If you have a clean home but don't spend your life cleaning - what's your daily routine?

[valleybutt]

And no cleaner.

What's your daily / weekly "tick list" so to speak to keep the house nice and tidy without spending your life cleaning and doing laundry? I love a clean home and whilst I've come a long way to how it was a few years ago when I was getting to grips with having babies and so on its still not great.

I tried the team TOMM method but I didn't really get on with it and I'm hoping I can get some tips here.

What do you do from am to pm to keep the house nice, clean and running smoothly?

(And before anyone mentions partners - mine does what he can but works very very long hours and I'm only on PT currently furloughed so hoping to get organised).

I have one full day a week where I clean (well I do outside of lockdown - not so easy when homeschooling). I do windows, woodwork and clean every room on this day. The rest of the week I do the dishwasher and washing every day and try to keep things tidy. Everytime I leave a room I take something that doesn't belong with me. This makes a big difference in keeping things tidy.

I never understand these threads.

Just don’t be messy!!

For every ‘job’ you do, cleaning up after yourself is part of the job. Not something that’s left until some allotted ‘cleaning time’ in the future.

You make a piece of toast. You clean or dishwasher all utensils, wipe all crumbs, and off you go.

You have a shower, you rinse shower screen, wipe surfaces, put shampoo away, off you go.

You get changed for bed. All clothes go either washing basket or back in wardrobe.

I used to think cleaning clean things was madness.
Turns out I was wrong.

Do everything as a routine and you think less do more iyswim.

Vacuum and dust once a week.
Clean as you go in kitchen.
Swish round sinks once a day.
Pick up after yourself ALL THE TIME.

It's the last one I fail at.

It turns out you do spend your life cleaning but you don't think you are because it's your routine.

I agree with @BruceAndNosh, what often takes a lot of time is tidying things away before you get to the cleaning. The cleaning itself doesn’t take long at all. A second issue is not having the right ‘tools’ to make the job easier.

So my tips are to declutter each room, and give everything a place. Then, each evening, it’s simply a matter of putting things quickly back into it’s place to make the room look good (and maybe a quick vacuum). This is something the kids can help with too, once older. I do declutters of every room in January and July (doing one now! It’s painful, but reminds me again every time how much easier it is to keep things tidy if you do it).

Second tip is to have no ‘unfinished decisions/jobs’. Don’t leave dishes in the sink - either in the dishwasher, or washed and in the drying rack. Don’t put the dried clothes on the couch - fold them immediately and get the packed away. If you can’t do the job immediately, then (as above) find a place for the things until you can do the job. Eg I can’t always iron immediately, but I have an ironing pile in a cupboard, which I do in front of tv once or twice a week. But in the meantime it doesn’t make the house/room looked cluttered and untidy.

With everything packed away, it’s easier to vacuum or wipe tables every evening.

Second big tip is having the right tools for the job. I hated vacuuming, but now I have a Robo-vac and a handheld stick one, and both make my life so easy. I would vacuum every day with the stick if I could! Love how easy it is. I didn’t like ironing, and got the Laurastar steam iron - love it. Dusting - I cut down ornaments, which makes it easier. Moping - I got a hierzo vaccum and mop for my hardwood floors. Clothes drying - I got a rack with a part that shirts hung and dried on coat hangers. Reduces ironing time and makes it easier to just put them straight in the wardrobe. I still need something to make cleaning my big glass doors easier......

Think about the jobs you do (especially those you hate) and have a google about the way different people do them. I’ve tried some things that don’t work for me, but others methods/tools have made such a difference.

Just two of us, no pets or kids. We tidy as we go. Dust once a week, hoover 1/2 a week. Bathrooms deep cleaned weekly.

We are tidy and clean naturally as we go so nothing is ever hideous. We casrtsinly don’t spend hours on housework

I generally try to keep the main bulk of the house tidy throughout the day, like if something if laying around I'll put it away, and always try to make sure the kitchen is clean (but leave out whatever we're using through the day etc) but every day I do a blast of the house after the kids have had dinner and bath and are wresting each other on my bed/lounging watching something (they're young), where I'll make sure the whole house is tidied, sofas made, any left over toys out away, hoover, clean floors if needed, I rush around and do it and takes about 15/20 mins.

Bathrooms I'll do while kids are in bath, en-suite when I'm going to have a shower (not every day obv).

It would be easier if we had less clutter and more storage but that works well enough for now.

Kitchen and bathrooms are cleaned daily- including toilets
Polish / dust once a week
Wooden floors are brushed daily -washed twice a week
Wash clothes daily, when dry fold away neatly until they need to be ironed
Dcs clean their own rooms , but have daily chores. Even little ones should be doing chores
Keeping the house reasonably clean has become more important as we are all at home atm and chaos and mess upsets me

No cleaner at the moment but keeping on top of the house by always tidying as we go. We leave the house tidy before we go to bed, plump cushions, fold throws, mugs in dishwasher, kitchen surfaces wiped and floor swept etc. Takes about ten mins per night. Also make beds every day - makes a difference to my day psychologically I find to have a made bed. Also get rid of clutter straight away - so parcel arrives from Amazon - put it where it needs to go then box in the recycling rather than kicking around for days.

Also it is useful to get the correct cleaning products for the particular job as it cuts down on time. White vinegar cannot be used for everything.

@Lampzade

Also it is useful to get the correct cleaning products for the particular job as it cuts down on time. White vinegar cannot be used for everything.

Yep...zoflora isn't a cleaner.

Never go to bed with an untidy house. We take a cuppa to bed, one makes it as the other straightens up. Plus, we have a ‘golden hour’ Sat and Sunday mornings - Alexa play list, we then do housework for the duration of the playlist. It’s great fun.
Both work FT, no cleaner.
We also load the washing machine after dinner for the next morning and set the timer.

Facebook hinch cleaning and join that site

My house is pretty clean all the time, I clean as I go. In the morning kettle goes on and whilst waiting I have a quick sweep of the downstairs hard floors, whilst tea brews I dust, fold any dry washing. After shower I wipe around the bath/sink/loo. I vacuum daily due to allergies but because I do it daily it's quick. Always washup and put away before I go to bed, hate walking into a kitchen full of dirty pots. Do a deeper weekly clean but never takes long as I keep on top of it. I also use commercial breaks to do odd bits, makes a massive difference. I would add that my house is well organised with minimal stuff out which makes everything so easy and it motivates me more to keep it looking that way.

-Never leave a room empty handed
-Clean the kitchen after each meal and definitely before bed (with two of you this should be quick)
-Clean part of the bathroom whilst the bath is running/after a shower

• Cursory tidy of lounge before bed
• Whilst kettle boils find something to do - dishwasher, hang washing, clean sink, prep veg etc.

I live with a hoarder messy husband and I'm the opposite. The difference between us is the fact he never puts things away. If I go away for a few days I don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to know what he did, there are clues all around the house.

We have separate closets and it takes me around 10 minutes a month to sort it back to immaculate condition. His is always a mess, spends half an hour every day looking for things and spends a weekend every few months trying to sort it. I usually don't notice the difference after a weekend.

So things that make my life easier - SAHM of two small children who lives in apartment without a garden.

1. Batch cook - that means two or three days a week there is not much mess in the kitchen so I can relax and do other things

1. Sort out clothes in the morning while everybody is sleeping and I watch Netflix or read Mumsnet - I agree everybody can't do that and we're all different - I can't sleep so I use that time to do that - but that way there is no clothes around

1. Declutter (hard if you have hoarder husband)

1. Bathroom - two minute wipe every day

Same as another poster

• do stuff whilst waiting for kettle to boil
• robo vacuum cleaner is a god send as is a good cordless vacuum
• try to buy clothes that can be washed together - most of our stuff is dark so we load up the washing machine as we go and then switch on once full
• clean toilet after use
• wipe down sinks daily - takes 30 seconds
• polish using a splash of fabric conditioner in water which also does smear free glass
• wipe hob and surfaces after use

clutter free

STORAGE, everything must have a place or it will never work

Storage organised for your own needs and habits, not because it looks nice.

Things get put where they belong immediately.

Once you are saving A LOT of time that way, regular daily clean. I have always done roughly the TOOM method, even when my kids were tiny. Chores very first thing, then get on with your day. NEVER go to bed in a messy house, it takes 10 minutes to walk round at most, and it's a pleasure to wake up in a welcoming place.

I never clean or tidy for visitors, weekends are chore free.

My own routine is very flexible, but usually something like: hoover the house on Mondays and Fridays, one bathroom deep cleaned each of these days, bedrooms in depth on Tuesdays, kitchen cleaned every 2 days, living room deep cleaned on Wednesdays
something like that.

Sounds a lot, but I used to do that before leaving the house at 7:30 or 8am. 1 hour every morning is plenty, if you start the day by switching on the washing machine, empty the dishwasher and the house is mess-free anyway.

Tidying up as you go along is a waste of time.

YardleyX Do you have small DC? I'm sure a lot of us mean to finish a job but then someone starts crying/needs a wee or nappy change /knocks over all the cereal etc.

We try and do the basics during the week (in between work and homeschooling) and then at the weekend take it turns to clean while the other parent takes the DC to the park.

I forgot: DISHWASHER

runs at midday if needed, and ALWAYS every evening. Kitchen is kept tidy all day, sink is clean, no fuff and nothing drying everywhere or worst.

Clean as I go mostly. So as I make a meal, load dishwasher etc. Then once everyone has finished eating everything in dishwasher, sides wiped, rubbish in bin.

I hoover once a day downstairs, with a cordless shark which makes it a 5 min job. Straighten throws and cushions, have to tidy to hoover. Probably takes 15 mins altogether but that's downstairs done for the day.

Bathrooms once a week. Dust and polish mine and ds once a week, dd does her own, chuck hoover round up there once a week.

Dust, polish, windows downstairs once a week as well. Laundry done daily, probably put away every 2 days, everyone put thier own away.

Maybe once a month I have a big blitz for a few hours, so furniture downstairs pulled out and hoovered, dust skirts, wipe doors down, inside and outside of fridge, all kitchen cupboards outsides, wipe and tidy inside of food cupboard. Am a busy person generally. Full time uni, homeschooling ds, own business to run, dh works long hours, big allotment with chickens, dog to walk etc. But it is possible to keep a clean and tidy house, you just need to do a bit every day and put a big effort in once a month or so to keep daily effort to about 30 mins a day.

I've realised we are quite messy so its a constant battle. My friend's house is always ike a show home and I don't how they do it.

My failure is putting washing away. I don't do it as I go and now have piles and piles to sort out. I will try the tip above to do it in one go so it's one job instead of 2

I do put washing in the machine at night on a timer so its ready for the morning and always empty the dishwasher in the morning so you can tidy dirty plates straight into it throughout the day

I live in a state of feeling like I am constantly tidying and not achieving much

Once a week (weekend) I clean from top to bottom (she says... I used to. Now I do upstairs one day and downstairs the next). So change sheets / polish / clean bathroom / hoover.

Downstairs toilet / clean kitchen, cupboards, oven etc / hoover, mop, clean the fridge / polish and all that jazz.

Then midweek I tidy daily, clean the kitchen, hoover every evening and mop every other day or so.

Washing is done every other day, dried, folded and put away the same day.

This is when I’m super organised, which isn’t all the time. Often I have run out of steam come Thursday and we have a couple of messy days before i blast it all and start again.

Also trying to learn to be ruthless with crap that is lying around. Eg crap put of party bags chuck, pieces of half used paper etc.

My failure is putting washing away. I don't do it as I go and now have piles and piles to sort out.

I do it in front of the tv in the evening. Fold and iron if necessary, make piles and it's a 2 minutes job to put them where they belong.

Save so much time in the morning not to rummage desperately to find the right sock or a top for the right child!