This hilarious mum has created an honest cleaning guide for mums

I am a compulsive Pinterest user and love nothing more than to spend hour after hours pouring over images of sleek kitchens and dreamy bathrooms or the most perfectly curated children's parties you have ever seen. What Pinterest is also full of, and you'll know this if you have spent any amount of time there, is tips and charts and ideas on how to manage your time/life/children and housework better. Yup, that's right. I'm talking charts telling you to focus on floors on Monday, counter tops on Tuesday and so on and so forth until you want to scream WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND HAS THE TIME FOR THIS?! Which is the state, I assume, that blogger and mum-of-three Meredith Ethington, was in when she decided to create a cleaning sheet of her own. Which, to be fair, far more accurately shows what cleaning your house really looks like when you have kids. In “A Real Mom’s Guide To A Clean House” Ethington gives you a foolproof (and hilarious) guide to cleaning, including steps like "See if you remember where the vacuum is", "Pile your recycling next to overflowing trash can", "look under couch cushions for lost food”, and "cry".

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A photo posted by Perfection Pending (@perfectpending) on Jan 23, 2017 at 7:55pm PST

Speaking to The Huffington Post, Ethington explains:  "I kept seeing these Pinterest guides to keeping a clean house by doing X, Y, and Z every week to make it look spotless, and, I thought, well, I can’t even stay on top of the laundry every week, much less vacuum my couch.” Sounds familiar, mamas? Ethington, who a mum to a 10-year-old, an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old, also took to Facebook to explain a bit more about her extremely practical and true-to-life tips. "My biggest goal with my blog has always been to take away the unrealistic expectations we often see on social media, and help moms realize that they don’t have to be perfect at everything to be good parents,” she said. “So often we see the pretty side of people’s lives on social media, and often, that pretty side sets us up for feeling like we are failing because we are trying to live up to unrealistic expectations. I just hope it makes a mom feel less alone and like she is doing a good job even if her house doesn’t look like a magazine.” The mum-of-three explains her hope is that her guide gives other parents dealing with the mess that is kids some comfort. "If you can still see yourself in the mirrors, don't worry about it." Preach it, sister.