How do you clean when you really don't want to...

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I sit here in my messy house:uhoh3: . I have no desire to clean. How do you other moms motivate yourselves to clean when you are bone tired? It is odd, I sat at school on a computer all day writing 2 big papers. Why do I feel compelled to come home and sit on the computer? I guess I will go do something, I just caught myself editing my post into APA format:nono: .

Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych.

The ideas above are GREAT!

I have completely let my home go over the past month. This weekend, my goal is to get the summer clothes out away & pull out the winter items (New England weather is truly unpredictable!)

I seem to be the most undomesticated Mom I know! I hate housework, don't enjoy cooking and the laundry just piles up. I really need to get a schedule down. I did well the first few weeks of school keeping up, but now I'm just so sleep deprived... of course watching Baseball for the past two weeks until 1 a.m. has not helped! :rotfl:

Thanks for the ideas!

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This is a must IMO! Now, I think her website is pretty corny:uhoh3: I took some time a while ago to read everything and I subscribe to her Emails (most of wh/ I delete) but I get a lot out of FLYlady and I hope you will too!

http://www.FLYlady.net

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry.

Funny that the thread should be about cleaning; I was just telling my boyfriend last night that something needs to change around here because he's able to work from home alot of times (computer guy) while I'm at class, the library, clinical, work...and I only have two hands. We usually split the house we live in by floors. He likes to cook and I hate doing dishes = he cooks, cleans, and is completely responsible for the downstairs. Meanwhile, he cannot wash a load of clothes to save his life without shrinking my sweaters or doing something like bleaching the dark load, nevermind the fact that he has no clue what "folding the laundry" actually entails = I do all the laundry and clean upstairs. This system usually works, but this semester has kept me busier than the last few, so I'm gonna have him do more like scrub the bathrooms, etc., which to be completely honest are very questionable right now! :chuckle I'm lucky because he's been so supportive with me being in school. Other than that, I try to do a 5 minute sweep of small rooms like the bathroom (usually just my makeup and junk anyway) and a 10 minute sweep of the bedroom, office, etc. Usually works well enough to know where your stuff is at, but it is no where near the amount I would have to do if we had guests...that's a whole new ballgame! :)

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Specializes in Palliative, Geriatics.
Turning the TV on 'Roseanne' or 'Golden Girls, and cleaning during the commercials.

I clean the tub AFTER i take a shower. The heat from the steam and water makes it easier to clean.

I put water in a bowl and microwave it for 7-10 minutes. The steam makes cleaning the microwave a breeze.

I take a broom and 'sweep' the carpet and kitchen. I do this when i don't feel like vacuuming.

I shove clutter in the hall closet :D

:rotfl: This is my post!!!!! :rotfl: :chuckle

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Specializes in Med/Surg..
I was watching "Wife Swap" last night and one of mom's sets her stove timer for 15 minutes. She tries to clean her whole house within that time frame. Not much you can do in 15 minutes. :rotfl: :rotfl:

Ari, I saw the same show. Although the "15" minute cleaning "Wife's" house was cluttered - you have to admit that the other wife and her crazy Mom were way over the top about cleaning and cooking MASS quantities of fried foods. Yes, it's great to have a nice clean house - but seriously, if you're going to have a meltdown because a crumb is on the floor - time to look into therapy. Obviously it runs in the family - because the teenage daughter was also freaking out even when the house looked freshly cleaned. And the Mom bringing the kids breakfast in Bed and showing her Son his "3 choices of outfits for the day" - she's spoiled them rotten. The Son (who claimed he's a picky eater) was incredibly overweight because he lives on fried foods all day (while laying on the couch) - she should be much more worried about his health instead of spending her day crawling around on her knees cleaning the floors. Just my opinion...

Since I've been in school - I clean what I can after classes and studying during the week and get the majority of it done on the weekends. We've had a lot of major tests on Monday's - so even some weekends I have to leave some things go around the house to devote more time to studying. For now anyways, making good grades are more important than having a "sparkling toilet bowl 24 hours a day" - which is next to impossible anyways with a husband and 3 Sons who have "Very Bad Aim", lol......

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Specializes in OR,ER,med/surg,SCU.
This is a must IMO! Now, I think her website is pretty corny:uhoh3: I took some time a while ago to read everything and I subscribe to her Emails (most of wh/ I delete) but I get a lot out of FLYlady and I hope you will too!

http://www.FLYlady.net

I really enjoyed the ideas the fly lady shared too. I still do alot of them. I quit recieving the e-mails from her. Just too many, although I kept them coming long enough to pick up on some great ideas. Just easier to go directly to her site. :rolleyes:

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Invite company over :chuckle That always gets me in gear... :rotfl:

Or get really mad when everyone is watching tv and start cleaning around them (and LOUDLY) sometimes they actually feel guilty and pitch in.

My kids all have chores-if they WANT something...I point to the calendar (where their chore of the week is written)...then I point to...the dishes, laundry or livingroom...They act like they are Cinderella.

I scrub the shower while I'm in it, I vacuum the whole house once I start (kitchen, dining room, hallway, couches...then use the attachements to clean the crumbs off the counter, toaster, nooks and crannies and any lint that might be on the kids..LOL) I find the best way to do it is just to "clean as you go" now if I could convince everyone else who lives here of that!

With 4 slobby kids, a lazy husband and going to school - it gets kinda ugly around here...unfortunately the only one it bothers is ME!!!

~T

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Specializes in School, Camp, Hospice, Critical Care.

Several of us at clinical this week agreed that the Department of Chidren and Youth Services would probably take our children away if they saw the states of our homes.

I, just this morning, made a "cleaning date" with my husband for my next weekend off (not until November 13, unfortunately)--we agreed we will clean all day together and suck our ten-year-old daughter into it, too, then celebrate with a nice dinner out. Coincidentally, it's my b'day--the sad part is, I'm looking forward to cleaning all day! Nice change from working/studying, and the house is at the point where even my incredibly low standards of cleanliness/order are really stretched to the limit! :rotfl:

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I'm such a dang neat freak and I'm having a hard time letting it go.......

I asked for ONE thing for Christmas and that is for someone to come and clean my house from top to bottom before spring semester starts so I don't have to!!!

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If I get really desperate, I invite people over so that we HAVE to clean. Other than that, it has to wait. There is another able-bodied adult who lives here and is home more than me and I should not have to do everything.

amen. my SO has a four day a week schedule, while I go to school four days a week, and work two. Somehow I still find myself doing all the laundry and most of the dishes. He claims that he has to take care of the yard (We live on 13 acres), but the grass hasn't needed a cut in over 3 weeks!! :rotfl:

I have managed to forget what our vacuum even looks like.

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Lands I know that feeling too! What gets me motivated into cleaning is when my shoes start sticking to the floor! Kind of hard to keep the house clean with kids running around, but I try to pick it up. Now getting motivated to do laundry?! That's a whole other story LOL

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I use flylady as well. I used to be a total neat freak. My husband a children help alot, but I try to take some of flylady's ideas and it also helps. I have just come to the realization that until I am done with school, my house will never be as clean as it once was. Oh well, we win some, we lose some.

Crystal

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