House Work + Baby = Dirty House!

I just need to vent a little!!!!!! I feel like since Owen was born I can not get a grip on my house work anymore!!!!!
The house hasn't been cleaned really well since the week before Christmas. I keep it picked up and I keep certain rooms cleaner than others but there are some rooms in my house I just can't seem to get around too. So, I decided today that while Owen is playing I need to start cleaning more instead of waiting until he naps. I started cleaning our bathroom (it's a HUGE bathroom - it usually takes 2 hours to clean it) and Owen SCREAMED the entire time! He wanted me to sit on the floor and play with him. Now, I'm exhausted from that experience and I feel defeated and don't even want to clean anything else.

On top of that, my DH, God love him, has sort of taken on the attitude that since I'm at home he doesn't have to help me clean anymore. He used to be really helpful and we could usually get the whole house cleaned in 2 or 3 hours on Saturdays. I guess he was more helpful because we both worked full time. I don't think he realizes how hard it is to get anything done with an active 8 month old around. I've also noticed that I can either clean house or get dressed but I can't seem to do both so on days I clean, when he gets home, I'm still in sweat pants and a pony tail!!!!!

How do you all do it? Do you only clean while your babies nap? What do you "do" with your babies when you need to get stuff done? Now that Owen is pulling up and crawling he knows that the jumper keeps him from getting around so it makes him really mad when I put him in it but if I don't contain him so how he is into things that could hurt him.

I'm so frustrated right now!!!!!! Thanks for listening!

Hey Lou,

Have you tried follwing the flyladys flyzones? Wasn't it you who told me about it.I have already changed SOME of my ways with her and although I have mentally checked out of this house as far as cleaning goes.When we move in I intend to start using her ways.She is brilliant! I have printed out and laminted some of her tips/routines and tricks!

www.flylady.net

have a look! She help break it down bit by bit so your house stays clean by doing a little of something differen each day,while having a little morning and evenign ritual that ANYONE even me,could manage and then about 15-30 mins a day on something new,you dont spend all day cleaning,you dont have to do it at a set time,fit it to you!

hugs ,you will get there!

Yes, I think I DID show you that website!!!!

I guess my problem is that I'm soooo far behind I feel like I need more than 30 minutes a day!!!!

I managed to finish cleaning the bathroom! Yeah!!!
I have just one load of laundry left to fold and then I'll be completely caught up!
I got the kitchen/keeping room and the master bedroom picked up.

My plan tomorrow is to pick up what I've done today so it stays clean and tackle the dining room which is currently COVERED in baby clothing/toys that Owen has outgrown..... that wont be a fun project..

I'm gonna to flylady and see if I can print some stuff off!

Thanks for the reminder!!!!

My house looks like it snowed baby clothes.....current and outgrown lol. I too have Lucy protesting any time I try to get anything done. She seems to k now when I have someone coming over and shoots into hyper clingy mode.

Babies.

Lou Lou wrote:Yes, I think I DID show you that website!!!!

I guess my problem is that I'm soooo far behind I feel like I need more than 30 minutes a day!!!!

I managed to finish cleaning the bathroom! Yeah!!!
I have just one load of laundry left to fold and then I'll be completely caught up!
I got the kitchen/keeping room and the master bedroom picked up.

My plan tomorrow is to pick up what I've done today so it stays clean and tackle the dining room which is currently COVERED in baby clothing/toys that Owen has outgrown..... that wont be a fun project..

I'm gonna to flylady and see if I can print some stuff off!

Thanks for the reminder!!!!

You're welcome,dont forget i you listen to her radio blog she has a show about 'crisis cleaninf where she can talk you through cleaning your house in 45 mins,then you can worry about th deats later! Just do 15 mins in each room,the a break for 15,then go again! Use a timer,it'a godsend!You'll be fine!Love ya,thats one of the best sites anyone's ever shown me so thank you ,,,and take you're own advice!
xxx

I know its hard to keep the house clean, i have had to keep it spotless for a year as we have people going through all the time as its on the market, so i have just found my own routine which works well. Even though we have taken the house off the market now, i still keep to it as its habbit. I will share what i do and how.
as soon as i am woken up by the lovely Jesse James, i get up and turn the telly on (Godsend) I get him a cup of water then get Kieran up, change him and put him on the floor with a couple of toys, this usually keeps them both happy for 10 mins which is enough time to make the beds. Then i sort their breakfast out, feed kieran his ceral and put some toast on his tray which he plays with and attempts to feed himself, this giving me another 10 mins which i can gather all the dirty laundry up and turn the washing machine on. Then get the kids dressed have a play with them for a while then find something that will occupy them for another 10 while i hang washing or do morning dishes, (have a dishwasher but prefer to do them myself) kieran goes for a nap for 1-2 hours so i prepare dinner by lunch so when the time comes incase i get held up in the arvo, i can just turn it on. also tidy jesses room in this time. then i spend one on one with jesse. when kieran goes for his arvo nap, I vacum, wipe bathroom down (gets a scrub once a week, wiped down daily0
Jesse goes to daycare 2 arvos a week so on one of these days once a week while kieran is having his nap i clean all the windows inside and out (takes around 2 hours) If kieran is having a crazy day and doesnt sleep and i need to do the bathroom for example, i get a blanket and put it in the tub and put him in there with a few of his toys and he is happy as while i clean. i just make sure i keep ontop of it daily so it doesnt take long, if i leave it for a day then it takes me ages to catch up!

Lou Lou wrote:
On top of that, my DH, God love him, has sort of taken on the attitude that since I'm at home he doesn't have to help me clean anymore. He used to be really helpful and we could usually get the whole house cleaned in 2 or 3 hours on Saturdays. I guess he was more helpful because we both worked full time. I don't think he realizes how hard it is to get anything done with an active 8 month old around. I've also noticed that I can either clean house or get dressed but I can't seem to do both so on days I clean, when he gets home, I'm still in sweat pants and a pony tail!!!!!

Lou Lou - You are not alone, I get hardly any help if any at all from my DH. I feel as though I am constantly tidying up, it is never ending. Recently it has really been getting to me and I have found myself in tears. I have managed to throw a ton of stuff out and bag loads up for charity in the hope that having less clutter will help keep thing's tidy......watch this space!!

I hear ya on the housework. I'm horrible about it, I barely manage to keep things tidied around here despite being a housewife - I dread thinking about what things will be like when our son is added in to the mix!

I've tried off and on for 5-6 years to do the Flylady method and never seem to manage it. I even have the Sink Reflections book. I usually end up getting annoyed with the constant e-mails and give up and unsubscribe to them! I guess I should give it another shot one of these days.

The biggest help for me was when I had the housework broken down into "zones" for different days - one day I'd do the kitchen spotless, the next I'd vacuum and do laundry, etc. I need to either find that or remake it and start following it again. I'm still 3 loads behind on laundry and need to scrub down the kitchen... I *LOVE* cooking and detest doing the dishes!

DF doesn't help at all around here. Maybe 1/5 times I ask him to, he'll actually unload the dishwasher. He does take out the garbage for me on the night our bins go to the curb, and he does the litterbox now cause I can't.

I"m trying very hard to get things settled into some sort of routine NOW. I have yet to get the place cleaned to my ideal.

It does make me feel better to know I'm not the only one that struggles with this!!!!

MOJJ - You sound soooo organized!!!! I'm really impressed! I think you have the key to it all - do little bits at a time.

Georgi - I have been trying to de clutter my house too! About two weeks ago I took 10 Bags of clothing to Goodwill!
I still probably could get rid of another 10+ bags! My goal has been to try to get rid of 5 items of every day. I have TONS of clothes from my past life that are either too small or too dressy for SAHM life. Sorry to hear you don't have much help either!

Tiff - I'll bet that is frustrating to not have a dresser to store your clothing!!!! Our bedroom seems to always be the messiest room in the house too!!!

Myste - I think it's a great idea to try to get organized before your little boy arrives but let me make a suggestion..... DON"T PUT IT OFF!!!!! I waited until 37 weeks to start my organizing and ended up having Owen the day after I started my leave!!!!!!

I got up this morning and picked up the rooms I focused on yesterday and I plan on doing one more room today!
Wish me luck!!!!

Lou Lou,
You are definately not alone!!! I did so much on my own too, DF was heavily medicated the first 6 months after my daughter was born. He slept all the time and I even did the shovelling of the driveway!!! I just do a bit at a time each day....on days I work (5 days a week Monday-Friday), I just tidy up the dishes and the living room. Yesterday during Audrey's nap I swept and washed the kitchen floor. I'll wash down the bathroom while I'm in there maybe once a week and it only takes a few seconds now that I have a 15 month old. A fast cleaning is better then no cleaning at all I usually get the one bathroom 1 time a week, but my other bathroom I'm horrible and will probably do 1 time every 2-3 weeks, lol!!! I vaccuum daily during the weekend and I'll normally vaccuum during the week IF DF has been home all day with Audrey since he gives her crackers and she gets crumbs everywhere. I only manage to do my laundry every Saturday or Sunday and I only really use the dryer since I hated leaving Audrey alone while I hung up the laundry outside during hte summer, but some days I would bring her out with me, just alot of work though...

Anyways the way I get things done is.....get the dishes done daily 1-3 times, if I do them more often it takes so much time away from having a HUGE pile. And just tidy up daily......but get bathrooms done when you are in there and wash everything down quickly enough to do a proper job. As for dust I have no motivation to clean up my dust, haha!!!

Hey girls,

I completely agree. Now that Isaac can actually entertain himself, I was hoping I could get a better handle on things and get things organized. We want to move but that means we have things around the house that need upgraded. But an eight month old does not make it easy. And then I have started to think when I would want to have another one and if we do I have even more to get done before we go down that road because I can only imagine that it gets more complicated. MOJJ you sound like you do things the way my mom used to do. There is also book out there called "Sidetracked Home Executives" and they have the same theory of doing a little bit at a time but they have a way of organizing it all so you know when you did what you did.

I also had a little breakdown on DH after he came home after eight and I was stuck home trying to make supper with a clingy crawling active baby and getting his nigntime bath routine started. It took everything in me and i thought if I was single I could just eat whatever but I like to have a meal on the table and something for his lunch the next day. But a girl can only do so much. That is why I haven't been on here much. I just don't seem to ever have any time.

It is actually nice to know that we all are having the same issues. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong.

Nope, you aren't doing anything wrong! In fact, I think we moms probably try to take on too much!!!!
Some days I get dinner cooked, some days I don't. Same with the house, and getting dressed for that matter!

Since I started this thread I've been trying to keep the kitchen, keeping room and our bedroom/bathroom clean. The rest of the house, not so much! My goal every night is for the kitchen sink to be empty. So, this means I pretty much always have clean dishes and then I've been getting the bed made every morning and doing one load of laundry every day. Then, every other day I try to tackle something extra..... the dining room, or dusting, etc. It's not nearly as clean as it was before Owen was born but it's better than it was two weeks ago!!!! I'm also learning how to change the way I prioritize and it's helped a lot!

And yes, it would probably be spotless if I weren't on here as much but this is my link to the outside!!!! I need you guys!!!!!

I don't think it gets any easier, at least from my POV.
Once they get older their is schoolwork to be done. That's after working all day and coming home to make dinner, then homework and well, she kinda stinks, so bathtime, then more reading time.
It's after 9pm by the time I sit down. Forget the house, I need sleep!

Hang in there ladies. Our houses will be clean when their 18.

by kellybean on Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:48 pm

I don't think it gets any easier, at least from my POV.
Once they get older their is schoolwork to be done. That's after working all day and coming home to make dinner, then homework and well, she kinda stinks, so bathtime, then more reading time.
It's after 9pm by the time I sit down. Forget the house, I need sleep!

Hang in there ladies. Our houses will be clean when their 18.

Yikes Kellybean, thanks for letting us know that...so enjoy it while they sleep very early and don't go to school.....CHECK, hehe!!!

I get really annoyed when I hear about Dh's who don't think they need to help clean JUST because they've been out at work all day! Do they not realise that JUST looking after a young baby is a full time job in itself (and its a 24/7 job). Housework should be a shared thing (especially since men make more mess than children).
My DF and I don't live together so he doesnt do any cleaning for me, he has his own apartment to keep clean but he DOES do the dishes for me at the weekends since he has breakfast at mine and so uses my tableware etc. He's pretty good really. I just wish he would offer to care for my kids a bit more alone from time to time so that I can get out and have coffee with friends, I love my kids but being with them 24/7 with no breaks has an impact on my sanity!!

Hayley x