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 was brought up in a house where my mother spent all day cleaning and cooking, washing and ironing. Whole house hoovered and dusted everyday. Weekends, all furniture, including heavy wardrobes, was pulled out to hoover and clean skirting boards. I feel guilty that I don't do the same. Work has taken up all of my time since covid started. I've just booked a week off to clean for Xmas.

I used to deep clean monthly. Now I’m older and lazier it’s more like 2/3 times a year. I hate mess so keep on top of day to day cleaning.

I grew up in a dirty house and hated it. My house is always “visitor ready”.

Get a cleaner? I have. I interest in cleaning. It's the joy in mil's life. If you love
It crack on. And through the iron out.

Errr, normally when we are selling up. 😳🤣

We do have a cleaner though, who does 2 hours per week.

Once a year, although probably not to your standard!

I have a cleaner, they don't deep clean though

Not a chance I could be arsed doing that twice a year.

“People only clean their kitchen once a week??”

Depends how you define “cleaning the kitchen”. I clean up crumbs or spills on counters or floors as I go, probably most days but I don’t call that “cleaning the kitchen” it’s just part of preparing and clearing up food.

Kitchen cleaning as in scrubbing inside the microwave or cleaning cupboard doors or wiping out the fridge? Yeah, I don’t even do that once a week - doesn’t need doing.

I like to clean the skirting with my fluffy sock clad foot and inspecting the dust ratio in different rooms.
Plus it doesn't hurt my back.

We've only been here 20 years, so it hasn't needed it yet.

Seriously, we did a lot of cleaning over a period of time, before letting the house when we went away for six months. These days, we have a cleaner in every week, and do bits and pieces when we see they need doing, and have the energy.

It's always eye-opening to read about other people's 'normal'. It's certainly not something to judge. I used to clean obsessively, and couldn't relax if anything was out of place or not done. Chronic illness put an end to that! I still don't like mess or disorder, but with kids, dogs and a husband who's hobbies seem to get everywhere i'd be pretty bloody miserable if I demanded perfection, seeing as there is a limit to what I can do about it. I do what I can when I can. Husband looks after the dishes, bins, hoovering, I look after tidying, laundry and general cleaning. As long as the kitchen and bathroom are reasonably hygienic and I can sit down without getting totally covered in dog hair, I can live with it. The only time full on deep cleaning happens is if a room is being redecorated, which might be every 10 years. I think the key was learning to do the things that matter and not seeking perfection - people always think my house is amazingly clean and tidy - it really isn't. I've just got good at doing the bits that you would notice.

@HugeAckmansWife

Nope, never sorry. Or maybe if I'm decorating a room and clear all the furniture out, I might then.

Same here.

Never. I hoover once a week, dust rarely and try and keep kitchen and bathroom reasonable. Thats about it

Hm, it does seem excessive OP.

I clean quite a lot and am considered a bit of a neat freak by my loved ones, and even I don't fully deep clean the whole house twice a year.

In this flat- never! I clean the kitchen and bathroom and hoover regularly, I dust once a week and I do the reachable skirting boards and a more intense dust of one room a week. I'm a neat freak, which helps. I like to be clean and tidy but not so it takes over & makes me miserable. I only deep cleaned my last rental when I moved out to get my deposit back. I only once spent 2 days doing the flat before that when I had time off because I lived with a filthy, lazy bitch and it got past bearing. I did a daily quick clean after that though, to try and keep some level of cleanliness up.

I mop the floors when they look in need.
I clean the fridge, descale stuff and service wash the washing machine as often as I remember.
I pay someone to clean the oven when it looks in need.
My kitchen cupboards could be cleaner. I would LOVE a cleaner to do all the bigger jobs I hate and avoid!

I normally do a deep clean once a year in Spring, but I missed this year so it's overdue. It takes me about a week, cleaning for about 5 hours a day.

I don't understand how people are so shocked by cleaning for one hour a day?
I hate cleaning, I'm not a naturally tidy person, and I have tried various different methods of keeping the house clean, but no matter what I try, I find that I cannot keep the house ticking over with less than two hours cleaning a day.
I'm not including laundry and clearing up after meals in that.

I have three messy kids, a big dog and two cats. There are people in the house all day.

I took half term off cleaning, and by the end the house was an absolute tip. My mother happened to visit during this and she kept making judgy comments about how bad it was.

Never. There’s simply no need

I spend an hour a day at least tidying and cleaning our house and we have a cleaner come twice a week....and its STILL A MESS. We do have 3 kids and a dog though, so always someone making a mess or undoing what I have just done. I have to run two loads in the dishwasher a day (I do a lot of cooking meals), do laundry daily as well. Try and tidy toys, books and sort through clothes...I need to do a deep clean for sure....but never manage it. Not sure how people manage to keep a pristine house and have kids.

@TuftyMarmoset all sorts I always manage to fill the time. Cleaning inside the cupboards, hoovering the plushies in DS’s room he had hundreds under his bed which he can’t bare to part with. Skirting, fridge I can always find something to do.

I like how this thread makes me feel normal...i genuinely thought everyone cleaned their home often and that i was in a minority of cleaning as and when i notice the dust!

I was really bored under lockdown so once

Growing up we would do a deep clean before Christmas. It stuck with me so me and DP did our autumn clean few weeks back, took us most of a day to do.

But there is absolutely no touching up of paint here as part of a deep clean! And we dont clean anything daily either, just when things need a clean. So a balance I guess.

I think it friends what you consider to be cleaning, if I totted up every minute DH or I wiped a surface, hoovered the kitchen, wiped down the bathroom after toddler soaks it at bath time, loaded/unloaded dishwasher, put laundry on, hung it up, folded it, mop kitchen floor, wipe over the sink/hob etc most of which are daily tasks that only take a few minutes and aren't done all at once it would probably be an hour a day. Dishwasher alone is unloaded in the morning, filled over the course of the day and sometimes more than once, you while the kitchen worktop every time you've prepared a meal or snack. It all adds up

The massive whole house deep clean and touch up paint thing, never apart from when we move.

Mine gets a deepish clean New Year’s Day when the Xmas decs come down

That’s it, it’s just a weekly top up after that