How often do you clean your house?

[asianmum]

Im an SAHM and my DS is 2. I try to dity up every now and then but he just make a lot of mess all the time.It becones so boring that I just clean the house all day, I want to do something else for myself. my DH is fussy about cleanliness so I'm kind a pressured to male the house tidy. Any tips in how to do this? Sounds easy but it just takes a lot of my time.

[qazxc]

boringly enough i've found the best way is little and often.
what does help though is that the less stuff and clutter you have the easier it is to clean.
Also good storage is a good send.
also i keep loose stuff on counter or window sills in baskets or trays so that if i need to clean window sill or kitchen counter i just need to lift it up and wipe.

[sparkle12mar08]

Not often enough. That's all I'm prepared to say!

[trikken]

every day, but some how it still looks rubbish. its like freaking ground hog day. (mainly bitter as I cant go anywhere as live in tiny village that has nothing in it and cant drive so it feels like thats all I do most of the time.}

[Rockchick1984]

I see cleaning and tidying as two separate jobs. I do a little bit of cleaning every day (homeroutines app on my phone is a godsend) so throughout the week everything gets done. Daily, I tidy the kitchen after breakfast, as DS finishes playing with one set of toys eg mega blocks, he helps me put them away (he's 18 months) before getting something else out eg jigsaws. We also go out every day so less tidying up to do :)

I vacuum before DS's bedtime routine as there's usually bits of food etc he's dropped during his tea, and we have one last 'toys away' type tidy before I run his bath. After that there's no toys allowed out, we tend to have a couple of books for a bedtime story or 2 but only a couple of seconds to put them away when finished. Once DS is in bed I check everywhere over so it looks nice for DH getting home eg cushions straight, kitchen reasonable. We have far too much clutter really, so it does take longer than it could do, but everywhere always looks good when he gets home.

Oh, and if in doubt, low lighting and a couple of scented candles means the house immediately looks better as you can't see the mess :)

[asianmum]

Good for you rockchick as you got a nice routine. Honestly, im not following any routine thats probably why im stressed about it all.my son doesnt tidy up his toys on its own either. He got an older brother, 10 who does it for him..poor kid.but is it alright if I only hoover once a week? I do sweep the floor every now and then for some crumbs and food. I might start asking my little boy to dity up as well. Another thing my in-laws just show up in the house sometimes and shameful when the house is messy... I dont like them making comments about my house being untidy....whewwww

[Rockchick1984]

I've got carpet so if I don't vacuum it get manky really quickly, if I could just brush up there's no way I'd be lugging the Hoover around every day :)

Definitely getting into a routine makes a difference, and only one lot of toys out at a time (plastic stacker boxes are fab, different types of toys in each and only 1 box allowed out at a time!) but making the initial changes are hard - I'm not a tidy person by nature, so honestly if I can do it, it really is manageable

[Rockchick1984]

Oh, and at this age my son thinks its really good fun to 'help' clean up, so if I want to do some housework eg polishing he follows me around with a duster and copies me. He loves it, and I'm hoping he will start to see it as normal for him to help and not let me do everything I can dream!

[maryquant]

Daily I wipe kitchen surfaces
Mop kitchen floor- morning and after tea
Empty bin.
Hoover lounge
Take sofas to bits and hoover them
Wash around fireplace- log burner-even when not being used it tends to get dusty,
Clean the two bathrooms- toilets aand basin quick spray on shower glass
Mop floors
Hoover bedrooms.
Not got time for much else as work F/T.Proably takes about half an hour in morning and maybe an hour a night including loading dishwasher etc.
Saturdays I spend about 3-4 hours .
Wipe out kitchen cupboards wipe tiles and splash backs
Empty fridge and breadbin and wipe out
Wipe over pictures in kitchen etc.
Lounge dust furniture /tv screen
Water plants orchids etc
Empty out old mags papers etc
Clean mirrors
More intense clean of bathrooms
Wash shower heads etc
wipe window sills
General tidy of bedrooms-change beds once a week
Wash wooden floors hall stairs etc.
Once every six weeks DH cleans oven and washes windows for me.
I do little used rooms like spare room dining room study maybe twice or thrice a year.
Washing and ironing one load every day.
Good storage helps
Don't let clutter build up.
I used to have a cleaner but to be honest I would rather spend the moeny on myself because you have to do some cleaning even with a cleaner.
Mind you I don't cook....DH cooks.He also does the food shopping.

[asianmum]

How do you do all that eceryday maryquant? Do you have kids? How old?

[Mspontipine]

"Once DS is in bed I check everywhere over so it looks nice for DH getting home"

Christ It's like a Mrs Beatons 70s perfect housewife guide. Do you also ensure you talk about him first when he walks in before you bother him with your wifely trivialities?

[AnnieLobeseder]

I don't. I pay someone else to do it. Life is too short.

[justabigdisco]

maryquant you mop your floors TWICE? Per DAY?? Aswell as working full time?
One question, er, why?

[Devora]

[tiptoes away from thread]

[NewNames]

'DH cleans oven and washes windows for me.'

Er, what? Not for both of you? Gender roles alive and well

Sod that, cleaner in once a week who also does ironing. I do bugger all else apart from a tidy up and washing. DP cooks and washes up.

[cashmere]

I write a list of what I want to do each day- both cleaning/tidying tasks, errands and children's activities. It gives my days at home structure!
The children's activities might be drawing, nursery rhymes, wooden train, rake leaves. This means we play with all his toys.
Cleaning might be- mop kitchen floor, sort bookcase, tidy hall.
I usually get 2/3 of list done and what I don't do goes on the next days list. This way I keep on top of most things.

I give the bathroom a quick wipe daily with wipes.

[GrumpyOldWomanToo]

Maryquant, you hoover lounge and bedrooms and clean both bathrooms EVERY DAY. And mop the kitchen floor twice a day!

Great gods and miniscule aquarium dwellers, I'm lucky if I do that once a week!

[lavenderbongo]

I put loud (normally something rocky) music on, dance around a bit and then hoover and mop the kitchen floor when the slower songs come on. This is done once a month (if we are lucky) and I ensure that I moan as much as possible about it so that dh is clear that as soon as we can afford it again we are getting a cleaner.

Life is too short to worry about how clean your house is and what other people think. As long as its not a health hazard of uncomfortable to be in then its fine.

Kids do not remember how often you hoover the house but the do remember how often you spent quality time with them.

[legalalien]

I more or less clean as I go along, I am generally quite a tidy person. Things like bathrooms, hoovering etc get done once week, ditto mopping with a bit of judicious brush and shovel work to pick up loose stuff on the kitchen and hall floor. Generally I find people here in London a bit obsessive about cleaning, in particular floors, I wonder whether it is a city thing? As a child my friends and I were always in and out of the house, trekking mud in and out and aiming for constant cleanliness would have been impossible...

[MrRected]

Floors vacced every other day.
Floors washed every 2 weeks (except kitchen which is every other day).
Kitchen cleaned every day - counters disinfected, microwave, stovetop, oven wiped.
Bathrooms every other day (bath cleaned daily after use though) and toilets done every morning.
Bedrooms - tidied every day (beds made, toys packed away) and dusted once a week.
I wipe the interior of the fridge clean once a week (usually coincides with packing the shopping away).

We also have a cleaner every two weeks. She does the washing of the floors throughout, cleaning of windows, deep cleaning of the bathroom - scrubbing the shower stall etc.

[stargirl1701]

My cleaner comes in once a week for 2 hours

[vvviola]

I use my home routines app to keep on top of the daily stuff: washing on, dishwasher done, 10 minutes on one particular zone per day, that sort of thing. Based loosely on the habithacker system.

In addition I try to do a 15 minute stint in one room each day.

Most of this has to be done while DD2 sleeps. So the amount of cleaning depends on how long her nap is and how good the book I'm reading is

She's in crèche 2 morning a week (holding her place for when my university course starts up again). So when she's there I usually hoover upstairs & downstairs (we have a rechargeable hoover for day to day stuff) and catch up on the laundry. I don't spend the whole time cleaning mind you, not by a long shot!

Ironing is done in one big session on a Sunday night.

When I was working full time we had a cleaner & I miss her terribly. But I did find it made me very lazy and less inclined to do things as I went along.

[Viviennemary]

Surely not that first list every single day maryquant. If so I admire you. I wish I could get motivated to do a bit more cleaning and tidying. But as soon as it's done it's to be done again so might as well leave it till another time. I know that isn't the right attitude.

[gemma4d]

I tidy up daily.

Cleaning? Bugger. Knew I forgot something.

[Devora]

OK, I'll bite.

Washing up and general tidying of living area done every day. I also sweep the kitchen floor daily, but probably only hoover the living room twice a week.

Bedrooms tidied as we go along, proper tidy at the weekends when I hoover upstairs.

Bathroom cleaned once a week (or sooner if necessary, IYSWIM).

Floors washed fortnightly, though kitchen probably weekly.

Cleaning cupboards, fridges, dusting, deep cleaning - when I feel shamed into doing it.

It's not great, but we both work FT, and frankly I think it meets basic health and safety standards (though we'll never win house beautiful).

[AnnieLobeseder]

Interesting that eveyone on here is saying I do xyz to clean the house, not we. Where are your partners in all of this?