How often do you deep clean your house all the way through?

[ghejxodn]

Firstly, AIBU to be totally fed up of cleaning?!
My house is not a tip (I don't think!) but I have just spent 2 whole days cleaning it from top to bottom and it's still not finished. Twice a year I usually deep clean all the way through- things such as touch up paint, clean rugs/sofa/carpet with a professional carpet cleaner, scrub the whites around the windows, pull beds/furniture out and clean behind. I also spent at least an hour cleaning every day without the bigger jobs such as changing beds, cleaning blinds/windows etc. It honestly feels like a complete never ending task. Me and DH have been cleaning for the last two days in preparation for Christmas (last bit of annual leave before we put our tree up). I really wish I had a cleaner.

I wish I had time to do a deep clean! Not enough hours in the day to prioritise cleaning, just manage to whizz a hoover about!

Never!

Do spend a good chunk of Saturday cleaning (2 adults and 1 boy helper who is in training).

I'd like to clean carpets but suspect we will have new carpets sooner than that happens (carpets probably a decade old, inherited them from previous owner).

As long as things are hygienic...kitchen/bathroom.

Oh god, never.

Pretty much every day I sweep up downstairs and clean the kitchen sides. Takes me 5 minutes. Every few days I'll wipe down the bathroom, clean the toilet.

Once a week ish we hoover the rugs downstairs, dust the surfaces, wash the bath mat and change bedding, hoover upstairs (both laminate floor and we barely spend any time up there, so it doesn't need it often), clean door handles, give the fridge a wipe out and mop everywhere.

Then anything more deep-clean-y than that happens whenever the mood takes us. A couple of months ago I had the urge to go round wiping all the skirting board and picture rails down... probably won't do that for another year. DH recently spent an afternoon cleaning the inside of the food cupboards randomly. But it's very much as it occurs to us... I bet behind our bed/under the sofas is full of dust, but I'm not really bothered!

My house definitely doesn't look show home, but it isn't dirty. I imagine it's different if you have kids, though!

living in London near a big motorway type road, I would have to spring clean every day to keep it clean. I keep clean all the bits we use regularyu but the top of shelves etc are grimy and cobwebs everywhere. I would have to spend all my time cleaning, I spend a lot as it is. Bits of dirt seem to drop from no where. Black grime comes overnight on surfaces like the cooker, the bath, white bathroom surfaces.....it is depressing. All their toys when they were small had grime in all the joint bits. Friends in home town did not have this and Ihad to clean their garden toys before they could go on them.

Re decade old carpets... they will not be hygienic . Most normal dust is skin I think, so those carpets will be filled with the skin cells and hair of previous owners, and did they wear shoes inside, a sin as far as I am concerned. Think of all the spit and dog shit not to mention dirty rain water in black dirty puddles on the pavements. Do you really want that in your house. Steam cleaners are great.

Carpets aren’t meant to be hygienic they’re for walking on. Hygiene is for food preparation areas etc. Plus dead skin cells never really hurt anyone.

@amispeakingenglish

Re decade old carpets... they will not be hygienic . Most normal dust is skin I think, so those carpets will be filled with the skin cells and hair of previous owners, and did they wear shoes inside, a sin as far as I am concerned. Think of all the spit and dog shit not to mention dirty rain water in black dirty puddles on the pavements. Do you really want that in your house. Steam cleaners are great.

Still alive and healthy with our original feature 30+ year old carpet in one of the main parts of the house. It didn't even bump off the crawling babies. And the previous owner had dogs.

We've got great immune systems!

@Hollyhead

Carpets aren’t meant to be hygienic they’re for walking on. Hygiene is for food preparation areas etc. Plus dead skin cells never really hurt anyone.

You do need to vacuum regularly though. I learnt this after carpet beetles larvae started eating the hairs between the bed and skirting.

And we adults have never walked on carpet with shoes on.

Um....never. I might do one room thoroughly sometimes. Actually no, I don't. My cleaning "routine" goes along the lines of "bloody hell look at those cobwebs, better clean that" (in my defence I do mop my floors most days, and my kitchen surfaces/bathroom sinks/loos are cleaned regularly. The rest of it is on a "desperately needs doing" basis.

Twice a year.

Never. It's always fairly clean. I might sometimes blitz a cupboard or room but there's nothing methodical about it.

@Fraine hoovering yes but ensuring ‘hygiene’ feels like a step too far for carpet!

@hellcatspangle

Um....never. I might do one room thoroughly sometimes. Actually no, I don't. My cleaning "routine" goes along the lines of "bloody hell look at those cobwebs, better clean that" (in my defence I do mop my floors most days, and my kitchen surfaces/bathroom sinks/loos are cleaned regularly. The rest of it is on a "desperately needs doing" basis.

Not just me then. That’s very comforting.

@amispeakingenglish

Re decade old carpets... they will not be hygienic . Most normal dust is skin I think, so those carpets will be filled with the skin cells and hair of previous owners, and did they wear shoes inside, a sin as far as I am concerned. Think of all the spit and dog shit not to mention dirty rain water in black dirty puddles on the pavements. Do you really want that in your house. Steam cleaners are great.

Personally I don't go around licking my carpets so I'm pretty sure giving them a decent vacuum is sufficient.

I'll maybe give a single room a proper clean/de-clutter if I feel like it needs it. Otherwise, nope, who has time for that shit?

never, ever done this.

You are nuts OP.

Those of you who deep clean regularly, do you have jobs?

@Tulipomania

Those of you who deep clean regularly, do you have jobs?

Part time....kids all grown up....3 GD who make a mess when they come but easily cleared up....1 small dog

@amispeakingenglish

Re decade old carpets... they will not be hygienic . Most normal dust is skin I think, so those carpets will be filled with the skin cells and hair of previous owners, and did they wear shoes inside, a sin as far as I am concerned. Think of all the spit and dog shit not to mention dirty rain water in black dirty puddles on the pavements. Do you really want that in your house. Steam cleaners are great.

I don't spit on my carpets and I'd like to think the previous owners didn't either.

I wonder if people include tidying in their ‘cleaning’? I tidy every day, can’t abide ‘piles’, but would count dishwasher and wiping kitchen surfaces as ‘cleaning’.

See I think we possibly all have different standards/levels/mess!!! If some of you came to our house you'd probably set a circle of salt around you and start praying to god! We have 4 kids and 3 cats and I'm not a good cleaner-i try but the deep cleans are us cleaning for my life!!

Yes, but not all at once. Approximately.

Once a month. Bathroom deep clean, microwave, skirts, nook and cranny dusting and cleaning.

Once a quarter. Oven, dishwasher, washing machine, fridge, bins, outside jet wash, drains.

Once every 6 months. Sofa covers, rugs, wheelie bins, window/door frames (in/out).

Once year. Carpet deep clean, curtains, kitchen cupboards and drawers.

Add the weekly clean/tidy, the garden and laundry, it's a pain. How families cope with more than one or two kids, I've no idea.

Those of you who deep clean regularly, do you have jobs?
We both work full time (I started only in the last 3 months). I've found we both try to get the place in order for about an hour after we get home or sometimes most of the night when the kids are in bed where we used to be doing other stuff (tv reading me writing him coding) and Saturday morning I try to get the house in order and dh does during the day on Saturday and tries to get the kids to help. Basically cleaning has turned into an activity for down time which we don't like but there doesn't seem to be a way around it (dh works from home and gets some tidying done during the day but with work on top of school pick ups, homework etc he only gets half of what I used to get done and to be honest he's looking very worn out now)

What are you doing if you are cleaning for an hour every evening when you get in? Does that include cooking, washing up etc? Just how much mess is made if you are out at work and your DH is WFH? Have you got hoards of DC and pets at home?

I suspect those taking hours to clean have clutter. Cleaning really shouldn’t take that long, it’s the cleaning around stuff and tidying that takes the time.

We have a mantra in this house that everyone follows. ‘Don’t put it down, put it away’. Also, every so often the entire family pitches in together. The timer is set and we all spend 15 mins clearing up and putting stuff away.