Couples who both work FT...

[VikingVagine]

... and don't have a cleaner, how do you fit it all in?

[forevergreek]

We don't. We have a cleaner. She comes in 6 hrs a week ( 3hrs mon, 3hrs fri)
Because our flat is small she cleans for roughly half that time and cooks the other half.
She is brilliant!

We work approx 60hrs a week each so really wanted any spare time not completely taken up by cleaning

[cookielove]

The flats a mess. It gets a big clean when it gets to much. Problem is we have to much stuff!

[TheCricketWidow]

Its bloody hard work. The thing I find the biggest challenge is keeping on top of the washing and ironing, I wash every night and put it out to dry or on the airer every morning then I iron it every night. If I don't the ironing pile becomes enormous. I do bits of housework every day after work to avoid having to do the whole house at the weekend. It is a nightmare trying to keep on top of everything, I would love a cleaner!

[Bellebelle]

cookielove are you me?

We keep on saying to ourselves that we'll get a cleaner but never quite get round to it.

About to embark on one of those 'big cleans' just now...

[DipMeInChocolate]

Do a little bit every day, keeping on top of the kitchen and bathroom. A load of washing a day. Tidy up every night before bed, make the bed in the morning. Share the chores!!

[jimijack]

Do some every day. Washer gets put on at night, stuff out on line before work or thrown on the radiators.
Clean kitchen as I go, dishwasher loaded as I use stuff then put on at bedtime.
Ds empties it before breakfast and it all starts again.
I Hoover while tea cooks every 2-3 days.
Ironing gets done while watching country file on a Sunday.
Wipe shower/ bath out every other day. Bleach chucked down the loo and bathroom deal cleaned on a Sat morning.
Ds also puts recycling out, and puts bins out.

I spend about 40 minutes a day on it after and before work.
It's relentless but I'm a clean freak so it has to be done.

[Spirael]

Child labour. DD (3 YO) loves mopping the floor and 'tickling' things with the feather duster!

Aside from that we basically lose most of Saturday trying to keep on top of everything.

Would love a cleaner but unfortunately it's not something we can afford!

[worldgonecrazy]

Tidy up and clean once a week. The clue is in the "FT" bit. We are never in the house to make it untidy or dirty.

When we move we are having a cleaner!

[Ruprekt]

I am planning on being ruthless and chucking stuff out when we get home from hols.....less stuff means less to do!

[VikingVagine]

The clue is in the "FT" bit. We are never in the house to make it untidy or dirty.

I'd have thought that too, but it appears the amount of hours actually spent in the house do not impact the mess created. Between the four of us it gets very messy, very quickly.

I'm liking the idea of child labour though

[northernlurker]

I get my teens to empty the dishwasher, I always have a huge ironing pile and proper cleaning gets done once a week if that. When I get a good promotion we will be having a cleaner.

[Trills]

We don't have kids.

[Trills]

:o That was a flippant answer, but you didn't specify that the couples had to have them, and they do increase the amount of cooking/cleaning/washing/tidying that needs to be done (usually by more than another adult would).

[MortifiedAdams]

We have low standards. Priorities are dd and clean laundry so we have stuff to wear for work. Everything else is a bonus.

We do the dishes once a day. If that is before we cook tea, then tea dishes wait til the next day. Dinner is our stopping point so anything not done by the time we sit down to eat (7.30/8pm) doesnt get done.

[Bonsoir]

Aren't you in France, OP? Remember, domestic help is tax deductible...

[SweetSeraphim]

I pay dd (15) to do a lot of cleaning for a monthly wage

She has to do most of the dishes, hoovering and polishing - I do all the washing, shopping and cooking. For this, she gets the princely sum of £25 per month.

Saves her having to get a paper round, and I get half the work done for me. Everyone's a winner

[ihearsounds]

You use it, when you have finished you put it away/in the bin/in the wash.
Toilet you make a mess you clean it.
Bathroom, you use it you clean it. Even the dc's know they have a bath, they need to clean it afterwards.
Floors all get hoovered when dinner is cooking.
A load of washing gets done nightly. Dried. Folded/hung and put away. None of that ironing milarkly... Used to until I realised the hours I was spending doing something that doesn't need doing.
Floors mopped a couple of times a week apart from kitchen and toilet which are done nightly.
Windows when needed. Frames, handles, bannister and surfaces every night. Takes 5 minutes with wipes.
Kitchen cupboards lined with newspaper. Paper gets grotty, take out item, reline, restack, sorted.
Shaving tins etc in bathroom, coat the bottom with vaseline. No more scrubbing rings from surfaces.

Also get rid of stuff. Seriously. I had a massive clear out. The amount of crap I binned, sold and gave away I could have partially kitted out another 3 bed house. Was ridiculous. My kitchen has lots of cupboards. Not only were all of them full, but the top of the fridge/freezer/microwave and every surface had stuff on. All of which needed moving to be cleaned and under it. Now I see my sides and have empty cupboards. I did this in every room. Less crap means less time cleaning. All the crap you have needs wiping. All the crap you have needs moving so you can clean underneath it. Now I see something I ask myself do I really need it or want it. Is it really worth buying to clean it.

Takes less than 30 minutes a day. Tried the whole save it for the weekend. After 2 months of loosing a whole day, every week, realised that it wasn't worth it and went back to daily.

[Want2bSupermum]

Have a routine and small kids can help out. DD turned two in July and she put away her plastic plates and cutlery while I empty the rest of the dishwasher. Since she did such a great job I let her take on the additional responsibility of feeding the dog this past Tuesday.

We also spend money on good cleaning products. My vacuum cleaner cost an arm and a leg but it is great. I can do the whole house in less than an hour. Dishwasher has a 1hr cycle that we use. It is run every night no matter how much is in there and it is emptied before bed.

Best tips are to all have showers in the AM/PM. First one (DH) in sprays the bleach 5mins before the run the water and the last one in dries down the walls with the towel (me). Also I vacuum daily because we have a golden.

[Middlesexmummy]

Hi , we both work ft , have an 18 month dd. I do have a cleaner who comes either once a week or fortnightly . In between I get up early and whizz around hoovering ( washing up always done after each meal plus cleaning as we go along ... Bath toilet and kitchen also cleaned daily . I can get it done in an hour .....

[RoastedCouchPotatoes]

We can't afford a cleaner so we have for some other ways. We have a monthly clear out. We help the DC with their rooms, and we check the clothes- we use a hanger thing- if you use it, you turn the hanger the other way. If, in a year, it hasn't been used, it's out. Because we have monthly clear outs, we have very little clutter. We also have three boxes which we use at any time- one fr a charity shop, one for throwing away and one for general tat which no one claims ownership of and so we can decide at the end of the month.

We have a toy tidy rule. If you aren't playing, you put it away BUT you can have things like Lego creations or a set up which you will use tomorrow or whatever to stay of course. Each night it's a scrabble round, it's fun for the DC.

We have good storage. We give sticker charts for tidy rooms at night, and on the weekends, by lunchtime too. So the possibility of 9 stickers for that one chore.

We split the housework so that the DC put washing in the basket (older ones for younger ones too) and can switch the washing machine on and put stuff in (older two only) and we try and get on top of stuff.

So I make sure that my desk area is completely tidy every day so it doesn't get too cluttered. I clear out clutter from the living room regularly because it takes five minutes due to doing it regularly, compared to half an hour if I let it build up.

We have a stop point. We can't care less. In the house, the DC, laundry and no clutter is what we do best. Hoovering and dusting and cleaning windows reserved for when only necessary. Clutter is easy if you do it as you go along, and as the DC are good about their own laundry, it means that ironing is easier. We don't iron too often, but it's relatively quick and easy.

When doing some work, do some other work too. Waiting for something to cook? Use that time to iron half the load. Or check the fridge or ask the DC to help you tidy up the house, and make it a game as mine are young.

And being able to relax. At 7, we stop. Only things we do after would be a toy clear up just before bedtime, and washing up after supper. We try and split tasks, like yesterday, I might have spent 10mins putting bits and bobs into the right places and 5mins doing the washing up, and DH spent about that time on ironing, washing up and sweeping the kitchen floor as it got messier than usual. So 15mins each but it means we don't have to buckle down and work for an 1hr.

[eurochick]

We have a cleaner. It would be awful otherwise. I spend more than enough of my free time doing domestic shyte as it is (loading/unloading dishwasher, putting washing on, etc).

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

We have a cleaner for 2 hours a week.

We don't iron, at all.

[Yama]

Everyone tidies up after themselves. Kids have additional chores too like setting/clearing table.

Ethos is 'what can I do to make your life easier?', rather than 'I do more than you.'

Dh and I work as a team in the mornings and after after work. Kids have early bedtimes and we enjoy a nice relaxing time once they are in bed.

We have a lot of storage which is good for tidying up quickly. Oh, and only school uniform and work clothes gets ironed.

[ThingsThatGoHumpInTheNight]

Get a dishwasher, don't buy anything that can't go in it. Don't buy anything that needs ironing. Double cook and freeze where possible. Alternate night's cooking with dh while the other does some cleaning/tidying.

[melliebobs]

Kind of tidy as we go. When We wash up in an evening the kitchen gets a quick once over. When we've had a shower the toilet/sink/shower get a wipe down. Wen we go upstairs we try n take 2-3 things up with us. I try n quickly Hoover as soon as I get in before picking dd up from nursery. Otherwise anything major waits till the weekend. And as much as I hate it I've given up trying to keep the place spotless