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!!

Atm while I'm juggling an MA and work it gets done every couple of weeks before we have visitors in a mad panicked top to bottom blitz. I used to be a SAHM and cleaned daily so I'm quite ashamed but we have dogs and live rurally so I'm just trying to embrace the cobwebs and keep the place tidy in between chances to chuck the hoover about. Deep cleaning would be a pre special occasion thing - pre Christmas tree going up, or before the summer holidays or before birthdays.

For us it was be struggling to afford even the basic food, petrol etc and have a spotless house or have some paltry savings and be able to pay all our bills and have a "lived in" (less clean) house. It was a no brainer. The key thing is that no one comes round without it being planned and In the diary and therefore no one knows! I have implemented a strict tidying up schedule every evening though so it looks neat, there's just quite a lot of dog hair!

Once a year I pay a nice man called Elliot to come and clean it in a van on my drive

I pay a nice man who charges £40 and does the whole oven including racks and hob and changes the bulb
Doesn't smell of anything after he's finished as he uses vinegar and method stuff

I just read through all that. One, it sounds like being a housemaid in Downton Abbey, all this turning out and scrubbing and sorting and mopping and what have you. Two, where's the room for a life in all that?

Well it works it's just a matter what you want to prioritise..if you want a clean and tidy home all of the time then those things need done...if mess and a cluttered home doesn't bother your mental health then fair enough. If you want more of a life nobody is saying you can't have a life...just hire a cleaner if that's the case.
I work full time and solo parent during the week and manage the organised mum method. Wiping the bathrooms, cleaning up dishes and having clean floors should be the minimum anyway...and my weekends are just the basics so plenty time to 'have a life'.
It's better than spending a full day tackling a back log of washing to be put away and the whole house to do.

Wow people are cleaning the oven ever week, mine will get done this month in the November big clean for Christmas.

I have 3 dc and a dog.
I hoover and mop downstairs once a day and the rest of the house gets what I call a general tidy once a day. (Toys cleared up, wash load on, kitchen tops and toilets wiped down). Once a week I do a full clean, it takes 3 hours and bed linen gets changed every 8 - 10 days. 3 times a year I also spring clean and declutter, every room gets emptied 1 by 1 and I sort out cupboards, draws and then clean the furniture as I put it back. I like a clean clutter free house.....

People keep mentioning 'wiping' or 'wiping down' their bathrooms. What does this actually mean?! I use a sponge and a cleaning agent once a week. Is wiping down literally just wiping it with a cloth?!

I hoover twice a week.. superficially clean what looks mucky and give one room a deep clean each month.

Generally keep stuff clean whilst doing stuff... so whilst cooking, keep kitchen clean, whilst/after brushing teeth, keep sink clean. Only me and dh, we don't make much mess and just keep it clean as we go really.

Cleaner once a week I'm afraid. It is fantastic and worth every penny as we both have exhausting jobs and I don't want to waste my weekends on it. She does the hoovering, ironing, dusting, mopping and bathrooms. It takes her 4 hours a week to keep the house up to a reasonable but not show-home standard, although she does clean the oven and has a bit of a thing for attacking limescale with white vinegar. We've had our current cleaner since our youngest was a toddler in 2008, and I don't know what we're going to do when she stops as we had some terrible ones before she came along. We are generally fairly tidy anyway, no longer have small children, no pets, and I do top up cleaning in between (grubby paintwork, light switches, sweeping the porch etc) and we clean the kitchen after every meal. Windows are a bit of a disaster area - we only do them when nearly opaque I'm afraid. So about 3 x a year.

When it is dirty.
Some rooms, like the kitchen and bathrooms, need more cleaning. Other rooms, like my bedroom, need less cleaning.
I do not understand this MN mania for cleaning and even less for "deep cleaning". I imagine all these people must live in Coronation Street.

It means wiping away hair stubble, or toothpaste stains, or just giving your taps a quick wipe to get the smudges off. Usually done with a microfibre cloth.

Different to getting out the sponge and cleaning agent to scrub and disinfect things.

Thanks for clarifying!

Daily - Vacuum & polish living room, wipe down kitchen work tops, washing up & drying and putting away (multiple times a day, roll on new kitchen and a dishwasher!).
Wash load of clothing daily (5 month old DD)

Weekly - Vacuum staircase, landing, bedroom and bathrooms, mop kitchen and bathrooms, wipe down sinks/showers/bath, empty fridge of any food past sell by date. Wash and Change bedding.

Monthly - Windows, wipe down skirting boards/ dado rail, tidy of kitchen cupboards to empty anything out of date. Empty toaster, Deep clean oven (worst job of all!)

Every month or so does the trick. I want to keep our immune systems strong x

We have a cleaner who comes once a week and I do a big clean once a week plus try and clean the bathroom daily. Kitchen always gets cleaned. Floors are mopped weekly.

With toddlers, the best you can hope for is a tidy space once they’ve gone to bed. So have boxes etc for their toys so you can Chuck it away easily.

I wouldn’t bother with windows daily, maybe monthly here 🤣

Yes I do this daily. I’ve got a stack of cloths for this purpose.

⬆️This is me, really! House is ok. I mean to follow TOMM so sometimes more gets done on certain days depending on how busy work has been! I do follow it during holidays. The Gemma Bray Patreon cleans are so helpful to me. She does guided cleans so you put your earbuds in, pick a clean (from 10 mins to an hour) and get on with it with music. Really motivating as once the time is up, you stop. Idea is you do a little every day.

House does get fully cleaned once every two weeks but on a daily basis, it’s:

make beds
empty bins 2x week
empty dishwasher
reload throughout day/evening
one load laundry every other day
Fold and put away previous day’s load from (heated) airer
clean kitchen surfaces
10 min tidy
swish and swipe one bathroom

at weekend
Air house
dust with swifter type duster
hoover everywhere
mop bathrooms (every other week) and kitchen

during school holidays - deeper clean and sometimes declutter

it’s a pita as it’s never finished but I like the feeling of peace and calm living in a relatively clean, tidy house brings so has to be done. Can’t afford cleaner anymore.

Hoover downstairs daily (10 mins)
Bathroom daily (except bath) 5 mins
Kitchen: dishes, wiping, sweeping daily. Clean out sink before bed. (1 hour total in day)
Sheets: every week or two.
Hoover upstairs every few weeks.
Windows and blinds yearly. That's why I have blinds!

Oven liners have been such a game changer for me.

I try and hoover weekly but it is sometimes less. Toilets get done when it looks like they need it. I will be buying the shower stay as our screen is a disgrace. I scrub it once a year or so to get the limescale off. Lived in house 7 years and never fully cleaned windows. Will occasionally wipe fingerprints off.

Do you work outside your home too?

Don’t you sometimes just feel like all you ever do is tidy up and clean?!

@Rachell1 yes it's like fucking groundhog day!

My advice:

1. Accept there is going to be some mess with kids in the house.

1. Get a cleaner. (If you can afford it) it's truly the best money I spend each week!

1. Focus on tidying up for the cleaner before they arrive.

1. Only clean things that actually need cleaning!

1. Don't iron.

I get up half an hour before everyone do do a quick tidy of surfaces, toilet etc. Hoover twice everyday, once in the morning after breakfast before we head to work and school then again at night before kids settle for bed, I mop floors each night to. Overall probably about an hour a day cleaning, works well for us house is always relatively clean and tidy but I really enjoy cleaning and so its half the battle we have 3 messy kids, a fluffy dog and a cat so our house would quickly look horrific if left for a few days I would imagine

Dyson once or twice a month. Bathroom and kitchen once a month.
I simply don't have time to do any more. I have teens that take up so much of my time and make so much more mess than little kidd ever did.

Agree with this. Kitchen and bathroom have to be clean, for hygiene. Everywhere else, you can get away with a lot, as long as you are tidy (bloody hard with a toddler, of course - I'd go for trying to have areas of tidiness and strategically letting other bits go).