Any house mumsnetters willing to help me with a routine

[Summerdays11]

Now my house isn't a shit tip bit stuff does need doing .deep clean declutter bits of decorating and attension
Not been done prev as
Been ill
Worked hours that haven't allowed much time
Family problems
Im now starting a job were I work 3 days a week . How would you Devise a routine . Fly lady expects every day and my days on I do the basics as got dd to sort for school etc . Please any advice welcown

[cozietoesie]

Do a serious decluttering before you do anything else. It's hellish trying to clean/decorate/DIY around things - not only does moving 'stuff' add considerable time to your tasks but removing clutter can sometimes change your thoughts about what needs done.

Is there (potentially) a lot to go?

[MrsSpecter]

Agree with decluttering as much as you can first.

Does DD/you/partner have uniforms for school work?

I have found that knowing i am doing a dark wash and a white wash on a friday evening helps me not to worry too much about washing during the week. I know i will have one towel wash at some point and usually do a bedlinen wash on a sunday morning.

Kitchen: i religiously switch the dishwasher on every night before i go to bed, i wash round the sink, counters and tables, i take out the rubbish and recycling. Every night. It really helps keep on top of it.

I also do the cat litter trays and a flash wipe round the toilet and basin after i've used them at night. (The toilet! I dont use the cat litter tray!)

My night time tidy up takes about 15ish minutes.

Bathrooms and hoovering/dusting. Thursday is usually my only guaranteed day off so i have designated thursday as my housework day. Once a week seems to work for us.

[seeyounearertime]

3 days you work, sort kids, work and food then general tidy up at night. If you have young kids then a general tidy for me is put their toys away, take any plates and cups to the kitchen etc. I also wash up everyday so that it doesn't end up mountainous.

Try to think how many rooms you have. we have Lounge Diner / hall and landing / 3 bedrooms / 1 bathroom / 1 toilet / 1 Kitchen

If I spent 2 hours cleaning each one (which is massively too long IMO, i can deep clean my living room in an hour easily) that would only amount to 16 hours. 16 hours spread across 4 days off is only 4 hours a day of cleaning. or 2 rooms per day. Does that make sense?

you can then allocate those days to sort each room. Do clothes washing as and when you need to but washing takes little time, bung it in, turn it on, by the time you've done a couple hours cleaning they'll be ready to take out.

once you break the work into sections and think about it, there's not that much to do, unless you live in a country mansion of course.
In that case, get a cleaner.

[Summerdays11]

No it's quite a small house - yes a fair bit to declutter . I have made a start but there is a fair bit . Iv been doing cuboards first . A load has gone but there are cuboards everywhere ! . I'm off this week going to make a big effort . I have struggled with depression am on the mend but don't want to tip over when working
In reality I know I have plenty of time but I guess it's getting motivated and not just sitting watch tv and eating biscuits .
Thinking of trying to do 3 hours a day this week while I'm off . And then hopefully I will be in a good position when I go back to work . Iv not exercised for months . Trying to get everything back on track - don't want to fail
Iv done a hour this morning almost having a cuppa now

[Summerdays11]

Seeyou would you do say 4hours a day once I'm back at work when off ? We are in 3 bedroom small terrace .
Im wanting some routine as I find my depression is better when I have it .
I'm going to have another brew then it's cuboard under the stairs coats and a cuboard in dd room that I shove loads of crap in
Then taking dd out on her bike as school hols

[seeyounearertime]

Try not to put too much pressure on yourself either.
do a bit, have a cuppa and a MN, do a little more, have a biscuit, do alittle more.
If i have 4 hours work to do, it wont take 4 hours, it'll take me 5 or 6 (unless i have places to be etc) spread it out and it makes it less daunting.

[MrsSpecter]

You wont need to do 4 hours on each of your days off. I think seeyou meant just while you are decluttering. For a 3 bed terrace that has already been decluttered i think you would struggle to fill an hour each day with cleaning. That is once you have your routine established.

[seeyounearertime]

no you wont need 4 hours per day

If you have a 3 bedroom house, i'll guess and say you have 2 rooms downstairs and kitchen and bathroom, 7 rooms.

Ignore the time for now and think about it this way.
four days off. Use 1 day as a rest day where you do the bare minimum. that leaves 3 days off.

Split those 3 days into a morning and afternoon.
thats 6 seperate "sessions"

in those 6 sessions you have to clean 7 rooms.
so day 1:
Morning: Living room
Afternoon: Kitchen

Day 2:
Morning: Dining room
Afternoon: Bathroom

day 3:
Morning: Bedroom 1+2
Afternoon: Bedroom 3

Day off 4:
Morning: Mumsnet
Afternoon: More Mumsnet.

does that make sense?
If each room takes 2 hours, which it wont by any stretch of the imagination, you still have plenty of time.

[Summerdays11]

It does Thankyou . I feel quite positive now . Iv a history of depression and want to keep on a up . I'm going to set dd up a craft activity and do some more before lunch. The thought of declutted house

[seeyounearertime]

also... rewards... rewards are good.

Think to yourself, if i get an extra room done today i can go to the cafe tomorrow and have cake... (Or whatever treat you prefer)

[skivvywoman]

I agree you need to declutter first then you can keep on top of things

Once your decluttered then you can start on cleaning each room, take small steps "Rome wasn't built in a day"

Find a time that suits you best for your cleaning I prefer when no ones in so I do it when I get home from work before everyone starts piling in then it goes to pot but I know it's clean!

I get home about 2 and then they start coming in about 3.30pm

[unlucky83]

I have a routine that works for me -it isn't crowded and is quite flexible so it suits my work/commitments with DCs (hospital appts , school open days etc)
I do the majority of washing on a Sunday (cos DCs have a midmorning activity so we can't go anywhere exciting),
I air the washing in the tumble drier and fold so it is all ready to be put away on a Monday (don't iron anymore) and do 'upstairs' tidy, hoover and dust (bedrooms), clean bathroom and hoover stairs.
On a Tuesday I do the downstairs -hoover and mop floors, dust and give the kitchen a good clean up.
It takes about 1.5 hrs to do a basic tidy, hoover and dust of each area (up and downstairs) . And if it is done weekly it is never that bad. So I do that in the morning and no matter what I try and do at least the minimum, reschedule later in the week if nec. If I have more time/energy I add a job or two on each week - so maybe clean windows or declutter an area, tidy a cupboard. I find if I say 'I am going to clean the kitchen cupboards out' - I know it will take a day and I'll never seem to have that day. Whereas if I say I am going to clean out one or two kitchen cupboards whilst I am cleaning downstairs I do it.
Wed is my day off (usually spent catching up with what I haven't done!) Thur is my big job day - things like DIY or Gardening.
Fri is my main desk day - (work part-time from home) - I schedule work things for that day where I can and definitely go into work to pick stuff up (although I do end up doing work stuff in the week too and maybe have to go in) and I do my household paperwork too.
Sat is time with DC day...I usually end up going into a local town for some reason or another in the week so do a quick supermarket shop then but if they need shoes or clothes or birthday presents I'll take them on Sat - or we'll do fun stuff.
I do a daily kitchen wipe down, dishwasher on, odd load of washing, tidy round, run a cordless hoover over the floors etc as well but I find if I stick to my routine I can keep just about on top of things.

[Summerdays11]

Thankyou for all the advice
Today Iv done 1 big area and feel quite pleased -
Tonowow I will declutter the junk wardrobe
My plan is to do some big jobs while I'm off and when I'm at work have
Tuesday Admin and food plan as well as bare min jobs ( dishwasher ,pots washing , wiping round )
Wedday spend 3 hours cleaning and do a blitz everywhere
Thur extra job day like clearing a cuboard or specific task / catch up
Mon and Friday and sat I work Sunday family stuff
Obviously on all days I will do basics like dishwasher - feel better seeing it written down . Does that seem doable ?

[seeyounearertime]

So:

Monday: Work + bar eminimum
Tuesday Admin and food planning + bare minimum
Wednesday: main clening day of everywhere for 3 hours
Thursday: Extra job day
Friday: Work + Bare minimum
Saturday: Work and bare minimum
Sunday: family day.

If thats right it sound ideal and well balanced.
(make sure family day is also cake day )

[Summerdays11]

Thankyou seeyou .i either exhuast myself or end up loosing all routine so this week I'm concentrating on bigger jobs and will do this routine when I start work - seems very doable when it's written like that sometimes you just need someone else's view of enough

[unlucky83]

summer it seems great - but my only comment is when are you going to do the laundry?
I find having a set day for at least making sure everything is put away (or for ironing when I did it!) stops you ending up with a massive pile you can't face and routing through it for a clean school shirt to iron etc.
(Before when I eventually got round to putting it all away I would be struggling for space as most of the time most clothes were in the clean laundry mountain... so I hated doing it and put it off! Then years ago I had a cull and started the 'put away day'. I have a permanent clothes recycling bag on the go - if I can't fit clean clothes in a drawer, something has to go. I also recently vertical folded (Kondo'ed) mine and DC's drawers -makes deciding what can go easier and the drawers stay tidier)

[Summerdays11]

I have to do laundery every day or it builds up to much - can get away with maybe 5 X a week but it's most days 😒

[celeste83]

Prioritise keeping the house generally tidy. A quick tidy of lounge every evening as bare minimum. Then keeping sink clear at end of the day. Quick wipe of bathroom and bleach down loo.

[unlucky83]

Ok - well if you are good at putting away/ironing (if you do it) don't worry!!! It is what works for you...
I actually do 5-6 loads on a Sunday ...my machine takes an hour for a basic wash -so if I get first load on at 9am last load is going in at 2pm (which by the time DC has got back from activity and had lunch is perfect timing if we want to go out (although I try not to leave the machine on when I'm not in/overnight cos of the fire risk) I can fit 4 loads on the line so by the time the 5th is finishing I bring the stuff that is dry/nearly dry in and finish in tumble...
It helps if I sort it out the night before -stick a load in, powder in the drawer - just need to press the on switch when I am waiting for the kettle to boil in the morning..
(I did that when I was working FT and had DC in real nappies so couldn't leave them for a week - turned the machine on as soon as I got up and hung the clean stuff out to dry just before I left)

[lellio]

I was (am) in the same boat. Lots of clutter and (embarrassingly) not all that clean.

I've got it under control now and have started slowly decluttering.

What works for me is:

Every day without fail putting dishwasher on and having a general pick up i.e. everything back in it's place at the end of the evening. This really helps and you start to automatically put things back in the right place.

Every week I have the same list of tasks - each takes about 15 mins and I make sure I do at least one a night. Often I will do more if I feel like it but it all must be done by the end of the week. This gives me flexibility.
The list is: vacuum living room, kitchen, utility, bath, bedroom, hall, office; steam living room, utility, bath, kitchen; wipe bathroom, wipe kitchen; dust living, bedroom, office, hall; do laundry.

Then I have a list of tasks that needs to be done at some point in the month. I tend to do these on a weekend or if I'm off work. The tasks are:
windows, utility room deep clean, car, doors, baseboards, towels and bedding wash.

All of this is on a check list so I can see what has been done and what hasn't.

I then have a list of what I need to declutter in categories and if I feel the urge or have some spare time will do that.

[didireallysaythat]

I find the enormity of the idea of cleaning or tidying almost paralyses me. Now I don't think "Right, time to clean the house, where to start?" Instead I get a timer, set it for 15 mins and see what I get done (I admit the area I'm in at the time usually gets the attention). Quite often when the beeper goes I'm actually, whisper, enjoying the difference I've made, so I do another 15 minutes.

I don't think I could spend 2 hours straight deep cleaning anything. Not unless I was guaranteed to find silver coins down the back of the sofa. But may if I was doing it, I'd feel differently. I imagine it's like driving into freezing cold water. The thought of doing it is worse than the reality ??

[didireallysaythat]

Diving ! Driving would be crazy....

[GeneandFred]

I have a routine, I have to. My work hours are crazy and I'm often away with work every Fri and Saturday, back early Sunday morning. So we do bits of cleaning every day.

Monday is downstairs hallway, downstairs loo and living room. Clean, spray down, hoover and polish (skirting boards as well)

Tuesday is kitchen deep clean

Wednesday is decluttering and going over downstairs including hoovering.

Thursday is bathroom deep clean and car clean.

Friday and Saturday away.

Sunday is upstairs clean and beds changed and stairs and bedrooms hoovered.

Put one wash on every day if need too and dishwasher goes on every night before bed and is unloaded every morning.

Daily tasks include making beds, airing out rooms, squeegee showers, wiping down surfaces after food, taking out rubbish etc.

Monthly tasks are assigned to each day. Mondays will be spray down sofas, pull out furniture to hoover behind and wash cushion covers.

Tuesday will be clean oven.... Grrrrrr and do a inside clean of kitchen cupboards.

Wednesday would be clean front door and windowsills if needed. Wash doormats.

Thursday would be steam the bathroom and sort out laundry closet.

It goes on!

[skivvywoman]

What hours will you be working?

[Summerdays11]

I will be doing 9-5 on the days I work .
So far Iv been concentrating on decluttering did a massive cuboard Yeasterday . -today will be a small draw as I can't be arsed !--
But it's progress