Be honest: How much time do you spend on cleaning?

[HappyLittleAGR]

I’m really fascinated by the time people report. I spent 2-3 hours this morning on just one of the living rooms and the kitchen (course, there was a lot of dishes backed up. Gross, I know), and I could do that everyday and probably still not have a sparkling clean home, what with the dogs and the tornado of a child I’ve created. I’ve heard people say they only spend like 20 minutes a week on cleaning tasks and I just feel like they’re lying or trolling! Surely even if you lived in a studio flat, it would take longer than that to clean it ? And maybe people don’t count all of the little things people do habitually, like making the bed and changing the sheets, or cleaning up after dinner, or wiping the sink when you’re done in the bathroom in the morning… And maybe some people don’t have to mop so much if their house is mostly carpeted ?

What do you think?

I could have written this word for word!

Do you have a job? Or any hobbies...?

Wipe and tidy as we go so I would say max 20 mins per day. Then a fortnightly cleaner to really blitz it all.

Probably about an hour a day, in between working full time.

Dishwasher done three times a day on average. Hoover most days as kids are so messy. Then each week I do little bits of cleaning like wiping sticky handprints off windows, cleaning toilet and bathroom, washing floors.

I have one of those but I don't remove it every time I clean the toilet!

That probably gets done once a month.

Me too. I’m a good tidier but only clean when I need to. A colleague recently had a day off and cleaned all her skirting boards….. 😳

Sorry, you fill the dishwasher completely three times a day?

Not enough really! I could do with someone doing a big deep clean so I can reset and make myself do a room a day.
I do sweep/ hoover downstairs every day, sometimes twice as I have a dog and a toddler.

I’m fed up of doing the same general tidy (and wee clean up due to potty training) that I can’t really be bothered to do a deep clean like it needs.

I work outside the home one weekend a month, pretty much. I have lots of hobbies (cake decorating, gardening, chicken keeping, running, hiking, hot yoga, lifting…thinking of taking up BJJ)

DD is in school 3 days per week right now, so that definitely helps

Per month

35 minutes hoovering
35 ish minutes mopping
20 minutes dusting
1 hour cleaning bathroom sink, toilet and shower (sink and toilet get quick wipe downs in between and I use a squeegee on the shower screens).
I suppose I should clean the shower walls, but I don't...

Per week
Put small dishwasher on once or twice a week
clean kitchen sink and microwave on the days that I use them
clean fridge if necessary
take bins out 3 times a week

Windows about every 6 months

Occasionally brush and mop communal stairs and brush balcony

Obviously I live alone in a one-bedroom flat, but when I see MNers say the floors have to be cleaned every day I don't understand that even if you have children and pets.

@Silverbirchleaf yep, after three meals a day for two adults and two kids. It’s a medium sized dishwasher

I mean I wouldn’t say every single time but 9/10 it’s easier to press the button, spray the sheet and shower it off
I’m all for laziness

@Gwenhwyfar oh you’d be amazed just how much mess kids can make on the floor by the time they’ve eaten a few biscuits, smeared some paint around, done a bit of slime making with glitter and sprinkles thrown in

Oh I don't doubt it, but according to some people here everyone should be cleaning every day, with kids or not.
I also understand the amount of hair/dander that pets leave everywhere...

I guess it depends whether you have pets and how much hair they drop and if they’re dragging dirt in with them… I can’t imagine it’s great to let it accumulate and then be breathing it in every time you move through the house. I think for the average person, sweeping/mopping/hovering should be done 1-2x weekly.

Edited to add: maybe the kitchen and anywhere people are eating should be done more often, as having crumbs can attract pests.

"maybe the kitchen and anywhere people are eating should be done more often, as having crumbs can attract pests."

Yes, I'll use the little dustpan and brush around where I cook and eat as necessary, but the hoover is just once a month. Maybe if someone was visiting on the 3rd week I'd go around with the Swiffer.

Not as much as I probably need to, but my standards are suitably low and we have a small 3-bed house. DH looks after the kitchen so fills/empties dishwasher, handwashes all the hand-washable stuff, wipes down counters. It probably takes him about 20 mins each day overall.

DC picks up their own toys and books and put away their own laundry. We have really minimised toys so there's not much to pick up.

I hoover the downstairs daily, but it's a quick 5 min whizz. Washing machine is ran about every 2-3 days, so overall it takes me maybe 15 mins a day?

Bedrooms are hoovered once a week, that takes no more than 20 minutes overall, and bathrooms take a like 10 mins each. Dusting maybe once a month, I hate it! DH and I share these tasks - this week he cleaned the bins, last week he went through all our paperwork.

I'm trying to tackle one "one-off " job once a week, so last week I did the fridge, this week I'm cleaning the windows. DH and I share these tasks - this week he cleaned the bins, last week he went through all our paperwork. I tend to do more of the day-to-day small maintenance things like putting things away and wiping spillages, and DH does the bigger annoying jobs like dealing with the hoover that ate a ribbon, or cleaning the drains.

So I'd say weekdays maybe 30mins per person per day, and weekends maybe bit more, up to an hour? But I try to be time-efficient and use lulls in the day to do small jobs, like today I was waiting for the kettle to boil and quickly wiped down the fruit bowl while I waited.

Oh, I have to clean my fridge every time I bring home groceries… I am bad about letting things go rotten in there, though

I think daily probably 20 mins washing up, 10 mins making my bed, 2 loads of quick washing a day, I have a robo hoover that goes off twice a day, wiping down kitchen 20 mins over course of day, general tidy and plump of cushions 10 mins a day.

of a weekend whole house an hour doing bathroom and downstairs loo, hoover all of house 45 mins, mop floors 30 mins, dust downstairs and skirtings 25 mins, outside front garden plus porch maybe an hour, bleach bins weekly as we have terrible fly problems, kids rooms although they do them themselves prob 1.5hrs dusting hoovering and putting washing away.

it took me a long time to get back on the property ladder at 45 so I’m pretty anal about keeping it all clean.

Bungalow with extension, one housemate, one cat. Cleaning: Sundays from 10ish to 5ish, dusting/hoovering/cleaning kitchen and bathrooms/laundry/houseplant care/misc - but then not much cleaning at all for the rest of the week besides the washing-up and taking out the rubbish as needed.

Yeah I'd prefer frosted glass but unfortunately DH has an opinion on it and won't let me just do what I want 😂

I clean for an hour a day. My teen DDs clean their own rooms, I take care of the other rooms in rotation. I’ve found it the easiest way to keep on top of it all…

This sounds about right. Those people who seem to spray their house to death- to what end? It’s very bad for the environment. We’re two in a small house. I find hoovering upstairs and down stairs twice a week enough, bathrooms a couple of times a week ( unless it smells) no routine as cleaning is well down the pecking order. However I’m always impressed with the houses of friends who are house proud but that’s not for me!

How do people do 3 or more hours a day of a morning?!! Assuming they don't work?
I love a clean and tidy home but it has to fit in around work and the family!

I would say i spent quite a lot of time cleaning. Average about 1.5 hours per day. I used to do the TOMM method but found that was unnecessary work. I work from home and when I take breaks I listen to a podcast and clean and tidy the house. I have a toddler, dog and 2 cats. I love a clean and tidy house but it doesn't last long. I tend to clean the most Mon to Thursday and then Friday to Sunday just do the usual dishwasher, clean after cooking etc so the days with my toddler are not cleaning days. By Monday it's like a tornado has hit it. I definitely do not spend 20 minutes on the toilet though like a pp ! 🤣

When I didn't work full time I did a lot more cleaning. Now, I'm out of the house from about 7-5, then I come home and do dinner for dd, clean the kitchen, get her homework and reading done then get her to bed. Then, I usually work for a couple more hours at home and then I'm just too exhausted for cleaning. Dh does all the bins, everything for the cats and we take turns with dinner, but we just don't have the energy or time in the week. I don't know why we are so tired, life just seems very busy. We do then spend time at the weekends trying to get the place basically clean and tidy.