Humour me! How to keep house

[AutumnOctober]

I've never quite got the hang of how to keep a house properly clean. Obviously I do the usual dishes and laundry and vacuuming and bathrooms and cooking and cleaning etc etc every damn day and it's EXHAUSTING but how often do normal people wash down their door frames, skirting boards, kitchen cupboards, walls, fridge etc? How often do you repaint walls in high traffic areas such as little fingerprints up the stairwell? Do you ever dust/clean the top of your kitchen cupboards?

Mmmm not a lot at all...

Kitchen cupboards and white goods once a week

Skirting boards etc probably not enough, just when I remember.

I wash down skirting boards and kitchen cupboards whenever I do a 'deep clean' which is about once a month. At the beginning of every month I wipe around dishwasher and washing machine door seals, clean out filters and do an empty wash to clean through the machine. I wipe around light switches and clean interior windows once a week.

Doing jobs regularly means that dirt and dust doesn't build up, so it doesn't take very long. It sounds a lot, but it literally just takes minutes.

Skirting boards I dust every week. I never wash them down in any areas except bathrooms and kitchen. If I notice paint work getting grubby, I wash it, but I don't have a routine. Bathrooms I do every couple of days, Hoovering and steam cleaning the floor is twice a week, dusting once, sheets changed every week and I have a rubber broom that I use on rugs and high traffic areas every night before I got to bed, so the place is presentable the next morning. But my kids are teenagers. When they were little, I did house work whenever I wasn't totally exhausted, which wasn't often! I also got rid of wall mounted kitchen cupboards and have one large freestanding cupboard I use as a larder. Much easier and my kitchen doesn't feel so claustrophobic.

Honestly I do those things very rarely.
Sometimes I try to improve but generally speaking I've got better things to do.
When I start thinking 'eeewww' is when I figure action is needed.
My biggest tip is that cleaning is so much easier if you get rid of clutter.

If you want to know how often normal clean skirting boards, best not ask on here OP.

There's people cleaning things daily/weekly/monthly that it's never occurred to me to clean or certainly not that often. Someone talked about wiping the ceiling where a fly had been on it on here the other day...

The Organised Mum is good for this sort of thing. She has a core list of daily and weekly jobs and then an 8 week cycle to pick up the 'deep clean' bits so everything gets attention over time.

While I don't 100% agree with her suggested schedule, ie I'll never agree that bathrooms need cleaning every day and if her DH and 3 DSs make it that way, they should not piss everywhere in the first place be doing it, it's a good plan to follow, or adapt to suit you.

I've just realised I can't see any skirting board in our living room. Result!

I've only ever washed down skirting in preparation for painting them, but tend to dust them down when I think oh they're dusty.
Same with walls. Washed pre painting, dusted when cobwebby. Kitchen is different, if there are splash marks I'll wipe when I notice them.

I do too much I know I do. Wish I could just think ‘fuck it’ and not clean as much - we still aren’t having visitors so what difference would it make!

Kitchen cupboards etc daily, but they do get fingerprints all over them so need to. Bathrooms twice a week, all toilets 3-4 times a week.

Hoover every day too to bottom. Mop everyday. Dust some rooms daily - again need to, looks like it hasn’t been done for a fortnight! Skirting boards about once a week or less. Wash doors down about once a month. Windows about once a fortnight inside and out or less.

We seem to have a lot of mirrors, once a week.

Out of interest, how often does everyone move sofa etc and clean under/behind it?

See, I just don't understand why it would be necessary to vacuum, mop and dust daily. What could you possibly be cleaning up?

If there's visible dirt on the floor, wouldn't you stop whatever behaviour/activity is making your floor dirty? Take your shoes off, wipe your feet, or stop dropping stuff on the floor?

often do normal people wash down their door frames, skirting boards, kitchen cupboards, walls, fridge etc?

Every single week. Always have done.
I have a black shiny fridge so, I can see the finger marks on it.

@BarbaraofSeville

See, I just don't understand why it would be necessary to vacuum, mop and dust daily. What could you possibly be cleaning up?

If there's visible dirt on the floor, wouldn't you stop whatever behaviour/activity is making your floor dirty? Take your shoes off, wipe your feet, or stop dropping stuff on the floor?

I have to hoover daily. There is always some sort of crumbs somewhere from my 2 year old

If the issue is that you can’t see what needs doing, my advice is to take a photograph of the room and look at that, not the room itself. When I do that I find I can spot things I skim past when I’m cleaning.

Skirting boards - never or just when I notice they’re grotty. So usually if someone has knocked a drink over and I wipe the wall, then spot the skirting board and do it at the same time.

Door frames and handles - periodically when I notice they have horrid finger markings on them. More often if anyone in the house is ill. Ditto light switches (damp cloth don’t spray them!).

Top of kitchen cupboards - once a year if that. We store our giant serving dishes up there so they get a quick wipe down when we take the dishes down. Which is only when we are hosting a big gathering. Which is halfway to never.

Fridge - door handles get wiped when I notice they are grubby. Ditto inside of microwave. Shelves and big inside clean happens either when there’s been a catastrophic spill in there, or when the drainage hole at the back has blocked up. Otherwise I clear it out properly for high data and holidays, in order to make space for extra food.

Painting walls where little fingers have been - every few years I guess but not very often at all. Kitchen paint is wipeable so we use that and then spot clean as needed. It’s been five years, hallway could do with a repaint but it won’t get it this year.

My house runs better when I have a routine. Just now it’s run away from me and is depressingly chaotic and cluttered. I can see so many house maintenance things which need doing (cupboard doors loose, flooring lifting, windows filthy), all of which will be less than five minute jobs to sort. But in front of the cupboard is a landslide of baby wipes and sellotape and junk mail etc. Between me and the floor glue is a stack of sticky breakfast dishes and a coffee pot. And the windowsill is piled high with paperwork and odd socks, which need clearing off before I can reach it to clean - and then the windowlene is in the cupboard with the loose hinge… so those three short jobs have either a minimum of 2 hours prep work if I do things properly, or else I’ll have a new big stack of muddled stuff in a different corner which will temporarily fix this issue but make the next job harder. So yeah, the key for me is to keep on top of the chaos. And today I shall start again. Thank you. Although I know that wasn’t your aim, you’ve motivated me to make a start.

Very rarely. I do what needs to be done but that's it. A bigger clean 1x a year maybe? Possibly less often than that.

I haven't got time for all that and a full time job tbh and have better things to do with my time like spending time with friends and going to the beach.
Don't waste your life being perfect.
I wipe down the skirting boards maybe once a year, I wipe down the kitchen cupboards whilst I am waiting for something to cook if they are dirty.
My most important tasks are making sure the washing up is done, that the bin doesn't stink and is clean with the lid washed and the fridge is clean inside.
The floors are washed once a week. The whole house is hoovered once a week, I never do anything at the weekend, the weekend is for me.
My house is tidy and it looks nice.
My walls don't need washing, I maybe repaint once every 5 or so years and use paint that can be washed down if there is a spillage.
Top of the kitchen cupboards get cleaned once a year if they are lucky, a brillo pad gets the dirt off.
I buy furniture that doesn't show dust.
Life's too short - when do you have time to play or read to your kids if this is all going on everyday?
Nobody is going to remember how clean your house was when you are dead. They will remember only the fun times they had with you.

I got a cleaner!

Mind you I have no clutter in my house, I am a minimalist and everything has it's place.