help! my house is always a mess

e1234

Mon, Oct 22 2007, 4:48 am

I'm fed up and not sure what to do..
my house is always a mess..
I feel like I'm constantly cleaning but then kids come home and just dump everything on the floor and noone picks up after themselves...

I have no time to be cleaning lady all day and it's getting me fed up!!!

any suggestions?? how can I train my kids -- I'm getting overwhelmed and I hate looking at a messy house.

creativemommyto3

Mon, Oct 22 2007, 4:55 am

I was in the same boat as you until I started using the monster bag. Every nite the kids have to pick everything up, whatever is not picked up by them goes in the monster bag. If they want something back, they must do something like sweep their floor in the room or the living room, clear the table. I just started this and my kids don't every want the monster bag to eat their stuff b/c then they don't get it back unless they do something. You should see how fast they clean up their clics now.

I also told them that if they clean up their room , mommy will rest in the morning and have more koach to read them a story while they eat lunch.

I hope I helped..

e1234

Mon, Oct 22 2007, 5:06 am

iv'e actually tried a similar idea with putting the stuff in timeout if I clean it up -- problem is more if I look at the floor -- I see garbage - any igloo wrapper and anything else they ate with, shoes, brushes, pillows and blankets (they move by the night), - and then yes a few toys -- I'm just getting so fed up with the constant mess - -and noone sits down when they eat so it's food as well. (Today my house is in really bad shape as I didn't clean up last night - was just tired and not in the mood....)
this is partly a vent but I would appreciate any suggestions.
my husband laughed -- but last week he made a comment about the house being a mess - and I should teach the kids to keep clean -- he went to the other room and heard me instructing my 1 year old to clean up the cards...
he made fun but she was the easiest to convnice to clean up the cards (and they got in the box - even if they got dumped out a minute later to do it again!) I'm almost giving up on my kids - they are capable if they want - but most of the time they don't want ....
how is it that everyone elses house is always so clean??????????

momo2boys

Mon, Oct 22 2007, 10:33 am

Hey ppl I don't think anyone is as fed up as me........(of course e/o thinks that way Wink

) but try this.......w/ garbage, (or anything) every time you see a kid throw a wrapper.....etc. on the floor and they don't want to pick it up when you ask them to, take the kids hand and drag it down till the wrapper, if he holds his hand open and doesn't want to pick it up, bend it for him and walk w/ him to the garbage.........just do it a couple of times, beleive me after a few times, if he see's you're serious, he'll do it when you tell him. he wouldn't want you to drag him to do it.

listen it doesn't hurt to try.

NotInNJMommy

Mon, Oct 22 2007, 11:48 am

I know it doesn't work for everyone, but I started doing flylady about a year ago and it has worked wonders. I went from having one of the messier houses to one of the neater houses in my neighborhood.

Also, with 10 days of giving birth to #2, I had the house to a respectable level of clean. But it should be noted, I did have help once a week for 1.5 hours (I lived in a small apt). so, it really has worked for me and I don't even do everything the program entails bc I'm not there yet. Even so, things run relatively smoothly for someone like me who wasn't domestically skilled at all and with 2 little kids, working, etc.

So you should check out flylady if you get a chance--see if it's for you. (PS-her site is also linked to another site called the House Fairy or something, for getting kids to clean too. I haven't really looked into bc mine aren't really old enough yet)

lamplighter

Mon, Oct 22 2007, 8:47 pm

here's an interesting idea that I use in my classroom but can be adapted.
I have a mystery object in mind, I give everyone time to clean and whomever picked up the mystery object was rewarded. Its best used when u walk into a room and its so messy u feel like ur gonna flip out, so u call in the troops and do ur mystery thing.

NotInNJMommy

Tue, Oct 23 2007, 12:07 pm

I'm not asking to be arugmentative:

time for what?

don't worry about getting emails, etc. the main thing is this:

read the first beginners baby step (there's a link to the beginning steps on the home page) and do...then do it. Then do the next step the next day (or whenever you get step one down)

Ok, the first time cleaning the sink takes a while, but normally, you don't spend that much time. just wipe, dry, go.

WIthout interruption, I would be able to do my daily cleaning in my 3br in about 30 min....add to that 15 min decluttering....

So let's say, 1 hour of daily cleaning that you'd do anyways....1 hour weekly cleaning...1 load of laundry a day. That's probably how much time you are spending now, right?

And I use as much disposable as I can. I work full time, dont' ahve a dishwasher and would rather have that extra 10-15 min a day to spend with my kids.

NotInNJMommy

Wed, Oct 24 2007, 8:29 pm

it's a website with some great tips for getting the house and life under control....I barely do all the steps and while I'm not a champion balabusta, my house isn't balagan, and I don't dread the mess or cleaning it either. no, I am not a stockholder Wink

gryp

Wed, Oct 24 2007, 8:35 pm

You just need a specific spot for every single thing in your house. And you need to make sure that you and the kids put everything away in the proper spot.
It's that simple, sounds so easy. Wink

yentaof8

Thu, Oct 25 2007, 5:54 pm

I'm sorry I couldn't respond sooner - thank you for telling me that flylady is a website - now if you could please tell me how to access it. Even with some cleaning help, I find that things can get out of control quickly so I'm always looking for good tips.

mommy24

Thu, Oct 25 2007, 7:10 pm

Quote:

la456 Posted: Mon, Oct 22 2007, 7:47 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

here's an interesting idea that I use in my classroom but can be adapted.
I have a mystery object in mind, I give everyone time to clean and whomever picked up the mystery object was rewarded. Its best used when u walk into a room and its so messy u feel like ur gonna flip out, so u call in the troops and do ur mystery thing.

THIS IS GREAT!!!!
I tried it with my kids (7,6,4,3 yrs), I told them I looked in the entrance hallway and the living room- where the toys and garbage were scaterred all over, and I chose one thing. they had 5 minutes to find it. I told them who ever found the mystery object and whoever picked up 30 objects within the 5 minutes, would get a special treat. tehy loved it they cleaned it all up within 3 minutes, it usually would have taken 10 minutes of screaming before they would pick up just a few legos. they were so excited they asked if they could play again tommorow, but with out the special treat! Very Happy

we've been playing everyday and it continues to work,
THanks so much!!!

e1234

Fri, Oct 26 2007, 3:22 am

I guess I can try flylady - I'm just nervous that it will be another thing to overwhelm me ... I'm too busy and with my kids and all - when to clean -- I don't have an hour a day to clean.