Latest / Bright Star Kids Parenting Podcast / Episode 2: How to Stop Ironing

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Episode 2: How to Stop Ironing · Bright Star Kids Parenting Podcast

• 0:00
  Dimity: Welcome to the Bright Star Kids Parenting Podcast.
• 0:03
  Susan: Hi, I'm Susan and this is Dimity and today we're going to be talking about all the cleaning things that people do and maybe you can figure out how to stop doing some of them.
• 0:13
  Susan: So ironing, Dimity.
• 0:16
  Dimity: Yes, that's a big one.
• 0:16
  Susan: That is a big one.
• 0:17
  Susan: Tell me about that.
• 0:18
  Dimity: I don't iron at all.
• 0:21
  Dimity: If there are clothes that are possibly going to be a bit crinkled, I always put them in the dryer.
• 0:25
  Susan: Oh yeah, that's a good one.
• 0:26
  Dimity: I take them out of the washing machine and I hang them up and they're still even got a little bit of creases after being hung, I'll put them in the dryer, spin it for a cycle, and it comes out pretty much.
• 0:36
  Susan: Yeah, it's amazing.
• 0:37
  Susan: Especially if you fold them straight after the dryer, then it's very good.
• 0:41
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 0:41
  Dimity: And if anything does need an iron, like for an event or something, I usually just pass that over to mother-in-law or my mum or...
• 0:49
  Susan: Do you have an iron?
• 0:51
  Susan: Have you actually got an iron?
• 0:52
  Susan: Because a lot of people don't have irons.
• 0:53
  Susan: They literally literally don't even have it.
• 0:56
  Dimity: I couldn't answer that question because I don't know.
• 0:59
  Dimity: Maybe in the cupboard somewhere.
• 1:01
  Dimity: But it's like hidden and dusty and yeah.
• 1:03
  Dimity: Maybe somewhere, but it's not been touched.
• 1:07
  Susan: I do have, I've got actually an ironing board that pulls out because I renovated my kitchen five years ago.
• 1:12
  Susan: And so I've got like the secret like ironing board coverage, which is pretty cool.
• 1:16
  Susan: And I do have an iron that's in my drawer.
• 1:18
  Susan: But for me, I like iron every so often.
• 1:21
  Susan: So definitely not a daily thing, not a weekly thing, not even a monthly thing.
• 1:26
  Susan: But I will iron the odd thing.
• 1:27
  Susan: Nigel will also iron the odd thing when we're going out and it needs it.
• 1:31
  Susan: If I'm like wearing a dress and I'm like, can I get away with this without being ironed?
• 1:37
  Susan: I will definitely go out without it.
• 1:39
  Susan: But I have an auntie, she used to iron everything.
• 1:43
  Susan: Uh like socks, underwear, I don't know about socks, but she would iron underwear.
• 1:48
  Susan: Every single thing.
• 1:49
  Susan: And the thing is, if for her, it actually created a bottleneck, you know, because she would have all this like laundry baskets everywhere with piles of clothes because they were waiting for her to iron them.
• 2:01
  Susan: And so yeah, you've got just this like whole chaos everywhere.
• 2:06
  Susan: And again, I say messy house, they're okay, but yeah, you know, so much clutter can be really like hard.
• 2:12
  Dimity: Overwhelming.
• 2:13
  Susan: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:13
  Susan: Um, and so yeah, so she basically would iron everything.
• 2:16
  Susan: She would stand there watching the TV and do and some people love it.
• 2:21
  Susan: Like, I do have a few friends who love ironing and they iron everything.
• 2:24
  Susan: But for me, it's just one of those tasks that I try and cut out of my routine.
• 2:30
  Susan: Because there's like life is too short to be ironing everything.
• 2:34
  Dimity: A hundred percent.
• 2:34
  Dimity: I don't remember the last time I picked up an iron.
• 2:37
  Dimity: I'm not gonna lie.
• 2:38
  Susan: Yeah, and like for me, one of the things I like to do is when I wash my clothes, I generally try when the weather's nice, put them out on the washing line and I try and like stretch them when they're on.
• 2:50
  Susan: So instead of just like like hanging them and they're all a bit like crinkled, pull them down as much.
• 2:56
  Susan: That kind of like helps to get rid of the creases.
• 2:58
  Susan: And then when they're dry, again, if they're a little bit damp, popping them into the dryer is quite good.
• 3:07
  Susan: And it does remove a lot of the creases.
• 3:09
  Susan: But if they are nice and dry, you know, it's a nice summer weather, just getting them off, folding them, and then putting them into the basket.
• 3:17
  Susan: Do not just chuck them into the basket because that will crease them, especially if you don't immediately fold them again.
• 3:22
  Susan: But if you fold them and put them, and even if you do have to wait for a few days, you know, like everyone has busy lives.
• 3:28
  Susan: All procrastinate.
• 3:29
  Susan: Um, but if they're folded, then they tend not to have the crinkles.
• 3:34
  Dimity: Do you put your your shirts away folded?
• 3:36
  Susan: So for me, all my t-shirts, I will put them and then fold them and then I roll them.
• 3:41
  Susan: Ah yeah, and they go into my drawer, they're all little rolls.
• 3:45
  Susan: So you can see all of your t-shirts in one go, they're not layered on top of each other.
• 3:51
  Dimity: Okay.
• 3:52
  Susan: So then you're not end up having to like rummage through it and messing up all your things again.
• 3:56
  Susan: So that is one thing I have.
• 3:57
  Susan: I did Marie Kondo, I read her book that I'm ahead of the trend.
• 4:01
  Susan: Uh so I probably I've probably read her book like seven, eight years ago.
• 4:05
  Susan: And so I've been folding my tops ever since.
• 4:07
  Dimity: Right.
• 4:08
  Susan: And I just still likes to hang here.
• 4:10
  Susan: T-shirt?
• 4:11
  Dimity: All of our t-shirts are hung.
• 4:12
  Dimity: Okay.
• 4:12
  Dimity: Even my kids' t-shirts are hung.
• 4:14
  Susan: Okay, well.
• 4:15
  Dimity: None of them are folded, yeah.
• 4:16
  Dimity: Put in a drawer.
• 4:17
  Susan: Yeah.
• 4:17
  Susan: Jamie's now, I just I have given up on him.
• 4:20
  Susan: I just he's just a layered on top of each other, and his t-shirt drawer is a mess.
• 4:26
  Susan: But I don't care.
• 4:27
  Susan: I let him do his thing, and as long as he looks relatively respectable when he walks out the door, then that's fine.
• 4:33
  Susan: It's okay.
• 4:33
  Dimity: Um, another big one is the washing.
• 4:36
  Susan: Oh yeah.
• 4:37
  Dimity: Yes.
• 4:37
  Dimity: I am a chronic overwasher.
• 4:40
  Dimity: Oh yeah.
• 4:40
  Dimity: I will overwash my clothes.
• 4:42
  Dimity: I'll wear a pair of jeans once.
• 4:44
  Susan: Okay.
• 4:44
  Dimity: It's in the washing.
• 4:45
  Susan: Okay.
• 4:46
  Dimity: So I'm really bad for that.
• 4:47
  Susan: And actually, they say that that's really bad for your for your denim.
• 4:49
  Susan: Well, yeah.
• 4:50
  Susan: Uh that really you're not meant to wash it too much at all.
• 4:53
  Susan: Because it really wears them down.
• 4:54
  Susan: Um, and actually, denim gets nicer the more you wear it, the softer it gets.
• 4:59
  Dimity: Yes.
• 5:00
  Dimity: It's funny because my husband has said that and I'm just stubborn and I don't listen to him, and I do it anyway.
• 5:05
  Dimity: And I say, whatever, I'm just gonna put it in there.
• 5:06
  Dimity: Now I...
• 5:07
  Susan: If I spill something on my jeans, then yeah.
• 5:10
  Susan: Or if I'm like, you know, if I've gone on a big walk or something and I've got a bit sweaty, yeah.
• 5:15
  Dimity: Definitely.
• 5:16
  Susan: Or they sort of like bagging and looking a bit funny, then I'll wash them.
• 5:19
  Susan: But I only wash my jeans probably every four to five times and then I'll wash them.
• 5:23
  Dimity: Yeah, okay.
• 5:24
  Susan: So I don't do that.
• 5:25
  Susan: So that and and you uh how many times do you do your laundry?
• 5:29
  Dimity: I have a saying that a load of day keeps the laundry scaries away.
• 5:33
  Susan: Oh yeah, okay.
• 5:34
  Dimity: I wouldn't say I follow that particularly well, but I do like to try.
• 5:39
  Susan: Okay.
• 5:40
  Dimity: Maybe I wouldn't have to if I didn't wash my jeans every single time.
• 5:43
  Dimity: But I do have two kids that get food and messy and gross on all their clothes.
• 5:48
  Dimity: So kids.
• 5:49
  Dimity: We do have to be quite on top of it.
• 5:52
  Dimity: So if it's not one load a day, even if it's just their stuff, it'll be like two load Tuesday or two load Thursday.
• 5:59
  Susan: Okay.
• 5:59
  Dimity: We try, but a lot of the time it does get to the weekend and we've got...
• 6:03
  Susan: And then you run out of room on your washing line.
• 6:05
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 6:06
  Dimity: It happens to be.
• 6:07
  Dimity: Yeah, the I've also my big thing is I'll take it out of the dryer, fold it, put it in a laundry basket, and I'll think, oh, put that away.
• 6:14
  Dimity: In a minute.
• 6:16
  Dimity: Or like in a couple of hours.
• 6:18
  Susan: I like a bit of efficiency.
• 6:19
  Susan: So like if you're doing it every day, sometimes that's kind of a slow process.
• 6:24
  Susan: So I kind of like having a bit of a bulk thing.
• 6:26
  Susan: So I'm like, okay, I've got like two loads of laundry, and then I will organise them into categories.
• 6:33
  Susan: So I love my little categories.
• 6:35
  Susan: So I'll like first of all do my first batch is my clothes, Nigel's clothes, Jamie's clothes.
• 6:42
  Dimity: Okay.
• 6:42
  Susan: And then I tackle each one individually.
• 6:45
  Susan: So then I'll fold all mine and I'll do all that.
• 6:48
  Susan: Jamie's will go and then I'll tell him, right, that's your job, you put that away.
• 6:52
  Susan: Then Nigel's his is a bit more of a pain because he likes to hang his things up.
• 6:56
  Dimity: Okay.
• 6:57
  Susan: Usually he'll do his own, but sometimes I'll do it for him.
• 6:59
  Susan: But yeah, it's actually the folding thing you think is going to be a long time, but actually it didn't take, it doesn't take long at all.
• 7:04
  Susan: It's really it's really good.
• 7:06
  Susan: I think I enjoy it.
• 7:07
  Susan: And weirdly, I enjoy doing socks.
• 7:10
  Susan: I like matching socks.
• 7:11
  Dimity: Wow, I hate that.
• 7:12
  Susan: I think a lot of people would say that's a pointless thing, that's a waste of time.
• 7:16
  Susan: But I strangely enjoy...
• 7:18
  Dimity: Wait, it's a waste of time to match your socks together.
• 7:21
  Susan: Yeah, a lot of people just will just chuck things together.
• 7:23
  Susan: Like Nigel will sometimes match socks wrong, and then you end up with this like this thing that is like hard to get on top of because you've got all these odd socks.
• 7:33
  Dimity: Yes.
• 7:33
  Susan: Because he didn't take the time to match them properly.
• 7:36
  Susan: So I like to tell him just leave a sock matching for me.
• 7:39
  Dimity: That's fair.
• 7:40
  Dimity: I take it seriously, yeah.
• 7:42
  Susan: Uh my sock matching is like is a skill.
• 7:45
  Dimity: It doesn't make sense to me to not match your socks.
• 7:47
  Dimity: I'm not gonna lie.
• 7:48
  Susan: A lot of people don't.
• 7:49
  Susan: I bet you what do you do?
• 7:50
  Susan: Do you do you match your socks?
• 7:51
  Susan: Do you not match your socks?
• 7:52
  Susan: Tell us I uh yeah, I'd love to hear.
• 7:55
  Susan: Yeah.
• 7:55
  Susan: Um but yeah, I hate when I get socks and they're not matching.
• 7:59
  Susan: Or there's like there's kind of different shades of black, or like ones a little longer, ones not. They don't match.
• 8:05
  Susan: So they shouldn't be together.
• 8:06
  Dimity: I don't I match my socks.
• 8:08
  Dimity: I do have like every now and then, like if we'll do a load of washing, there'll be like one odd sock.
• 8:12
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 8:12
  Dimity: Will you put that away in a special place for the next one?
• 8:15
  Dimity: I usually just put it in the drawer, in the sock drawer.
• 8:18
  Dimity: On the drawer and then Yeah.
• 8:20
  Dimity: And then when I come to it, I'll hoping that you'll find the Yeah, if I find and then if I don't, then it's it is just an odd sock drawer.
• 8:28
  Susan: I usually give it around six months to try and find the friends.
• 8:32
  Susan: And then when they don't, then I have to say goodbye to them.
• 8:35
  Susan: It's a little like, you know, yes, a little goodbye ceremony for my for my lost sock.
• 8:40
  Susan: It's quite an interesting thing.
• 8:42
  Susan: But yeah, some people would might call me sad and like what a waste of time I'm doing that.
• 8:47
  Susan: But everyone has their thing.
• 8:48
  Susan: I don't exactly love ironing.
• 8:50
  Susan: Like if that is your meditation, I'm not gonna like, you know, try and get you to stop that.
• 8:55
  Dimity: No.
• 8:55
  Susan: But if you hate ironing, if you hate any task, you have to think about it.
• 8:59
  Susan: Do you need to do this?
• 9:01
  Susan: And if it is something that you do need to do, like cleaning the bathroom, do you need to do it as often?
• 9:07
  Susan: What kind of things could you do?
• 9:09
  Susan: Like, for example, the shower.
• 9:11
  Dimity: After every shower, I like to get a squeegee, squeegee down the um mostly it's the the glass doors because I find that they get quite scummy and gross.
• 9:21
  Dimity: And I do it before I even get out.
• 9:22
  Dimity: So I'll just stand there, quickly grab it, and then I get out.
• 9:25
  Susan: Yeah.
• 9:25
  Susan: And it is amazing, and it does help.
• 9:28
  Dimity: Yeah, it gets rid of all the moisture, stops yeah.
• 9:30
  Dimity: All the streaks, yeah.
• 9:31
  Susan: They kind of like shampoo that can end up on there and things like that.
• 9:34
  Dimity: Yeah, that's one thing that I do, and then it means I don't have to clean as often, or like it's yeah, it's it's easier, it's an easier task once it comes around to cleaning, because then I'm not having to scrub these soaps gum off.
• 9:46
  Dimity: It's already pretty much gone.
• 9:47
  Susan: Yeah, and when stains build up, then it makes it so much harder.
• 9:50
  Susan: It's a full mission to clean.
• 9:52
  Dimity: Yes.
• 9:52
  Susan: So just clean as you go is really good.
• 9:55
  Dimity: Yeah, my big thing is when I'm cleaning my teeth, which is probably maybe a bit niche, I don't know.
• 10:00
  Dimity: When I clean my teeth and I obviously you spit out, yeah, I obviously rinse it down.
• 10:05
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 10:06
  Dimity: That sounds like an obvious thing, you rinse it down.
• 10:08
  Dimity: Daniel doesn't do that.
• 10:09
  Susan: Yeah, okay.
• 10:10
  Dimity: Or like if pop is...
• 10:11
  Susan: And there's like tooth paste like actual chunky bits on the thing.
• 10:15
  Dimity: Yes, yeah, and then it comes around to it and I'm having to try and get this.
• 10:19
  Dimity: It makes no sense to me.
• 10:21
  Dimity: Yeah, just clean it.
• 10:22
  Susan: Yeah, as when it's wet and soft, get rid of it.
• 10:25
  Dimity: Yeah, I know, yeah, same.
• 10:27
  Dimity: And then I'm the one that has to deal with that.
• 10:28
  Dimity: I'm the one, I'm the one that has to clean that.
• 10:30
  Dimity: But anyway.
• 10:32
  Susan: Yeah.
• 10:32
  Susan: So that is a is a tricky thing, isn't it?
• 10:35
  Dimity: Yeah, on the topic of cleaning as you go, I think a big one is kitchen after you've made dinner, anything really, lunch, breakfast, dinner.
• 10:42
  Dimity: Just giving it a quick wipe down afterwards.
• 10:44
  Dimity: Big one.
• 10:45
  Dimity: Massive.
• 10:46
  Susan: And it does, it saves a lot of time in the long run.
• 10:49
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 10:49
  Dimity: For me, I always my one rule of thumb is after dinner, I always wipe down the stove top because I find that if you leave the stains from dinner that you know pour out of the pot, it's so much harder to get off the next day.
• 11:01
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 11:01
  Dimity: Normally, um, what Daniel and I do is both of our kids go to bed at the same time.
• 11:06
  Dimity: One of them takes a little bit longer to put to bed than the other one.
• 11:09
  Dimity: So if one of us is on the younger one, who you literally just put him down and leave, that person will go downstairs and do the reset.
• 11:15
  Susan: Okay.
• 11:15
  Dimity: Quickly wipe down everything, put everything in the dishwasher.
• 11:18
  Dimity: That's a big rule for us.
• 11:19
  Dimity: Do that so that then we can relax at afterwards, you know?
• 11:23
  Dimity: And like you don't have to worry.
• 11:25
  Susan: For me, is like people who um put a bit of water into like they've burnt their pots or pans and then they fill it up with a bit of hot water, and they what they think that the fairies are gonna like clean it overnight, and they leave it there, you know, and like the sink is full of stuff.
• 11:42
  Susan: Just get it, get it done that night.
• 11:44
  Susan: Like, don't leave it overnight.
• 11:46
  Susan: That when I was in back in my uni days, I had a friend who did that, and it would drive me demented.
• 11:52
  Susan: And I was just like, I'm not gonna clean your pots for you.
• 11:55
  Susan: So we'd put them over there, and they just they could stay there for a week.
• 11:59
  Susan: It would drive me crazy, and we'd end up having to have a like a bit of an intervention and and say, "Hey, you know, the fairies aren't coming to clean your pots, and then you're running out of pots." Yeah.
• 12:09
  Susan: Because these things are just hanging around.
• 12:11
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 12:11
  Dimity: Um I will say I'm a bit guilty of doing that sometimes.
• 12:14
  Dimity: And so is Daniel.
• 12:16
  Dimity: He'll leave it sitting on a like if we he've done some pasta, he'll leave that sitting on the stove, and then I come to it and I go to wipe it, and I'm like, "Are you kidding me?" Yeah, now I have to clean this pot.
• 12:26
  Susan: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:26
  Susan: Ideally, you know, don't burn things in the front in the front of the first that is another handy one.
• 12:31
  Susan: But if you do, you want to leave it for like a you know, five, ten minutes or something to kind of like help it to but just get in there and get it done.
• 12:39
  Susan: Yeah, you know, for sure.
• 12:41
  Susan: And uh and don't leave the the dishes in the sink, you know.
• 12:44
  Susan: Yeah, just put them in the dishwasher.
• 12:46
  Susan: Try and like schedule your dishwasher so like I like to do it so that it's done at I put it overnight.
• 12:52
  Dimity: Yeah, that's what we do as well.
• 12:53
  Susan: Yeah, so in the morning time it's fresh, unload it, get the the dishes in again.
• 12:58
  Susan: You know, I knew um I've heard about somebody, I think he was a single guy.
• 13:02
  Susan: He used to have two dishwashers.
• 13:04
  Susan: So he would have yeah, he would have one dishwasher for clean things, and so he would just take them out as he needed them, and he had the other dishwasher for the dirty things.
• 13:12
  Susan: Imagine that. Isn't that crazy?
• 13:15
  Dimity: That is wild.
• 13:17
  Susan: It is wild.
• 13:18
  Dimity: It's hard, I don't , I really understand it.
• 13:19
  Susan: Yeah, I know.
• 13:20
  Susan: Just say just just unload and reload.
• 13:23
  Dimity: Two different washers? Anyway, it is a dream for some people, yeah.
• 13:24
  Dimity: Some people, especially for big families, you know.
• 13:27
  Susan: Okay, you don't even know what's clean and what isn't, and then it gets all mixed up.
• 13:31
  Dimity: Do you have a little thing like a little sign to tell you when it's clean or dirty?
• 13:34
  Susan: No.
• 13:34
  Dimity: Oh, you don't have one of those?
• 13:35
  Dimity: Yeah, we've got one.
• 13:36
  Susan: Oh, yeah?
• 13:36
  Dimity: So we it's on the fridge.
• 13:37
  Dimity: So when it's dirty, obviously we like it once we've unloaded it, yeah, we'll flick it to dirty.
• 13:42
  Dimity: And then once we click go on the dishwasher, we'll flick it to the dirty.
• 13:46
  Susan: I just lock and kind of go, does it look dirty?
• 13:48
  Susan: Oh, it's dirty.
• 13:49
  Susan: I mean, yeah.
• 13:50
  Susan: Yeah.
• 13:50
  Susan: And one thing I saw on Instagram just I think like the other day was this woman.
• 13:56
  Susan: She's gone away on holidays and she was doing a cleaning reset before she was going away on holidays.
• 14:03
  Susan: Now, this woman can't have kids and she cannot work outside the home.
• 14:08
  Susan: Like it was phenomenal what she did to her house.
• 14:12
  Susan: Now I would love to come home to that house, but the reality of this happening.
• 14:18
  Susan: I was just blown away when I saw it.
• 14:21
  Susan: She was doing a full fridge reset.
• 14:24
  Susan: So she took everything out, she cleaned the entire fridge, like it was immaculate.
• 14:30
  Susan: She uh stripped down all the beds.
• 14:32
  Susan: No, she only showed one bed.
• 14:34
  Susan: Okay.
• 14:34
  Susan: So whether she had multiple beds, I don't know.
• 14:36
  Susan: But she had her main bed and then she put this like powder stuff on her mattress, and then she vacuumed her mattress, and she did a full bathroom clean.
• 14:47
  Susan: Her house, it looked like it was like you know, like you're leaving your house and you're cleaning it.
• 14:53
  Susan: Like that's what it looked like.
• 14:54
  Susan: It was unbelievable how much she cleaned before she went on holidays.
• 15:00
  Susan: How would she have the time?
• 15:01
  Susan: I know.
• 15:01
  Dimity: How did she have the time to do that?
• 15:03
  Susan: I know.
• 15:03
  Susan: And like that's the kind of stuff that I just think is so ridiculous.
• 15:07
  Susan: And like the level of the expectation of people looking at that thinking, oh, I didn't I should do that before I go on holidays.
• 15:14
  Susan: Like for me, my house is more like home alone.
• 15:17
  Susan: When I you know, the movie Home Alone, that's when I'm going on holidays, I'm just like so excited to get going.
• 15:23
  Susan: Um, I'm delighted if I make my bed.
• 15:26
  Susan: The bins are brought out.
• 15:27
  Susan: Yeah, fruit is either put in the fridge.
• 15:30
  Susan: If I'm only going for a week, the fridge is uh usually fine for that extra fruit.
• 15:36
  Susan: Yeah.
• 15:36
  Susan: Um obviously, if I'm going back to Ireland and I'm doing like four to six weeks, I'll try and use up all my food or I'll give it to you know in-laws or something.
• 15:45
  Susan: So I when I come home, I'm not dealing with like weird fruit flies everywhere.
• 15:50
  Dimity: Yeah, that's what we do.
• 15:51
  Dimity: We I always make sure that if there's any containers in the fridge, obviously if you're going away, they're probably gonna be off by the time you get home.
• 15:58
  Dimity: So we like to make sure that those are emptied into the bin and that the bin's taken out so that you're not walking into a smelly house.
• 16:03
  Dimity: And then the only other thing that I like to do is to just make sure that it's a little bit tidy.
• 16:08
  Dimity: So that I'm not walking into a bomb site when I get home.
• 16:11
  Dimity: That's the last thing you want to do, especially with two kids.
• 16:14
  Dimity: I just don't have the time to do anything else.
• 16:16
  Dimity: I've got a pack for the kids, I've got a pack for me.
• 16:19
  Dimity: You know, it's just not.
• 16:21
  Susan: But you're not gonna do a whole deep clean.
• 16:23
  Susan: No, like it'd be lovely to come home to that.
• 16:25
  Susan: But like, it's just a bit crazy, isn't it?
• 16:28
  Susan: And so the things that some people do on Instagram is just way out there.
• 16:33
  Susan: And I really want this episode to be about more realistic.
• 16:37
  Susan: What didn't regular people do?
• 16:39
  Susan: And it's okay to have a bit of a messy house, you know.
• 16:43
  Susan: Really?
• 16:43
  Susan: And messy is very different from dirty.
• 16:45
  Susan: And I actually love there's a guy on Instagram, he's a dad, a stay-at-home dad.
• 16:50
  Susan: And I just love his account because he's just so much more real.
• 16:53
  Susan: And he talks about like a messy house is a sign of a fun day, you know.
• 16:58
  Susan: But he always tries to make sure that when his wife comes home, that it is really you know, the toys are put away, like their house is relatively clean.
• 17:06
  Susan: But it's not like every moment of the day is perfect.
• 17:10
  Dimity: Especially when you got kids, it's just not possible.
• 17:12
  Susan: No.
• 17:13
  Dimity: And you don't want them to feel like they have to tiptoe around and can't make a mess in their own home, they want to have fun, exactly.
• 17:19
  Susan: Yeah, yeah. And so you're gonna have toys out and things like that.
• 17:23
  Susan: But I guess like for me, it's just like thinking about how many toys do you let your kids have.
• 17:29
  Susan: You know, so like minimising it a little bit.
• 17:31
  Susan: Like people do the rotation.
• 17:34
  Susan: I never really did it too much, but um, I tried just not to have too much.
• 17:37
  Susan: But if you do have it, like you know, maybe like if you do have a storage space, you put most of the things in there and then you take out different ones.
• 17:45
  Susan: And so the kids are excited with these new toys, but they're not too new, they're just like they're old, but the kids don't even remember.
• 17:51
  Dimity: Exactly.
• 17:51
  Dimity: We actually just did a clear out on the weekend of all the kids' toys.
• 17:54
  Dimity: Massive cull.
• 17:55
  Dimity: We don't have a lot of space because we're renting, yeah.
• 17:59
  Dimity: So we have to be quite particular about how much we've got.
• 18:03
  Dimity: Yeah, we don't have a storage space, so all the kids' toys are just there.
• 18:07
  Dimity: They do have free reign.
• 18:08
  Dimity: But there was the drawers were so full I didn't know where anything was.
• 18:12
  Dimity: We just did a massive cull, and Poppy is now picking up toys that she's not seen for months and loving them.
• 18:20
  Dimity: Yeah, so it's been really good.
• 18:21
  Dimity: Yeah, something that I don't do often is mopping.
• 18:25
  Dimity: Oh, yeah, I hate it.
• 18:26
  Susan: I literally hate it.
• 18:28
  Dimity: Yeah, so do I.
• 18:29
  Dimity: I have seen there's a TikToker that I've watched, she mops her floor every night.
• 18:35
  Susan: Wow.
• 18:35
  Dimity: She'll flip the chairs up onto the table and everything, and she'll mop under the dining table and in the kitchen, like that whole area every single night.
• 18:43
  Susan: Wow.
• 18:44
  Dimity: And I just, i t's exhausting watching it.
• 18:46
  Dimity: Like she's just done the bath and the bed and all with the kids, and then she's there mopping.
• 18:51
  Dimity: And I just think that is something.
• 18:53
  Dimity: Get that out.
• 18:54
  Susan: If you've got a baby who's crawling and there's like crap everywhere, yes.
• 18:59
  Susan: Yeah, I can understand those people mopping, especially that kind of area.
• 19:03
  Susan: But when you don't, when you're past the kids crawling around on the floor and they're like past like you know, you might be vacuuming.
• 19:11
  Susan: Yeah, and like maybe you will like do a spot clean and like clean up any bit of mess, of course.
• 19:15
  Susan: But yeah, the whole like the whole procedure of having to get your bucket and your cleaning and you're this and you're oh no.
• 19:22
  Dimity: I have a steam mop.
• 19:23
  Susan: Okay.
• 19:24
  Dimity: So I actually don't even have.
• 19:25
  Susan: Oh, you don't even have to have the bucket.
• 19:27
  Dimity: I don't have the bucket.
• 19:28
  Susan: Okay, yeah.
• 19:28
  Dimity: Because if I steam it enough, like every like often enough, it doesn't get to the point where I need this mop to you know really get in there.
• 19:37
  Dimity: So that's a...
• 19:39
  Susan: It's another time saver.
• 19:40
  Dimity: It is another time saver, yeah.
• 19:42
  Susan: And even vacuuming, like, do you really need to vacuum every day?
• 19:46
  Susan: Some people do.
• 19:46
  Susan: We have to vacuum our mat.
• 19:48
  Susan: We've got like a rug in our lounge room that we have to vacuum every single day because it just with the kids running around.
• 19:55
  Dimity: Okay.
• 19:55
  Susan: We've also got a dog that you know is an inside and outside dog, so she'll walk in.
• 20:00
  Susan: We do vacuum that every day because it just gets really gross.
• 20:02
  Susan: Yeah.
• 20:03
  Susan: Um and that's another thing.
• 20:04
  Susan: If we got a mat that maybe didn't get so fluffy, then maybe you wouldn't have to vacuum everything.
• 20:10
  Dimity: Maybe but...
• 20:11
  Susan: It's a time saver.
• 20:12
  Dimity: It is also a kid-friendly mat.
• 20:14
  Susan: Okay.
• 20:14
  Dimity: Like it's one that like stops spills, but it's not that it's also really small, so it's like a quick thing.
• 20:19
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 20:19
  Dimity: It's part of our 10-minute reset.
• 20:21
  Susan: Okay.
• 20:21
  Dimity: So we'll just quickly give that.
• 20:23
  Susan: Yeah, and I guess like to talk about that.
• 20:25
  Susan: Like, what do you do at night time when the kids go to bed?
• 20:28
  Susan: That's the whole thing.
• 20:28
  Susan: Like, do you just put away the toys?
• 20:31
  Dimity: Well, yeah.
• 20:32
  Dimity: So what happens is my husband usually takes the kids up for a bath.
• 20:36
  Dimity: I'll quickly vacuum the rug in the lounge room, tidy up the toys a little bit, and then I get like Louie's milk ready.
• 20:42
  Dimity: Go upstairs and help him do the rest of the routine.
• 20:45
  Susan: Okay.
• 20:45
  Dimity: Put them to bed, and then whoever's on Louie will come downstairs and tidy up anything else that's left.
• 20:51
  Dimity: 'Cos I obviously have to be quick because I'm trying to get up there to help him.
• 20:54
  Dimity: Clean up the rest of that, wipe down all of the kitchen benches, put everything in the dishwasher, and just make sure that the big thing for me is keeping the kitchen benches tidy.
• 21:05
  Dimity: I know that we have this one section of our kitchen bench where it kind of just gets a pile up of things.
• 21:12
  Susan: Yeah, it's the crack.
• 21:12
  Susan: You know, that's a everybody has it.
• 21:14
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 21:15
  Dimity: So that I just try and like keep that in its little spot and then the rest of everything gets wiped down.
• 21:21
  Dimity: Just so that it's nice and fresh for the morning.
• 21:24
  Dimity: I hate going to bed with a dirty kitchen.
• 21:26
  Susan: Yeah, I or the waking up in the morning with a dirty kitchen is like it's awful.
• 21:30
  Susan: It just really puts your day off to the wrong start.
• 21:33
  Dimity: Really wrong start.
• 21:33
  Dimity: Sometimes I will go to bed if I haven't cleaned the kitchen or I've gone out for the night and I come home and the kitchen's not been cleaned.
• 21:40
  Dimity: I will lay in bed and I'll think, oh my god, I have to get up in the morning to this kitchen.
• 21:44
  Dimity: I just don't like it.
• 21:45
  Susan: Yeah, it's not fun.
• 21:46
  Dimity: It's so yeah, it's not good.
• 21:48
  Susan: And the thing is, I think, you know, obviously today is about like stop doing that.
• 21:53
  Susan: Like, what are all the things that you have to do?
• 21:55
  Susan: But I sometimes it's like it's not about like you still have to clean.
• 21:59
  Susan: You still have to do things.
• 22:01
  Susan: But sometimes doing it fast and like immediate will mean that it's like less time in the future.
• 22:06
  Dimity: Exactly.
• 22:07
  Dimity: Don't have these big build-ups that you're procrastinating and thinking, "Oh my god, it's gonna take me hours to clean this thing." If you clean as you go, it can be a lot easier.
• 22:15
  Dimity: Yes, definitely.
• 22:16
  Dimity: I do let it build up throughout the day.
• 22:17
  Dimity: I like you know it's not like I'm cleaning after every single meal, especially with the kids, because I've got to quickly do it and then go and do other things with them.
• 22:27
  Dimity: So at the end of the day, the kitchen is a mess.
• 22:30
  Dimity: But that's why I'm gonna do it.
• 22:31
  Susan: Did you do a quick reset before dinner?
• 22:33
  Dimity: If Daniel's cooking something that's got a lot of pans and pots and pans and gonna have a lot of prep work and everywhere, then yes, I will, because I then don't want to have a massive amount.
• 22:43
  Dimity: But yeah, it just depends on what we're cooking that night.
• 22:47
  Susan: And what about when you've got like friends over or people coming over you know they're coming over?
• 22:53
  Susan: Do you clean?
• 22:54
  Susan: Yes or yeah, I know we're all a bit guilty of it.
• 22:56
  Dimity: Yes.
• 22:57
  Susan: And it's amazing how fast you can clean, isn't it?
• 22:59
  Dimity: In that situation, I just and I never understand how because then I sit there and I think, "Oh my god, this is gonna take me so long to do when my friends aren't coming over." But then when my friends are coming over, I'm like, hey, quickly, quickly.
• 23:09
  Dimity: And it's spotless.
• 23:10
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 23:10
  Dimity: And I think, oh, I wish I had that that motivation.
• 23:13
  Susan: I know, yeah, yeah.
• 23:14
  Susan: It is funny.
• 23:14
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 23:15
  Dimity: And and oh, you always think that they're gonna come and like touch every single surface and like, oh gosh, or oh, why is that pair of pants hanging on the on the on the chair?
• 23:25
  Dimity: Like they're gonna come in and think, oh my god, but do you do do you do that when you go to other people's houses?
• 23:30
  Susan: No, God has and I'm always like uh people are like, oh sorry about the mess, but oh my god, you're like it's nothing.
• 23:35
  Susan: But I think that's the social pressure, isn't it?
• 23:37
  Susan: And actually, there's like all this research that says there is a lot of social pressure that people link the a dirty house to a female not being responsible enough to keep their house clean.
• 23:51
  Susan: When it's actually like it's the male and like it's both of them.
• 23:55
  Dimity: Exactly.
• 23:55
  Susan: And we shouldn't be judging anyway, no, you know, like if it's like really dirty and you don't want to be like sitting down or that's one thing.
• 24:02
  Susan: Like what you're a little mess and clutter and stuff.
• 24:05
  Susan: It's just like that's just a lived in house, isn't it?
• 24:08
  Dimity: And you don't know what what's gone on in there, day?
• 24:10
  Susan: No, and you shouldn't be judging, no, so you know, like that if we all stop be doing that, then it will make we won't feel as much social pressure to have to clean and make sure our house is perfect, yeah.
• 24:21
  Susan: Um but you know, I think we're all guilty of it.
• 24:23
  Dimity: Definitely.
• 24:24
  Susan: I know I am.
• 24:24
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 24:24
  Susan: So I think that's it from us.
• 24:26
  Susan: You know, we've covered, you know, the expectations of having this most immaculate house, like the the crazy cleaning things that everybody does.
• 24:35
  Susan: The you know, what are you doing?
• 24:37
  Susan: What do you hate to do?
• 24:38
  Susan: Could you just stop doing it or could you cut it down?
• 24:41
  Susan: Yeah, like ironing.
• 24:43
  Susan: Maybe you could just get rid of that iron.
• 24:45
  Susan: Do you really need it?
• 24:47
  Susan: And let's just like be a bit more realistic that we don't all live in these perfect houses.
• 24:53
  Susan: We don't live in these show homes.
• 24:56
  Susan: Like we have kids, it is okay to be a bit messy and like enjoy your life.
• 25:02
  Susan: Stop spending every single minute cleaning.
• 25:05
  Susan: You could have a bath instead.
• 25:07
  Dimity: You could do anything.
• 25:08
  Susan: Or you could read a book, or you could watch a movie, or you could go out and hang out with your friends, or whatever, you know.
• 25:15
  Susan: Like, what are the things that you are doing right now that either you're fighting with your partner over because he's not doing, or you're just feeling like so overwhelmed with so many things that you have on your plate.
• 25:28
  Susan: Maybe even like you know, we didn't talk about this in the episode, but maybe things like this whole meal prepping stuff.
• 25:35
  Susan: Like if it's not working for you, do you need to do so much of it?
• 25:39
  Susan: Can you do it a bit more as you go?
• 25:41
  Susan: I don't know.
• 25:43
  Susan: It depends on what your life is, yeah?
• 25:45
  Susan: And so that's what we're here today.
• 25:48
  Susan: Hopefully, we've helped you a little bit.
• 25:50
  Dimity: Thanks for listening.
• 25:51
  Dimity: If you enjoyed today's chat, tap follow so you don't miss an episode.
• 25:54
  Dimity: We would absolutely love to hear from our Aussie Mum community.
• 25:57
  Dimity: So leave a comment or share your thoughts with us on Facebook or Instagram at Bright Star Kids.
• 26:01
  Dimity: Share this episode with a fellow mum if you think she'd love it too.
• 26:04
  Dimity: You've got this, and we're right here with you.
• 26:06
  Dimity: Until next time.