I wish I could just give up...

[ha98ed14]

The quest to keep a moderately organized, clean house. I am no Martha Stewart and don't even attempt to keep the place more than basically sanitary, which it is not right now. I did the kitchen counters last night and the sink. But the bathroom is grodie and I have not vaccummed in 2 weeks. There I said it. DD has a cold and is rubbing her snot all over me and the furniture.

It feels like an up hill battle because DH doesn't care if the clothes don't make it INTO the hamper. General vacinity is fine with him. And DD's favorite activity to to dump out all the toys in the living room (not even play with them) then proceed to the bathroom to open all the cupboards under the sink and take out the TP, shread the TP, and leave it for me to clean up. Then she take her cars and drives them all over the (dirty) bathroom floor. She rides her wheely bug through the kitchen while I am bagging trash and reaches in and takes stuff out of the trash! I feel like a broken record, "No! Go in the living room, please. Please take that in the living room." I get nothing done during the days I am home (part time student) and I feel bad because it feels like all my interactions with DD are me doing triage, trying to prevent her from taking everything out/ appart/ down. The only positive time is when we read books. But then, I have to block out the chaos and toy carnage in my living room.

I feel like I want to run away. I think the Latin "mater" must have meant "Sh!t Schlepper."

[lorinick]

I think we all feel like that. I use to keep a clean house and at times the whole house was clean at the same time but not any more my 18 month old son messes as I clean so nothing is clean for very long. I clean one area he messes another. I've given up on the house being clean all at once and not ever looking that neatly picked up at least for a while anyway.

[Laurel]

You are not the only one...

[trales]

I spent all day cleaning yesterday, and now, well it looks like I have not cleaned in weeks. It kind of makes me want to cry. All that time. Sigh.

[niccig]

Yeah, you're definitely not the only one. Add in a long haired dog and well, the dust bunnies are enough to make a 2nd dog. DS asked the other day why he has dog hair on his pants - but he had just hugged the dog so at least it wasn't my fault because I hadn't vacuumed the floor.

My advice, if you want some. Do little bits when you can. I unstack the dishwasher early in the morning and put all dirty dishes in there. DH washes up after dinner and the kitchen has to be clean for me to go to bed, so the counters/sink get a quick wipe down. The bathroom is done while DS is having a bath - he's 4yo so I can do this, and I'm still in the room with him. I use a spray bottle of home made cleaner and a wipe. I do the counter top and sink, the toilet gets a quick spray and scrub, and the mirror gets a once over. I bought a method cleaner that you spray on the shower after you get out.

So, none of this is deep cleaning, but I've found I feel better for having done a little, and when I do deep clean it's not as bad as things haven't built up.

Now, don't talk to me about floors or dusting. I haven't figured that one out yet.

Oh, and you're DD will get older and things will get easier. DS still makes a huge mess, but he can help to clean it up. And he LOVES to help me clean. We scrubbed the hallway walls last week together. It took twice as long to do it with DS's help. He lasted for half the time, then grabbed some toys and played beside me as I finished up. And NO, I'm not a clean freak. We haven't done the walls since moving in and boy can you tell the difference, but they probably won't get done again for a few years!

[Piglet]

Sadly I am right there with you. I think my DD is the same age as your DD so I know what that is like. My new rules are:

1) The bathroom door is to remain closed and whoever was the one that left it open is responsible for cleaning up the ensuing mess.
2) Baby-proofing is your new friend. It might not have mattered when DD was just crawling, but NOW is the time to put up baby gates and cabinet locks. I barricaded myself in the kitchen a few days ago because it just wasn't safe for the kids to be underfoot. The less mischief DD can get into, the less I have to yell and say "no". As a friend put it - control the contrables!
3) From a great mommy friend of mine and a rule that needs to be incorporated in our lives ASAP - before bed everyone has a 10 minute cleaning spree. Everyone is responsible for their things and mommy has the right to chuck anything left behind if need be.
4) Get help if you can swing it - we have a cleaner come every 2 weeks and it is just enough of a motivator to get us to really tidy before her arrival. Plus I KNOW the last time my toilet was cleaned ;)
5) Get out of the house - the more time spent out of the house the less time spent making a mess!

At the end of the day, the kids will not remember the half done laundry or the messy kitchen... I hope!?

[JTsMom]

It really is a never ending battle. I will second the suggestion to do little 10 minute power cleaning sessions. I try to do those a couple of times during the day, and get everyone to help me do one after dinner/before bed.

I try to wipe down 1 or 2 things in the bathroom while DS is in the tub.

The toys- forget it. I have a big bin to dump the ones in the living room in. DS is really good about taking things to his room if I ask him to do 1 at a time. Take your guitar to your room. Great, thanks! Can you take your shoes to the closet? Etc.

Also, try to stay out of the house as much as possible- if you aren't home, she can't make a mess. :)

ETA: I just want to make clear that despite all of this, it still usually looks like a craft/toy/clothing store exploded in here 3 or 4 days of the week. LOL

[LBW]

I hear you. It never ends.

One thing that has helped me is to limit the toys that are available for dumping. I've put away or given away a lot of the rarely used toys, and the ones that are out for playing are sorted into a few large bins. So, clean up is fairly easy. If your DD isn't even really playing with her toys, put most of them away. You'll be happier. Trust me!

[hellokitty]

I can't really offer much advice, but I do have lots of empathy. Our household is the same situation. It's bad enough that after I had baby #2, I just kept buying more laundry baskets, so I wouldn't have to fold. Now I am up to like 7 baskets and last night I HAD to fold laundry, b/c I had a whole new batch of dirty laundry that had to be laundered. So, yeah I know how bad it can get. As for vacuuming and dusting, I haven't done it in over 3 wks now, esp after 2 wks with all of us having the flu, now that we're all better, I just don't want to do it.

[sarahsthreads]

I can't really offer much advice, but I do have lots of empathy. Our household is the same situation. It's bad enough that after I had baby #2, I just kept buying more laundry baskets, so I wouldn't have to fold. Now I am up to like 7 baskets and last night I HAD to fold laundry, b/c I had a whole new batch of dirty laundry that had to be laundered. So, yeah I know how bad it can get. As for vacuuming and dusting, I haven't done it in over 3 wks now, esp after 2 wks with all of us having the flu, now that we're all better, I just don't want to do it.
:yeahthat:

And I don't buy more laundry baskets even when I can't find time to fold - I just keep dumping the partially used baskets into each other, so there might be clean clothes that just wind up in the bottom of the basket for weeks on end. ("Oh! That's where my favorite baby outfit went - too bad it's two sizes too small now!")

OP, I totally hear you on just trying desperately to keep the house barely sanitary. I'm not even going to confess how long it's been since we (well, *I*) cleaned the master bathroom. Nobody else goes in there, and it's all I can do to keep the "public" areas of the house decent enough that I could have someone over with a day or so of notice. ;)

Sarah :)

[niccig]

I can't really offer much advice, but I do have lots of empathy. Our household is the same situation. It's bad enough that after I had baby #2, I just kept buying more laundry baskets, so I wouldn't have to fold. Now I am up to like 7 baskets and last night I HAD to fold laundry, b/c I had a whole new batch of dirty laundry that had to be laundered.

I just take clean clothes out of the laundry baskets when I need to wear them. Or, I fold them and then the folded laundry sits in the basket and doesn't get to the rooms. Or in my case, if it gets to my room, I just put the folded clothes on the dresser/chair etc.

What has helped is to have someone over. A friend of DH's is coming today, DH picked him up at the airport. I have vaccumed, quick clean of bathroom, MOPED the floor (first time in ages), and put everything away. Plus cooked my part of the pot luck dinner we're all going to. I always get motivated by visitors!

[hellokitty]

I just take clean clothes out of the laundry baskets when I need to wear them. Or, I fold them and then the folded laundry sits in the basket and doesn't get to the rooms. Or in my case, if it gets to my room, I just put the folded clothes on the dresser/chair etc.

What has helped is to have someone over. A friend of DH's is coming today, DH picked him up at the airport. I have vaccumed, quick clean of bathroom, MOPED the floor (first time in ages), and put everything away. Plus cooked my part of the pot luck dinner we're all going to. I always get motivated by
visitors!

Lol, that is what I normally do too, but my DH is not good about taking clean clothes directly out of the basket. He always has to pull out clothes from the closet. GRRR! Screws up my system, kwim?

Yeah, having ppl over throws me into a housecleaning fury. However, I'm usually in a pissy mood during these tasmanian devil cleaning frenzies. So, it's not something I look forward to. It is amazing though how much better the house looks after one of my spaz outs cleanings, lol. Too bad I can't do it while still being pleasant.

[maestramommy]

I was inspired by Tracey's thread a couple of weeks ago, so I had Dh entertain the kids while I basically spent the whole day cleaning. By evening, all the floors were wiped, carpet vacuumed, bathrooms sanitized, office decluttered, it was awesome.

The next morning the girls were eating gingerbread and it got all over the floor. Sigh.

I think I'm going to go back to cleaning a little each day. That way I feel like I have ticked something off my list, and it's not as hard on my preggo body.

[new_mommy25]

I haven't cleaned my house well in 5 years. It's impossible. Now that my kids are 2 and 5 it is a little easier but not by much. My 2 year old really knows how to make a huge mess!! I keep telling myself it's only a few more years. :)