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?

It is crazy what some people do. I saw a post on Facebook that a girl said she just vacuumed her mattress, and lots of people commented saying they do it every week and it's dirty not to. I vacume mine like once a decade.

We find a cleaner most days works for us. No idea what her routine is but she is awesome. On the days she doesn't come, I prioritise getting washing up through the dishwasher and kitchen surfaces clean.

I tidy every day ish hoover when I can be arsed to but dust every other day (black furniture!)

As for woodwork? Aint nobody got time for that

The one piece of advice I try to live by is:
if a job takes less than two minutes to do, do it immediately.
Other than that, I hardly ever mop the floors.
Thinking that a steam mop might encourage me, does anyone recommend?

My routine every day is
Make beds open curtains tidy rooms
Put a washing on
Do dishes and wipe down kitchen
(Any marks on cupboards etc then wipe)
Wipe down bathroom squirt bleach down toilet
Anything lying about put it away

Go to work when I come home
Fold dry washing put away
Hang wet washing up
Hoover
Dust
Steam mop floors

Once a week I mop floors with bleach and take mop round skirtings
Once a week ironing

Every second week I change beds

Once a month Windows cleaned curtains washed hung up damp and they don't need ironed

Every couple of months I change rooms about and give the room a good scrub

Bloody hell Skivvy! How many hours a day do you work?

Only 6 bib and to be fair it's a flat not a huge house

I clean when it looks dirty. I don't have time for daily wiping down of stuff. I'm tired after work and cba.

I've said on here before I'm extremely neat and tidy and it fools people into thinking I clean constantly, when in fact, I do the bare minimum . Some of the things several posters do weekly or monthly or more likely to be annually in my house.

*Are not or.

Creamegg people think that of me to but it actually doesn't take me long the more I keep on top of it the less time it takes

Kitchen and bathroom wiped down every day. Dusting, hoovering once a week. Loo cleaned every other day or thereabouts.

I clean the bits that look dirty when they look dirty. No shoes in house and these days no small kids makes cleaning a lot easier.

I read recently about someone touching things 'only once' - i.e if you bring some shopping home, don't dump it then get back to it later then not put things in the right place so they have to be moved later. The idea is to deal with the item, delivering it to it's rightful place immediately. I have been trying this and it really cuts down on work. Worth having a look at Marie Kondo, the Japanese tidying sensation - only keep things if they bring you joy and have a place for everything in the house. Initially a big job but then very little up-keep. Good luck!

In the 1930's you would get a household management book as a wedding gift, it included everything from cleaning, how to clean and when to clean, how to budget, DIY, tending your garden.
I can't help thinking we still need these!!
I havent a clue what to clean and how often. I have a little list of daily stuff to do with bigger cleans every other day and a big clean once a week.
It still doesn't feel right though.
Monday:
Bathrooms
Floors
Tidy
Hoover
Make Beds
Tuesday:
Tidy
Hoover
Make Beds
Wednesday:
Bathrooms
Beds
Hoover
Tidy
Kitchen Floors
Thursday:
Change Beds
Tidy
Hoover
Friday:
Wipe woodwork - skirting
- doors
-window sills
-kitchen cupboards
Bathroom
Kitchen Floors

Once a month:
Windows in and out
Move sofas and vacuum
clean fridge
cutlery tray
descale kettle

My mum used to say to me stuff like 'a woman is judged by the state of her windows/toilets/door tops'
I must be one very bad lady.....
Our neighbour once complained that the previous owner of the house had not cleaned behind the radiators before leaving. WTF! Are you really meant to do that?!

I have discovered that the key to keeping my house nice-looking is vacuuming every day. Because when you vacuum, in order to avoid sucking up ridiculously expensive, annoying pieces of tat, you need to tidy them up first. And when the floor is clutter-free and beautifully vacuumed, and the rest of the room looks like a shit-tip, you'll want to fix that too.

Washing up after every meal, wiping the sides after every meal prep. Once you get into the habit it's hard to break, you just do it automatically.

Putting clothes away straight out of the tumble dryer. A pain in the arse and the worst job ever, but five minutes after every load dried is SO MUCH BETTER than sitting upstairs for an hour sorting through laundry mountain.

I find doing all that doesn't take up much of my day. But if I don't, I'll spend hours and hours doing it all at once on the weekend.

MattDillon you're the family slob? With that list of chores I dread to think what the others in your family do every day.

YY. Do they not work? Or not sleep?

I actually feel excessive cleaning (ie more than is needed to be hygienic and pleasant) is a feminist issue: even when it's men who notice it the woman always gets looked at first and/or has to do it. Even if someone has a cleaner, who books them and leaves the money and equipment out every week..?
The competitiveness sometimes seems illogical and a bit like how we pick apart people's looks in the same way.

We tidy daily, hoover 2-3 times a week, wash up and wipe down the eating/food prep areas of the kitchen daily. We dust, 'big clean' the bathroom and kitchen, mow the lawn every weekend.
Other tasks (e.g. window cleaning, wall wiping) are monthly and/or as required.

My house looks 'normal' at least once a day. Longer if the toddler is out.

Putting clothes away straight out of the tumble dryer. A pain in the arse and the worst job ever, but five minutes after every load dried is SO MUCH BETTER than sitting upstairs for an hour sorting through laundry mountain.

I wish I could do this but I do my chores after DD's bedtime (I work 8.30-5, get home 5.30/6 with her- then it's her dinner/bath/bed) and 99.9% of the laundry seems to live in her room which you must not go into until she's in deep sleep so I end up with a kid clothes mountain at weekends!
I need ninja skills.

Blimey, this thread is making me feel like a slattern. We both work full time, no kids, and our (my) routine is:

Bed - made first thing as soon as we get up, stripped/changed every Saturday. Spare bed stripped and changed every few weeks as DP sometimes sleeps in there because he's a massive insomniac.
Bathroom - sink and loo cleaned 2/3 times a week, proper clean on a Friday afternoon
Hoovering - once a week - DP does this
Mopping kitchen and hall floors - again, once a week, and DP's job
Dishwasher on every 2/3 days, pans washed immediately after dinner
Dusting/polishing - once a week on a Friday
Ironing - I do it as I go, so a few bits 2/3 times a week. Washing on every 2/3 days, and a couple of loads on a Saturday with the bedlinen

I finish work early on a Friday and tend to do a good bit when I get in so the house is nice for the weekend.

I read recently about someone touching things 'only once' - i.e if you bring some shopping home, don't dump it then get back to it later then not put things in the right place so they have to be moved later.

Another one I find almost impossible with a mobile toddler who poos her nappy at the wrong moment every time. So I tend to go with the opposite, a daily timetable prevents left things sticking around as I know I will do xyz and DH will do xyz by the end of the day.

I used to let it all build up and then spend a couple of hours on a Sunday going everything, which was a drag and a bore and I'd cut corners to save time. Now I just do a couple of things a day as and when they need doing.

This morning having breakfast I noticed smears on the lounge windows so went and got cloth and spray to wipe them. Took 5 minutes, tops. Yesterday I gave the bathroom a quick wipe over with an anti-bac wipe, again, about 5 minutes. Earlier I noticed the fridge was a bit grimy so wiped that down - again, 5 minutes. Doing bits like that means they barely register as a chore, and things stand out when they're dirty - so you can clean them there and then - rather than the whole place just being a tip by the end of the week.

I do love the feeling of everything being freshly clean at the same time, but it also means everything is filthy at the same time too.

Robohoover does the floors daily - we have hard flooring and gritty floors are a pet hate of mine! Stick vacuum for everywhere robohoover can't reach, not daily but as and when.
Kitchen done daily
Anything the baby uses (highchair tray for example) scrubbed after each use. Toys cleaned regularly after being chewed.
Bathrooms done every other day or as needed if more often.

A bit of mess is fine. I'm not obsessively tidy but I hate things being dirty.

I do the bits everyday that need doing, that's lots with 3 kids.

Quick tidy round of their rooms and make youngest's bed, flush and bleach all toilets, sweep and mop kitchen floor. All counters in kitchen after using them at each meal. Put away toys, sort paperwork and do all laundry and ironing each day.

Cleaners comes once a week to do bathrooms and dusting and hoovering.

You just need to keep on top of the little jobs each day then have a day to do bathrooms, Hoover, dust and clean hard floors.

I really have no interest in housework - I find it dull and the place gets messed up in no time.... I have persuaded myself that its good for the kids immune system to let it slide. I also find that if I let it slide, the workload tends to be much more 50/50 with DH - we both do a bit when we have to. It helps that my eyesight has deteriorated a bit now I have hit 40.......