HOW do any of you find the motivation to keep your house spick and span with a baby to look after? During Sam's naps, by the time I've made meals for him, cleaned the highchair (AGAIN), eaten something myself, and of course spent a good hour on the internet (haha - kind of), there is NO way I want to clean my house. Once he's gone to bed, again, I just do not have the energy to tidy and clean. I really do the bare minimum, and we are so lucky to have a cleaner once a week, otherwise Environmental Health would be round...

I am a complete slummy mummy. Please tell me I'm not the only one?

I used to be so house proud but it's impossible these days. We do a quick tidy once lo's in bed (I do upstairs hubbie does down) and the rest I just do as I go. I've never cleaned during naptime, I always put my feet up. Now that lo's 15 months he's really into helping with things like loading the washing machiene so we turn it into a game.

So the house is pretty clean and tidy but nowhere near what it used to be, I used to clean top to bottom once a week, that never happens now !x

Ugh I hate housework, but I can't relax if the place isn't mostly clean and tidy.

Lily goes to the childminder one day/week so I do a big clean and tidy then as well as all the paperwork (Maddie allowing), and then just do little bits here & there to keep afloat during the week. Every morning I tidy upstairs before the girls & I go down for breakfast, and every evening once they're asleep for the night I tidy downstairs.

I don't do housework, I do the washing and load/empty the dishwasher. But not much else unless it is desperate!

My house is a state! I hate it like that but the kids are happy and healthy, so I'm a happy mummy!! Not worth getting stressed over!

xxx

Well i have a cleaner one day a week but once LO is in bed i run round tidying and when he naps i hoover everyday and make food etc. I have builders in at the moment so the kitchen/utility looks like a bomb has hit it, but i keep the door shut on that!!

ugh i hate housework, but i would love a tidy, clean house. i am lucky enough to have a cleaner once a week too and i love the house when she's just been. it doesn't take long for it to get messy again though (same day usually!). i can just about keep on top of laundry, dishwasher, cooking etc. but cleaning as well - no chance!

I hate washing up! We don't have a dishwasher (sigh) and now that we are weaning there is a never ending pile of dishes and bowls and spoons and bottles and beakers and blenders and pans and sieves, and that's just for Cam's meals! I can just about stomach the rest (although is a complete pain somedays) but the constant washing up drives me wild! x

You are definitely not alone! I do try to keep the house tidy but not clean, does that make sense. So there is some organisation, I just don't have time to dust, hoover, wash floors, blah, blah. It gets done when they are screaming at me to do, which can take some time LOL xx

ha ha ha, no Coco you are definately not alone. I try to make sure the kitchen is clean at the end of the day and if I can see enough of the floor I'll throw the hoover around but that's about my limit at the moment. I'm pretty good keeping on top of the laundry but that just means that there are piles of clean clothes around the place waiting to get put away! When I go back to work I am telling my oh that we are getting a cleaner!

Lawso, I know exactly what you mean! Toys and books get put away and I aim to have all the dishes washed and the kitchen surfaces wiped by the end of the day. I try to hoover a couple of times a week and mop once a week but that doesn't always happen. As for dusting, only if my in-laws are coming for the day (so every couple of months *blush*).

Now that Peter is down to one nap a day, I have to do all this after he has gone to bed. Nap time is usually spent preparing lunch and working as I work from home and need to at least vaguely keep on top of things the six days he isn't in nursery. Thankfully my husband does all the laundry and cleans the bathroom, although that could probably be done more often to be honest.

So yes, tidy but not sparkly clean pretty much sums it up. If I get my research funding, I am going to insist that we get a cleaner next year!

Sar, you've seen my house, it's a tip! I keep it hygenic but that's probably the most I can say! Plenty of time to be houseproud when the little ones are grown up. At the moment I'm either with them or trying to catch a breath when they're in bed so I'm ready to enjoy time with them again once they're awake!
Cxx

well said coco! I could have written that myself!! Just moaned at hubs that I feel like all I ever do is cookwashclean and then start again!

I hate cleaning but before I had Luke I always did it in one go once a week and occasionaly mum and dad helped me move the heavy stuff, however, since Luke has been born I think I have only done it completely on my own about 3 times, most weeks when I have to go out on a Friday they come and look after Luke and usually do it for me, if not then mum usually comes over on a saturday afternoon and we do it together.

Despite that I too had cleaning, I like it because it looks nice afaterwards but get so tired doing it.

Plenty of time to be houseproud when the little ones are grown up. At the moment I'm either with them or trying to catch a breath when they're in bed so I'm ready to enjoy time with them again once they're awake!
Cxx


What a lovely way to see things! I may print that off and stick it on my fridge. :\)

I am another one that loves the clean house but hates the actually cleaning to get the house the way I love it lol!

Everytime we have a major clean I promise myself that I will keep on top of it and maybe do a room a day or something like that thinking it won't take long to whizz around a room and clean it and then it won't be such a big task but it never happens!

I'm same as PTB I can't rest unless it's clean (ish), I hoover most days, dust once a week, dust and hoover upstairs once a week and clean toilet and sick twice a week and actual bath once a week. I keep on top of cleaning the floors but it's probably less than once a week as i've got stupid laminate in kitchen and bathroom that you can't mop.

I don't find general cleaning a problem, it's the bigger jobs like weeding the garden, washing and hoovering the car, cleaning my wheelie bins and household bin out, cleaning the oven (the latter is probably done on a 3 monthly basis, VERY half heartedly!)

xxx

Can I just thanks to everyone who has commented on this post - it has made me feel so much better about my house because you all sound just like me and clean as I do if that makes sense. I always thought I would be looked down on if floors weren't mopped everyday or carpets hoovered! So thank you for making me feel normal!

Me and hubby are as bad as each other, neither of us can sit down till its at least tidy. So if its not one of us tidying its the other. My MIL has said I should rest whilst Dylan is napping but I know for a fact she couldn't rest if she had cornflakes all over her kitchen floor! I also try and make sure I do a good clean (of sorts) once a week. I hate it but not as much as I hate looking at the filth. Although one thing I cant bring myself to do is the ironing!

Im jealous of all of you with cleaners! Are they expensive?

Mrs Calopa, of course you are normal!!! To ditto all the others, I love a clean tidy house, but it does get harder and harder to have, so I've started to not worry so much. I always think, I'll do it when he has a nap, but when that time comes, after I've made a cuppa, had a biscuit, checked in with Phil and Holly on this morning or watched Neighbours if afternoon nap (I haven't watched neighbours in the afternoon since I was a student, it's my guilty nap time pleasure!!!) LO is awake again!!

My treat to myself once I go back to work in Sept is a cleaner, she's all booked in ready to go, it's the only silver lining in the grim reality of maternity leave coming to the end!!

xxxx