how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

I cannot keep this house clean. I give up. I don't know how to do it. I need help.

Right now, it looks like wild animals were let loose in the bathroom. There is laundry spilling out of every hamper. The kids bedrooms are beyond messy... nothing is put away. The kitchen cabinets are grimy, and so is the stovetop and front of the oven. My house is not MESSY, it is now DIRTY. I just can't keep up!!!

Here's what I've done since I woke up at 6:45:
Nursed the baby, fed her breakfast. Made breakfast for DH, DS, and DD. Made lunches for DHand DS, made the bed, did 2 loads of laundry, emptied and reloaded the dishwasher. Got 3 children dressed, combed, and brushed. Vaccuumed the downstairs and washed the kitchen floor. Dealt with DH's 4 phone calls asking for phone numbers and other info.

My day for the rest of the day consists of bringing DD to preschool, running errands, picking DD up from school, getting DS off the bus, making dinner, doing baths, and then attempting to clean up the house before DH gets home. Then putting the kids to bed.

There are 5 people living in our 3 bedroom, 1 bath cape. There is NO room to spare. Every inch is lived in, which I think is a big part of the problem. There's no place to put anything.

I feel like no matter how much I try to cram into the day, there's never enough time in the day and the house is always filthy. I take almost no time for myself beyond taking a shower at some point. It's so gross, and I just don't know how to catch up. DH says it's not that bad, but I feel like there's always crusty dirt and dust everywhere. I look at my SIL who's house is always IMMACULATE, and I know that I'm just not that OCd to have the house like that all the time, but there has to be a middle ground.

Please tell me, how do you moms do it all?? I'm totally lost, and can't keep up. Also, how the heck do you clean stainless steel appliances? Because I've been using the all-purpose cleaner on ours and it is NOT working.

If you made it this far thank you so much. I just need some support and needed to vent.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

No real advice, because I can't keep up with one child

Is it feasible to get a cleaning lady in 1-2x a month just to help you stay on top of it?

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

hire a cleaning woman! it's the only way.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

I caved and hired a cleaning service to come every other week. I didn't want to spend the extra money, but it was well worth it. It freed up my time to do other things that needed to get done in the house and for my family.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

I clean ALL The time. There are days I just give up. I am constantly picking up and moving crap from one spot to another. We are 3 people in a one bedroom. Its hard. I gea A LOT done when this kid sleeps. I do A LOT all day, but most when he sleeps. I only do laundry MAYBE once a week. But, I dust and vacuum daily (Im a bit obsessive with it) and I Clean my bathroom every other day. Kitchen gets done daily, because I am a germa phobe with the food and germs. By Sunday, it is all a funk again.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

There is a special cleaner for Stainless steel. We have a spray called "wow".

Can DH pitch in during the week?

We leave laundry for the weekend (but I only have one child) and do most of the heavy cleaning for the weekend as well.

I wipe down the kitchen before bed but that's really all that gets done during the week. Weekends are our cleaning days.

ETA: Im a Full Time WM

Message edited 4/15/2010 10:54:40 AM.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

I have a good deal of help. That's it, honestly.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

after DS goes to bed....I walk around the entire house and straighten up and put everything back in its place. EVERY NIGHT. I find if I do this daily, that eventually, its not a big deal, and its only a days worth of stuff to put back. Then I do a room clean a day, or a chore a day. Ill either clean the whole kitchen, or Ill do all the dusting, then the next day all the vacuuming.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

I would get a cleaning lady ONCE...just to give your home the once over.

it seems like the build up has just become to much for you and trying to play catch up is too much.

I would hire someone for the grime, bathrooms and dust bunnies.

oh, and I would bag up all the laundry and take it for drop off service. STAT. the benefits FAR OUTWEIGH the costs.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

for you! Give your self some credit and a break!

If you can get a cleaning lady once a month or every other week. If you can't schedule try one project cleaning every other day (this way if you dont get to it the first day you allow yourself 2 days)

And when you just can't do it all....get out of the house for a few hours so you dont have to deal with it

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

I agree about the cleaning lady but first and foremost, you need to declutter.

It's difficult to clean when there's stuff in the way. Pack away what you really don't need such as seasonal items and put them in storage to make room in the shelves for things you're currently using.

And if you need more storage boxes to get organize, buy some of those clear bins and label them to preserve your sanity.

Get the husband and kids to help out if they can. It took me a month to pack away stuff and declutter and I tell ya, it's been so much easier to clean and stay organized since!

You can do it! Good luck!

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

you have kids that are old enough to contribute to cleaning up the mess that they made...team work!! make it a fun game or make it interesting for them in some way. you'd be surprised how much you get accomplished with an extra set of hands!

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

It is hard and I totally have OCD about my house. For me what works is setting and keeping a schedule...ie Monday all floors mopped, Saturday linens gets washed, Wednesday & Sat kids laundry, Monday & Friday our laundry. I rotate all the other chores daily without killing myself by doing it all at once.
Write out a plan and try sticking to it. It might make it easier for you once you see it all planned out.
In the meanwhile, dont beat yourself up, you are doing A LOT and it isnt easy.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

Also we are 3 people in a co-op, no attic, garage or basement for additional storage so to keep the clutter to a minimum, and make room for everything, we do a HUGE purge like every 6 months.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.

I know how you feel, and I've only got one. A few months ago, I discovered this website . It really helped me.

Re: how do you do it all? please help me out ladies. A long vent.