To think it's impossible to work full time and keep a clean/tidy house without a cleaner?

Ok but half an hour twice a day is a lot. I get up at 6 and between then and 7:30 I get myself a d kids ready, make breakfast and tidy up. Then at 7:30 we leave the house (either me or husband taking them, the other going straight to work). Then get in just after 6 and prepare tea. After eating then have a small amount of time with kids and then start getting them ready for bed. At 8 the kids are in bed I tidy up the tea things and toys. Then there is 2.5 hours before bed where I might need to do an additional hour of work as I needed to leave early to collect kids, prepare packed lunches for the next day etc and sort out laundry. Fitting in that additional hour of cleaning that you talk about not being much leaves absolutely zero time to relax. So of course impossible might not be the right word but it sometimes feels impossible to do that and remain sane.

But it’s clearly still not impossible as so many people manage it without paying for help 🤔

It’s honestly only on MN that people claim to have absolutely no time to do housework (yet they seem
to manage spend hours on here every week).

As PP has said it’s a matter of priorities - a messy home is bad for my mental health and I can’t easily afford a cleaner so I choose to spend an hour or so a day on maintaining my home. Other people might prefer an extra hour in bed or to go to the gym or whatever instead. Which is fine - but that still doesn’t mean that keeping a clean home is impossible without help. It just means it’s not as important for some as it is for others.

I don't think it's possible. DH pulls his weight and works FT, I work with him 9-3 M-F and a few hours at home. When I finish work I make all evening meals and packed lunches for the next day and run kids to activities 4 evenings a week. We have a cleaner 4 hours a week and I outsource ironing but we still spend a full weekend day doing jobs that need doing in the house and garden, supermarket shopping, home and kids admin etc. we do have a hit of spare evening time during the week but we use that to exercise or relax. Realistically for us the only way we would manage without the outsourced help would be to lose all exercise and family time to do it. Thats no way to live for us, I appreciate we are lucky to have this choice.

And that’s fine! It’s absolutely okay to have other priorities and to pay for a cleaner instead, BUT that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, which is what OP is trying to claim.

I prefer to spend my money on my hobbies or going out with friends and DH, so for me, half an hour twice a day to keep my home clean is very much worth it.

It’s doable but I only managed it by being really organised and it was tough when the kids were little my routine was
Monday Bathroom 1 and downstairs toilet
Tuesday - dust whole house ( hated this day)
Wednesday bathroom 2
Thursday kitchen
Friday night off cleaning
Saturday all bedding
Sunday big Hoover and mop
everyday I did a load of washing and hung it out and put away dry stuff from previous washes
everyday we would do a quick today up to pick up surface stuff
non stop was how it felt - kids are adults now and at uni and it feels so much easier now!
before everyone says why was I doing it all - husband works very long hours and does all the weekend cooking and cleaning to make up for it and he does the garden which I hate
re - deep cleaning that happens at the weekend when we feel we have to

Of course, but that’s the norm for everyone in my life - all these huge homes that are apparently impossible to clean just aren’t on my radar 😂

Ok let’s rephrase it. Keep it clean, spend time with kids, get some sleep and stay sane.

That’s just being a child isn’t it? You just need to keep telling him over and over again (ie. make him go back every time) until it becomes a habit.

Exactly this. I think the majority of people who say it’s impossible choose to prioritise other things - which is fine, but at least be honest about it rather than claiming nobody can possibly keep a clean house while working.

Yes exactly it’s priority, I choose not to prioritise it and get a cleaner instead as if I prioritise it I have spend less time to spend on other things. I find those other things important to stop me getting stressed and stay mentally healthy and have some time to spend with my kids

My friends house, with three kids and both with full time jobs, is always immaculate. And it’s because the kids have inherited their parents love for order. They don’t leave crap around. When they were younger their toys were confined to one room and put away when done. As a family they don’t leave a cup in the sink, some papers on the table, a towel bunched up. When my friend cooks she measures out all the ingredients into different bowls and tidies everything up BEFORE she even starts to cook. Nothing is ever out of place. However, they still manage to have an inviting home - it’s not like you are walking into a showroom afraid to touch anything. They even have a dog. They are quite high energy people in that they don’t laze around. They are up and at ‘em.

it's priority isn't it?

How long do you spend on MN? In that time, what could you have done? And then you're free for everything else that is not chore.

that's not ADHD specific, that's just children 😂
Keep repeating everything so it has stuck by the time they have their own place!

It's even more importat to have a tidy home around them, they learn by example and a clean house is their "normal" and it's more obvious when their school bag is dumped in the bathroom, their muddy kit is in front of the fridge (why?😂)

kids, teens, it's part of our job. As long as they know how to behave when they are invited somewhere, it's all that matters, the rest will follow eventually.

That clearly makes a huge difference, surely you can then see that it might take others longer. Vacuuming and mopping the floors daily myself is definitely not a few minutes.

Ok but for me all of this adds up to more time than what I want to spend each day cleaning on top of my full time job and everything else I need to do. I also have all of the daily tasks of tidying/ cleaning up after food, the actual food prep, dishwashers, laundry a few time a week, tidying away toys, food shopping etc. A cleaner comes for a few hours a week and in my view that is a few hours me or my husband would need to spend doing additional cleaning in the week and I prefer not to have that.

For us I think it helps that the 15 yr old pulls his weight as an adult would do... For example we all handle our own laundry (within reason, we do help each other!) and rotate turns when it comes to communal stuff like towels, dishcloths, etc. We also rotate kitchen clean-up duty each evening depending on who cooked or who is busiest with other things that day (the teen often gets a pass on this due to homework or club activities).

And we all whip around for 5 mins every night tidying whatever is out of place. Everything has a place, which is fundamental I think.

A kind of unwritten rule has evolved where we each (daily) vacuum one room, clean one significant surface, whoever is the first out of bed unloads the dishwasher, and we all tidy as we go (like a splash of toilet cleaner and whizz-round with the toilet brush every day if you're the last to use the bathroom in the morning).

This came out of a chores routine that DS was paid to do when he was much younger and has now become ingrained. DH picked up the habit of little-and-often along the way.

I'm also a ruthless declutterer and DS takes after me, which wins out against DH's packrat tendencies.

It’s a small two bed terrace so yes, nowhere near the size of house most MN-ers seem to inhabit!

I vacuum every morning as we have a dog and two cats - it takes maybe five minutes (downstairs only) and then we do upstairs once a week.

You must have a really minuscule bathroom and kitchen. It takes me a minute just to go and grab a brush and a mop from the cupboard.
I agree in principle, and I do the same with small daily jobs. And this was one of the arguments to get rid of all the carpets in the house because by the time I run the hoover around the place, I would easily clock 5k steps. Now I can quickly sweep and mop a room per day which still doesn't take "a minute" but is a lot less work.

Easily take a minute probably means a few minutes and whilst that isn’t much it also adds up. What about vacuuming your carpeted floors?

To add, of course everyone prefers to do things differently but I can’t think of a worse way to spend my weekend than having to spend four hours in a row doing housework, so I spend half an hour before work and half an hour before bed getting things done which frees up my evenings and weekends to do other things.

I also grew up in a house where all the jobs were left until Saturdays and I absolutely hated it, which definitely has an influence on my behaviour now!

Because if you do it everyday, it doesn’t build up into a big job that takes up loads of time. We use a limescale spray in the shower - I spray it on, brush teeth and get ready for bed then rinse. No need for any scrubbing as nothing has the chance to build up in 24 hours.

And floors easily take a minute - we only have two rooms without carpet (kitchen and bathroom) and they’re right next to each other so I just sweep through then spray mop 🤷‍♀️

I feel your pain. My shower, kitchen sink, all the taps/plugs and the toilets (3 of them) need Viakal or the black Domestos stuff once a week. It stinks!

I'm guessing you don't live in a hard water area. My shower needs limescale scrubbing off it, not just 'spraying and rinsing', and while in theory I could do that every day, I can't see how it would save time vs once a week.

Also how on earth can sweeping and mopping the floors only take a minute or so?