How often do you clean your house?

[Rachell1]

I would just like to know everyone’s cleaning routines so that I can try and establish one of my own!

I keep the house as clean as possible (although it’s often quickly undone with toddler running around undoing everything the second I tidy up!).

But how often do you deep clean the bathroom? Hoover & mop? Clean the windows?

Also… why is it that my shower screen gets covered in stubborn hard to scrub off water marks every bloody day!!! It’s actually hard work scrubbing the whole screen!!

so we’re a no shoes in the house rule and three cats…

We have robot hoovers upstairs and downstairs, they get set off around twice a week

I mop the kitchen floor when I can be bothered

the shower gets fully cleaned everyday (!)

I dust about 1-2x a week

kitchen work surfaces get cleaned about 4x a day

ovens are fully cleaned each week

fridge when I can be bothered

toilets (x3) get wiped each day and fully cleaned each week

windows inside get done when I can be bothered, outside we have a window cleaner

bedding is washed every week and there’s always washing on

I have OCD so my house is tidy all the time

Hoover / dust / bathrooms / mop

• once a week.

No shoes house , just the two of us. Tidy as you go. Have routine and very organised. Takes about 2 and a half hours Work full time. House proud and love a clean tidy house, to a high standard. Laundry 2-3 washes a week. Change bed sheets and pillowcases once a week. Window cleaner.

Only two of us and we are very tidy and do keep on top of it tbh. Dusting gets done once a week, hoovering once/twice a week as needed. Bathroom/toilets thorough once a week. Bath gets rinsed daily and toilets get the odd wipe down, here and there.

other things like sorting cupboards/drawers etc happen when they need it maybe once a year or so.

2x weekly deep cleaned- by our cleaner.

Well then you desperately need a hobby

I tidy most days, clean once a week (proper clean like a cleaner would do, but not a deep clean as such) - it’s a big house and it takes me 4-5 hours. I’d love it to be spotlessly tidy and clean but it’s impossible. Our bathrooms are both very old and as such, very grimy, damp, slug infested and never ever seem clean no matter how long I spend scrubbing them. We’re having the upstairs one done soon so I am very much looking forward to it being clean.

It’s the clutter and tidying that does my head in, there is just stuff everywhere. I think it’s a storage issue as we aren’t massive hoarders. Just looking round my living room now I can see a guitar tuner, a set of headphones, some Hama beads, sellotape, a bath towel, a kindle…. Why? Just why??

I’m off work at the moment and I have been doing a lot more cleaning but god it’s dull. When I was working full time it was hard to find time to do a proper clean all in one go.
We’re about to have some renovations done and I’m dreading the dust. I got the children to splatter water and toothpaste and soap all over the tile samples so we could choose the ones that hide the dirt best

Hoover and mop twice a week

Bathroom once a week but bleach the toilets every day (Viakal will work for your shower screen, spray it on and leave for a few mins then scrub with the rough side of your sponge)

Window cleaners come once a month and I do the inside when I remember

Squeegee next to shower - gets used every time someone has a shower

Hoover - we have a eufy robot one that goes on himself every morning at 7am to give downstairs a general clean. Other hoovering gets done as needed

the robot hoover is genius, as it means us and toddler tidy up all toys and anything else off the floor every evening so it doesn’t get eaten. So it forces us to be tidy as well

No shoes in house. Hoover about twice a week and sweep up bits noticed inbetween.

Washing is done everyday.

Kitchen is wiped down after meals and dishes done.

Quick clean round of bathroom daily with deep clean once a week.

I tidy as I go and the kids have to tidy their toys up before bed.

Dusting is done weekly (usually - I hate dusting)

Windows are done infrequently unless I notice a streak.

Fridge deep cleaned approx once a month. Wiped over when I see spills etc.

I don't spend a lot of time cleaning and tend to do the deep clean of the bathroom and hoovering on a school night when the kids are in bed.

I resent doing extras on a weekend when I've been at work during the week.

Two children at home these days and I'm a lone parent. I find organisation and household chores easier to manage without a man in the house. I'm aware that this is due to the failings of the man I was married to. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hardly bragging. Just answering what we personally do?

Honestly? I work Monday to Friday 9-5 and by the time I come home do tea, help ds with his homework, do bed time, etc, if I have any time or energy left I will perhaps antibac the kitchen tops, clean the loo, tidy the living room, and try and keep on top of the laundry basket. I don't always get round to doing those everyday though. At weekends I try to do a catch up clean either Saturday or Sunday morning doing hoovering/mopping, dusting, a bathroom clean, etc. But basically I wing it through the week focusing on my priorities of the kitchen tops, the loo, laundry, and living room.

@Rachell1
You need to bear in mind that most people who reply to cleaning threads fit into one of two camps:

The competitive cleaner (whole house gets done 4 times a day and sheets are changed on the hour) or the competitive minger (sheets changed monthly, toilet cleaned twice a year) Both groups like to diss the other.

Normal people do what's right for them.

If you've got hard floors they need more, not less cleaning as dust etc sits on top, looks awful and contributes more to any allergies than a carpet would.

Your kitchen harbours more germs than your toilet seat, but hopefully your kitchen surfaces don't have skid marks that visitors might find unpleasant

Hard water areas are a bugger when it comes to showers. I was in a hotel for 4 days last week and the shower stayed pristine. Apparently there's a spray that treats the glass so even in hard water areas it doesn't get that limescale build up.

My house is clean but cluttered. Bloody papers everywhere. I mop my kitchen every day, bathroom every other (more or less) bedrooms and living room less. I do sweep /swiffer every day though or the dust sits everywhere.

Bathroom surfaces and loo every day. Kitchen surfaces etc when used.

We have a golden retriever so we hoover just the downstairs every day and when I say downstairs I mean the hall and kitchen and sitting room. If muddy paws are about just use the speed mop and it’s as good as new.
I also use a Microfibre cloth and some floor cleaner on the speed mop. I don’t buy the cloths for it all the time it’s too expensive!

I like to have as much free time as possible on the weekends so usually after work on a Friday I do the big hoover and mop the floors and do the dusting.

Yesterday after work I did a good clean on the bathrooms.

My husband did the windows outside two days ago because he was off. I’ll do the ones on the inside Saturday and that will be them done until I can be bothered to do them again!

We do about 4 or 5 washes a week. Including bed sheets but it’s only 2 of us!

The thorn in my side is the bloody Venetian blinds though!! I hate them!! Can’t be bothered!!

Oh I see. I agree it's far too much time. That's not including the laundry and washing/putting away pots and other trivial jobs about the house. Then theres household maintenance too. No wonder people are knackered.

I'm not saying I don't let stuff build up and also not saying I clean everyday but I do find cleaning quite therapeutic. It's like my equivalent of an hour of yoga.

I feel re-energized after an hour of power cleaning (much like gym goers do).

For the people who disparagingly tell others they need a hobby, have too much time on their hands etc etc - let's be clear - you're just putting someone down for the sake of it. It's hardly something worth criticising someone for.

When I'm doing housework I usually have my headphones on and I'm either listening to an audiobook or music, so I find the time goes really fast.

When I went back to work after mat leave we hired a cleaner for 3hours a week because I knew I'd struggle to do it all.

I'd really love to get into the TOMM method, I have tried it and it's really good but it still requires a degree of motivation that I don't have, not everyday anyway.

When you have one living space that is also the room that 6 people eat in, 4 of them kids, it is. Not always thoroughly, but a quick going over at least.

I have a big kitchen dining family room and a robot vacuum that gets sent out every morning. He chunters about till 10am then goes for a rest.

Not very often.

My routine has changed over the years depending on circumstances and time available. When I worked 3 days a week and had young children, I used to give downstairs a good clean on Thursday and upstairs a good clean on Friday. So dusting, change beds, clean tiles and sinks etc. Then I’d do a load of laundry every day, and Hoover downstairs a couple of times in between. Dishes washed after every meal.

Now my kids are late teens and I work full time, I have a cleaner once a week to do my Thursday/Friday jobs, we have a washing up rota, and laundry gets done at the weekend. If DSs want certain clothes another time they bung a wash on and make it up with whatever is in the basket that goes with the load they are doing.

Those who clean ovens regularly - what is your method? I have not cleaned an oven for years as I've had ones with pyrolytic cleaning, but we've moved and the oven doesn't have that function.

I remember oven cleaning as being a monumental hassle involving horrible amounts of stressful toxic foam everywhere.

No shoes inside the house and several cats.

Run the hoover round the living room, hall, stairs, landing daily, bedrooms a couple of times a week. Quite like hoovering so it doesn't feel like a chore. Clean the loo and bathroom sink daily ,also kitchen surfaces daily and before they are used.

Washing machine on about three times a week. Dust when necessary. Clean windows when necessary. Bath cleaned after use.

Mad cleaning of cupboards , etc about once every three months.

My problem is with clutter so am trying to slowly get that organised.

Wipe the kitchen sides about 50 times a day, spray them properly in the evening when we wash up after dinner.

Hoover every day or every other day depending on time (downstairs) upstairs once a week.

Wipe the bathroom down once or twice a week but wipe the sink every morning.

Mop once or twice a week depending on the weather.

Clean the toilets a few times a week when they look grimy. Bleach them once a week.

Wipe the cupboards and fridge down maybe once a week and wipe the microwave as it needs doing.

Change the bedding at the weekends, sometimes let it go two weeks depending how sweaty we have been.

Dusting once a week.

Skirts and woodwork every couple of months when I notice they look grim.

Washer is on probably twice during the week and both weekend days. I don't iron a whole load though, just wash it and put it away.

Robot vacuum, it's worth every penny. It hoovers downstairs every night, I put it upstairs 2-3 times a week and it mops twice a week. It's a life changer!

The organised mum method as others have suggested

www.theorganisedmum.blog/

The key point is that you do it little and often with 15 minutes for the daily level 1 tasks to keep on top of laundry, bathrooms, floors and beds to keep the house fresher/ stop bigger jobs brewing. It's about prioritisng not doing each job thoroughly, and each day you cycle through the bit that needs doing most.

Then there's the deeper L2/3 30 minute cleans that keep the main living areas functioning. Again, you don't have to do everything each time and can roll over a task until it needs doing again (especially in the kitchen) On the Friday, it's a deeper clean of one of the L2 rooms or a different one.

What really works for me is the "Rock the Housework" podcasts where you are talked through a clean. There's some free samples at the bottom of the home page, but the rest are a monthly subscription which for me was a no brainer. It takes the thought, the draining micro-decisions, and the sense of futility out of cleaning and I've got company. If I have a spare 20 mins, I can put on a 15 minute clean and not overrun/ be late. It makes the jigsaw pieces fit together. There's a large range on there with non-plan cleans like 5 minute toy tidy. Until using the podcasts the 15/ 30 mins did elude me, but they do actually work.

The method works for both extremes of the overwhelmed, don't know where to start, and the obsessive don't know when to stop types. The creator was in the latter category when she developed it.

Since childhood I knew tidying was moving stuff, but it's taken my adult years to actually learn how to do it effectively, like the difference between a novice driver and one that's well trained and now mentally and physically drives with that processing on auto-pilot. Getting properly tidy/ clean for a visitor took a week with the whole morning on a sweaty cleaning frenzy. It's now down to playing a few strategically chosen podcasts back to back because I can now cope with little and often, and that deeper build up isn't happening. I don't generally aim for show home although an occasional spring clean is healthy, but I'm now staying in range of functionally clean.

www.rockthehousework.co.uk/

Have a cleaner every other week for 4 hours - I don't do anything major in-between.
Might Hoover kitchen floor couple of times a week.
Never done my windows inside and have a window cleaner every 6/8weeks.
DH cleans oven about twice yearly.