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?

This is slightly tongue in cheek, but it IS what a friend of mine used to do - have one room that you don't use too much and put ALL the mess in there.
Not dirty laundry and crocks etc., they go where they belong - but random papers, piles of stuff, mail, filing, books, all that other shiz that piles up - put it in one room (preferably in piles on the table). Then when you have the time, go into that room and sort out one pile at a time.

In the meantime, your other rooms should already be looking ok.

After that, cleaning wise, prioritise bathroom and kitchen of course; laundry needs to be done too, but if you hang it up to dry you can reduce ironing (if you even do it).

I have a fairly big house and do probably no more than an hour day housework (probably less over a week). I am however, pretty tidy, and i think that is half the battle. If everything is always put away in the right place and surface are kept cluttered it is easy to do a simple wipe/dust/hoover or whatever to keep it clean.

If i was you would prioritise decluttering and tidying then keeping it that way buy doing a little bit tidying as you go. Waiting for the kettle to boil - empty the drainer and wipe the surfaces. Going upstairs - take those shoes and that jumper up too. Little by little is the best way.

I've just been reading about ADHD-PI (based on another thread), I wonder if those of us who are genuinely overwhelmed with housework might be suffering from that.

Every day I tidy as I go - plump cushions, beds made, clothes wash on and hung up (if there is enough), hoover quickly (indoor cats with hair and litter), wipe table and kitchen down after uses etc.

Every 3ish days I give the indoor glass a wipe with cleaner and a microfibre cloth, clean the bathroom, toilets and kitchen/bathroom surfaces and sinks/bath/shower.

I empty bins as and when needed.
Bedding changed every other week.

About once a month we deep clean - kitchen cupboard doors, moving units and couches to hoover. Our windows are also cleaned once a month from the window cleaner.

It seems like a lot but every day it probably takes 15 minutes if you add up the little bits.
It takes maybe 45 minutes every 3 days.
The bigger deep clean maybe two hours split between OH and myself.

Once you get in to a routine it takes less time as things don't tend to get as messy.

Gosh, op you sound like me!

Have a look at flylady and UFYH (I particularly like the weekend one, doesn't matter what day it is). Neither will be exactly what you need but the principles for both should help you come to a system that works for you.

I'm rubbish at housework too so my only contributions are

Make lists

Try to deal with paperwork etc straight away. It's the piles of 'stuff' that I struggle with.

Not being rude OP - but if you work PT and don't have small DC, why do you only have 1 hour a day to clean?

Even if you have to break it up into 2/3 blocks and get into the habit of evening cleaning, you should be able to find 2 hours.

Tips I found helpful, never leave a room without carrying something. So if you have dirty cups /glasses in the front room, take them with you when you walk to the kitchen to get soemthing else, rather than make "collecting up all the dirty dishes" a job that has to be done at a specific point. Always look and think "what can I take?" when you go to leave a room/walk upstairs/downstairs.

I do tasks, not rooms

So hoovering and mopping
Or
Dusting and wiping surfaces
Cleaning loos and bathrooms
Windows (almost never )
Laundry (wash, dry iron)

I try and do 1 or 2 "tasks" a day

God, I am in awe of how much you lot get done in an hour. Like a pp, I live with a hoarder/slob and housework here feels like painting the Forth Bridge. I love the idea of having a spare room all the crap gets dumped in. At the moment, it seems like every room performs that function, as well as all its other functions.

No advice OP, but lots of sympathy. Watching with interest for that one tip that unlocks it all for me. Take a sabbatical and use it to strip the house of all our belongings is the only thing I can think of at the moment.

I am naturally untidy I think. Do all you guys tidy as you go along as in you're actually tidying up all day, or just tidy daily?

Just looking around my living room I have:
A package of clothes that arrived and I've ripped open but need to try on
An empty Amazon box that needs to go in the recycling
Various cups etc
Various toys on the floor (we have a playroom)
Cushions on the floor
Workout equipment out of its basket thanks to DS

Would you tidy lot actually tidy each of these things as they happen? I feel like I'd never sit down, working against a 2 year old! I do it in one big sweep at the end of the day, but am pregnant and v v exhausted so sometimes don't tidy the toys away etc as they'll just come out tomorrow. Would love to have a presentable house 24/7 though!

Bendydick - I'm naturally messy - trying to retrain myself, and yes, I do try to do stuff as I go so it feels less work.

So don't open a package of clothing in your front room, take it to the bedroom and open it when you are ready to try them on, or at least in the room you are going to try them in.

The Amazon box - have you walked to the kitchen since you opened it? Take it with you and throw next to the recycling bin.

Various cups suggest you've had more than one brew - each time you walk to the kitchen to get something take something dirty with you.

If you have a playroom, can you keep the living room door shut in the day so the toys stay in the playroom, or at least don't get into the living room and you can keep one room tidy!

(looking round own messy front room, should take my own advice!)

Don't leave a room empty handed
don't put things down - put them away
Wipe kitchen work tops as you go
Mop floor daily
Clean bathroom as you go
Empty bins when full

What's causing the mess? Is it too many clothes, are you messy cooks, do you have hobbies that involve lots of clutter, not enough storage, yadda yadda yadda.

I think once you've identified what the underlying issue is, then it should be easier to tackle.

Two adults in a house with no kids shouldn't be struggling to keep on top of things to the extent you describe.

Of course, if the issue is that you'd actually rather watch Game of Thrones than clean, and you're not actually that fussed.... then that's fine.

But you can change it if you really want to.

1. Roomba. Brilliant !
2. Fly lady. Amazingly liberating.
3. Tidy as you go. Just put stuff away after use.

if you work PT and don't have small DC, why do you only have 1 hour a day to clean?

Because she has better things to do?

Thank you, I've just come back from work and read the brilliant responses, thank you.

It's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other tbh.

I have become lazy as like a pp said it's like painting the fourth bridge and i get so overwhelmed I do let it slip.
Atm, we have so much sdmin for different things, including business that this seems to take up much of our time other than work. This is temporary though and no excuse long term.
This is one problem though, things cropping up that that aren't usually needing to be done.

Another is clutter, but much needed iyswim.
I'm also sure we move things round so much as could do with more storage.

Sometimes when I have tidied stuff away I've run out of time to actually clean the place.

shiny
I don't want to spend more than an hour a day doing housework as I hate it and would rather be doing other things.
It's not that I'm lazy, just a bit bloody useless and want to improve.
I hear other women talking about it taking them such a short time and I'm well

I am with you, OP! I meant that you have better things to do in a good way. Life is too short to spend more than an hour a day as a house elf

I'd do a task at a time not a room. You can easily hoover the whole house in less than an hour. Or clean all the windows. I only have 3 hrs of cleaning a week plus daily tidying/wiping dishes & laundry, and that's plenty for us.

sorry shiny

was eating tea whilst reading. I can see that now.

Well, everyone can think of better things to do than clean, it's just if your house is making you miserable, then rather than being stressed trying to get it all done in 1 hour, spending a bit more time would be better.

oh and the clutter, do you not have enough storage? I found it was a revelation that I need to not just get boxes and files for the stuff I currently have, but to always have spare drawers and boxes etc for new stuff to go in. Little thing, but I'd always done big sort outs, bought new storage, had everythign look great, and then within 6 months they'd be birthdays or christmas and new stuff had arrived that needed homes.

Invisible

Many thanks, I do have more time and could add a bit more each day but would love to be able to do the bulk in an hour.
We do lack storage space though.
Lord knows how we'll manage to downsize which is our next move.

When I look at other peoples houses and their layouts I always believe I could manage what they have in the space they have iyswim.
Our house just looks and feels unmanageable.
It is big though, and Edwardian, o lots of nooks and crannies for spiders and their webs to hide.
Everything seems to take much longer to do than a more modern home or bungalow

I have the nooks thing to!

I'm another vote for tasks because if I have one room spotless it just makes me feel worse about everywhere else.

Things changed for us when I rethought the equipment we use.

These have all been good investments:

Cordless vacuum (because you can whip it out when you need it. I'm also contemplating a robot vacuum)
A spray mop (because you just fill the bottle up and go!)
Microfibre cloths (I know this is hardly a revelation but I grew up in s dusters and jay cloth household)
Window vac.

They've all cut down the time it takes to do a task immeasurably. I can spray and vac all our windows in about half an hour.

I also now mainly use zoflora, made up in to a spray, and a multi-purpose cleaner. Two bottles that can be easily transported to where we need them.

I also love the tip that pp have suggested which is to use time when you're doing something else.

For instance, we clean/freshen up the bathroom whilst supervising DD in the bath / shower and just clean what she's used once she's out. She likes to race to see who can finish first she it never takes longer than 10 minutes to quickly sort the bathroom out.

And figure out 'rules' that work for you. We make sure the sink and dishwasher are empty before bed so that in the morning we can put breakfast things straight in and none of us have to come home to a messy kitchen.

I also make sure beds are made as a first task of the day.

We also have a 'stuff' hamper - anything that's been left laying around gets stuffed in there and then at some point during the weekend we all take ten minutes to take our things out and put them away.

Apart from when I go on a deep clean binge I'd say we spend less than an hour cleaning each day.