To have no idea what normal people do to clean their houses?

[ItWasNeverASkirt]

I'm in my early thirties and realised recently that some of my friends do all sorts of civilised household chores that have never even occurred to me. Also, reading on here, you seem to clean your loos in much more sophisticated ways than I have ever done! I vacuum and dust, but that's pretty much it. I give the loo a quick brush and the sinks a desultory wipe when I remember. I have a guilty feeling that I should give the kitchen floor a wash every once in a while, but I usually don't.

I'm beginning to think I've missed some kind of important ' how to be a grown up' manual. Please help! We've recently moved to a new flat and it's immaculate and I'd like to keep it looking beautiful so am thinking of creating a 'to do' list to remind myself of what will need doing over the year.

What are the things you are meant to do around the house to keep it clean and in good repair? And how often? Any good tips and tricks?

Ironing?! God, no. My wardrobe is structured such that nothing needs ironing. Work suits are dry cleaned and everything else is wash and hang up to dry. DD18 spent too much time with my mother growing up and irons her own stuff - otherwise I doubt I'd even have an iron in the house. There was a thread the other day where someone ironed bedsheets - that had honestly never occurred to me.

My MIL irons everything tea towels, dish cloths, bath towels, underwear, sheets, duvet covers-the lot!

I also work full time, am out many evenings a week and have hobbies at the weekend.

To keep on top of the cleaning, I have a self-imposed schedule of 20 mins before work (this means getting up a bit earlier) and 20 mins after.

That usually means I get a room and a bit done a day so by Friday I have cleaned the whole house and it never feels like a huge chore.

I don't include washing or the dishwasher on the schedule as that's just bunging stuff in and out the machine so I do those as needed.

No ironing here.
OK, maybe 3/4 times a year.

If DH needs a posh shirt and it's creased when it comes out of the cupboard or i've got a summer skirt that's creased to buggery then i'll get the iron out. But that's all. It's all in the folding of dry laundry. Hang it nice and flat on the airer or line, and fold it neatly when you take it off. Fold it as soon as the tumble drier stops. No ironing needed.

At the beginning of this year i bought the Kon Mari book (and for those who know it i've worked my way through all the way to final sentimental stuff bit! Wahay!) and the space it's given me in previously cluttered cupboards has helped me keep a better level of tidiness because things are soooo easy to put away. Logical and easy place for everything you handle day to day.

(and if you don't handle it day to day - why are you keeping it ... hmmm? )

Yes once you clear all the clutter keeping only keep the stuff you like and use it's a lot easier to keep a nice (relatively) tidy home.

The last six months I feel like I'm really getting into a good routine with my housework. I would say that around 60 - 70% of the time, my house isn't embarrassing, which is a huge improvement for me. I work 3 days a week, so I only really do housework on the other 2 days - for an hour or two. Here's what I do:

Dishes / surfaces - every day
Laundry - most blooming days
Hoover twice a week
Putting away laundry - twice a week
Clean bathroom quite thoroughly twice a week (although I don't always get around to doing the floor) - have a really good, deep clean of bathroom every 2 months or so.
Wipe down front of kitchen cupboards - twice a week if I remember.
Mop about once a month (this is BAD I know! I'm going to work on doing it once a week)
Change bedding about once a fortnight (I recently figured out duvet covers, prior to this I would put off changing the bedding for about 6 weeks at a time).
Wash furniture covers once a fortnight (I have a toddler who likes to spread yoghurt on things).
Chase escaped recycling around the garden and deposit in proper receptacle - at least twice a week.

Tidying up - many, many times a day!

I pretty much never touch the skirting boards or windows.

It can take a long, long, time to get into a proper cleaning routine if your not used to it. It's been a long haul for me. prior to having a child my boyfriend and I were total filth-mongers - mouldy dishes in the kitchen that would only get washed when we ran out of something - never hoovering etc.

When we had a baby I decided that at the bare minimum it was important to not have anything mouldy in the kitchen and no chocking hazards on the floor. I eventually started to enjoy not living in a shit-tip and cleaning up started to feel natural to me. It's a big commitment!

I don't iron either, I folld from the drier and I hang things on hangers on the line.

Envious of the 'bowl of crap' idea - note the singular bowl.

We have about 100 in every bloody room (thank DD age 7 for that).

Just two of us at home now and have downsized to a 2 bed place which means housework is really quick and easy compared to previous homes. I cant believe how much time I used to spend cleaning.

I'm a fan of little and often. DH and I do a full clean together once a week and then just what needs doing in between. Having a dishwasher definitely helps keep the kitchen tidy.

Basically you have three choices.

1- Save it all up and do a big 2 hour blitz once a week or fortnight

2- Stick to a weekly timetable. So, all laundry done on Fridays, bathrooms cleaned Mondays, kitchen cleaned on Wednesdays etc.

3- Spend 20 to 30 minutes a day doing a little bit of everything and 5 to 10 minutes a day tidying.

I've tried all three ways and find that little and often works the best for me. Partly because of illness so I have to pace activity but mainly because I like the whole house to be clean at once.

For example, yesterday I swept and wiped all the hard floors, dusted and washed and hung out two loads of laundry. Today I've hoovered, cleaned the ensuite, put yesterday's laundry away and washed another load. Every day I sweep, wipe down kitchen surfaces and tidy as I go along.

I agree that if you keep your bathrooms and kitchen clean then the whole house feels looks clean. I'd add floors to that. Keep those clear as much as possible.

Air the house daily and have fresh flowers in living areas when you can.

But mainly, just find what works for you. How clean and tidy do you want to be? How much time do you have and how much of it do you want to spend cleaning? What are your own priorities?

And declutter! It's without a doubt the best thing you can do to make cleaning and keeping organised much, much easier.

After thoroughly konmariing my house it's now much easier to keep. It's always a bit messy though. I don't like sterile.

Daily:
Washing
Putting away
Wiping kitchen down
Hoovering

Weekly
Ironing
Bathroom
Mop floor downstairs
Clean fridge out
Dust
Change bedding

Monthly
Clean oven

I never do it all in one go, hence why it's always a bit messy

Omg, 89 messages and about 1,000,000,000 things that I had no idea were things you were meant to do! Like cleaning the woodwork. This makes a lot of sense now you mention it, but it would genuinely never have occurred to me.

Will have a proper read now and make a list...

I struggle to do day to day stuff

3 DC, pregnant with no4, work full time

I know once I do it it's not that bad but I struggle to get moving

Eponas, all that by 10am! Bloody hell I think I'm onto a winner if I've drunk a cup of tea and put clean knickers on by then. In my defence I'm on maternity leave with a young baby.

I read the cleaning lists on threads like this and wonder how helpful it is unless it is also clear how many hours the poster works and how many pre-school children he/she has.

I have never done loads of cleaning, even when I've had the time to do it, because it bores me to actual tears.

I never ever make the beds, for instance unless pil are coming to stay not ever! It's not pure slovenliness, I do think sheets and mattresses are better off airing during the day rather than having the duvet put straight back over. I would make the beds if we were trying to sell the house and had viewers over.

My measure of what is acceptable is "would social services take my children into care?" - if no, then I reckon our house is ok

If expecting visitors, I polish one item of furniture, or even just spray a bit of polish in the air, to give the house that cared for smell. A nice big vase of fresh flowers also helps to distract attention from anything I have forgotten to do not had time for. I am a wizz at quick tidying ramming everything out of sight. I seem to have got away with this for about 40 years, and no friends or relatives have cut me off yet.

OP, I'm the same.

We have a cleaner.

I'm totally crap at maintaining a household. It just does not interest me.

We have been in our house for three years and it's not really under control. It looks like we just moved in! I could manage a two bedroomed apartment, but a house really is a full time job.

'Wipe down kitchen surfaces everytime they are used (I'm assuming you do this anyway if you're cooking?!).'

Well, yes, of course....!

Daily I have a mantra of three - do the dishes, do the laundry, do the floors.

Dishes may pile up a bit during the day, but I never go to bed with anything unwashed. And washing the dishes inevitably means washing down the kitchen counters too.

Laundry - I do at least one load a day, or if I don't have a load to wash then I put some away. But I do something laundry related every day.

Floors - I don't mean necessarily hoovering every day (I don't) but I make sure you can see every bit of the floor, in every room iyswim (other than where there's furniture obviously). Which means picking up, tidying, sweep downstairs etc.

Everything else can get done as and when but if the dishes, the floors and the laundry are always done, the house looks tidy IMO.

Do you have a partner Greasel? What does he/she do? What hours do you work?

Dh does plenty. But tbh I find it tiresome to always have to qualify a post with details of dh's doings, just so that people are assured i'm not a downtrodden little woman.

You need to look up "clean my space" on Youtube, loads of good, time saving tips for every room in the house.

Don't obsess over it for a start.

Daily I:

Spray counters/oven and wipe them down. Dishes are stacked in the sink and dishwasher loaded at night- nothing is hand washed here, tough stains get a scrub until they are "loose" and the rest will come off in dishwasher. Less than ten minutes- and I have three cats who climb all over the place.

Spray the loo with antibacterial cleaner- spray and flush. Same with shower and sink- just run the taps for a few seconds while drying off after a shower. Deep clean (wiping window sill, shelves, mirrors, bleaching loo) done once a week which again takes max of 10 minutes.

Hoovering done 2/3 times a week- necessary with cats. 5 rooms takes about 10 minutes- and thats removing cushions and hoovering under them etc.

Laundry done as needed. Usually 2 colours during the week, uniform at the weekend and towels and bedding done on my day off (bedding chnaged weekly).

I spend (max) 2 hours cleaning a week and my flat is tidy- and I live with a man child and as previously mentioned 3 cats.