Thursday 9 April 2015

Housework hacks for family homes

Everything changes when you have children.  

Even the most mundane of procedures. Take housework, for example.

Pre-kids, it's something you tolerate.  A necessary evil. When the mood strikes (or when visitors are due), you knuckle down, get through it and get on with your life.

Post-kids, it doesn't work that way.  Not only do you have less time for it, the results of your efforts last but a fleeting nanosecond.  After which, all that hard work is undone.  Job satisfaction = zero.

As for the process itself, it becomes considerably more - ahem - fraught.


Let's start with hoovering. Pre-kids, your trusty Dyson blithely services your floors on a regular and uncomplaining basis. 

Post-kids, it contends with all manner of outrages - discarded loom bands, stray Hama beads and the dreaded Lego brick.  (The noise on contact can make a grown woman cry.) 

Our last appliance was killed by a more subtle intruder. All respect to the new destructive force on the block.  People, I give you the kirby grip.

As for dusting (yes, you're meant to do that too), simply accessing the surfaces is a challenge in itself. By the time you've shifted all the detritus of family life, you're ready for a wee lie down. Forget flying into a frenzy with the feather duster.  

As one chum confided: "I'd love to get a cleaner but I'd have to tidy up first." We hear ya sister.

So what's a hard-pressed parent to do? Assuming you'd like company within the next decade, consider some housework hacks...

Provided you can contain your guests downstairs, restrict your efforts to the ground floor.

Focus on hoovering only as far as the turn in the stairs. Ensure the downstairs cloakroom is gleaming like a pin. Shamelessly ignore the sorry state of affairs that is your en suite.

Stagger upstairs with all two hundred of your family members' assorted jackets. Lob said outerwear in a bedroom.   Revel smugly as guests admire your minimalist coat rack.

One cautionary note:   Beware the sociable pre-schooler who likes to invite people to *come up and see my bedroom*. Inquisitive guests won't be able to resist. 

And you, my friend, will be rumbled.  

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16 comments:

  1. Haha...I do all of these already and my hoose still looks like s tip. Xx

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    1. No it doesn't! You have a lovely home ;-)

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  2. I do this as well, great minds....x

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    1. Great stuff! Glad I'm not alone ;-) Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. Exactly how I do things here in my house too =P #pocolo

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    1. There's a tribe of us taking short cuts - yay! Thanks Merlinda.

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  4. Yup, I do this too :) On bad days, I simply step over things, sighing! #pocolo

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    1. I think we all have those kind of bad days Sara! Thanks so much for commenting.

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    1. Great to know I'm not alone...;-) Thanks for stopping by Kim.

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  6. tee hee, this had me laughing Clare! I often get caught out by those dreaded words 'come and see my bedroom' too ;-)

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    1. So pleased that it made you smile (I'm faintly relieved that I'm not the only one who gets caught out by hospitable children!). Thank you very much for taking the time to read and comment :-)

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  7. Oh my goodness, this is SOOOO true!! Brilliant post. Thank you for linking to #PoCoLo x

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    1. And thanks, as ever, for having me - and for making the time to read and comment :-) I don't know how you do it! xxx

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  8. Loving your housework hacks and may have used a few of these in my time. We eventually hired a cleaner but instructed her to leave the girls' bedrooms if they were untidy. Miraculously... they managed to tidy up before she arrived every week!

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    1. Izzie - your comment made me smile - and it made the case for getting a cleaner even stronger ;-) Thanks so much for stopping by.

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