Keeping on top of housework when you're ill or in other times of crisis?

rosie383

I agree it is so much easier to clean if you get rid of clutter. i had to clear the bedrooms for new carpets, got rid of stuff on freecycle, and have stuff bagged and labelled in the loft for dh to sell at car boot.
Have you a good friend who could help you to blitz a couple of rooms? I have done this for a couple of friends of mine. Just between me and them....it was no-one else's business. they didn't eben tell their husbands. I was so happy to do it and we had a real laugh together once they got over their initial embarrassment. It made a difference as they then had a couple of 'habitable' rooms and could see that it was doable. We treated ourselves to a takeaway in the evening and really did enjoy it.

BTW, Grey Queen. LOOOOOOVED your post and am definitely going to put some of your ideas in action. I already rarely iron. Got the ironing board out today for the first time in about 2 months! In the winter dd1 wears her school jumper so no-one sees her shirt. Dh has easy iron shirts and trousers. The get hung straight from the washing machine and rarely need ironing.

ppolly

Seriously consider a cleaner, especially as you think you can afford one even occasionally-in these times it would be doing someone else a favour and helping them to a job, and it would obviously benefit you too -a really good cleaner might even relish the challenge!

Taliahmai

Doing freecycle, ebay carboots etc do take time though...if need be dont feel guilty about getting a skip and been ruthless!

ali-t

Life is too short to spend your weekends cleaning. Get a cleaner! I earn double the hourly rate my cleaner charges so rationalise it that only costs me one hours wages to pay her to work for 2. My cleaner is fantastic, very thorough and gets through more in 2 hours than I do in 3 or 4 so definitely a great investment.

primowino

You have my sympathy. I have 3 children who have active swimming schedules sometimes pre school and after school which we my husband takes them to and we both work full time. Our life and house was chaos too. What I found was I could not get anything done as it was all too overwealming. I always followed the flylady forum but could not see how to follow it. So I decided to print off a weeks flylady task list and started doing one room a day, only one or two tasks a day, trying to only do half an hour a day so I had time to cook, homework, 5 items of ironing. Week by week each room started off tidier than the previous week so I could do one or two more tasks. Some weeks I was really tired and did nothing more than the basics, but knowing it's only half an hour, and knowing I only have to focus on one room and not the whole house, makes it manageable for me. That's what flylady us about, keeping on top of everything, hopefully this will prove you can get on top of everything eventually, don't expect to do it quickly unless you can call in Family and friends for a huge helping hand to clean up and clear out. Good luck xx

GreyQueen

morganlefay wrote: »

EllieA I really feel for you. My house is CHAOS and it's all my stuff. I am a hoarder and for many years worked long days like you do and when I retired I acquired a lot of stuff from my late mother's house and it's all just overwhelming. The room i'm typing in ought to be a dining room but is actually just piles and piles of filing, books and precious things of my mother's. Just after the v cold weather I realised I had a mouse in here (droppings, nibbled choclate) so I assumed it was a little lone chap sheltering from the snow. I have now caught 7 of them (in a nice humane trap and then I take them for a longish drive before letting them out) so I clearly have a bIG problem and am now going to HAVE to clear the room out in order to prevent a huge mouse outbreak. I can't think what to suggest to help you because other people have given such wise answers, but think of me as I grapple with my awful room, racing against time against the breeding habits of the mice !

PS Greyqueen: when OH and I were first married (38 years ago) I deliberately ironed his shirts badly and he's never let me touch them since - tee hee !

Ooooh, I am so impressed, Morganlefay! A truly inspired piece of man management. Heard a good anecdote about a newly-married man, fresh from his mother's keeping, who just used to drop his dirty clothes on the bedroom floor when he undressed. Clearly, he expected the Laundry Fairy to cause them to reappear in the drawers all fresh and ironed. New wifey wasn't playing that game; she just kicked them out of sight under the bed and kept on until the inevitable happened. When hubby asked where his clothes were, wifey looked genuinely baffled and asked where he'd left them..... He couldn't go to work as had no clothes and lost a day's pay. He never dissed the Laundry Fairy again!

I wouldn't have been so gentle if mice had eaten my chocolate. I mean, I've threatened murder on fellow humans over that. They do seem to have strange tastes, though. After a building job, a mouse set up housekeeping in my Nan's pantry. It ate thru a cellophane-wrapped packet to eat the curry powder and chewed thru a heavy duty plastic container to get at the cooking chocolate. Out came the "Little Nipper" and it was baited with cheese but Mousey wan't impressed. I suggested to Nan that as this particular critter had exotic tastes we try chocolate. An Elizabeth Shaw mint crisp chocolate did the trick. Later read that mice are notorious chocoholics and also like peanut butter. Honestly, with all the things to worry a body in this world, having to defend your chocolate stash from vermin is an imposition too far. Joking aside, they're a proper pest; they nested in the compressor unit of my mate's fridge-freezer when he was working away for a few weeks and "killed" it.

emg

lostinrates wrote: »

I use a ''ten things'' rule. So when home, walk in and pick up ten things on the floor, or dust ten things, or dust five and pick up five..) same in tv commercial breaks when you are droppig after work and need to ''chill'' chill but in the ads do ten small things.

I'm also a great believer in 'do it during the ads'. In the evenings I try to do something in every ad break. Wash up, hang up washing, clean loo, put some things away, take the recycling out, wipe down the fridge, etc. I am constantly amazed by how much I can get done in those little 3 minute chunks of time. I still have one room that is chaos and I try to just spend 5 minutes on it each day, slowly but surely it is getting sorted and I dont feel too hard done by as I am still getting to relax for most of the evening.

luxor4t

I spent the last 36 hours in bed with a virus. Staggering downstairs I realised that DH & DD are incapable of putting anything into the wastepaper bin, putting important letters into the folder, carrying cups into the kitchen (we have a dishwasher!!) or even picking up a slipped sofa throw.
Shoes were spread across the floor & the sofa was full - a handbag, a scarf, an open ringbinder, a screwed up tissue, carrier bags etc. If I wasn't feeling so lousy I'd have filled a binbag.
Do I really do so much tidying up after them without realising it?

BitterAndTwisted

Well, yes of course you do!

In your position I would take myself back to bed for another couple of day's-worth of malingering and then when I felt fighting-fit read the sods the Riot Act. And then get them to tidy up after themselves before you start any meaningful housework.

If you don't think that would work wait until everybody's out of the house, put everything lying about in black bin-bags, hide them somewhere and then confess that you've taken it all down to the rubbish-dump.

trinity_enigma

You just need to chill out- once you're relaxed you can just do whatever you can when you can. Thats my opinion but then I'm not a big cleaner.

I do however expect my OH to do most of the cleaning that gets done but thats because he gets home 2 hours before me every day.

Remember what doesn't kill you makes you stronger- especially dust. I bet you're kids don't have many allergies!

And forget the ironing- it takes too much time! I have an iron if it needs it policy- so long as it is put away properly you won't get many creases. I can't remember that last time I needed to iron anything to be honest.

Ask each member of your family to chose a meal or three each and use those to plan around- saves having to use your imagination which I think is half the problem of deciding what to eat.

The only room I ever consciously keep really tidy is my living room-because thats where guests go.

For me spending time with my friends and family is far more important than getting rid of dust and I'm sure thats how you feel too deep down.