Does anyone feel like me?? Never had a routine and don't know where to start??

Lysiane

hi

My advice is to clean everyday well it is what I do ...I might sound like a real nutter who got no life but well I believe that is the contrary.

I have a two bed flat reasonable sized-not so much storage space but again reasonable.

I hate clutter ...so that make thing much easier I think.

I have a messy HO and a 5 years old ( she is much better than the dad , but still messy !!!)

My first advice would be - don`t sit down and think you will do it in 5 minutes because you won`t ...

If I am not working this is what I do ( everyday -no exeption )
I wake-up , straight away I do my bed ( take approx 2 minutes)
Then I walk into the kitchen (put kettle on for a cup of coffee ) , if any dishes from the night I`ll do them while the water is boiling , then I dry all the washing-up and put evrything in cupboard , clean all surfaces , this take me approx 5/10 minutes.....

Then I walk into the sitting room , pick-up everything ( toys , magazine , remotes controls ) take approx 3 minutes , then I dust all surfaces ( no exeption again ), take approx 5 minutes includes plumping sofa and wiping it with leather wipes ...

I then go into my DD bedroom make her bed , pick up toy put everything in place , cupboard etc , this take approx 10/15 minutes...

I then dust all surface in my DD bedroom and then in my bedroom , take another 5 minutes...

I then spray some bathroom flash on the bath , toilet and sink , take 1 minute.......

I then pass the vaccum cleaner everywhere ( no exeption all in one go ) take approx 10 minutes ....

Then I take my bucket nd mop rinse in out ( I leave the mop in my balcony in bleach water ) which mean it is clean and ready to use , fill my bucket with water and bleach or stardrop ( depend days )take one minute .....

I then clean out and rinse all surface in my bathroom ( toilet , sink bath ) take 3/5 minutes ........

I then put on load of washing on ....take a minute to do........

Then I mop my bedroom first ........lock the cat in it ( stop him having full sliding while I mop the rest of my flat )take appro 3 minutes.......
Then I mop bathroom , DD bedroom , sitting room kitchen and hall ......take approx 10 minutes ..........while the floor is drying I fold the clothes who where drying ( my dryer broke down )take approx 5 minutes ...

Then all the room I moped are dried and I just have to put clothe I folded in the wardrobes/cupboard......

This usually take me 45/60 minutes and everything is nice and clean as I like...

Usually on week-end I change bedding , once a month or so I do the windows and a good clear out in cupboard every 2/3 months ...

I have really little clutter due to this routine and it is really easy , well for me at least , I don`t think I slave because most days an hrs after I wake-up everything is done , I just have to jump in the shower and voila.....I have the rest of my day free to do what I have to do or want to do......

Mics_chick

This sounds great Lysiane (what a lovely username is this your first name?) but have you ever let your house get cluttered? Is this a reformed you or have you always been like this? Also when do you (and your dd) have breakfast?

missk_ensington

Haven't read the whole thread so I dont know if anyone else has said this
, but you have to be brutal with yourself or you're house will end up like something off Kim and Aggie! You're going to keep on accruing junk and if you never throw any of it, well its just a slippery slope!

Try taking the philosophy 'if I haven't used it/needed it for the last 6 months then I'll bin it/sell it/give it away'

A bonfires a great way of disposing of things if you're like me and leave bags for a month before I finally get the gumption to put them in my car and take them to the tip!

Lysiane

Mics_chick wrote:

This sounds great Lysiane (what a lovely username is this your first name?) but have you ever let your house get cluttered? Is this a reformed you or have you always been like this? Also when do you (and your dd) have breakfast?

Thanks Mics_chick , yes it is my first name.


My DD usually have breakfast with my hubby , he then take her to school ( only 5 minutes walk ) , he start work at 11 am so that his job

While they have they breakfast I do my bed , my DD bed then I start on the kictchen wash the breakfast dishes ( I rarely have breakfast)nad so on at 8.45 am they are out of the door so I can do the sitting room bathroom etc , usually at around 9.45/10 am I am all showered/dressed and if I am not working I have all do day to do what I like ( if I am working it usually between 11am and 3 pm ) and it local so easy for me...

I rarely wake up before 8.00 am ...I hate early morning ....

My mum is like me so I guess I take it from her ....but she says I am a lot worse , but I really don`t feel it take other my life , because I simply always do things straight away , finish to read a magazine , hop I put is on side for my HO to take to work ( he work in a hair dresser so magazines/newspaper are always welcome ) , twice a year I check all my DD clothes , everything that is good I sell on ebay the rest goes to the bin same for our clothes...

I let my daughter play without being some kind of dragon who are behind her with a mop and sponge....simply she knows that once she finished an activity we pick-up and put back in place , she understand it only take a minute or so and that keep me happy ...

When we come home we have a shoes cupboard right next to the front door , we simply put our shoes inside , take one second and so on......

When my DD come from school she ask what is going in the laudry basket , I tell her , she then simply pop things in it , it take her 1 minute and again no trouble no mess....

before I use to let thing go a bit and it make my life so much harder , now just one hour a day and everything is done ...

Mics_chick

Lysiane wrote:

before I use to let thing go a bit and it make my life so much harder , now just one hour a day and everything is done ...

So how did you get things back into shape? And how did you cope with your dd was she was smaller?

PS How do you pronounce your name - is it like Lizzy-Anne?

Lysiane

you pronouce it lis-e-ane ....the i in the middle become an e ...

We move in here 3 years ago , I bought basket boxes for the toys and we simply hhave a basket for each different set , my DD is into barbie she got loads of them so I bought some boxes where we put all the dolls in one and in another boxes we put all the accesoiries ...

she has got a tweenies basket , a bratz box ...a dressing box where she has got all her princess dresses , she has got a jewellery-make-up basket where she has all her bracelet , brushes etc...

Most of the box are clear plastic , so it is easy for her to pick the basket she wants and play , once she finished , she chucks everything back into the basket and bingo...every now and then I take half an hour and check boxes/basket and if anything is from another basket I put it back in the right basket....

I bought two big pop-up tidy wher who put all the teddy bear /soft toys , so again easy she knows where they are and pick the one she wants easily....

Once a months I check all paper work , bin/shredd everything we do not need , pay bills and filed all what we have to keep like bank statement etc...

twice a year I check the food cupboard and bin everything out of date ...

It really take me little time because I do everything as soon as possible and don`t let things coming up ...

I have a friend who couldn`t have a routine , I told to come to my place one morning and see how I did things , she watched me for an hour and now she do things like me and she is so much happier ...she has got everything done by 9/10 am in the morning and the rest of day to enjoy her clean house going out etc....

shariatlanta

Shame you don't live near me as I love cleaning and sorting out junk, that's not to say I have a spotless house, we have hardly any cupboard space and I live with a partner who hoards useless things for years, but I'm pretty ruthless when it comes to throwing things away, clothes for example, my wardrobe gets sorted out every 3 months, if I haven't worn it in that time I never will.

Life does get easier when the kids grow up and even better when they leave home, my middle DS has just moved out and what a difference, no more dirty socks in the living room or plates left on the worktop in the kitchen.

I agree just do one room at a time and get a friend to help, failing that if I ever visit Derbyshire I'll come and do it for you.

Mics_chick

Lysiane - Does she keep the boxes in her bedroom or somewhere else?

seven-day-weekend

patwa wrote:

If you're like me and you have the problem of agonizing over what to get rid of and what to keep (no, I do not need 58 issues of PCW from 4 years ago!), it's worth getting someone to help, like a friend or something. they can look at the situation from an abstract point of view, and they won't have the sentimental'ness that may be preventing you from getting rid of what is otherwise a useless waste of space. Also, it'll get done in half the time, and you can also have a laugh and even (shock horror ) have some fun tidying up your house.

Assign yourself a treat for when it's done, or when each room/section is done, maybe a take-away, a movie with the rest of the family in the lounge, or something, and keep in mind the view of what you want your house to be like and work towards it.

When my friend was moving from a nine :eek: bedroomed house into a three bed one, she could not throw things away like the children's paintings from twenty years ago, so she asked her daughter to help her and the place was soon decluttered as her daughter just bunged everything into a black bag and straight outside into the skip.

My friend has never even missed anything that was thrown a way and doesn't even know what most of it was!

Daisies

I did sign up to Flylady but got scared and unsigned myself!

Now, I've decided on priorities - kitchen and bathroom. I realised I loathe cleaning the shower cubicle and that was stopping me getting on with the rest of it. So now I clean the shower when I'm in it on a Saturday morning (only day I have time to do more than a quick shower!), only takes 10 minutes, but it's done and the rest of the bathroom is easy to finish off then.

I'm attempting to ALWAYS wash up last thing at night so I don't come down to mess in the morning. I leave it to drain over night, then put all the stuff away whilst making breakfast. That means the work surfaces are clear when I come down in the morning and I don't need to wash up before starting cooking anything.

I've adapted one of the Flylady ideas. She had something about blitzing something for 15 minutes? Well, I decide I'm going to tackle something (usually the piles of paperwork in my study!) for 30 minutes, then reward myself with a cup of tea and a biscuit after that. It focuses my mind so I work fast and it's surprising how much gets done in 30 minutes.