My home is a mess

laurel7172

(can't do housework...the cat has just settled)

sophieschoice

Lol. I couldn't hoover up till 5pm as my four were asleep until then!

Taliahmai

First off im guilty for not reading past page 4 but i knew if i carried out id never go to bed lol. This seams like a great place to be brutelly honest tho so hear goes...

My house is a pigsty!! Im a lazy cow with no motivation or self dicipline!!

There i said it lol, However as i sit here i look round my livingroom and feel so depressed at the state of it! When in realisty i know that if i just get off my backside it would be tidy in 15/20 mins!! I just cant be bothered My mindset is very much...why bother cause within an hour of totally gutting a room it is back to where i sarted as my 3 kids...and myself, are so untidy.

Ive tried the flylady on many occasions but it always ends up the same way, ill spend a couple of hours doing 1 room then the next day when i move onto the next room, the originaly room is back to been a pigsty I refuse to let people round no more and when they do come i feel im constantly apologising for the state of the house.

I know i need to change and i know i need to stop been so lazy but im finding it hard. Im a single mum to 3 kids (only 1 is in full time school, the youngest is 1 and middle one does afternoons) but i also hate staying home alone so i tend to go to my mums....and then nothing gets done and when ive finally got home sorted the kids out with tea bath bed etc im just too tired to do anything. Ive also got arthritis in my hips and knees so some days its just so painfull i dont move.

It gets to the point where we run out of clothes so im forced to stay home and do the washing and we run out of 'pots' so im forced to wash up before we can eat....or i ge take away. My kitchen stinks at the min cause i didnt wash the pan that the veg was cooked in yesterday (today we had tea at my mums)....i dont even want to think about the upstairs It depresses me so much The kids are back at school tomorrow soinstead of going to my mums ive decided to stay home and gut my kitchen.....but if it actually gets done is another matter, it wil prob just be the washing up that gets done

Arrrghhhh i need a serious kick up the !!!!!

jackieb

I take before and after pictures. That sounds so sad, but it's very motivating to look back on, once the mess has built up again.

EstherH

Hi Taliahmai, welcome and I nope you find some motivation on here to make a start. It is hard when you have young children and you are worn out all the time. Even if you just get the washing up done tomorrow and then make a point of doing it as you go along instead of letting it build up, you will feel really proud of yourself. Just try doing that for a week, and if you manage, add something else. That way you won't be feeling under pressure to keep your living area tidy just yet and may pick up motivation from having the washing up done, to go on and do a bit more.

I am carrying on with just throwing out a few things each day. At this rate we should be clear by the 22nd century! The kitchen does look a lot better though, and I have carried on with the cleaning loo and wash basin each day. I have a few clothes in a charity bag and more in the bin which weren't up to going to charity. Could have been more OS and made cleaning rags out of these but that would have just cluttered up the cupboard under the sink more, so moved the problem. There will always be tatty tee shirts in the future for that.

laurel7172

Work...expands to fill the time available, and there's absolutely nothing worse than housework that takes all day. Especially the grinding, will need doing again tomorrow kind...

I work in education, and I don't find it any easier to stay on top of the house during the holidays.

Maybe what you need in your life, Taliahmai, is a bit more fun. Then using the spaces between to do housework mightn't seem like such a life sentence?

jackieglasgow

My husband has christened this the lazy b1tches thread :rotfl: not in a derogatory way though, in an "Are you going to have a look at your dirty b1tches thread to see what you never did today" way, he is sort of right of course I have done booger all today except hang the washing out. The kitchen is starting to look weird again too. So I am off to wash up before bed.

Taliahmai

Fun? i forget what that is lol...

I actually like the idea of taking a pic or each room....i might even post my before and after pics on here to see if it shames me into doing something lol

To be fair my biggest thing in my living room is the ball pool balls.....i have a pop up tent with 200 balls in it, my daughter absolutely love it, but i spend all day picking these balls up and putting them back in lol, it makes the room look so much messier then it really is but i dont want to take it down as she loves it...

since posting that last message i have picked them all back up and put the rest of the toys away and my room looks loads better, just going to sweep it before heading to bed and hope my motivations to carry on is still strong when ive walked my son to school in the morning, first day back and up a big hill lol

Thanks guys....im begining to find im wishing my kids childhoods away so there isnt anymore toys lol They really are the bane of my life.....i need to teach the kids to clean up after themselves, but i think cause they know they get away with it they just wont. Where as at there dads they clean up as soon as they finished playing, its so frustraiting. Im far too soft and find that hard to change, my son is 8, he is too used to getting away with it.....one day maybe lol

laurel7172

Oh, and btw, arthritis is an autoimmune disease, and, as you doubtless know, apart from the pain, it's bound to make you tired. (Another autoimmunee here).

I work on the principle that I have to bank good days (by getting things done/started off) in order to survive the bad ones. But my good days may be better than yours, I don't have a baby to look after and there's no need to beat yourself up-it's not helpful. Been there. Do a bit, then sit down. When I'm really struggling, I prioritise things that will get worse if I don't do them-like empty the washing machine. Or things that will thereafter take care of themselves while I have a sit down and a cup of tea (like loading the washing machine).

Oh, and when the children were small, I kept an old carrier bag hanging on the inside of a cupboard door. Anything they outgrew went straight into said carrier bag. No clutter, no sorting out five years down the line. Just popped it on the buggy and dropped it off at Oxfam while we were passing. You have no idea how glad I am I did that now..

EstherH

If it is toys that are making the mess, don't worry about them. Just tidy them away at the end of the day like you have just done. They won't be kids for long.
Don't know if you could try talking to your son and trying to get him to help you tidy up. Also you could make it into a game if your middle child is old enough to help. Maybe a competition to see who can put the most away?