Divorced at age 56. On my own now as adult kids live independently.
living by yourself is a revelation in identifying where dirt comes from !
so I do a big deep clean only once a month - but that’s about 4 hours and includes oven, high and low level cleaning out hair traps etc. the full Monty. It’s a hard work out day 🤣🤣. But love the effect of going, “right well I don’t need to clean much for next month”
outside of that I do spot cleans as and when I see need. But I know which rooms take the hit all too well now I’m on my own.
Clearly bathroom gets done once a week…but the actual shower only fortnightly as it’s only me and that’s less than 14 showers. As for cloak room, I tend to check cloakroom before and after visitors.
Kitchen floor doesn’t last more than a week, and obviously kitchen basics cleaned after every meal.
Then my dressing room - it’s small and yep guilty of having house with seperately dressing room..but it’s because bedroom is in dormer and no where for full height wardrobes. Dust builds up in there fast …very fast 🤷♀️🤢, don’t need to explain but if you wondered where dust comes from in your house and what it’s made up form there’s your answer! But at least it’s now contained, annd having rewlly realised this I keep door shut. The other rooms including my bedroom get very little dust and don’t even look very dusty by end of month. I’m so much more conscious now as this being source of most dust, so if you change, dry etc in your bedroom that will always have much higher build up of dust that wont last a month. I also use damp cloths for this dressing room dust, and wack into washer without using in any other room so as not to transfer dust. I’ll use the vacuum nozzle loads in here too.
in terms of tips..invest in good equipment easy to grab and use. Most familes do that for diy stuff …invest in decent lawn mowers, electric drills, etc…yet other than vacuums we don’t always spend money on other bits of kit to ease cleaning. I have a hard floor powered mop scrubber..very good investment, does a fantastic job on all my hard floors quickly without me working up a complete sweat. I have a tiny hand held electronic scrubber. I even have an attachment for my drill to buff bees wax on my oak furniture. I have decent washable dusters, rag stash for really dirty stuff and bees wax polish ….i make up my cleaning agents just from basic supplies including bicarbonate, vinegar, absolute alcohol, fairy, and biological washing powder which is great at eating baked on food on ovens etc. I’ve also got a few essentials oil I mix in with solution I’ll use to wipe non food contact surfaces and floors.
Works out much cheaper to just bulk buy these basic chemicals …but then I’ve room to store them. I’ve then got decent spray bottles for various combos. Lots of spare mop heads, spare Dyson vac air filters so I’m always going with maximum suck power. I also organise my utility room with all equipment on peg board and wall so I can just grab and easily locate whatever tools I need for the job.
but the biggest stress relief device you can get for cleaning is to hire a cleaner. When I went back full time to work after kids it was part of my “it’s not up for debate” conversation with my ex. Yep, we could have used the money elsewhere. But the arguments it saved were priceless. The time we saved doing other stuff with kids was more valuable. I don’t need a cleaner just now and exercise is very good for me, but at some point as a get even older I’ll have no hesitation in going back to using one. A massively underestimated job, thst needs skills and a lot of energy and fitness. Hats off to all cleaners.
the other adivce, live on your own! 🤣🤣🤣🤣or at least ensure you live with partner who is equally clean and tidy as you (or equally as messy as you) to avoid arguments.