How long do you spend cleaning?

[StrongerThanIThought76]

Ok so I've always been messy. Untidy. But not to 'Hoarders' extremes, just a bit too much stuff and lack organisation. Throw in a messy divorce, 2 kids (10 & 13) who don't see their dad), a full time job and I just can't keep on top of things. I had a visit from a professional home organiser 6 months ago and we went through the house over the course of a couple of days decluttering. Lots of trips to the tip/charity shops later and I now only have things I need and love and everything in theory has a place..

But. I can't maintain it. I know I should do it little and often, but I can't. I've literally spent all day today doing housework and I'm not halfway there.

So how long do you lovely people spend keeping your homes tidy and clean, spick and span, all the jobs done including keeping on top of the little garden jobs, over the course of a week? Average 3 bed semi, only one loo.

I'm just clueless, and embarrassed that I haven't got the foggiest idea about how long we should spend keeping the place looking nice!

[hotdiggedy]

Regardless, my children make a mess of it anyway. So I wonder what's the point as in the only one that cares. Causes me lots of stress actually.

[StrongerThanIThought76]

Ha! I know what you mean! But I KNOW I feel so much better when its done, and not embarrassed to have friends drop in...

[Sleepinghooty]

I'm not perfect at this by any means, but think the best way is little and often. I hate tidying/ cleaning so have tried to get in the habit of doing 15 mins upstairs and 15 mins downstairs everyday. I tend to set an alarm on my phone and rush round for that time, but done everyday it is enough time to do washing, put laundary away, generally tidy and wipe surfaces and sweep kitchen floor.

Then I need to do about half an hour a couple of times per week on hoovering and bathrooms

[NickyEds]

Hours and hours. At least 2 hours a day between washing, ironing, hoovering, dusting etc, perhaps a bit more if you take cooking into account.

[Pisssssedofff]

When my kids go to their dads to give me a break ha ha fucking ha, I spend that entire time cleaning. We literally don't seem to do anything because my weekends are spent cleaning, doing laundry, food shopping, cooking. It's never ending tbh not what I thought my life would be like, I fucking hate it

[IreallyKNOWiamright]

I get really stressed with my house. Every time I tidy something gets dumped in that space.
Every time I clean the carpet the animals have another accident. If I fold washing no one bothers to take it up stairs and put theirs away. I hardly get me time because I'm constantly washing up, doing laundry. I find I never have time to declutter. It pisses me off so much.

[LaPharisienne]

Maybe an hour a day?

I tidy up, sweep floors, clean kitchen surfaces and tidy clothes/washing every day. Bathroom and floors get washed once a week. I change bedclothes and do a big clothes wash once a week. Ironing is also once a week. I wash the windows, dog bedding and do the garden once a month.

I do one "big" job a day to stop it feeling like a massive cleaning mission!

[LaPharisienne]

Ps. I don't love it, but I don't really notice it either - sort of do it on autopilot?

[thenewaveragebear1983]

If I include washing and drying and folding etc, probably 2-3 hours a day. I could probably do double and still not do everything.
Can't remember the last time I did the garden!
I do love cleaning though

[VulvaInLaw]

Too fucking long. Said because I've just done the dishes and taken the clothes out of the washing machine and I wanted to wash my hair and do my nails for the morning but sod that now so as usual, spotless house;greasy hair and shit nails

[StrongerThanIThought76]

And do these times include what everyone in the house is doing to help? ('Cause everyone knows how useful the kids and other halves are, obvs)

[marchmontmum]

I hate cleaning. I know I shouldn't leave a mess before going to bed but I so often do! I love waking up to a clean kitchen but it happens rarely! I buy all the decluttering books but they end up clutter themselves. I dream of having a house where anyone can pop over and I invite them in without being mortified!

[JaceLancs]

3 hours a week cleaning/tidying
2 hours laundry changing bed etc
5 hours a week cooking/shopping

[thenewaveragebear1983]

No that's just me. But then I am a sahp so I do pretty much everything in the house.

[MrsDc7]

I usually spend a few hours on one day a week to clean everywhere (dust, Hoover, mop and clean bathroom) then just do little bits each day. You have to hang washing out as soon as it's done and put it away as soon as it's dry. You have to make sure you do dishes or load dishwasher and wipe down tops in kitchen before you go to bed otherwise it will get out of control. I'm strict with myself about that and it helps. I also wipe the bathroom down regularly as I have a house full of males so you can imagine!

[JoJoSM2]

Our cleaner takes 7h/to do all our ironing, clean the house (3x the size of a 3-bed semi) and change beds. We look after the garden ourselves- in summer up to 6h/month but it's small and basic. Tidying in the house is done for a few min every day to prevent mess from building up.

[LunaLoveg00d]

As little as possible.

I have a cleaner 3 hours a week. She cleans the two bathrooms, kitchen and living areas plus whatever else she has time for.

I probably spend 30 minutes a day tidying away dishes, giving surfaces a quick wipe, doing laundry, giving floor a quick sweep if it's bad but no more than that. I HATE housework and think that people who spend hours and hours a day bleaching everything several times are pretty dull.

[minesapintofwine]

I have a cleaning routine. I probably spend about 2-3 hours a day on housework but because its broken up into chunks at the same time each day. Eg, 9am hoover downstairs. 2pm put clean washing away, its really really manageable. Let downs for me are that our decor is so outdated it makes the place look a bit scruffy (imo) and I have drawers STUFFED with crap that I never get round to sorting.

I have read that when the season changes its advisable to do a big clean,scrub and wash every single thing in the house. In reality I try to acheive this twice a year --because I hate it-'

I actually downloaded a routine app on my phone which helps, like a saddo.

I would suggest posting in housekeeping

[NickyEds]

Ha ha op, including everyone else's help? I should take off 5 minutes for dp's help then!

[wobblywonderwoman]

I do about an hour or two a day

The way I cut down on work is to cook for two days or batch cook / buy a pre cooked chicken

That way the kitchen doesn't get too messy in between and on the day I don't cook I make a point of doing art with the DC or similar. I then use the rest of the time to sort the clothes which I do every other day. Dh tends to put on the washes/ hang out on the line as he starts later than me and I iron and put away.

I have decluttered a lot and hide away messy toys for set times so not everything gets chucked about.

[minesapintofwine]

And do these times include what everyone in the house is doing to help?

Hahahahahaha....

[dudsville]

If you have accommodation and do not have staff then you have a constant stream of chores to maintain the property. Best get used to it and get stuck in.

[DangerousBeanz]

I hate cleaning to the extent id rather go and work a full day to pay someone else to come and do it. I also don't really see it and can live it an untidy environment. I got a cleaner. I love her. If I wasn't already married and straight I'd marry her in a heartbeat, she's a domestic goddess.

[minesapintofwine]

Ive heard a cleaner suggested loads op is that an option for you?
Btw Ive never heard of a professional organiser before. Was her name Monica?

[NattyTile]

When it's messy, hours and hours and hours without ever getting anywhere. I go to clean the bathroom, but there are no clean rags in the cupboard, so I go to grab them from the laundry, get distracted, fold half a load, remember I was doing the bathroom, go back. Open the cleaning cupboard in the kitchen, 27 precariously stacked bottles fall out, one had a loose top and spills all over the kitchen floor. I mop with the rag I've collected for the bathroom, realise how filthy the floor is, mop the rest whilst pushing the other bottles out of the way, and that's an hour, the bathroom is untouched, the laundry's a bigger mess than before, and the only thing to show for it is a shiny kitchen floor. Which won't last as I really should've wiped down all the surfaces first, so I either do that next, spreading crumbs and footprints all over the shiny floor, or else I decide stuff it, make a cup of tea, because st least the kitchen floor isn't sticky any more, even if that wasn't actually what if planned to do at all.

Repeat all day/week/month.

But, when it's actually tidy, it takes me 10-15 minutes I the morning and a similar amount of time in the evenings. Because when it's tidy, there's already a bottle of spray and a rag in the bathroom. And the loo takes seconds because I did it the day before, so nothing is soaked in. And because when it's tidy, I notice the stray teabags staining the counter and the trail of sugar across the floor, and I know where the dustpan and brush are, and it takes seconds to sweep it up again.

It's usually somewhere in the middle but I regularly have both extremes. Right now, our cleaner does 2 hours a week. Which is enough to properly Hoover and clean the floors, Hoover the furniture, so the deeper cleaning bits. So I just need to process laundry (takes 5 minutes to fold one load and another 5 to put it all away. Takes hours to try to iron stuff which has been stuffed, creased, into a laundry basket, piled with other clean creased things, and left for a couple of weeks).

I empty the dishwasher first thing in the morning, (5 mins), and then it takes seconds to dump plates etc. in it as they get used. As opposed to dumping them in the sink, then having to spend ages loading the dishwasher, cleaning the stains out of the sink, and picking up the broken pieces from the casserole which smashed to the floor as too much was piled up.

Right now, this week, I'm in ten minutes 2-3 times a day mode. And loving it. All rooms are shiny, kitchen smells lovely, anyone could walk in.

But I'm horribly aware it only takes a couple of days where I don't keep on top of things for it all to descend into chaos again. And then it takes months to bring it back into order.

Sounds stupid, but I sometimes pay myself to do it. Which is if nothing else enough for a takeaway or a book or a fancy bath bomb or similar. Just a recognition of the fact it's hard work to stay motivated at doing it when it's so quickly undone by everyone, including myself, who lives here.