To ask how to clean my house

[SneakySnackySquirrel]

Right. So this is embarrassing. Be kind.

I FINALLY feel like I'm almost on top of keeping the house tidy. I'm only 41.

But it has emphasised how dirty it is. The house needs a lot of work so some rooms would look grotty even if they were cleaned to within an inch of their life. But the whole house is kind of grim. I don't where to start. I cleaned the downstairs windows the other day. It took all afternoon and within 30 mins of finishing one, it was covered in cat paw prints and my husband wouldn't clean a bit I couldn't reach on another one so I was deflated and just couldn't find the energy to do anything else.

My husband doesn't pull his weight. I don't know whether it's worth the hassle fighting with him over and over again because nothing changes. If I wait for him to do something, it never gets done and ends up knocking everything else off. Plus, that whole mental load thing, it's easier for me if I just do it. Although I do resent it and it's setting up a rubbish message for my daughter.

I'll dust and half an hour later it's dusty again.

We can't afford a cleaner.

2 bed house, just 3 of us and a cat. I work full time. Flylady just infuriated me.

I just don't know how to do it.

Oh and get Oven Pride for your oven. No scrubbing, easy and surprisingly satisfying. Just leave in the oven overnight and wipe clean the next morning. Oven cleaning is the only thing I am good at!

If your house has building work that needs doing it will feel dirty, even if it’s not dirty-I’m in the middle of a renovation and it’s driving me mad because it never looks nice at the moment so I understand what you mean.
Your husband is a lazy bastard though, mine also is but in his defence he is out at work all different shifts and is also doing the DIY but he still needs to learn to do the maintenance like putting washing away, loading and unloading the dishwasher etc

I think given your circumstances ideas like the kallax washing baskets is a good one, I’ve found it easier to deal with the reno mess if I have storage!

The other thing I find helps (I’m not a natural cleaner!) is to get decent cleaning products like Method-I only ever tried it because it was recommended on MN and was surprised at how good it was, much better than most cleaners and small lovely, I also rate Star Drops for general cleaning and that’s really cheap/ micro fibre cloths and a hand held hoover.