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housecleaning....1 step forward and then 3 steps back!

17 years ago

How do you win the battle of keeping the house clean???

This morning I got up with the intentions of cleaning the house. I delegated each kid a chore before they would allowed to play with friends today. They all did them and then I began cleaning. But I feel like everytime I make progress someone makes a mess somewhere else!

The bathroom was cleaned and then dh shaved and left hair in the sink. Kitchen was clean and then dh took off his shoes and left them in the middle of the kitchen floor. Then ds comes in there with his friend and drops jello on the floor and leaves most of it there!!! And he knocked a few pics off the fridge and instead of putting them back he sets them on the counter.

SS, SD, and her friend were in the pool. They decide they want all the pool toys out so they have more room to swim. Instead of putting them all in the shed they just throw them all out around the pool and leave them even though they have been told umpteen times the dog will eat pool toys and goggles!

Older sd leaves to go to a friends house and decides not to bring her bag of stuff with her and decides to wear flip flops instead of gym shoes. So she just leaves these things behind in front of our front door!!

Then ss comes into the house sopping wet and tracks mudd onto the floors I just mopped!

I think I am going to go insane!!!

I had everyone (except older sd who was gone) stop what they were doing and come inside to clean up their messes. Dh then asks me why I get so crabby and mad over little things!!!!! I wanted to take his eyeballs out and eat them by that point! LOL

Sometimes I seriously just want to give up on housecleaning!

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Comments (5)

gajopa
17 years ago
Mom2, does your DH ever do the cleaning? We're retired, don't have kids at home to make messes and I have a cleaning lady but of course there's a lot of things to do between times. My DH made lots of messes like leaving stuff out and spilling things on a fresh mopped floor and not noticing it. However, two weeks ago I fractured my hip and he's having to do everything and stays so busy where he used to just sit and watch TV so I think he'll appreciate my efforts more once I'm back at it. He's had to mop the kitchen floor the past two days because of spills. While I have to mention some things that need doing he seems to pay more attention now that he's responsible for it.
finedreams
17 years ago
more people you have, harder it is to keep everything neat. i have no advice, just sympathy. :) let DH do the cleaning once and see what he says.
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kkny
17 years ago
You need a family meeting, there are too many people here for people, inlcuding DH,not to pick up after themselves. Even if you are SAHM, this is just not working.
weed30 St. Louis
17 years ago
Do what my mom used to do when she finally got fed up: If you left something laying around, ie, shoes, clothes, books, etc., she would put them in the trash. Seriously. She had tried everything, and with 5 kids and a husband, she was at her wits end. So she'd just chuck it in the kitchen trashcan, (a big can in those days), which would eventually be dumped into the bigger outside can. If you didn't figure it out before trash day, you lost whatever it was. She did warn us, but of course we ignored her. Didn't take long for everyone to figure out that she was serious and start putting their things away! Granted, "putting your things away" meant just throwing them randomly into your room, but it was better than having stuff lay all over the house.
lonepiper
17 years ago
Weed, my mom did the same thing to us! It got the point across VERY quickly!! We also knew that if something was tossed, it would NOT be replaced.

In a stepfamily, this could be somewhat tricky as both adults (parent and stepparent) must be completely on board, otherwise the kids will go to the other and request replacements - this could potentially lead into an even BIGGER issue.

I've been sitting here thinking about what I just typed. How sad that everything must be dissected when associated with a stepfamily situation... sorry for being a downer :(

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