Raised by wolves. What is housekeeping normality?

[LauraMipsum]

Well, not quite wolves. But my parents are chronic hoarders / clutterers, they keep the loo clean and the kitchen clean (the bits of it you can see) and that's pretty much it. It works for them so I'm not inviting judgement there!

Having spent the afternoon attacking black mould I didn't know we had, I would like to set my DD a slightly better example but I have no idea what is normal.

What do you do daily / weekly / occasionally? And particularly for those who work FT how do you fit it in AND spend quality time with your child(ren)? I feel like I'm constantly fighting a battle with mess and it's not a big house, it shouldn't be this hard!

[rabbit123]

OK here goes:

Daily-
Tidy up, ie put kids toys away in toy boxes, put clutter in drawers and cupboards where it lives (pens left out, crayons, paper etc). Just general putting stuff back where it lives and not leaving things lying around.
Dishes go in the dishwasher/washed up and all the kitchen surfaces and hob get washed down. Nothing strenuous, just a quick spray and wipe with a damp cloth
Beds get made and any dirty clothes lying around go in the washing baskets
Any other spot-cleaning that needs to be done if something has been spilt or muddy shoes walked in. Basically the rule is, if you can see it needs cleaning, clean it there and then and don't wait for it to build up

Every other day-
During the week, I vacuum the downstairs areas every other day. Usually though, just a very quick run over the floor that takes only a few minutes, just to get the bits off the floor so they don't get trampled in. Literally takes 5 minutes to do.

I also do a quick squirt around the toilet bowls with some loo cleaner and wipe any toothpaste or spilt handwash out of the sinks. I don't scrub the loo or the sink, just a very quick clean to keep on top of things.

Replace the hand towels, tea towels and kitchen cloth with clean ones.

Weekly-
Clean the toilets and bathroom sinks properly with both loo cleaner & bleach, scrub out the toilet bowl and below the water line, give the sinks a good scrub.
Vacuum the house form top to bottom including the sofa and stairs, dust down the sideboards, coffee table, TV stand, book cases, bedside tablets, chests of drawers, windowsils etc.
Change all the bedsheets.
Mop the hard floors

Fortnightly-
Clean the bath and shower cubicle

Monthly-
Clean the insides of the windows
Move all the furniture and vacuum under it and vacuum down curtains and blinds
Vacuum mattresses

Twice a year-
Clean out the kitchen cupboards and wash down the tops of the cabinets
Take duverts to the laundrette

Laundry is an on-going battle that never ends, but I tend to just stick a load in when the basket is full and have a seperate basket for towels and dishcloths.

[PurpleThermalsNowItsWinter]

I grew up with similar parents.
Roughly;
Monday- clean (Hoover, wipe down surfaces with antibacterial spray, fairy liquid & hot water) the whole house including ornaments/photo frames/pictures. I start in the kitchen, move into the dining room, the hallway, the sitting room, stairs, DC bedrooms, landing, my bedroom & the bathroom. On a good day it's done by 11:30am (start around 8:45). I'll do a couple of washes and iron.
Tuesday - a load of washing. A tidy up. A light clean of the bathroom & kitchen, dining room and sitting room. Wash any hard floors. Around 1 hr
Wednesday - a quick clean, Hoover and tidy of all rooms. Pop some washing in. Ironing. 1-2 hrs
Thursday - tidy up. Quick wipe of the bathroom. 30 mins.
Friday - change bedding, tidy up, a couple of loads of washing, quick Hoover. Clean the outhouses & utility room.
Sat & sun- minimal. Probably just cleaning the bathroom and wiping the kitchen down.

I put out a clean hand towel in the bathroom everyday.

Fortnightly/monthly - pull out big furniture and clean behind. Wash the inside of windows.

[PurpleThermalsNowItsWinter]

I found that when I worked f/t there was much less tidying & cleaning as we were barely in it.

[Ragwort]

I do very little housework by Mumsnet standards - fortunately I just have one teenager, no pets and DH and I aren't particularly messy. .

I hoover about once a week, wash kitchen floor once a week fortnight if I am honest (obviously sweep up any crumbs as necessary). Wipe down surfaces as needed in kitchen. Flick a duster round occasionally.

Stick a load of washing on most days - a couple of twenty minute sessions of ironing in front of the tv.

Clean bathrooms once a week (squirt bleach down toilets as required)..

Washing windows, pulling out furniture - about once a year . Can't remember when I last had my duvets dry cleaned .

[rabbit123]

I vacuum behind all the furniture once a month. We have 2 cats and a dog and believe me, if a flea infestation doesn't spur you into insanely vacuuming everything you possibly can, including DD's, DS's and DH's (oh yes, I have been known to vacuum them!), nothing will.

[LauraMipsum]

Useful, thank you. I might have to print that out Rabbit!

I just need to get to the stage where I don't feel like I've waged war on the house and it's fighting back

[rabbit123]

I've found that if you tidy up each day once the kids are in bed and put things back where they should be, the weekly clean becomes very quick and easy to do :)

[Cressandra]

Rabbit that looks like a brilliant system!

I think it is genuinely difficult combining work and children. I only work PT but my time from 3.00 to 9.30pm is rammed most days with either work or DCs' activities, kids' tea, homework & music practice, bedtime, adult food, washing up. I don't give my children enough one to one time as it is, I just don't have a spare hour a day available.

2 ideas that help me:

1. Flylady home blessing hour - pick about 6 weekly jobs and race through them in 6 x 10 min blocks, once a week. Eg vacuum just middles of rooms, empty bins, wipe over living room surfaces, spot clean kitchen floor, clean sink and loo. Worth reading it properly on Flylady.
   
2. Apartmenttherapy's clean your house in 20 mins a day
   
   But both ideas rely to some extent on you having cleared the decks before you start, and that's the bit I fall down on.
   
   Also this is controversial but we save up our washing all week and do it all in 3 or 4 washes over Friday night/ saturday morning. All dry and put away by Sunday, don't think about it again until next Friday. I think washing begets washing.