To think cleaning the house takes a really long time

[Thisismynewname123]

I'm not a very good or a natural cleaner. We have had cleaners, but DH hates having a stranger in the house (he also doesn't clean, because mess doesn't bother him. Not getting into that discussion now though). I work full time. Currently WFH, but even so, it's a busy job and I don't have time during the day to clean. I'm too tired by the evenings, and I do the cooking as well, which takes my evening. So, how long do you think it should take to clean a 4 bedroom, 2 full bathroom plus downstairs toilet reasonably large house? I also do all the laundry, and changing bedsheets. 2 secondary age children (although one with special needs means she's little help. Older one could, but is lazy). I feel as though this is a full day at the weekend, plus extra with getting through all the laundry. A cleaner does it in 4 hours, but she doesn't change bed sheets or do laundry, and she alternates weeks with the bedrooms.
Does anyone have any tips on how to make it more efficient? If you don't have a cleaner, how long do you think this should take?

Often lunch dishes are in the sink when I finish work and go downstairs. I've nagged about laundry constantly over the years, but it's still all me

So, let them know that you'll start cooking dinner when they tidy away their lunch dishes. Don't do their washing

Or, just come on here to vent, but don't do anything to resolve the situation

We can afford a cleaner and when we've had one, I've just paid for it myself saying it's non negotiable, but every now and then DH has his rant about much he hates a stranger moving his stuff around. In general, it all falls together because no one else cares if it's messy and no one else sees the dirt or the need to clean a toilet or shower regularly

Let him rant. Then when he's finished, tell him calmly that until he steps up, you'll continue to have a cleaner.

This makes me so mad. DH does his fair share but often puts it off and off and off and I have to remind him endlessly and it drives me mad. This would have me ballistic.

At a practical level, a robot vacuum has really reduced some of my frustration here. And I just bought a handheld one for the stairs too. It means the vacuuming has gone back to being me more often, but it's easy for me to do and I don't mind as much. The handheld is for the DC as they struggle to manage the big vacuum on the stairs but quite like blitzing them with the handheld. And then every few weeks DH gets out the big vacuum and does a major blitz.

I work full time and point blank refuse to spend most of a day cleaning on the weekend. WFH I can often do a bathroom on a break during the day which reduces bigger cleaning required on the weekend. DH usually does bedding one night while I'm bathing DC.

I do think your standards sound very high, an hour to clean the kitchen sounds a long time ... are you cleaning the cooker, fridge, windows, paintwork etc etc every week?

I do very little housework, but I don't live in a messy tip .... cleaning kitchen to me means wiping down surfaces, cleaning sink (5 mins?) - washing floor, getting rid of cobwebs etc would be max once a week.
Bathrooms don't really take half an hour to clean unless you are really, really meticulous.

Out of interest I timed cleaning my bedroom this morning - seven minutes to dust and polish all surfaces and vacuum. If I changed the sheets maybe an extra 10 minutes.

A lot of 'cleaning' is often tidying which I agree is relentless and exhausting ... you need a system that your DH and DC will follow - maybe a basket each where you just dump their stuff unless they put it away properly?

But I totally agree with you that your DH and DC sound very lazy - I totally ignore my teenager's room - if he chooses to live in a mess that's his decision.

Our cleaner could do a 3 bed, 1 bath house in about 2 and a half hours with changing only my bed linen. It used to take me a whole day to do it!

With our apartments it takes me at least 4 hours to do essentially four large rooms, change both sets of bed linen and I've now got a dishwasher! I do laundry every night, sweep up most days and keep on top of things but still ...

It does take ages!

The Organised Mum Method.

Once into the routine (after any decluttering etc) it suggests that you do 30 minutes of cleaning a day, plus 15 minutes of every day jobs.

No cleaning at the weekends apart from the 15 minutes of everyday jobs.

It is so refreshing!

There is NO real shortcut OP in a 4 bed house when everyone else does nothing.

It would take the day if you are working all week and trying to catch up.

Why you would allow yourself to be so disrespected and dominated is hard to understand.

Your husband does nothing but won't allow a cleaner.

How about you go and visit family for a period and leave them to their lazy filth and figure out how to reclaim some self respect.

Stop being everyone's maid. Sit everyone down and come up with a plan for sharing the workload. If they don't stick to the plan. Don't do anything. At all. They know you'll pick up the slack and more and that's why they don't help.

I’ve not read the full thread, just the OP’s posts so apologies if this has already been suggested. Could you get a cleaner for 2 hours a week to tackle just the kitchen and bathrooms? Less chance of them interfering with your DH’s ‘stuff’ and it’ll lighten your load massively.

It take me ages, but I do get distracted/ bored and frankly Im not very good at it. So no hacks sorry but i think the amount of time you said it takes isnt unreasonable.
We have 5 beds, 2 receptions, 1 bathroom, downstairs loo, 4 teenagers 2 black dogs that continually shed hair and live in the country so lots of mud seems to get traipsed in. I get teenagers to do their rooms( takes lots of nagging, 1 is naturally tidy the other 3 are a nightmare) Its the kitchen and bathroom which I hate the most, if i was changing beds and doing whole house it would easily take all day.
I try and delegate ( DH thinks this is controlling!)and do bits and bobs during the week to keep on top of it. Sadly there is no magic wand

I could clean for days and my house would still be a bit grubby!! 😂 try Pinterest- there’s lots of how to clean your house in 15 min a day type ‘hacks’ that are quite useful. If you’re WFT partners should be 50/50 with housework but I know that argument too well!! 🤪

If it's a weekend job - that's fine. Gather your entire household, and set them all to work at once. Say Saturday morning. Or Saturday afternoon. No skivers. Not on bedrooms though. People can clean their own rooms at leisure.
Laundry - a bit every day.

Rope in your husband and kids as much as you can
Dont do it all at once , have a rota ... monday laundry , tuesday bathrooms , etc
Throw rubbish away , everyone tidies up after themselves , then cleaning will be faster

Cleaner here. The length of time it will take will depend on how well you keep it in between. For all those saying it takes this amount of time or that, don't go by any of that. No one here knows the current state of your house or how messy or untidy you all are. I've seen and cleaned many houses. A main bathroom in one house could take 15 minutes, in another it could take 40 minutes. Some clients spray their shower glass down after they've finished. Others showers I'm scraping bottles worth of gel of the glass and base before starting cleaning. The time it will take will depend on how messy you all are, how much stuff is sitting around, and what you do to keep on top of it.

My tip is to keep it minimal, put stuff away and keep surfaces clear for fast cleaning, and for bathrooms rinse down as you go, make sure everyone is on board with this one.

MirandaMarple

The Organised Mum Method.

Once into the routine (after any decluttering etc) it suggests that you do 30 minutes of cleaning a day, plus 15 minutes of every day jobs.

No cleaning at the weekends apart from the 15 minutes of everyday jobs.

It is so refreshing!“

Not sure what size/age (which is crucial, usually the older the house, the dustier etc. it is) house this is intended for but ours would look like one of those documentaries where the council is called in to clear it within about 3 weeks with that regime 😁
Would be lovely though.
Yep, definitely going to see if we can get a cleaner in when this is all over.

@DenisetheMenace

MirandaMarple

The Organised Mum Method.

Once into the routine (after any decluttering etc) it suggests that you do 30 minutes of cleaning a day, plus 15 minutes of every day jobs.

No cleaning at the weekends apart from the 15 minutes of everyday jobs.

It is so refreshing!“

Not sure what size/age (which is crucial, usually the older the house, the dustier etc. it is) house this is intended for but ours would look like one of those documentaries where the council is called in to clear it within about 3 weeks with that regime 😁
Would be lovely though.
Yep, definitely going to see if we can get a cleaner in when this is all over.

You adapt it to suit you, the main emphasis is that you don't spend one full day cleaning, and do it in small bits, often.

I live in a 1700s, 3 story cottage, it's less dusty than my last house which was a 1930s semi. It did help that when I moved in it was like no one had ever lived in it (spotless) It encouraged me to keep on top of it.

Our first was 1100 church conversion, bloody nightmare 😁

Do you ever feel that everything is “done”?

I like that feeling after a full cleaning session. Even if it only lasts a day at most. 🙄

Haven't read the full thread but you really need to get dh to do more.
I tend to batch cook so most mid week nights I just throw on a few baby potatoes and peas and heat up a dinner. Then that frees up time to do 20 mins work on the house each night. While dc are in the bath I clean the bathroom. The clothes take the longest. I have decluttered a lot so I don't have pockets of clutter around the house and good storage for toys etc.

I try and do one or two bigger jobs each week (windowlene pictures around the house or whatever). But I don't spend four hours at a weekend cleaning. Dh does the beds. Bins etc

It takes me cleaner 5 hours. It's a long job.

What would happen if you just organised a cleaner again? My DH and I have different standards of cleanliness. It was causing friction in our relationship so DH organised a cleaner and I now like him a lot more

@DenisetheMenace

Our first was 1100 church conversion, bloody nightmare 😁

Do you ever feel that everything is “done”?

I like that feeling after a full cleaning session. Even if it only lasts a day at most. 🙄

Yes, because it's soon Monday again and I'm back in the same room as the previous week, cleaning it again. How dirty does a room get in 6 days?!

Monday - Kitchen/lounge
Tuesday - middle lounge, two sets of stairs, porch
Wednesday - Bedrooms. 2 main, 3rd isn't used and one is an office (Husbands job)
Thursday - Bathrooms. 1 main, 1 closet, 1 shower room (shower room only Husband uses so that's his job)
Friday Focus (deeper clean) - 8 week cycle. The above, plus utility, outside, sofas (I have hairy dogs) and room of choice.

Spend 30 minutes on each.

Then 10-15 minutes per day on 'touch' cleaning. For me it's hoover main traffic areas, wipe kitchen tops, tidy/quick hand vac of sofas, quick clean of loo.

So your DH doesn’t want a cleaner and doesn’t want to do it himself? Ergo that means he is perfectly happy with you doing all the cleaning, plus all the cooking plus working full time. I hope he’s mind blowing in the sack because I can’t see what else he brings to the party.

The meal boxes are ace and you can select less calorific meals if needed.

Beds....tell them to strip them, you wash and you give back. Tell DH you've stripped and washed so he has to make. Stop doing everything for everyone. Reasonably, who would complain first at laundry not being done? I'd be tempted to see how long it takes. Then tell them they are welcome to do a load or 5

The organised mum method is a very good start. The weekend should not be about cleaning and this plan definitely emphasises that. Using the weekend for relaxing and family activities or other things you WANT rather than NEED to do is so much nicer.

Gradually start to offload tasks - do a demo, praise big for completing even if not to your standards, and very importantly DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO DO IT YOURSELF IT IS ISN'T DONE. Let the consequences show.

I have now managed to offload cleaning of 2 bathrooms, bin emptying, older child's laundry, daily hoover of hard floors, dishwasher emptying and cooking one day a week. It all makes a massive difference to the workload and feels so much nicer now everyone chips in.

There is no way on earth I would be working full time, doing all the cooking and being the only member of the household that does any housekeeping. I wouldn't listen to his moaning about a stranger being in the house. That's utterly ridiculous!
Employ a cleaner and put a stop to this fiasco!