mood. If I’ve slept well and in a good mood, it doesn’t feel like there’s much to be done, if not then I’ll stomp around most of the day thinking ‘humph’ it would be nice if someone else would do something around here for once! I used to play cleaning with lil man until one day he announced he didn’t want to go to playgroup but to stay home and clean….ooops! Step too far maybe? x