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).

Kitchen is wiped over daily, deep cleaned every so often on a weekend or day at home. Floors are cleaned every week and more usually as dc drop food at mealtimes. Sink cleaned once or twice a week depending how the week goes. Hoover crumbs up as I go and wipe marks/spills when they happen. Wash up and dishwasher, daytime is washing up a few times a day and dishwasher has dinner stuff in there each night.

Bathroom gets a good weekly clean, I often will clean as my dc are in the bath, meaning bathrooms easy to keep on top of and toilet is cleaned every day or every other. Depends if we are home all day or not.

Shower screen is wiped down with a towel after each use to stop any water marks building up.

Hoover every day usually probably 5 out of 7, pull out furniture every few weeks and hoover sofa and around the skirting.

I hate ironing so this does pile up but I do put washing away as soon as it's dry, nothing is hanging around. Like pp nothing is on chairs or sofa. Kitchen table has a basket for anything to go in and often gets sorted. Table is used daily for meals so always clear.

Often go through dc clothes and take out charity, mine if done twice a year usually spring and winter.

I include skirtings in the main house work I just dust them and door frames tops of doors etc.
I do windows and oven once a month

We clean as we go rather than have a specific routine.

The thing that helps most with keeping evening clean and tidy is that there are only two adults who are naturally tidy and hate clutter, and no kids or pets.

You can't have it both ways. The same as most of us can't stay fit without exercising. If you want a clean and tidy house you have to put time into making it like that.

There are tips and tricks like cleaning the shower whilst in it, doing little and often, only having as many possessions as you can manage, decluttering, robot hoovers. But it always comes down to effort. Once I realised that, it really helped. If I want the house to be nice I have to do (and delegate it to the others who live here as well 😉).

I also think it helps if your house is in good shape already as well e.g it's much easier to clean a newly renovated bathroom than it is to clean an old one with ground in dirt.

*everything

I never let it build up, have lots of storage and hate clutter. I focus on the kitchen and bathrooms.
There is only two of us so we don't have more than two loads of washing a week. Clean the kitchen surfaces and hob quickly after every use. All pots straight in the dishwasher which I spray with white vinegar once a week.

Two bathrooms. We spray shower after every use, use toilet cleaner, wipe the sinks most days. Then floors and bath get washed once a week.
Vacuum and dust the other rooms once a week, only allow 10 minutes each.
Make bed the minute I'm up. Change our bed once every 10 days.
Clean oven and cupboards on a rota, one per week. 5 minutes.

Lack of energy and motivation stops me doing what you all do, I think. I was fine when I was working from home and was allowed to clock off at 3pm. I whizzed round for an hour keeping on top of things, my house was pristine. Dh has never stopped working out of the house, 60+ hour weeks, I'm also FT. Busy during the day so often no time to have a cuppa etc.

So.....when I come in from work I just put the kettle straight on and collapse, looking at shit on MN or whatsapping friends and family. I might put a wash on and empty the dish washer from the morning but that's it. I literally put off jobs like hoovering, dusting etc telling myself I'll do them at the weekend, and they never get done because at the weekend I have a big lie in to catch up on sleep I miss during the week (very restless sleep the past couple of years wtih night terrors etc. I get up, have good intentions and think "Ah feck it, it's the weekend, I don't want to work all week and then work on housework at the weekends".

Perhaps I'm lazy. I don't think the teens and DH really see dirt. And because we're not having any visitors there's no incentive to keep it "visitor ready".

I think I'm jealous of everyone's motivation.

sorry, I meant to write that I'm back working out of the house. So not much time in the mornings, I certainly don't have enough time to start cleaning the bathroom etc but may empty or load the dishwasher. There is no way I'm leaving my cozy warm bed a minute earlier just so I can do some housework.

I think it's an attitude problem.

I clean as I go. I used to spend a lot of time cleaning, but kind of have a routine now. Since I got my kitchen redone, and got a new oven/hob, I wipe it as I go, so have never needed to actually spend hours in that. Wipe bathroom as I use it, make everyone clean the bath/shower as they go. I dust twice a week, and hoover twice, and clean the stair canisters as I hoover. Stick a washing on whilst I am making a cuppa. I don't iron unless I really have to. I bought a steamer and its brilliant.

@BraeburnPlace

I can see 'clean as you go' is the message, but what about things that don't really come into that...skirting boards, the stair rails, windows ...I don't seem to think about those until suddenly they seem filthy.

You just fit it into your daily "clean as you go" routine.

I do the skirting boards with the vacuum cleaner attachment every week on a Friday, for example. Windows less often (once a month or so) at weekends. It's just ingrained as part of my routine now.

@m0therofdragons can I tell you something I learnt from flylady, which is to fill your sink with hot soapy water while you are cooking. As you finish with each cooking item, Chuck it in the sink. Then when you or DH come to wash up, it's all already been soaking while you eat, no excuse to leave it any longer.

Thanks @pickingdaisies I’ll try that. He seems to think it’ll magically clean itself over night. After my rant on here I cleaned the kitchen only for my comment to come in and put breakfast stuff near but not in the dishwasher, hair elastics, pens and a sweet wrapper all over the shelves. Well, I lost it fairly calmly and just said nope, not your slave! You need to sort all of this. I then took my tea upstairs and sat on the bed while dh project managed 9 and 12 year olds cleaning and tidying. Dd1 asked where the wash basket was... erm, in the same place it’s been since we moved here 4 years ago! It’s not hidden. Anyway, house is tidy again now. They all apologised, even dh.

@FloraFocus

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

Yeah, that. It's what I do now I work from home.

No big blitzes at the weekend, but I wipe the work tops 58 times a day.

They all apologised, even dh
Result, @m0therofdragons !

Delegation is very important.

Kitchen and bathroom are cleaned daily, things are put away in there place as I go. Hoover every other day.
I try to do at least 1 wash a day to keep laundry down too.
DH has been working from home since March and now have dd who's 14 at home (I work part time) and neither of them tidy up after themselves very often so it feels a bit like a constant battle. DH says I'm too fussy but I just cant relax in an untidy house. I find keeping on top of everything and not letting it go is good for my mental health (which isn't the greatest) and I like the routine if it.

My cleaner 🙊 she come for 2 hours on a Monday and when I come in from work it smells delightful and is spotless! I then find over the rest of the week it’s just about maintenance like wiping down work surfaces, quick hoover, dishes straight in dishwasher etc.

You can have all the advice of how to get clean but I truly believe that less is more when it comes to clutter.
Remember that everything you own must have a home, when you go to buy something new only do so if you know you have somewhere to place it.

Otherwise every morning make sure the machines are on or empty. Do a wash load every day, dust once a week, bathrooms cleaned properly once a week (toilets daily) kitchen daily and if you’re going to another room take something, anything with you.

If everything you own has a home it’s very easy to tidy and clean

Me and husband spend our life cleaning

@LetItGoGo

Delegation is very important.

true, but when it's about cleaning your house, it's hard to find someone to delegate to!

You do have to spend some time, obviously, but

if it's tidy, you can literally clean a room properly in 10 minutes, not spend 1 hour because the first 45 minutes are to put everything away.

It takes just as much time to throw your coat/shoes/bags on a pile than hanging them where they belong, and you don't have to go back and tidy them.

The "timer" tip is a good one. Same as when you know you have a train to catch, you get on with it and achieve a lot. When you have the whole day at home, you stop to check MN, your emails, make a cup of tea, faff around in a room, come back, ... you waste your entire day and feel you have been doing nothing but clean.

I hate cleaning and house chores, but I hate mess just as much.

I look at something and if it will take less than 5 minutes to do, I just do it.

Can I ask:
How do you clean the shower when you're in it? I've tried this, but the cleaning stuff is in the cupboard and I drip my naked self across the room and back, spray around (and I think I need three separate products--chrome/limescale cleaner, soap scum attacker, and glass shiner). Then I need to scrub it all. And don't I need a different cloth for each product/area, because if you mix them, you'll asphyxiate? Of course I'm already at risk, with all the fumes in the shower. I don't want to keep all the products in the shower, because the shower is already busy with the 4 separate shampoos/conditioners/face washes/body washes that each person in our house uses (which all have ugly limescale marks).
And then of course once I'm done, I smell like Viakal and my hands and knees are raw. And I'm chilly, because I've turned off the shower so it doesn't wash all the products away. But if I turn it back on to warm up, it water-spatters everything...
I'd really love a step-by-step explanation of how it's done.

I think the secret to a home that is always clean and tidy is to do abit everyday and never have a day where you don't do anything housework wise.
I have a husband who does no housework and never has and 2 teenagers who do no housework and never have.
I do 1 load of laundry everyday and 2 ir more at weekends when there is bedding,
dog blankets etc. Always get it out as soon as its finished a wash as it saves on ironing. Hoover everyday downstairs. We have a dog that malts constantly. Hoover upstairs twice a week. Wipe sink toilet and bath everyday. Always spray with showershine as it saves on limescale buildup.
Wipe down any mess as it arises. Thorough dusting once a week. Bleach toilets everyday. A clean tidy house is important to my mental wellbeing.

I have not read the full thread but my new tip is that I got a robot vacuum for Christmas. It’s amazing. He does the downstairs every night when I am putting kids to bed and the upstairs 2-3 times a week. He goes under the beds and the couch (which used to be such a hassle). It’s a total game changer.

Cleaning is now a quick dust and a mop on the weekend.