Yea, I understand that kids make things very difficult. Especially now that there are 5 of them in the house. Ages 6, 5, 3, 2, 2. You clean the house and within a day, it's back to a shit hole if you don't stay on top of the kids and their stuff. That's frustrating for anyone. My situation is a little different as well where I'm gone all week. I leave Monday morning, and come home Friday afternoon. So I'm not home every night to "help" , or to keep up on stuff.We were/are good at putting up stuff and keeping it organized. I only wanted someone to do actual cleaning every so often. Not weekly. With no kids it really wasn't that bad.
Start by telling her how much it bothers you, and how much stress it's creating for you. Say you don't care who cleans it, as long as it's getting clean. I hate ultimatums but maybe it's time for one. If this house isn't in shape in a month, were hiring some help.
It's fine to be proud, and it's fine to have some shame - but neither are getting the job done.
Is she working? If not, then no excuse. Either she cleans or someone else does.
Sometimes you just have to make the call, and she can deal with it.
Now let me pull my foot out of my mouth
The sister in law and wife stay home with the kids, the men go off to work all week. My brother in law also travels all week so we're both gone. But he's, they pay some rent to help out. Not much, but it's something.Bro that is a lot of people in your house
I hope they are at least contributing in some way (financially, cooking, whatever). If they aren't, they need to be cleaning.
How do you convince the wife to get a cleaning service when she's too prideful to admit we need one, but too embarrassed to let anyone else see the mess that the house has become?
If you're getting a cleaning service off Craig's List you can always find one that does it topless.