To have no clue how to clean a house?

[blueonblue]

Somehow I've reached my mid-30s with no idea how to clean a house. I'm okay (sort of) at keeping it tidy but I don't have any kind of system for cleaning it.

DH is about as good as me, a bit better but not much. Since I work part time and him full time, I think it falls to me to spend some of that time keeping things in order.

My mother was not much of a housekeeper so I was never taught, and I just don't naturally notice things looking awful until I make a conscious effort and then clean as I notice things or when we have a visitor.

Please help my by sharing yours or your family's general system for cleaning the house. Do you do a different room each day or a big clean each day? What's essential and what's once a month kind of stuff?

I'm like you, OP. Awaiting responses with interest!

Me too. I'm 53 and still haven't got the hang of it

I once read that if you set a timer for 15 minutes and tidy/clean one room. After the time is up, move to a different room and set the timer again.

It does work and it's surprising how much you can get done in 15 minutes in each room. I'd start with what needs doing as a priority and go from there.

The dirt in your house hasn't harmed you , so I wouldn't bother cleaning any more than you do, OP.

Oh this is divisive on mn. People have such different ideas of what is 'decent' cleanliness.

And there is often an undercurrent that this who do it differently. Are either slatterns or neurotic.

Then how you use your house varies. So different rooms need different cleaning schedules in different houses. If you are never in, your house won't get messy.

My mum hated housework and did the bare minimum. As a result I was always embarrassed about the state of our house. I just used my common sense to dust and vacuum the house and clean the bathroom and kitchen.

TBH I don't understand why you can't figure it out for yourself.

Anyway, this is what I do:

Dust
Vaccuum
Clean toilets
Clean sinks
Wash hard floors
Polish any wood surfaces that require it (not very often)

Depends on the level of mess

Either as suggested room by room - stay until its tidy and clean

Or

By job

Grab a binbag and go to each room for all rubbish
Next go collect all cups and plates
After gen washing
Then take a cloth or polish
Next grab the vacuum
Go back to the kitchen and wash up and wipe round

I do both methods work equally well

I own a cleaning business to train the girls how to tackle a house (mine is a tip so this isn't me preaching! Promise!)

I get them to start at the top and work down. Take up cleaning spray, polish, bin liners, glass cleaner and a million cloths.

Spray bathroom and put bleach down loo. Open all windows in house. Pick another room and start at top - dust cobwebs, all woodwork, top of light switches / doors, skirting etc. Work down the walls to the floor. Hoover and shut door. Do with all rooms.

Go back to bathroom - I do bath first, scrub all grouting as needed. Use cloths to buff into a shine. Don't forget shower glass / mirrors etc. For loo I use blue cloths and just bin them - work outside in and finish with another squirt of bleach (I know people won't approve of this - there are eco options!)

Clean floor and back your way out into hallway. Dust all paintwork / doors etc in landing. Banisters need attention too. Take all cleaning products downstairs and hoover your way down.

Follow same procedure for downstairs room. Use cloths to buff up all stainless steel in kitchen. I pop oven parts in dishwasher to clean.

I would recommend this weekly so it's all kept on top of. Fridge I would clean every 6 weeks ish. Windows tend to be on a rolling basis so a room at a time rolling round.

Good luck! Sorry if this is too vague / patronising! Haha! As I say, this is in an ideal world that I expect from my staff, my house is much more relaxed!

Have you looked at fly lady? It's very comprehensive. Maybe take some of the ideas from there....there are lots of lists/schedules that you could adapt to suit. It's American, so some of the products will be different, but I found it useful when I was struggling.
Lots of help on MN too... e.g. how to clean specific things or a schedule if when how often is recommended.
Everyone has different standards, and different amounts of time they can devote, so don't get too hung up about feeling "oh I don't clean my skirting boards Evey Month, I must be a terrible person" - that isn't the case, just find what works for your household. And if you have small children, they can help too, particularly with skirting boards, and they'll be well prepared for adult life.

I agree Alberts
I would say I am on the middle of the MN spectrum. I don't use Zoflora, artificial smelling aids or bleach everything out of existence, but I do keep my house clean and tidy.

Every day I (well, we, but i'm on maternity leave so it's mainly me atm) do three things without fail. The pots, the floors, the laundry. If those are done, i'm winning.

Never go to bed with a dirty dish...the dishes are done every day, without fail, and the dishwasher emptied before bed.

I do at least ONE laundry related thing every day...whether washing/drying/sorting out the dc's old clothes from their wardrobe etc. Just one, minimum but that's my target.

The floors - every floor is clean and clear before bed. I have an electric sweeper for downstairs (worth it's weight in gold). Quick hoover for upstairs. Mop downstairs if needed. This also includes ensuring the floor is free of stuff/toys, the stairs are clear and so on. So if you know your floors have to be clear by the end of the day, you inevitibly get into the habit of not dumping or leaving stuff on the floors anywhere. Even if your tables/shelves are dusty or crammed with bits, having clean and clear floors all around just makes the place look instantly tidier.

Just those three keeps the house ticking over looking decent. Then general cleaning gets done as and when. General bits of cleaning or sorting in the odd twenty minutes here and there and then probably once a week i'll do just one room, thoroughly, clean the windows, dust and polish, pull the sofa cushions off and look under the sofa for the multitude of pens/toys/wrappers that tend to end up there. If curtains or covers need washing, they get done too. Takes me an hour, max.

I start from the top and work down. Collect dirty clothes from baskets, into washer, put away clean clothes, make beds/change sheets, collect any cups/plates from rooms into dish washer, wipe all surfaces in rooms, Hoover floors. In bathroom clean bath, sink, toilet. Clear all surfaces in living rooms, fluff sofa cushions, wipe surfaces, chuck toys in travel cot, Hoover, dishes and fold laundry. Takes me about half an hour/an hour to do everything

I think it's easy to spend to long agonising about housework, when really you just have to get on with it. Try flylady or unfuck your habitat if you need someone to boss you about! If the house is messy, I don't know where to start, it doesn't actually matter so long as I do! (I go on flylady and start in her current zone. Or start at get front of the house and work backwards. Or come on mumsnet and ignore it all!)

Everyday i do a general tidy just so everything is neat and then once a week i do a BIG clean

My method,

Saturday or Sunday, clean the kitchen. So limescale remover on drainer and in sink, empty fridge of all not good food, clean sides, wipe doors down, clean bin, Hoover and mop floor.

Move through to dining room, Hoover, polish, wipe skirting, clean table thoroughly.

Living room, same, but add vacuum sofas and curtains, clean glass unit, change candles.

Vacuum stairs and landing, polish bannister and too dust photo frames and door housings.

Bedrooms mine and the children's. Strip bedding, vacuum under bed and all round. Clean makeup area, polish window ledges, vacuum curtains. Remake beds after leaving them to air.

Bathroom, limescale remove on sink and shower screen. Clean all wooden surfaces, scrub toilet, clean sink and bath. Scrub tiles and grout.

All windows and mirrors are cleaned at this time, the kids do their playroom.

The au pair does her room whenever.

Every other day I come in from work and run the hoover over and polish as necessary.

Washing is done throughout the week and I spend a couple of hours st the weekend ironing and watching Corrie.

My house is always ready for visitors:-) and lovely and clean.

Ninja That's very helpful, thank you.

I genuinely don't understand what dusting is, as a regular activity. Electronics attract lots of dust (and I've recently found specialised electronics wipes which I hope will cut down) but I don't understand what people mean when they say they do "dusting" daily or even weekly. What are you physically doing, and what difference does it make?

I go a general clean and tidy up every day, "big" clean once a week. I do laundry, dishes, hoovering, wipe down surfaces, polish glass furniture, dusting, and give the bathroom a once over every day. Then all the cleaning products come out once a week and do the skirting boards, cupboards, clean the fridge, descale the whole bathroom, get the windows done etc etc things that don't need doing every day. Probably don't really need doing once a week either to be fair but I do have ocd so I like it done. I also use Method products as I don't like harsh chemicals, the smell of bleach knocks me sick.

Dusting is a thankless task! I open all windows first as it causes the dust to fly about and resettle. To minimise that I use a spray to sort of dampen it and collect it up as a lump rather than letting it escape! If you start at the top (door frames etc) any dust that falls will fall lower, so should theoretically be picked up again as you move down the room. Finish off with hoovering to get what's gone on the floor.

It's easier to clean if the house is tidy first, so organise and de clutter ( If it needs doing )

I always start in the Kitchen,
So wash up, wipe and put away,
Clean work tops and cooker tops and dining table ( I use the Dettol Pomegranate and Lime spray )
Hoover and mop the floor

Living room,
Hoover
Polish
Dust

Bathroom,
Bleach everything
Cillit Bang or Viakal for the taps and shower screen
Also I keep a packet of anti bac wipes in the bathroom and give everything a quick wipe down every day, this helps keep on top of it and lessens deep cleaning time

Bedrooms, I only clean every other day.
I change the bedding once a week
Hoover every other day
Polish/wipe down bedroom furniture

I actually start downstairs and work my way up

Newspaper is great for cleaning glass as is micro fibre cloths
Kitchen roll and a bit of glass cleaner shines up stainless steel really well.

For kids stuff, One big box for it all, it makes it easier to keep tidy and saves on storage space.

I do a deep clean once every 3 months or so, which will be
Wash all the paintwork
Clean all the windows
Pull the fridge out and clean behind and under
Deep clean the oven
Clean the carpets

Wow this is already so helpful!! Thank you.

No explanation too patronising at this point, ninja

As in, nothing is too patronising, it's helpful!

I tidy and put away, then start at the top.

So in one room i'll look at what's highest. Wipe and declutter shelves etc, then cupboards, drawers.. means i just wipe everything to the level below, so any dust or muck finishes on the floor. Then clean the floor last.

Same with bathrooms. Shower, then bath, then sink, then toilet, then floor.

Repeat until you are left with one downstairs room, where you can dustpan and brush the final mess.

Depending on time i can do either a room or two, or do upstairs then downstairs the next day. Iknow people who prefer to do a little bit every day, but i like doing one big clean where you know it's done, you can have a few days not cleaning, and i love the feeling of being able to walk through the house knowing it's all done.

Here is a great start!

I genuinely don't understand what dusting is, as a regular activity. Electronics attract lots of dust (and I've recently found specialised electronics wipes which I hope will cut down) but I don't understand what people mean when they say they do "dusting" daily or even weekly. What are you physically doing, and what difference does it make?

Dust cloth wiping every surface, books, ornaments, shelves, tops of pictures, door frames etc. If you don't you will find a film of grey dust over everything.*

*I don't physically do this myself I pay a cleaner to do it as I hate cleaning.

Yes, agree about "dusting" it sounds like someone whipping about with a feather thing which just causes dust to settle somewhere else.

I wipe shelves with a damp cloth...only once a week though.

Floor gets swept once a day and mopped every other...hard floors throughout.