SAHM's-- How do you do it?

[studentmom]

WOW!! Thank you all SO much!! You have all given me so many ideas. I think I'm going to move my kids toy bins to their room, right now they have bins in every room. Somehow -I will- make them all fit in there. Unfortunatly we don't have an extra room to make into a playroom (will someday) as our house is kind of small. But I think that will cut back on some of the clutter in the dining and living rooms.
I, too, feel like I have papers everywhere, from bills to mail to papers I just have to save because I just might need them in a few months and then there's my kids artwork. Ah it seems endless.
But I do want to enjoy my kids as much as I can. I just need to be more effecient and organized and cut back on clutter. Thanks again and I will take these suggestions to heart.

 

[froglady]

The most important thing to remember is that it WILL end some day. My youngest is 12, and sometimes (but not often) I sorta miss all of the toys that used to be strewn around the house.

 

[remyandhollandsmommy]

Your schedule seems jam packed, when do you get time for yourself? What about when your husband is home? Wow, you are a busy woman, you make medical school sound easy.

You sound like a good organized mom, keep up the good work!

LOL, some days I feel like I never get to slow down. I sometimes get a few hours to myself after the girls are in bed (if I stay up really late), but alot of times I wait until the weekend when DH is home and take a "strike day" where I don't do anything and take a break from the girls (necessary for my sanity). It sucks right now cause DH is in Vegas on tdy until the end of the month so the only time I get to myself is late at night. I have been scheduling all my favorite shows on dvr to watch when he gets home LOL because every spare moment I have I have been working on ebay listings for BTS (have to pay for next yrs trip somehow). I don't think I am busier than someone going through med school though(at least my stuff is physical for the most part).

 

[Saphire]

You have gotten some great advice, so I will give you two quick rules that I follow.
1) Throw most of the clutter away
2) Don't buy stuff you don't really need

It works!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

2) Don't buy stuff you don't really need

I've really learned that I should love an article of clothing if I'm going to buy it. I'd rather spend more $ on something I really like and will wear. Not that I don't like finding discounted items, too, but if I don't love it it doesn't matter how much it cost, I will not buy it.

T&B

 

[Nancy]

At one point my kids had way too many toys, so I started removing them one at a time and was surprised when most of them weren't even missed! That got rid of tons of clutter!

I also used to clean while they were in the bathtub at night...that's when I cleaned the bathroom! once they could sit without me fearing they would drown if I wasn't right next to the tub that's what I started to do. I was amazed as how much I could clean while they played. Then the only thing I had to do was clean the tub when they got out.

Kitchen was cleaned while they were eating their meals...my schedule for meals was different from theirs except for dinner.

I always feel that my house is clean if the bathrooms and kitchen are clean so i don't stress on the other rooms too much. I like them neat, but I knew with small kids that was not going to be possible. My house was always spotless before I had kids...I learned to adjust and not let little messes get to me. Now I don't even let the big messes bother me, they'll get picked up eventually.

 

[Stacey2grls]

I basically spend my day cleaning! When my kids are home, DD's 7 and 5, it seems them make a continual mess! I feel like all I do is follow them and clean. My husband thinks I'm nuts, he tells me to wait til the end of the day, than clean. But who wants to trip over toys? I know it may seem nutty, but for me, it's just easier to keep on the mess.

 

[PaulaSue]

FlyLady and baby steps!!!

 

[sweet angel]

cleaning baseboards and the tops of refrigerators

Am I considered a slob if I've lived here for 5 years and have cleaned those items maybe 5 times?

 

[diznygirl]

Am I weird because I dream of a day when I can clean my baseboards?

Here's a tip - get those white file boxes from the office supply store - they come in packs of 6 - and use them as quick and inexpensive places to organize things. I keep two for the artwork and crafts. I had toys in some hidden behind couches.

You'd be surprised what is hidden in my family room! Under the couch and two chairs are games, behind the chairs are toys, in the end table are crayons and more toys, and the coffee table hides toys and coloring books.

 

[Disney Enthusiast]

Am I considered a slob if I've lived here for 5 years and have cleaned those items maybe 5 times?

No, not at all. But if you had a house like mine which is 90% floor to 2.5 story ceiling windows, southern exposure, you would notice the film of dust that accumulates on these things. My house is much cleaner and prettier at night. In the mornings when I wake up, I can look right out at my hardwood staircase and the dust is awful. We thought having our bedroom at the foot of the stairs would be great for catching teens sneaking out at night, but right now it is just a nuisance and guilt trip. The brighter it gets in my house, the nastier the dust gets.

And I must clean my fridge top at least monthly, because that is where I stash the crayons and coloring books. And I stash them there because I have no wall space for cabinets due to all those dang windows. When I pull out dust bunnies w/ the crayons, it's time to clean up there. Don't get me started on how our paint faded from a beautiful sage green to a putrid baby blue because of those windows. After 5 yrs, we had the whole place repainted.

So you are not a slob.... You just don't live in a glass house. The view is superb, but there are drawbacks.

PS You can see a little bit of the problem of brightness in the pic below. We just got blinds this year because I had to wear sunglasses in my house due to the full southern exposure.

 

[Disney Enthusiast]

At one point my kids had way too many toys, so I started removing them one at a time and was surprised when most of them weren't even missed! That got rid of tons of clutter!

I also used to clean while they were in the bathtub at night...that's when I cleaned the bathroom! once they could sit without me fearing they would drown if I wasn't right next to the tub that's what I started to do. I was amazed as how much I could clean while they played. Then the only thing I had to do was clean the tub when they got out.

Kitchen was cleaned while they were eating their meals...my schedule for meals was different from theirs except for dinner.

I always feel that my house is clean if the bathrooms and kitchen are clean so i don't stress on the other rooms too much. I like them neat, but I knew with small kids that was not going to be possible. My house was always spotless before I had kids...I learned to adjust and not let little messes get to me. Now I don't even let the big messes bother me, they'll get picked up eventually.

I do this too Nancy. I clean the shower when I'm in there, the bathroom when the kids are bathing, and the kitchen when they are eating. I eat when they are done.

I just lost my dear sweet Newfoundland, a 170 pound double coated big dog. Now he could set off the tumbleweeds thru the house like you wouldn't believe. And the vacuum didn't like picking that stuff up. His fur would mess up the vacuums and we had to have a few replaced, so I ended up having to "scrape" the fur up in my hands. It was very difficult keeping up w/ that ordeal. We had cloth stone color couches which didn't fare well w/ black Newfie fur, so we replaced them w/ dark leather ones. He was such a love, but if anyone came to visit w/o notice, they were usually shocked by the black tumbleweeds of fur floating around the house. Oh, and the slobber on the walls was a lot of fun, too... not to mention, the black residue on our walls from him brushing up against them w/ his oily coat, and the scratches going thru the drywall from when he slept at night on his back as his paws ran him thru the fields as he was dreaming happy dreams. He was moved to the mudroom when we had the place repainted, and it's been much easier since we focused the grime into one area. Now that he is gone, I kinda miss those tumbleweeds and the big boy.

 

[lbgraves]

Don't stress about it. You didn't decide to stay home to keep your house clean. Your kids are the most important thing. Their job is to be kids...unfortunantly for your former cleaning ways that means making a mess over & over again. If you keep cleaning up behind them you are frustrating their attempts to create & they will just repeat it. I remember one night when DH came home from work when DS was 9 months old. I was so happy because the house was clean & dinner was ready. DH's first words to me after greeting DS was "So you had him watch TV all day?" There is just no way that one person can do both. As they get older, it will get better and they can be given responsibilities that help you clean up.

DD's room isn't big enough to keep her toys upstairs, though DS does have an extra 5 drawer chest for some of his smaller toy systems like legos & imaginext. I have two bookcases in the family room that are out of the way in the hall to the garage door. The toys go in bins on those shelves, except for DD's dollhouse which is next to the entertainment center. I let them play in that room and they can sure trash it. I try to put everything where it belongs with their help after dinner, and finish up after they go to bed. At least their rooms stay pretty clean since they don't play up there too much & DS picks up after himself when he does. I use to try to pick up before lunch & then naps but it didn't make a difference. DH doesn't have a set schedule at the office so I can't have it cleaned up for him because that would mean keeping them restrained for up to 2 hours before he sees it. One day after we cleaned it up I took a picture & emailed it to him to show him that it does look nice at some point during the day. LOL! It was trashed when he got home that night.

 

[lbgraves]

You mentioned your kid's artwork as part of what piles up. Do you have a scanner? I have been keeping the kid's stuff from school & their drawings at home for 3-6 months at a time then either scan the smaller ones or take a digital picture of the project and burn the images to a CD. I then go thru the pile & pick out a few to put up on the cork squares that are staggered on one of their bedroom walls. The rest...well, they disappear. I remember going thru drawers of my school work in my parent's attic & there were those icky little worm skins in the paper & yarn. When the next school year starts the papers on the wall come down & I keep my favorites and we start all over again.

 

[Disney Enthusiast]

You mentioned your kid's artwork as part of what piles up. Do you have a scanner? I have been keeping the kid's stuff from school & their drawings at home for 3-6 months at a time then either scan the smaller ones or take a digital picture of the project and burn the images to a CD. I then go thru the pile & pick out a few to put up on the cork squares that are staggered on one of their bedroom walls. The rest...well, they disappear. I remember going thru drawers of my school work in my parent's attic & there were those icky little worm skins in the paper & yarn. When the next school year starts the papers on the wall come down & I keep my favorites and we start all over again.

Great idea! My mother and my DH's mother gave us our albums a couple years ago, and we ended up throwing them out.... Didn't mean a great deal for us to keep the turkeys we made from tracing our hands. But our DM/DMIL worked hard at keeping them all those years. I always knew my kids' artwork would eventually disappear, but not w/o the guilt. Now I know what to do w/ it. Thanks for the tip.

 

[disneymac]

I love the scanning the artwork idea!! No clutter and no guilt - you can't beat that!! Thanks.

 

[studentmom]

Thanks again everyone, i feel so much better, and inspired. lol
That is a great idea to use the scanner. Of course there are a few still that I'll have to keep.

 

[Atotty]

I was in the same boat. Couldn't get anything done, didn't want people to come over, etc. Then someone on the allears list posted about the Flylady. This has been a wonderful resource for me. Our house is actually organized and I feel people can come over...anytime.

I subscribe to the e-mails and she sends you daily tasks that take 15 mins. Check out this link for more info. It ahs made a night and day difference in our home. One thing I like about her stuff is that she gets rid of all the guilt. Her motto is something like you're never behind, you're just getting started.

http://www.FlyLady.net