Oops! I've fallen off the OS wagon.....

Ticklemouse

I agree with getting a cleaner - it would be money well spent.

With regards to the initial cleaning, why don't you try a "mini-blitz" each evening? Take a black bin liner or a laundry basket into a room and decide that for 10 mins, you are just going to remove clothing or take-away cartons/old newspapers etc. I find that clothing strewn around the place can make it look so much worse than it is and once hidden in the laundry basket, theplace appears 10 times better. Once you can see your room, IYKWIM, then you can spend 10 mins a night with a damp microfibre cloth, actually cleaning. Or by that point, you could get a cleaner in to do a thorough clean (it's the tidying they don't do, I believe)

MATH

I don't think working full-time and especially 7 days a week and being Ol'Style works unless you wear your underpants on the outside and do lots of spining around in telephone kiosks! LOL The real Ol'Stylers of yeateryear didn't go out to work, being Ol'Style was there job so don't feel guilty that you can't do two full-time jobs at once no-one should have to IMO.

I would deffo agree to getting a cleaner in and chuck the ironing pile at him/her as well! I would also buy ready-made food where you are not compromising on quality/taste by not making it yourself. Finally if you are working a 7 day week I would kick back in those rare moments of ease and do something relaxing that you enjoy and sod the cleaning.

All Ol'Stylers wishing to frog march me shame-faced from the board whilst whipping me with their dampened microfibre cloths please form an orderly queue here :rotfl:

nabowla

I'd love to get a cleaner in. But I really can't afford it. The reason I'm working a 7 day week is because the main job just wasn't covering all the bills. Getting a cleaner in and eating ready meals would use up all of the hard-earnt weekend money, so there'd be no point in working at the weekends. I've simply got to find a way to be a bit more organised. If I could just get the place really clean I'd feel a bit better. But I don't have the energy for a full-on blitz. It's all too much

SnowyOwl_2

Hi Nabowla - I totally understand what it is like working two jobs, that was once my lot in life, stuck it for nearly four years. Like you I found that no housework was getting done & I was eating complete rubbish thanks to having no time to look after myself properly and I hadn't a clue about what my money was doing.

Are you on top of your budgeting? I'd take a guess that you're not terribly sure how much you spend on takeaways and other fast food and that perhaps you're not up to date on the finer aspects of MSE eg credit card rates and so on. Maybe try and work out how much more you spend because of this second job. See if you could actually cut down on your hours and have at least one complete day off a week. With that one day you could put a bit more energy into your houseworky and spending habits. I don't mean do a blitz on the housework once a week though, that'd drive anybody insane.

Have you seen Moggins' thread about staying on top of housework? It's a good idea, which might suit you if you adapt it your circumstances. Basically create a routine allocating certain jobs to certain days, eg washing on a Thursday, brush/mop/vacuum floors on a Tuesday even if they look alright, etc etc. Here's a link:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=217952

I'd agree with getting a cleaner in for a quick once over. It'd cost about £8 an hour, and you could just ask for one or two hours. I've seen a cleaner in action - she went so fast it was incredible! You might get away with just one hour. You could just ask him/her to do the bits your landlord would see and keep the doors to other areas closed.

HTH

gwinnie

Hi nabowla

I really sympathise because I've been there myself. One thing I would say about the 7-day week is to make sure you take a day off every 10 days or so. You'll burn out otherwise. It happened to me after working a 7-day week for 6 months non-stop.

As for your flat, I'd say blitz the kitchen and bathroom. Then maintain them as you go, ie spritz shower cleaner around shower and sink in the mornings as you're getting ready, pour bleach down the loo at night.

If you haven't got the energy to wash up, get the worst off with kitchen towel and rinse under the tap, then stack the dishes and put cutlery in a mug, ready for doing properly when you've got time/energy.

Make your flat a no-shoe zone to keep the floors clean for longer.

As for the rest, get another laundry basket for clean washing, binliners for the clutter and cram into the airing cupboard for when the landlord comes.

If you squirt some Pledge into the air as the doorbell goes, people will think the place is a lot cleaner than you had time to do!;)

To get away from ready meals, and if your freezer works ok, I'd get lots of fishfingers, oven chips and frozen green veg for quick meals.

Pasta sauce watered down and heated through makes a lovely, nourishing 'minestrone'! If you like Chinese noodles, Lidl do those little noodle packs with flavour sachets that you add hot water to. Then add some of your frozen veg (eg green beans, broccoli, carrot) and garnish with spring onion and it becomes a nourishing and filling summer meal.

newleaf

MATH wrote:

I don't think working full-time and especially 7 days a week and being Ol'Style works unless you wear your underpants on the outside and do lots of spining around in telephone kiosks! LOL The real Ol'Stylers of yeateryear didn't go out to work, being Ol'Style was there job so don't feel guilty that you can't do two full-time jobs at once no-one should have to IMO.

Math raises a valid point here. If you really can't justify the outlay for some one-off professional help, try doing a room a day for a week. I hate cleaning, I loathe it with a passion most could only dream of, and this is how I manage to keep our house looking habitable. Concentrate on the bits visitors will see first. In an emergency - such as needing to get LL in to look at fridge - hide clutter inside any piece of furniture or appliance that has a cavity - I have been known to shove 2 weeks worth of washing up in the oven when I was a teenage student in a flat. (Now I have a dishwasher - bliss!). If the carpets are hoovered and the windows open (fresh air works wonders) things will look a lot better. Bathroom is also important, no-one wants to see a mucky loo or manky basin, but thanks to the miracle of microfibre and stardrops they need not! It only takes 5 minutes, max. Good luck!

laughing_cow

Have you got a fridge or fridge/freezer at work? I keep bread/bagels in our freezer at work, spreads in the fridge and cereal in the cupboard so that I don't have to go to Pret/cafes for breakfast, and I have a fruit bowl on my desk.

I know how you feel about cleaning as I'm working long hours at the moment. I had to do a blitz a few weeks ago as the clutter was out of control. To keep on top of it, I don't allow myself to sit down immediately with a cup of tea when as I get in from work, otherwise I'd never get up! I always try and do 15 mins of something when I get home - little and often, otherwise I just get depressed when it gets out of hand. Don't think about tackling the entire mess - it will daunt you and you will immediately feel defeated and want to sit down - set yourself small targets. You can clean a bathroom thoroughly in under 15 minutes - something noticeable for such a small amount of time. I whack some dance music on the stereo to make me feel a bit livelier - or I do it whilst watching TV. And I try to keep on top of my laundry - nothing more depressing than trying to get a through a big load of washing/drying/ironing/putting away - I hate it!

maryb

set out your clothes for next day and put on the table what you need for breakfast the night before so that you don't have the to-ing and fro-ing in the morning which is what takes the time. You'll feel better for it and save money in Pret. You might even find time to scoot round for a couple of minutes before you go to work and that has a snowball effect because you're less depressed when you come home

laughing_cow

maryb wrote:

set out your clothes for next day .......

I'd agree with that. I also make sure I've got my bag ready before I go to bed (sounds like school I know!) - otherwise I waste lots of time looking for phone/keys/ipod etc. I am so hopeless in the mornings I also put a note next to my kettle (the first place I go when I wake up), if there's anything else I need to remember - 'go to dry cleaners', 'take food from fridge' etc.

buxtonrabbitgreen

nor old style I know, bur according to quentin Crisp, after 7 years the dust doesn't get any thicker.