I just can't keep up....

I have my sons pick up their own rooms. Then i give them chores that they like. I find that if they have things to do that they think are fun, they have no problem helping. My oldest likes to vacuum, so that's his duty. my youngest likes to dust, so he does that. the rest of it I do before they wake up in the morning. I do finish dishes and pick up the floors and stuff before bed. Hope you can use some of that info.

Ok Steph calm down First of all you have to get it into their Head if they want special time with you then they have to help keeping the Mess down that includes their rooms. They have to learn to clean their own Rooms. I never cleaned the Kids anymore from when they where 10. Before that I would make them tidy away with me what they had out. They where taught to put Washin in the Dirt Basket, It is not just you that has to get into a routine but them to. Try not to do everything in the one Day spread it over the Week. Their Rooms you do twice a week and if they can't keep it tidy tough they will have to learn or live with it.Laundry again twice a week, Groceries once a week, your Room I am sure you do not have to do every Day. I was working Full time as well house and Kids and I managed to get into the Routine after a while. Try it Girl and good luck to you .

How old are your kids?? Have them help out-- DO chore charts-- make it fun! If we get this done we can pull something fun out of a hat and do it as a family- Another great thing- Let it go! Let the cleaning go until the kids go to bed-- Do fun things with them.. Do you think your kids will remember a clean house, laundry being done or the fun time playing with them- I know its hard but with kids, school, and keeping up a house-- something has to give. I try to my housework- picking up before bedtime-- and I do the major cleaning on the weekends!

My first suggestion would be to stick to as much of a schedule as possible for cleaning. It takes a little bit of time for something to be turned from a must do to a routine. Children can be taught routines, even if they don't like them. First off unless you have a small child then this won;t work for the most part but I believe that you have a bit older children. It's important for them to learn basic skills such as being responsible for the cleaning of their own rooms and picking up after themselves. I remember that my mother once told us that anything and I mean anything that was left out and was asked 1 time to be put away was taken and put up and not returned to us. This can be a great way of getting results when your favorite toy is now missing or heaven forbid your play shoes. Another thing is to take privileges away such as TV, video games, outdoor play, etc... I realize that some of these things are the perfect solution to you being able to get things done, but it's most important to delegate somethings to the children especially basics, cleaning their own rooms and picking up after themselves. After you have gotten them on a routine of the above mentioned things then you can add a few other chores. Things like who is taking out the trash or who is loading the dishwasher and who will be unloading it. It's also good to switch the chores around so that they aren't to bored and they are still learning responsibilities for when they are older. If they are old enough to assist in the laundry then I would teach them, and have them taking turns putting in the dryer, taking them out and folding properly. Sloppy folding won't get you out of the job it will result in you having to do it over. Stay firm. Also giving rewards for jobs well done. Doesn't have to be done each time the chore has been done, but acknowledge it and make a mental note to once a month reward the good job that has been done. Remember to let them know why you felt they deserved to be rewarded. Positive comments like than can greatly help the situation. I hope that some of this helps. It's never easy trying to teach our children sometimes as we know that we can do it better, or faster, etc... I do think that it's important to teach them and then except when they have done their best even if not up to our standards. The reason that I add this is because if they do a job and then they see you go right behind them and "correct" what they didn't do "properly" then they will be discouraged and not want to to do it and will fight with you on it. Good luck! :)

I don't know how old your kids are but you can let them earn extra money by helping. I don't particularly like that idea since they are part of the household and have a responsibility to help clean too. For your benefit you might try doing one or two rooms a day and try not to stress out too much. Remember to leave yourself some time for you as well and make sure everyone knows that this is your time. Good luck.

If the kids are old enough you should not be doing everything for them. Make up a chore list and have some reward for them getting their chores done a weekly basis. If they are old enough to help with the laundry have them do their own laundry. Dust on Monday(swiffers are great),vaccum on Tuesday and so on. Put a load of laundry in first thing in the morning and dry it at night or vice versa. I hope some of these tips help.

I dont make myself crazy during the day trying to do everything myself. I only do certain things like some dishes, some laundry and pick up some of the livingroom. When the kids get home they get there home work done and then they clean up the rest of the living room because it IS mostly there mess. Also I will have the kids put there own clothes away. I have NO proble mwashing and folding but they have to put them away. When hubby gets home I start dinner. sometimes he will make dinner or we make it a team effort. After dinner either I will do the dishes or he will. Sometimes I can even get my oldest daughter to do a load of laundry or 2. By getting the kids involved they are learning to help out arround the house and in a way we are having quality time together because while we are all cleaning together we can talk about things that are going on at school and things that are going on at home. So far for us it really works.

I know exactly how you feel. I have started posting little signs all over the house. "Did you put your coat on coat rack." "Is your laundry in the basket" "Did you put your things away" "Put things IN the trash not on top of the lid" . I have also set up the last 15 minutes of the night, to everyone walking through the house and putting things where they go. It seems to be working. My husband was not a fan of all the notes at first, he says "do we really need that." I told him that I guess we do because no one seems to know how to do those things. Ever since, they have been doing a pretty good job. Even my husband is picking things up and he was just as bad as the kids.

The funny thing is I am not married. I am single and live with my family. Am I wrong for complaining too much that they all expect me to do everything? I mean, I clean the house, I do the dishes and laundry, I grocery shop, what else??? I had a thinking few years ago, if being a mom and having my own family is this hard I guess I have to think twice if I want to have my own family or not.

Hi Stephanie I'm the mom of 7 children all grown except a 17 yo daughter. Here's a few things that might help. 1.Don't sweat the small stuff...Most of it is small stuff. Things that have to be done every day people must be fed people need clothing people need a warm bed people need shelter So you have to prepare food but to have time with the kids and get it done enlist their help.In the beginning it takes longer because you are teaching the a live skill,but as time goes by you will reap the benefits. Even the smallest child can help with household chores if you make a game of it.I had big plastic trash cans that I bought for stuffed animals and dolls.Each child got a point for each toy that made a basket ...points would be recorded on the fridge and could be used to buy something at the grocery store.This way they know how much they have earned so there was never a fit cause they wanted something they couldn't have instead they chose within their budget..which was another lesson.As mom's we are our kids most important teachers. Anyway I think you get the idea and I hope that was some help.

i know how you really feel. i am a single mom of three wonderful children. i do not have a boyfriend and thier father is not in the picturer at all. so if you can get any hints then please pass it on to me. thank you

I am so on the same page as you with this one, I am averaging between 2-3 hours a night of sleep because I am just trying to get it all done. I feel like I am the only one around here that does anything, and it is very difficult to be everywhere and do everything when you are simply just one person. What I have tried, that has been helping lately is that I make my children go to be by 7:30 - 8:00 pm everynight, they are usually asleep by 8 - 8:30 pm and I have enough time to get a few things that need doing around the house, and a bit of time to even sit down and relax after. I find that getting them to bed earlier, not only gives me a bit of quiet time to get dishes done etc. but it gives them some extra sleep so they are not as cranky and in the mood to fight with each other. I spend my time with them for about 1 hour immediately after school, talking to them about their day, talking about the homework that they are doing/what they are learning, or for my younger two playing with them too. Then I get to making supper and the like. Immediately after supper I have them clear the table and stack the dishes, then I spend time in the bedtime routine with them, getting them bathed and then I take the time to read to them etc. we say the watch over my friends and family and me bedtime prayer, and share kisses and hugs and they are off to bed. Then I get to the tasks of getting in a load of laundry or two doing up the supper dishes (sometimes I leave those to morning) and just do a general tidy up. Of corse this doesn't work all the time because there are playdates school sports and the like, however I try to stick as close to that as possible. It is hard to start out with getting them to agree to go to bed that early (took about a month) but the rewards are so much worth it. God Bless and I hope you have some successes.

Hi Stephanie, That's how I also feel at times,maybe quite a few times. That in fact is the beauty of motherhood and being a housewife. When the kids are around,you feel like they are driving you crazy,you just feel like throwing it all up. But again, the very thought of them being away from your sight is alarming. Two things you can do. Think of the people who do not have kids for some reason or the other.You should also orgaise your household to do your laundry,cooking and cleaning work when the kids are asleep or playing.It is just a matter of 2-3 years. Once they go to school, things will start falling in place. They are not slobs.Its just that you are expecting the kids to think and act the way you want them to. Then they would not be kids. And offcourse, this is the same case for most mothers all around the world. SO? If there is nothing you can do to change things at home, might as well start enjoying motherhood.

you shoul tie them from a tree..Just kidding. Let them do what they want because they are young an they must have fun to consume their energy.

I try to have a routine for the week and make sure that I leave days free to fit in the things that I don't usually have time for. For example on Monday I have a free day where I can go shopping and catch up with the cleaning. Thursday I have another free day where I can do the same. Usually Mondays is for shopping and catching up with washing and Thursdays is for cleaning the bathroom, hoovering and general tidying up. I do the dishes every evening after the kids are in bed and tidy the toys in the living room away. In the morning when they are eating breakfast I clean the kitchen. When they are in the bath I change sheets and put washing away. I put the washing on every time I have a full load so that I don't have loads of clothes to dry and nowhere to put them. I do make my kids help me too. My 2 year old cleans the table for dinner and gets out the cutlery. My 5 year old gets out the plates. They both put their dishes in the dishwasher after the meal and they know where to put their dirty laundry. The other thing I do is sometimes say stuff the housework we are all going to have a day out together instead. Sometimes you need to look at what is important.

I do know how you feel. I was never one to get caught up in cleaning the house. I hate cleaning! My kids always came first. As far as getting them feed or keeping them busy with activities. Now that they are are little older and all in school fulltime(thank goodness) I still don't worry about my house so much. Laundry yes,I hate doing that too. I do work full time again and I hired cleaning ladies to come every other week. I have also tried the chore chart with my kids and rewarding them when they kept it up. However once the excietment was over it always went back to the same old thing. Now since I work and they have school we use the weekend to do chore lists. They either do the four or five little things on their list or they don't get to play, watch tv or play viedo games until it's done. Good Luck!

You need a nurserymaid.

Focus on getting a handle on just one thing at a time. Don't try to do it all.

You know, that sounds a lot like my mom's experience. She would grouse after us all the time and we were terribly forgetful and disorganized. The honest truth is that all of us - my mom and my siblings, have ADD/ADHD (it gets passed down). And that is why things were so chaotic and disorganized. Women who are homemakers, whether single or not, have nearly too much work already, and then when that is combined with a state of mind not conducive to our modern society (like ADD) it makes it all fall apart. However, finding out that we were all crazy helped alot, actually *lol*. There are a lot of resources out there for ADD/ADHD. But the best part (and the whole point of this response) - All those resources are helpful for everyone! It doesn't matter if you have ADD or not - all of the tips that are used to help ADD/ADHD people organize themselves are just really great organization tips! A really great site with lots of ideas on getting stuff together is www.ADDvance.com. I know it sounds kooky, but once you start reading them you'll see how universal a lot of the stuff is! Plus that site has a lot of books that it recommends too with more useful information. Good luck on your quest! I wish you much fortune!