Standard advice that just doesn't work for you

[klpmommy]

I'd love to hear from other people.

One of the biggest ones that just doesn't work for me is "run the dishwasher when it is full". One meal doesn't completely fill it, but if I wait until we've had a second meal and it is full there are a ton of leftover dishes that either have to be washed by hand or are left until the cycle is done. So I'm trying to untrain myself from that advice and habit to run the dishwasher after meals if it is at least half full. Otherwise there are *always* dirty dishes in my sink.

[RealLifeMama]

We have had to abandon that rule as well.

I saw the thread title and figured there were a bunch of things I could add, but now that I am ready to reply, I can't think of anything. :doh
BBL

[Aerynne]

I have the same problem with the washing machine.

How about "sleep when the baby sleeps" hahahahaha.

[Luciola]

Pretty much everything. :shrug3

I like to combine a bunch of different ideas into something that *does* work for me.

[Victorious]

A "load a day keeps chaos away" really didn't work when we had to use the laundromat. Of course, now I'm untraining myself from letting it just pile up.

[allisonintx]

A "load a day keeps chaos away" really didn't work when we had to use the laundromat. Of course, now I'm untraining myself from letting it just pile up.
"Pick one day for laundry day." Umm, that would mean I'd have to do a bare minimum of 14 loads that day...at a minimum of 40min per load to wash and approximately the same to dry, that's more hours than a single days worth of Waking Hours.

[Luciola]

Fold the laundry right when it comes out of the drier.

Neat idea, but, for example, sometimes I need to leave the house and need clean diapers when I get home. So I throw the clothes in a basket and the diapers into the dryer.

[Barefoot Bookworm]

Get up before the kids do for quiet time, exercise, and a shower. :spit

[Blue-EyedLady]

I tried Flylady for a while, but shining my sink never worked for me - my kitchen never closes! And it makes no sense to make the bed when I get up, since there is a sleeping child still in it (and will be again at naptime).

[WingsOfTheMorning]

"Get dressed to your shoes." I like my bare (or socks in winter) feet thank you very much. Shoes in the house just feels weird to me.

[charla]

I have had to abandon the dishwasher full rule too. If I wait til it's full, we will not have enough of something for the next meal, whether it's spoons, or plates or bowls.

Wash the sheets every week rule - not happening. :snooty Wrestling beds is just not my thing. :shifty

Laundry everyday doesn't work for me - I do it all on one day most of the time, occasionally it spills over to the second day. Oh and put the laundry away right away, nuh-uh :no, isn't that what the top of the dryer is for? :shifty

Dusting - totally overrated. :snooty

[Aerynne]

Oh, this thread reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

"For every complicated problem, there is a simple solution that does not work."

[Luciola]

:giggle

[NewLeaf]

I think I may have abandoned too many 'good ideas' to remember what they were. :shifty

[Luciola]

I tried Flylady for a while, but shining my sink never worked for me - my kitchen never closes! And it makes no sense to make the bed when I get up, since there is a sleeping child still in it (and will be again at naptime).

Yes and yes.

I don't think it makes sense to make the bed at all unless you are having an impossible time getting the sheets and blankets right as you try to fall asleep.

[Johns_Gal]

"Get dressed to your shoes." I like my bare (or socks in winter) feet thank you very much. Shoes in the house just feels weird to me.

Shoes on in the HOUSE :shiver

That's mine, right there.

[Petie]

Change one thing at a time, don't try to change all at once or you'll get overwhelmed.

Umm I usually stop after one thing and I'm lucky of I don't change that back.

[MegMarch]

Date night as a must do, from like 3 months PP. No. I don't want to leave my baby, especially at bedtime. And somehow, my marriage survives.

[Luciola]

Get dressed.

(Take this advice now that I'm back in school. But the first 6 months after E was born, it wasn't happening.)

[WingsOfTheMorning]

Get dressed.

(Take this advice now that I'm back in school. But the first 6 months after E was born, it wasn't happening.)

Yeah, I live in yoga pants for the first few months. Now I feel better if I get dressed at least in jeans and a cute T and fix my hair.

But I'm still not putting on any shoes. :snooty :shifty

[Autumn]

Get dressed.

(Take this advice now that I'm back in school. But the first 6 months after E was born, it wasn't happening.)

:yes As soon as I come home from somewhere my comfy pj pants go back on. Shoes and real clothes? Not likely right now.

[RosalieMarie]

"Clean as you go". What does that even look like? Yeah, it'd be great to have all the dishes done as I'm cooking. Or the meal messes cleaned up immediately, or any other mess picked up as it happens. However, there's these things in my house called children. And as soon as we're done something, or a mess has been made someone needs something and it just doesn't happen until later.

[Housekat]

:giggle Nodding along here

:popcorn

[ThreeKids]

How about just "clean the house"?

I clean AT the house constantly. The closest I can do is to detail an area at a time and cycle through the house so each spot has its moment, but there just won't be a moment for years to come where I can say the house is clean. I'm just too outnumbered.

And I forget what high-traffic areas are. Everything gets cleaned often as I wipe up spills. I've even told dh I wasn't going to come back and finish cleaning a milk spill with water because the kids would spill water there, too, before the night was through and I was right.

I do have to take a moment once in a while to look at the walls further away, to make sure that accumulation of the most distant, forensic milk splatters isn't getting too visible.

[Petie]

"Clean as you go". What does that even look like? Yeah, it'd be great to have all the dishes done as I'm cooking. Or the meal messes cleaned up immediately, or any other mess picked up as it happens. However, there's these things in my house called children. And as soon as we're done something, or a mess has been made someone needs something and it just doesn't happen until later.

This reminds me of the quote

Cleaning the house while you still have young children is like shoveling the snow while its still snowing.

[Aisling]

"Stick to the schedule".

Well, sure, within reason. I prefer to stick to ritual. That way, in our nutty TN weather, when we have a great day that it's NOT raining cats and dogs, we spend all day long outside. Who CARES what's on the schedule? You may have a pretty schedule or your sanity. I'll take sanity, please.

[AdrienneQW]

Get up before the kids do for quiet time, exercise, and a shower. :spit

EXACTLY. My oldest gets up at 5am every day, and has for the past 10+ years. In order to exercise, shower, and have quiet time before he wakes, I might as well not go to bed at all.

[ThreeKids]

Just anything that has to do with spiritual discipline.

I spend my entire day and night serving the needs of others. I'll call it a nearly continuous fast for the things I'd be doing otherwise and worry about more diverse disciplines when there's actually some temptation in my life.

[momma2girls]

This reminds me of the quote

Cleaning the house while you still have young children is like shoveling the snow while its still snowing.

I just hung that quote on my cupboard. :rockon

[Domina]

Just anything that has to do with spiritual discipline.

I spend my entire day and night serving the needs of others. I'll call it a nearly continuous fast for the things I'd be doing otherwise and worry about more diverse disciplines when there's actually some temptation in my life.

Slow clap.

[AngelaVA]

Getting up before the kids - they just get up whenever I do

Fly Lady

Dave Ramsey

Too much of a schedule

Vaccinations :shifty

Couponing to save grocery money

[Jillie]

This reminds me of the quote

Cleaning the house while you still have young children is like shoveling the snow while its still snowing.

And folding laundry with a toddler is like trying to straighten a desk full of papers while a fan blows on it :giggle

[Johns_Gal]

How about the optimistic "Do your grocery shopping first thing after breakfast!" advice?

Dude. No. Now you're just trying to get somebody hurt.

[NewLeaf]

Couponing to save grocery money
This would be the end of me. No way. :no

[Glitterfish]

: noddingvigorously

[Whirlwind]

How about "Never leave dishes in the sink." Really? Are you kidding me?

I have a really hard time with my skin drying out from all the handwashing I do in a day. If I actually stopped to wash each individual dish I use throughout the day, I wouldn't have any skin left.

[Johns_Gal]

Clothes laid out the night before; excuse me, I have a cat. She senses clothes that are available to be lolled on.

Menu planned at the beginning of the week: clearly you have never fed my husband.

ThreeKids, I could sob with relief at your take on "Clean the House". And "High traffic areas".... our house IS a high traffic area! :lol We didn't buy more house than we could use, ergo, I am generally going in a circle. And I have a little person, two cats and a tiny dog right behind me. They are ever :neutral so much :neutral help. :no

[rcsmom]

Yes and yes.

I don't think it makes sense to make the bed at all unless you are having an impossible time getting the sheets and blankets right as you try to fall asleep.
:giggle this is one that I always do thanks to two dogs who love nothing more than to go outside on a wet day and then come in and immediately jump on an unmade bed making a change of bed linens absolutely necessary. At least if the bed is made I can justify sleeping in the bed that night without changing the sheets. :shrug3

[Luciola]

:lol

[The Tickle Momster]

all of the above. along with get lessons done before noon so the kids have time to play. Does.not.work.with.our. schedule.