To ask how full time workers how they hell they can stop spending all their weekends doing bloody housework?

[therewillbetime]

Boring but serious question- work all week, leaving house at 7.30 and getting home 6.30 ish. DP, who also works all day gets home slightly earlier and always cooks, feeds cats etc. He does his own ironing.

I do little housework during the week apart from those everyday things you have to do or course as a) I’m knackered and b) I frequently have work related paperwork to do or study (I’m studying for an MA part time as well). I also go to the gym most nights so I admit that I cram a bit in.

This weekend I thought I was pretty much on top of things at home. Dp and I did all the food shopping yesterday but still I realise that this weekend I’ve done tons of washing (I have a teenage son), ironing, tidying, hoovering, dusting and cooking. I’ve been to the gym but combined this with my college work (reading on the treadmill) and we did relax and watch a movie last night. Dp did a load of stuff in the garden.

I am just really interested in how full time workers manage it all with the result of saying they had a weekend, or most of a weekend to do stuff not related to the home. Or maybe, everyone lives like this and I’m a whinging git!

Kids are also with their dad 50% of the time and I work away every other week.

So really they’re fine after a week of use so how is that disgusting?

I have robot hoover envy! Are they worth having at all. I loathe hoovering with a ferocious passion. What about stairs?

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Royaltrux Sun 30-Sep-18 21:57:17
So you only change the bed sheets once a fortnight @Blackoutblinds sorry that's disgusting

I work away every other week I leave first thing Monday and am back in Friday night. If it’s a weekend my kids are with their dad I often go straight to my boyfriend’s as he’s closer to the airport.

The kids are with their dad exactly 7 days out of 14.

So @royaltrux how the fuck exactly am I any more disgusting than someone who changes their sheets every week? My kids and me are only in them half the time.

Don't worry about the sheets, we do every fortnight too. We all sleep alone, in PJs so all good IMO. Too much laundry otherwise.

The kids are clean and they sleep in pyjamas and if they want to change them in between times they are perfectly able to.

I like to sleep in the sheets and smell my boyfriend after he’s gone. I know that’s weird and I only do it the night after he goes but it’s just nice to feel he’s been in the bed.

I can’t believe I’m being called disgusting. It’s such a horrible thing to say when the sheets are changed after about 7 nights if sleeping in them. And if BF has been they’re done after 2. They’re done the morning before he comes over, and are on that night, then I usually sleep the Sunday night and do them Monday.

It’s such a horrible horrible thing to say. Disgusting is such a strong word to use. Is it disgusting to only change the sheets after being in them for 6 or 7 nights? Surely that’s normal?

I used to have a cleaner. Now DH is not working but is doing full time DIY. The answer is definitely lower standards.

I avoid things like FaceTime with relatives because you can get stuff like telephone calls done whilst dusting or doing laundry (if hands free using earphones).

Stuff that gets done most days:
Laundry
Dishwasher
Beds Made
Kitchen wiped

Stuff that gets done most weeks:
Bedding
Sofa replumped
Hoover
Loos & bath
Dusting

Stuff that gets done when I can't ignore it any longer:
Proper bathroom clean
DD's bedroom (she's young and does tidy it herself)
Dog
Stairs

Stuff done once in a blue moon:
Windows
Doors
Fridge
Freezer
Oven (and remarkably reference these 3, no one's had food poisoning)
Other stuff.

Stuff done as and when needed:
Ironing
Shoe cleaning
Behind stuff
Putting stuff away.

I change my sheets once a fortnight. It is not disgusting. Perfectly normal.

I am retired so I do all my own cleaning, ironing, gardening, maintenance and decorating in the mornings and have the afternoons free.

When I was a full time teacher and mother of two kids at different schools I:-

Had a cleaner/ ironer
Invested in a tumble dryer
Used Tesco’s delivery service when it started up ( after years of nightmare Friday shops with small people who were tired and hungry)
Paid others to decorate and maintain the house
Had very good systems for putting washing through so it did not pile up

I didn’t compromise on standards because I am made extremely anxious by disorder and dirt but it cost me to keep things the way I wanted them.

You have to decide yourself on what you want and what you can afford but you really need not to be spending whole weekends cleaning when you are working full time.

I don't have lower standards and I certainly don't have a cleaner (I wish) I'm a single Mum with 3dc (15, 8 and 6) when I first started full time I struggled and ended up doing housework on weekends instead of spending time with my kids. Now I put the washer on timer to finish around 6.30 when I get in. I get up an hour earlier to fold washing and generally tidy up and I stay up late and do a big clean on Thursday night. That way I do no housework at the weekend. Was tiring at first but it's not so bad now. I'm happier and my kids are happy

I try to clean a room a day during the week. Not deep clean, but hoover, tidy and once over wipe of main surfaces if I can. (So not all mirrors/windows etc.) I do a load a day of washing if there is enough (and there always is!).

Then weekends one day is chore day and one is for rest. My Partner is away a lot with work so we need down time, but also I need some of his time for chores I need assistance with.

Every 2nd weekend I chore day is a deeper clean. So full bathroom clean rather than spay and rinse, and full tile clean etc.

No children but both work FT, I WFH and we have a large dog and 2 cats in a very small house so it generates a lot of dust/hair.

I want a cleaner.

@blackoutblinds

There are bedsheet and towel washing trolls on MN. In reality they probably either live in filth or in glorious isolation in sterile bubbles...

You aren't disgusting. There are 5 people in my house full time, older kids are home alone after school making mess, youngest still spreads toys everywhere... I do ten loads of laundry per week without bedsheets, at least 13 loads with. Teen uses two massive bath sheets every day and puts them in the wash after every shower, pre teen does the same with just one, sports kits, shopping and cooking for 5, activities including away matches, shift work, studying... I aim for fortnightly bed changes, and we're all here full time...

There are always a lot of people in our house, it's very different to the flat I had when I lived alone which never got messy!

Our cleaner costs 60€ per week... No gym subscription though and the cars are paid in full...

Wow touchy @Blackoutblinds you said once a fortnight you didn't go into detail about how they're hardly slept in before did you?

Takes 5 minutes to change them and shove in the machine anyway.

OMG @royaltrux, you're going to have a cardiac when I tell you I probably change the bedsheets once a month! No I'm not minging, I spend most of my days cleaning, washing, ironing, cooking etc. Never seems to be a minute that I'm not doing something. Today I've washed all the windows inside and out, including the roof lights in the kitchen. Also scrubbed down al

Why would I change them any more often than after 5/7 nights? Seriously?

You extrapolated and made an assumption. And used a horrid word to describe me.

@blackoutblinds I do AIM for once weekly but its more like every 10 days lately! People are always completely!

Sorry..people are in them for the complete 10 days!!!

I sleep in pyjamas and I have a bath or shower every night before bed and again in the morning. The pyjamas are changed every other night and more often when I’m on my period - then they’re changed every night. And I sleep with pants next to the pjs anyway.

Would people really change their sheets after 2/3 nights of sleeping in them?

You jumped to a conclusion and you were horrid.

all the kitchen cupboards. But the bedding always seems to be last on the list and I never get round to it. I have the washer on everyday but uniforms and clothes are higher up my list than bedding, I don't think I can send the kids to school naked! I'll justify it by saying we all (kids included) go in the shower every morning when we get up and we all (kids included) go in the bath every night before we get into bed and we all (kids included) put clean pjs on every night ;-) Maybe if I didn't have so many towels and pjs to wash I'd have more time to wash the bedding 😉

Cleaner! £30 a week worth every penny. As I see it I'm paying £30 to buy time with my dd and save my sanity!

Food shop online

I’m also just about to get a cleaner and I’m beyond excited.
When I cook, if I can I will make at least twice as much. Takes the same amount of time but you have spare food for other dinners or lunch the next day.
Definitely lower your standards!

Oh god - bed sheet change is a fucking luxury!!! As is finding the time to brush my bloody teeth some days!! (I may be exaggerating with that last one )
And guess what? I am still alive! It’s a miracle! I thought we might all burst in to flames if I didn’t change the bedsheets every night!

Get groceries delivered
nag everyone
don't cook anything remotely poncey during the week
consciously ignore housework during week (you need down time!)

When parents are rushing around full time all week then dealing with tired kids who've been picked up from after school club or nursery something has to give. Kids who haven't seen much of parents before bed time during the week really need time at the weekends. I would prioritize one day of the weekend as kids/me/husband time as far as possible and give the other day at the most to catch up on housework ext. Can't see how it harms kids going to bed clean in clean pyjamas to change beds fortnightly. Maybe different for adults lol. I think all you working parents should give yourselves a break and give as much time as possible to the kids...they are more likely to suffer if its all work for the parents all weekend than from lowering the household standards a bit while the kids are young. You can raise your standards again when the kids get bigger or when you can afford a cleaner. It's much harder for young parents in some ways now than it was when I was a young parent. Don't kill yourselves over a bit of dust ext. Take as much time out as possible for yourselves and for your kids...they grow up and are gone so fast.

I have a dusty house and don’t apologise for it