To ask for tips on how not spend a whole day each weekend (or more!) doing chores?

[huggybear]

It's endless.

The washing and ironing especially. People say to forget ironing but my clothes come out of the washing machine looking like they've been 5 rounds with Mike Tyson.

I live in a small house with no kids or pets, it should be easy surely? But no, each weekend we spend a heap of time on it all. I'm not even including gardening in this as that's more a hobby.

So lovely people - any tips? We do keep on top of things during the week but it doesn't really seem to help as everything still needs a big clean come the weekend.

Cleaner not really an option as I don't really want people in the house while we aren't here.

Lower standards? I don't think they're very high at the mo.

We have a large house and I do very little in the way of housework. Sweep and vacuum when necessary (kitchen floor every couple of days, vacuuming once a week or so).

Dusting about once every 2 weeks. Sheets and towels washed weekly.

Ironing probably every 2 to 3 weeks (about 2 hours).

That's pretty much it. Bathrooms get wiped over as they're used, toilets ditto.

You're obviously overdoing it!

5 loads of washing for 2 people..... That's a lot. What are you wearing?!

Definitely either stop ironing or outsource it. I would also get a cleaner. Get your weekly shop delivered. Do a wash a day and don't save it for the weekend.

@Putapeonyinyourpocket has it right. Zone cleaning is a massive timesaver.

I do it slightly differently in that I do:

Mon: dust whole house
Tues: hoover and mop downstairs
Wednesday: Kitchen
Thursday: Bathroom
Friday: Glass (only windows of one room per week), mirrors and hoover upstairs.

I change beds every weekend. I get a laundry load done every day and fold straight out of the dryer or off the line. I only iron work clothes and DH does his own ironing.

The washing is bedding, towels and cloths, 2 X darks and 1 X whites. Is that a lot?

Tidy and clean as you go. Stretching and reshaping clothes before putting them to dry saves on ironing. Wear things more than once so you save on washing. Lower your standards.

OK OP lets get you organized!
Friday..drop off all clothes at nearest launderette with them ironing! Ita a luxury but OMG so worth it
Take 2 days holiday leave from work and fettle the house..start from the top and work down...any rooms you dont use should then stay ok with only a minimal dusting or hoovering required.
chuck out anything you dont need..more clutter equals more cleaning
every night before you go to bed say 30 mins before wash up pots and mop kitchen floor and hoover lounge then chuck some bleach down your loos..empty kitchen bin
pack work stuff for morning and lay out clothes before you get into bed
If you start tidy you can stay tidy..I would take a couple of days off and have a mega reorganization and spring clean then start again!
Crap isn't it ? lol

oh and if you insist on doing your own laundry..put less in machine and wash on shorted wash cycles...!!!

*- washing, ironing, folding etc (5 loads)

• deep clean kitchen
• bathroom & cloakroom
• change bed
• dusted bedrooms and cleaned floors
• hoovered all rooms
• dusted downstairs
• weeding & grass cutting & deadheading (we do have a high maintenance garden!)
• weekly food shop*

5 loads of washing for 2 people?? That seems a lot. I would look at whether you could reduce it or maybe spread it out through the weeks so you're not doing so much at the weekend.

Hoover one room after work each night. Only takes a few minutes.

Do the weekly food shop online and get it delivered.

All that gardening every weekend seems excessive. Surely the lawn doesn't need mowing every weekend?

We definitely spend at least an hour a night choring already (new word), cooking, cleaning kitchen, general tidy inside and garden.

Yes that's a lot of washing. But I don't do sheets weekly.

There's 3 of us and I do 4 loads a week on a 7kg machine.

Do you ever wear clothes twice?

I do a wash everyday, there's 4 of us. Clean loo every day and wipe bathroom round. Hoover midweek and again at weekends. Iron at weekend but I watch something on catch up whilst I'm doing it and only every get to watch one or two things max and that includes school uniform ironing and clothes for x 4 people. Three of us work full time - out of house by 8 and home after 6, DS still at school.

-washing, ironing, folding etc (5 loads)

Why on Earth is it 5 loads for 2 people, that's terrible for the environment, do bigger loads and don't wash everything after 1 wash.

• deep clean kitchen

A kitchen does not need "deep" cleaning every week unless it's a chip shop.

• bathroom & cloakroom

30 mins tops

• change bed

30 mins or just do pillow cases

• dusted bedrooms and cleaned floors

Do you really see dust every week with you out most of it?

• hoovered all rooms

30 mins tops

• dusted downstairs

See above

• weeding & grass cutting & deadheading (we do have a high maintenance garden!)

Get a gardener, weed less, do it together. Presumably winter is easier.

• weekly food shop

This is an obvious one ONLINE SHOP, why anyone still wastes two hours of their lives, if they don't shop at Aldi or Lidl, going into the store I will NEVER understand.

Youre doing far too much washing and ironing.
I'm in a 5 bed house with just me and my husband. I maybe do 2 or 3 loads if washing which is whutes, darks and towels/bedding.
I do not iron a single thing. When I take it out of machine I shake and hang up. If anything we want to wear that needs ironed it's ironed before we put it on, not all in one go after being dry. Alhough not much I own does need an iron and if my husband wants stuff ironed he does it himself!

An hour a night as well. Honestly life is too short.... Just stop.

• one wear

Do you plan to have children? If so you can kiss goodbye to your entire weekend at this rate!

Maybe just pay someone to do your ironing? Launderettes normally offer ironing services.
Me and oh are the same no kids 2 cats. Cats are in and out side though so don’t use a litter tray at all.
I find I clean a lot and still ends up a mess but my standards are high, i hate seeing dust and can’t stand a messy/dirty home.

Oh and wear things more than once. No one else remembers what you've worn.

Home from work, get in your jammies or relaxing clothes but wear them for a few days not a new set each night.

1 - why save all the washing until the weekend? I chuck a load on before work, come home 9 hours later and it's washed and dried. I chuck it on the bed and it gets put away before we go to sleep. Five loads a week roughly - coloureds, whites, bedding, towels and dog stuff.

2 - why on earth are you deep-cleaning the kitchen each week? Surely you just wash the dishes each day and wipe down the sides and hob as you go? Floors swept each morning? What else need doing on a weekly basis that's taking you so long?

3 - bathroom/cloakroom. Rinse the shower out after every use, squirt some toilet cleaner down the loo a couple of times a week and leave while you're at work, then brush and flush when you get home. Spray some cleaning spray around a couple of times a week and rinse with the shower head. Get some wipes and just wipe around the sink/sides after you've done your teeth.

4 - change the bed. This only takes five minutes, surely? Strip bed, leave to air. Change linen a few hours later.

5 - there is no way I would be dusting every week - maybe lower it to once a month? Surely two adults don't create that much dust?

6 - Hoovering - I have to hoover downstairs every other day thanks to the dog and cats. Takes me five minutes - upstairs doesn't need doing anywhere near as much because outdoor shoes don't go up there, and the cats don't go upstairs. Again, when I have to do the whole house it's only a 10-15 minute job. I do that maybe once a week/fortnight.

7 - dusting - again, why are you doing this weekly?!

8 - gardening - surely this doesn't need doing every week? Or, if it does, can you not hire a gardener?

9 - food shop. Do this online, or after work one day. Surely for two adults a weeks shop only takes half an hour?

I don't mean it literally takes 9-5 but it takes a good chunk out of a weekend day.

We definitely spend at least an hour a night choring already (new word), cooking, cleaning kitchen, general tidy inside and garden.

Good lord, life is too short!

Yeh I do what Adaline does and put a load on before leaving house then either it's been dried by tumble drier through day or I hang it up to dry when home from work.

If I ever iron hardly ever I like ironing with a film on a large glass of red. I actually enjoy it when I do it like that.

Stop ironing your bedding for a start.

Put a load of washing on each day. We put it on at night, hang it out to dry in the morning and put it away at night.

Do food shop on a weekday night. I absolutely detest the supermarket on a weekend and will only do it even now out of absolutely necessity.

I'm curious about how much your DP actually does. You mention ironing for two people. I only ever ironed my own clothes before kids. Even now I only iron their uniforms. Is your DP outside dithering about in the garden all day while you're slaving doing all the house work?

Before kids I used to work shifts so we weren't always off together. But generally I could have the entire house scrubbed and hoovered myself by lunch time. I have a two bedroom terrace. If we were off together, one took upstairs the other took downstairs and generally it could be done within two hours.

DP and I work full time and have a child and there is no way we'd spend a full day cleaning. Weekend is family time!

I also haven't ironed anything in nearly 2 decades (ever since I left secondary school and stopped wearing a uniform!) . I always wash at 40 on a standard cycle, shake the clothes when they come out and hang them.

I do laundry every other day. Bathroom and kitchen get a proper cleaning once a week . Counters get wiped down every other night unless something has been spilt. We try to Hoover once a week but it is usually once every 2 weeks.

If you don't want to reduce the amount of time you clean, i think you mostly need to lower your standards and lose the ironing board!