My house is a mess - help me feel better?

[blondeviolin]

I am trying to keep it clean, but I've constantly (or so it feels) have rinsed dishes in the sink to wash, toys of the floor to pick up, and a table to clear off. Tell me I'm not the only one! Between "school" (an hour for everything), meals, my toddler tornado, a nursing baby, classes of my own, etc I'm having a hard time keeping it picked up. The biggest obstacle is the baby who wants to be held all. the. time. (Reflux + milk allergy = high needs)

 

This is normal, right? At this point I'm having a hard time imagining schooling more subjects...but that's next year, everyone will be a little older. Right?! :glare:

[Liz CA]

It is not only normal but you'd be superwoman if you had a clean house and all the school work done every day. If that ever happens, don't post here. Nobody will appreciate it. :lol:

I had only one son to homeschool and we often had science projects fermenting, and other work in progress in various places. We lived in a very small place for some of those years which made it even harder.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

My house is currently gross. The kids are refusing to do work at a normal time, and whine while refusing chores. So....Why am I allowing ds to sit in front of the TV watching Wizards of Waverly Place? (Yes, I already have a plan in place, but I need to recover from the day's tantrums.)

 

I don't have dishes to do, but I will shortly.

 

The living room is a mess. I'll have to make room at the table for dinner. Laundry is threatening to walk out on me.

 

I feel like poopy and I know the house isn't helping.

[Tree House Academy]

Wait till the kids are older and school takes 5 or 6 hours a day! ;)

 

I am sitting here at the computer right now avoiding the following:

 

Vacuuming the stairs

Folding the laundry and putting the clothes from the washer into the dryer

Washing the baking pan in the sink and starting the dishwasher

Scooping the cat litter

Planning my Bible lesson for church tonight

mopping the kitchen

grading my son's math

and a myriad of other things I can't seem to remember right now.

 

Blah.

 

And *I* am an OCD type "neatfreak" - or used to be. It just can't all be perfect anymore...

[Janie Grace]

100% normal. Proof that you're a good mom, doing the things that matter.

[*Jen*]

I was in your shoes last year. My kids are all the same ages. I will say that so far this year is going better. My house is still a mess, but either it's not as bad or I have learned to live with it. ;)

 

Currently I need to empty the dishwasher and refill it, I have about 3 loads of laundry sitting on the couch waiting to be folded and put away and we need to do a quick pick up of toys. What am I doing instead? Eating a snack, hiding from the kids and avoiding it all!

 

I have learned that slow and steady is about the only way my house is going to improve. When I take a week off of school to do a massive cleaning I am so worn out by the start of the next week that it is a struggle to just keep up with the kids and do our minimal amount of school work for the day. My house goes back to being a disaster in just a few days time because the last thing I want to do is to clean anymore. My inlaws are coming this weekend and I have been slowly getting my house neater over the past two weeks. It has been much easier to keep up with it because I'm not so tired from massive amounts of cleaning.

 

Next year will be better but most likely it will be because you will have accustomed to the mess ;)

[Tammyla]

:grouphug:Yes, they will get older and it will get easier; it wont be perfect, but it will be easier.

 

:grouphug:You have a tiny one, cut yourself a break and enjoy the little people, because they will grow up before you're ready.:grouphug:

[swellmomma]

Let's put it this way right now, I have every webkin ever made (or so it seems) strewn across both kids bedrooms, down the hall and into the livingroom, along with blankets and pillows. I have no clue what game is going on but they are everywhere. Lunch dishes are not washed yet, in fact i have not even rinsed them yet, I refuse to switch the laundry for another 30 minutes, for no other reason than I have decided to take a break. My kids are older than yours, so I won't say it gets any cleaner, BUT the big difference is they are old enough to clean it up when I tell them at dinner time. My house often looks like the shelves of toys threw up all over the floor, etc but it is all put back to normal by bedtime. I have found that while the messes have not diminshed as they got bigger, my workload for cleaning it up has lightened a bit now that they can pitch in.

[The Girls' Mom]

Your dishes are RINSED?? AND in the sink?! You are way ahead of me, and my kids are much older!

 

(embarassingly, I am actually typing around my breakfast dishes that never made it back to the kitchen this morning)

 

My house gets actually clean maybe once a week, or when people are coming over. All other times it's just barely contained chaos. :lol:

[ChristusG]

Well, to tell you how my day is going.....after warning the kids over and over, I walked around the house collecting every. single. toy strewn across the living room, school room, and sun room....took it all and threw everything in the playroom and shut and locked the door. I told the kids they are not allowed to play with a single toy until I go into the playroom, all by myself, and purge BIG TIME. I informed them this could take two days, ten days, or thirty days. I also informed them that they might see a whole lot of boxes heading off to Goodwill. For now, they have coloring books, crayons, and stickers.

 

Yes, I gave them AMPLE warning. Over, and over, and over. And all they did was fight and cry about who was cleaning up what.

 

Yes, it has been one of those days. AND I'm 8 months pregnant. AND I have a horrible cold. UGH. Yes, I'm whining. :D

[iamrachelle]

No judgment here, either.

 

But for the record, I would like it to be known that my kitchen was clean with every dish put away at 7:48pm three days ago. :D

[JulieH]

No judgment here, either.

 

But for the record, I would like it to be known that my kitchen was clean with every dish put away at 7:48pm three days ago. :D

 

LOLOL

[blondeviolin]

Well, to tell you how my day is going.....after warning the kids over and over, I walked around the house collecting every. single. toy strewn across the living room, school room, and sun room....took it all and threw everything in the playroom and shut and locked the door. I told the kids they are not allowed to play with a single toy until I go into the playroom, all by myself, and purge BIG TIME. I informed them this could take two days, ten days, or thirty days. I also informed them that they might see a whole lot of boxes heading off to Goodwill. For now, they have coloring books, crayons, and stickers.

 

Yes, I gave them AMPLE warning. Over, and over, and over. And all they did was fight and cry about who was cleaning up what.

 

Yes, it has been one of those days. AND I'm 8 months pregnant. AND I have a horrible cold. UGH. Yes, I'm whining. :D

:-O I actually did the same thing at 6mos pregnant with NO warning. My excuse then was that summer was coming and they needed to be outside, not inside playing with toys. Somehow it's okay for my back yard to be messy, but I can't stand a messy inside. :confused:

 

Thanks for commiserating, ladies! I knew I could count on y'all! When I mention it to my sister she says it's because we homeschool :glare:. Actually, it's because I have a needy baby more than anything.... Though, I did tell her it takes her longer to drive her daughter to and from school than it does my daughter to do all of her school. :lol:

[seraphina]

Totally normal. My house is fairly clean right now only because I have older kids who can be amazingly helpful at time although I don't think anyone has clean clothes for tomorrow. Such is life. Don't be too hard on yourself, you have a lot on your plate, and it's more important to do quality stuff with your kids then have a clean house. :grouphug:

[WIS0320]

I currently have 6 loads of laundry in baskets in my bedroom that need to be folded that I am ignoring. You aren't the only one!

[greenvneck]

Honey. You have three kids 5 and under? You don't even need to DO "school". Do what you can in the house and have FUN with those kids. Go to parks, explore new areas, discover geocaching, paint, go on nature walks, fly kites, take a bag of cups/bowls/funnels to a park w/ tiny pebbles....the possibilities are endless. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you have to do "educational" stuff with such young kids! The best advice you could get is the same thing that Ms. Frizzle says..."Take chances, make mistakes, get messy." And have fun!!!

[FO4UR]

You are doing great! You won't regret the dishes in the sink in 10 years.

 

 

 

No judgment here, either.

 

But for the record, I would like it to be known that my kitchen was clean with every dish put away at 7:48pm three days ago. :D

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

 

I'm on the ball if the dishes are washed before we need to use them again...nothing like washing a bowl so you can dirty it again a second later.

[LAS in LA]

According to The Well-Trained Mind (p618 in the 2004 Edition), one of the realities of home schooling is: "Housework suffers. Books and science experiments and papers are all over the house." Hey, look! I'm doing just what the book says -- and then some! :D

[amyrjoy]

I'm right there with ya. I have no desire to deal with it. Think it's getting on DH's nerves, though.

[lcelmer]

I heard last week that the most stressful time in a woman's life is generally when she has kids under 5.

 

You have 4, so cut yourself some slack.

 

My mountain of laundry got done once, but then somone took a shower & emptied the hamper again. :lol:

[Zoo Keeper]

According to The Well-Trained Mind (p618 in the 2004 Edition), one of the realities of home schooling is: "Housework suffers. Books and science experiments and papers are all over the house." Hey, look! I'm doing just what the book says -- and then some! :D

 

 

:001_smile: This is me, too. And I'm an overachiever (with the mess, that is...)

[nowimscrappin]

Having a messy house stresses me out too - and definitely it has been that way since I started homeschooling 6 years ago.

 

Can you take a day off from homeschooling and feel like you get "caught" up - is there a chance Daddy can stay home and call is "Fall Cleaning" day.

 

If you have a dishwasher, empty it every morning and then load it throughout the day. I got that tip from FlyLady years ago and its probably the only one that stuck - but it works. We haven't had a dishrack on the counter for years - and yay, one less thing on the counter.

 

The 5 and 3 year old can pick up toys. I know they aren't perfect, and mine never put them away either, but they could each take a laundry basket and throw the toys in there as quickly as possible, and then run around taking the basket to where the toys go and putting them away. Once they are all put away initially, if you can pick a time before lunch, before dinner, and before bed to get the toys put away, they might not be as overwhelming.

 

The other thing I am trying to do is get rid of stuff - my kids have way too many toys, there is no way they need all of them. Just more to be strewn around. I try every couple / few months to cut down on the toys they have - fewer toys, fewer to lay around.

 

Honestly, I'm trying to do that with everything to reduce what can be laid around our house. I have a huge box of DVDs for hubby to go through for ones he insists we keep because we don't ever watch DVDs - NEVER. We have movie channels and we watch those. The only DVDs that get watched are for the kids in the van on car trips.

 

Papers are my nemesis. The key to them is having a place for them. Are there papers you don't know what to do with? Maybe a set of inboxes for "reviewing", "filing", etc. For the mail, don't let the junk mail get in the door. I actually have a trashcan right inside the door and I stop there on the way in and the junk mail goes in it.

 

My house is by no means as clean as I want and as I look around the family room, I have two hot spots I can't stand - the coffee table, and the half-height wall between the kitchen and family room - but I try to operate on the philosophy of "touching it once". If you have to pick up something to move it to get to something else, but the thing away you had to touch.

 

Every time my husband and I have a big fight and he asks me "what will make you happy?" it is ALWAYS a clean house. ALWAYS. Without a doubt. The problem is that he's the worst offender as he lays stuff around, or I'll have a pile for him to address and two weeks later, its still there.

Edited September 15, 2011 by nowimscrappin

[Riverland]

Abby, 5: FIAR, AAS, ZB HW, Gattegno Mathematics/Miquon
Emmett , 3: Letters, Cuisenaire Rods
Ellie , 2: Toddler Tornado
Hyrum, 3 mos: eating, sleeping, smiling


The first thing I noticed was the ages of your kids! Keep them happy, healthy and learning. To me, that's the important stuff.

Someday you will actually miss the constant messes. 

[Rebookie]

Don't feel bad!! I just had to call my best friend keith (who is high maintenance and keeps his home like a show place) for support. He's known me since high school and can light a fire under me. =D Maybe we need an encouragement phone tree message. =D

[gardenmom5]

When I was in the hospital with my first, there was a poem on the wall that bears repeating. (I actually went and got the stitchery kit for myself.)

 

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow

for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow

so quiet down cobwebs, and dust go to sleep

I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep

 

You're homeschooling. One day they will be gone, and your house can be perfect. :)

[foxbridgeacademy]

Oh, I remember that very well, it does get better as they get older. They start to entertain themselves and "help" with the chores. Mine are 10 and 8, and I have finally started to feel like I can have a reasonably clean house and get 90% of everything else done as well. I have even started baking(from scratch) again! For now just make a list of the 3 most important things to get done each day. Mine were the dishes, meals, and clean laundry which did not have to always be folded and put away. If there are toys on the floor watch where you step. In the early years I got a lot of help from DH. He would take care of whatever I asked him to, don't feel guilty if you need help, we all do from time to time.

[mo2]

 

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow

for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow

so quiet down cobwebs, and dust go to sleep

I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep

 

 

I love it.

[Lisa in Jax]

I am trying to keep it clean, but I've constantly (or so it feels) have rinsed dishes in the sink to wash, toys of the floor to pick up, and a table to clear off. Tell me I'm not the only one! Between "school" (an hour for everything), meals, my toddler tornado, a nursing baby, classes of my own, etc I'm having a hard time keeping it picked up. The biggest obstacle is the baby who wants to be held all. the. time. (Reflux + milk allergy = high needs)

 

This is normal, right? At this point I'm having a hard time imagining schooling more subjects...but that's next year, everyone will be a little older. Right?! :glare:

 

Wait. You have a nursing infant and three other kids under 6? If everyone has been hugged, talked to, has clean clothes most of the time and there's a healthy meal being served on a regular basis, you've done enough.

 

Kids need love, food, safety and security. They do NOT need a spotless house.

 

Give yourself a break!

 

Lisa

[jennsmile]

:grouphug::grouphug:

 

A Friend posted this on Pintrest.

 

Good Moms Have

Sticky Floors,

Messy Kitchens,

Laundry Piles,

Dirty Ovens,

And Happy Kids!

 

We are still working out the kinks in clean house/schooled kids....if anybody figures out how to have that happen let me know...

[Xanadu]

I live by power 15.... (Taken from Flylady.net...I never could get into the rest of her program/idea but I LOVE the power 15 idea)

 

Once I started homeschooling I realized that I couldn't keep up with much of anything else around the house.....

 

BUT I can make the kids help with a power 15 upstairs before lessons start and a power 15 downstairs during lunch....(Power 15 = Set timer and start cleaning what you can for 15 minutes..when the timer rings your done, even if your not finished with everything)

 

You would be amazed how much you can get swept/dusted/scrubbed and polished in 15 minutes especially when the kids think it is a game. (I have a 12 year old who is a big help, but even the 6 year old gets involved)

 

I also bring the laundry basket downstairs and start a load everyday at breakfast...Toss it into the dryer at lunch and have kids help fold it and put away before dinner...The kids also HAVE to make their beds as soon as they wake up....Its auto-pilot at this point, they don't even think about it anymore..(YAY!)

 

Aside from this, everyone in the Family (including DH) work for about an hour on Saturday or Sunday doing heavy vacuuming/mopping scrubbing toilets and so forth.

 

Power 15 and one load of laundry every day saved my sanity. I'm one of those people who can't function in clutter.....and a messy house brings out my "grrr" .....but I wanted to focus on my kids and not the mess they were making. The 15 minute power cleaning keeps us both happy... (Sometimes I add another 15 min in the evening if it was a project day or friends were over or its just necessary to keep the chaos contained)

 

This system works really well. Unfortunately it doesn't cover those "heavy duty" cleaning moments. I'm currently looking at a family room carpet that looks like it hasn't seen a steam cleaner in years (and i just spent hours 2 weeks ago doing all the carpets in the house......*sigh*)