one hour housework

[gillybeanz]

Ok, so if your house was a complete mess, every room needing doing and you only have one hour per day for housework what would you do.

Would you concentrate on just one room a day and make it perfect or do several and just leave the rest for another day?

I would prioritise tasks, rather than the rooms.

I would chuck away as much rubbish as possible
put things in their places
Wash dishes
Wipe up surfaces
Then when the rooms as clear as possible, vacuum/brush/mop as necessary.
Clean toilet
Clean shower just before i shower

A room a day I think

I agree with chloe. There will be things that can't really wait so they go to the top of the list

I think a room a day. Currently I do a list of priorities - but the problem is that the lower priority stuff never gets done in the time available. So I pick up and tidy, put washing on, hang washing out, load and unload dishwasher, wipe the odd dirty sink or toilet, hoover here and there...but never get around to dusting, moving furniture to hoover underneath and behind it, wiping dirt off kitchen cupboard doors, cleaning interior of windows etc etc.

At least with a room a day you get a deep clean of that room and all jobs attended to

I'd do a room a day starting with kitchen, living room, bathroom but also put a load of washing on before starting each day.

I have tried for the past 25 years to keep the house nice, with dh doing more than his fair share at times, his fair share at other times.
We just don't seem to be able to keep it nice and on top of everything.

Left to my own devices I end up in a worse state than when I started if I try to do more than one thing.
i.e I put things in places just for now, don't complete jobs before moving on as there always seems something more important to do.

I am beginning to think at 50+ I'm fighting a losing battle.
When the kids were little it was a bit easier as nobody expected too much, now I'm scared to invite people over.

I've never wanted a show home as that isn't us, and I have tried to minimise a lot Marie Kondo style, all junk has gone.
I still get up to a mess everyday that seems impossible to shift.

I don't deserve sympathy as only work pt and I know folk manage it with little ones and working full time. I feel a bit stupid really.

I'd stack dishwasher, put clothes wash on, empty bins, wipe surfaces, vacuum and mop kitchen. Tidy lounge, plump cushions, move any pots/rubbish and vaccum.

In practice this is what works for me. It makes a huge difference and you feel so much better.

7 hours of housework a week should be sufficient in a house where nobody else is old enough to be cleaning, if you see what I mean.

BLack bin bag in hand and dump or recycle stuff - 10 mins per day
Kitchen wash up and wipe round every day
dusting and hoovering once a week - upstairs and down in two goes
Wash load (and dry) every day usually just one
bathrooms when I use them and have more than 30 secs for loo ie loo clean and wipe, sink scrub and polish, shower I alternate cleaning tiles and floor and then the glass

I try and get DD to clear her floor dust and hoover her room

But it is out of hand at the moment.

I do about an hr a day plus 3 hours one day a week when the bigger stuff gets done

7 hours a week of housework is a lot of housework! (if by housework you mean cleaning). I don't do any housework other than 3 hours on a Friday, and most people who have a cleaner would be the same.

But i (and rest of family) do keep things tidy and hygienic (clearing up after a meal, wiping down worktops, emptying bins etc) in between, so is it that part which you aren't doing?

I think you need to discipline yourselves to do stuff as you go along, a new habit so you don't end up with mess, beds needing making, stuff laying around on tables etc.

I find that the high priority stuff gets done. It's not difficult to keep on top of cleaning the bathroom and get washing and washing up done, and if something is grimy I'll just grab a cloth and give it a wipe, so I probably should do the low priority stuff first. For example, if I set an hour aside and did the kitchen cupboards or airing cupboard, I would probably manage to get quite a lot done and still find enough time to get the vacuum cleaner round a room.

1 hour a day is loads unless you have a large house!

The most important thing is keeping tidy so that the place looks good and it's quick to clean. DH and I are not naturally tidy people so we each have a dumping area where all crap gets put till sorted and that lets us keep everywhere else tidy.

If you're doing an hour every day and you don't have little kids destroying the place then how come you don't have a spotless house?! If you put things away at the time then there's no reason why you can't clean 2 rooms every day in that hour thoroughly - and by that I mean from dusting round the edge of the ceiling all the way down to dusting the skirting boards, dusting or wiping everything in between & hoovering or mopping the floor. Just don't have clutter everywhere & it's a breeze.

Another useful tip. If a job takes two minutes or less do it there and then. ( I never officially clean the bath / sink as I give it a wipe down with anti bacterial wipes after my shower when it's hot and steamy so only the loo and floor to do!

Not really relevant (but your title made me think of it) - when I used to live by myself in a one-bedroomed flat I used to do 'advert break' housework (i.e. every advert break on TV I'd race around and do a bit of housework). Kept my flat spotless that way, with just a couple of hours of TV watching per night!

I'm very sympathetic - I live with the messiest person in the world (like, would feature in 'The Hoarder Next Door' if lived on own) and I work FT. So even though I seem to do nothing but housework, the place still looks like shit unless it's the weekend and I'm at home for a good while.

Rather than a room a day, I would prioritise tasks, something like this:

1. Wash up and clean sink (you may have a dishwasher, which makes this bit quicker)
2. Clean all kitchen counters and table
3. Sweep floor and give it a quick mop with this: www.lakeland.co.uk/24523/Lakeland-Spray-Mop
4. 10 minute tidy of sitting room, quick hoover
5. If you have time, quick wipe-around in bathroom
6. Clear piles of clutter in hallways and communal spaces, even if it means just chucking them in bedrooms and shutting the door. I can live with quite messy bedrooms, but it brings me down if the communal spaces are a state.

Every weekend, I make sure every room gets done and I also try to cull something (like one drawer or one area) and deep clean something (fridge, cutlery drawer, murky corner).

And yes, definitely do stuff as you go along.

I think you need to discipline yourselves to do stuff as you go along, a new habit so you don't end up with mess, beds needing making, stuff laying around on tables etc.

From a poster named Random mess

Get a robot vaccuum cleaner is my advice, mine enjoys a little chug round my house eating crud.

I would prioritise bathroom and kitchen for hygiene reasons. After that, I'd potter at the rest.

I think it's worth dividing up the time. Any room in my house can be cleaned in 10 min. So I'd go for a deep clean of a room to get it to that state, maybe do one room a week until they're all done. The other days I'd spend 45 min general tidy (as above vacuum surfaces etc) and 15 min on the newly easy to clean room.

I am another supporter of the 'advert break cleaning'
This is how I have always done my cleaning generally- I use waiting time (kettle boiling/ water for pasta boiling/ bath running etc) to do little jobs.
My DP didn't used to be able to do this, he is more of a 'have a big clean' one day a week or fortnight but he has come round to the little and often way now.

I do an hour about every other day to keep things under control. This includes everything except washing. I also do loading/unloading dishwasher/wiping surfaces/tidying up spills/scubbing poo off loo etc as needed in addition to this.

I'm starting from a fairly tidy base and my house is quite small but I:
Rush round and pick up/tidy away the random stuff that gets left around.
Wipe kitchen counters and appliances over, clean kitchen sink.

Dust surfaces.
Damp wipe around bathroom with zoflora and bleach in loo, quick scrub

Then depending what needs doing, one of:
Hoover/mop whole house
Strip and remake beds
Deep clean bathroom
Wash down walls and woodwork
Clean windows (inside only)
Clean oven and hob.

And that's about it. Keeps things basically clean and in order, but it's no show home.

I do find that one hour here and there can keep on top of everything. Not sure it would be enough to blitz a really messy or mucky house. If that's where you're at, I'd probably set aside a few days to do a tidy up and deep clean first.

It's a bit of both...

Every day tasks are to tidy, do laundry, clean the kitchen & make beds, possibly hoover if you have pets

Weekly task can then be put into the other half an hour:

Day 1 - Paperwork
Day 2 - Hoover (if not daily through pets)
Day 3 - Dust
Day 4 - Bigger one off jobs that vary - clean fridge, oven, windows etc
Day 5 - bathrooms
Day 6 - wash bedding and towels
Day 7 - iron not in this house

Between us, we probably do an hour a day on the maintenance type stuff and 2/3 hours at the weekend doing the whole house.