Can't be arsed doing housework

[HettyMeg]

I am just back at work four days a week after mat leave, husband works full time.

I do not want to spend our weekends cleaning. I want us to spend time together as a family. We are both burnt out every eve from working and having young child.

The bare minimum gets done - bathrooms wiped down every couple of weeks. Hoover downstairs once a week, upstairs once every several weeks (!). Wipe down kitchen surfaces a few times a day, as I'm still a germaphobe despite my slovenliness. Washing is mostly dealt with.

However we have dispensed of dusting, ironing and the floors are not mopped regularly.

Am I being unreasonable?

I do what you do and also have a cleaner every other week to give everything a proper clean. Housework is shit.

Get yourself an Eufy robohoover ( we have a more expensive Roomba but the Eufy was better. Means floors will be vacuumed without any effort.
Buy a mop that has a microfibre cloth attached to it - I then squirt floor cleaner directly on the kitchen floor - means I can clean it in 10 minutes flat.
Of course some people huff and puff that the microfibre mop isn't as good as a real one and the robohoover doesn't do the corners as well as a proper hoover, but I figure a job done about 80% is good enough.

I hate it but love a clean house. Hiring a cleaner worked for us.

Yanbu

I found when my kids got older (coming inside and outside every few minutes) then it needed a bit more cleaning but when kids are little they dont generate much mess.

But I'm someone who has a cleaner once every two weeks and sometimes hovers and other bits in between though not always (though clean kitchen surfaces every day). I cba with ironing

I can almost guarantee there are more than 5 cleaners in your area

Keep looking, you'll find one!

Life is too short, as PPs have said. Do what works for you. You can always get a cleaning form in for a day once a year to deep clean the whole house, that way it will never get too bad.

I find quick daily cleaning helps me keep on top of it and then there's no deep cleaning necessary. So whenever I'm bathing my daughter I will wipe over the bathroom. I hoover daily because I can't get away with leaving it any longer. I never done it yesterday and my floors were an absolute mess this morning (2 children and 3 cats!). Looking at my carpet just now it needs another hoover but I cba so will do it in the morning before I go to work. I'd love a robo vac but can't afford one it would make my life a lot easier if I had one! If I let my housework build up it has a negative effect on my mental health and my mood and I get overwhelmed not knowing where to start so I try to keep on top of it every day and it's so much easier.

I don't ever feel that I spend much time cleaning (in one go). Dh and I clean as we go along. A bit here and there. We have a portable hoover and it only takes 5 minutes to do the downstairs (mostly hardwood). Clean floors once a week (10 minutes) and then just make beds in morning, clean surfaces and worktops as we go along. We stick a wash on most days but if it's raining we use tumble dryer or hang on line then stick in drier for 15 minutes. I never iron unless it's really really needed. Our house is clean and tidy.

I pay a cleaner to come just once a month and she blitzes the whole house. I would have her come more often but I cant afford it. It costs be 37.50 a month and it is so so worth it. The house never gets awful because we keep on top of the work surfaces and running the hoover around to get crumbs and cat hair. It means at weekends we dont spend tje time cleaning. We go out as a family.

I also keep a cordless hoover upstairs to give the landing and bedrooms a quick going over a couple of times a week. I have a small house though. Haven't done the actual stairs for a couple of weeks I keep putting it off as I hate doing them even though it doesn't take long. I also have dark carpets upstairs and they shoe every single bit of fluff and dust it drives me insane.

Sounds quite enough to me

Too much cleaning is bad for your immune system anyway

Look up the organised mum method, it has worked for me.

I used to clean when baby napped on my days off tbh.
I'm not Mrs hinch but do like jobs done.

Also forget the ironing. I don't actually know anyone who does now.

Lazy cleaning habits I have:

I have a vileda 1-2 spray mop. It's brilliant for a quick once over on the kitchen floor and it doesn't make it really wet so dries quickly. You chuck the microfiber bit in the wash.

I use a steam mop on the bathroom tiles for a proper clean (so quick) but in between just spray and wipe around the toilet etc with antibacterial and kitchen roll for a quick once over.

I also have a pair of e-cloths for the bathroom which are brilliant. Use them every time after a bath or shower and once a day on the sink and mirror. Keeps the dirt away and proven to take off bacteria although I do still do a big clean with bathroom spray once a month or so (really don't need to do it more often when using the ecloths daily). I don't use the ecloths around the loo though as I just don't like the idea of cross contamination.

I definitely have a little and often approach to cleaning.
Why don't you set a rule where you write down a few jobs, you set a timer (30 minutes?) and do whatever you can in the time. Then tag team your OH and he does the same (so one of you can watch DC whilst other one gets on with it). You both get to choose whatever job or room to focus on. Then when the timer is up you habe the rest of the weekend to relax and have family time. The time all adds up and it will stop you getting to the point where you need to do a really hefty clean because it's got out of hand.

I agree none of it really matters. I aim to dust monthly and tbh bathrooms only get a good clean once a month too. No harm done, I focus on washing up and keeping the kitchen surfaces clean but I rarely mop the floor in there (although we are strictly no shoes in the house) and I'm always surprised how unmucky it is when I do mop. I've tried various routines and reached the conclusion that much of it is unnecessary. My biggest wish though is that we were tidier so I try and encourage everyone to tidy straight away. I do think we are slightly obsessed with cleaning and using harmful products though in the modern world so I suspect we are an exception but we are very rarely unwell so I don't feel I can justify stepping the cleaning up!

This is genius!

If you have DC it’s obvious there are no “days off” life, you know I was talking about days off work. And having DC doesn’t mean you never have to clean anything in your home ever again.

Honestly I don’t understand how adults with small children can live in their own filth. It’s soo teenager to not clean because you “don’t want to” and pretend it’s somehow “good”.

As long as your home is hygienic (toilet bleached, kitchen worktops and sink cleaned every day) it's fine. Some people like spotless homes, others are more relaxed. As long as no one is going to be ill, you do whatever you're happy with.

I'm no natural housekeeper and it's been a lifelong battle for me. I began following TOMM on facebook but still found it hard until she launched "Rock the Housework" basically podcasts of guided cleans that talk you through what you're doing.

Having previously procrastinated and then doing an exhausting rage clean, it's amazing how much I can get done in a regular 10/ 15/ 20 min session. Being talked through it takes those draining micro-decisions out of it and it's so much more efficient. I've always been frustrated that it's near impossible to "complete" cleaning, but I can complete a timed clean and have an improved home.

As an oldie, I can tell you that my homes were scrubbed to within an inch of their lives when I was younger. I look back now & wonder WHY? What a waste of time.
The recent dust hasn't killed me yet.

If you can try to do 30 minutes a day, you can keep on top of things, give the kitchen a quick clean, wash plates, general tidy up, putting everything back, toys, shoes etc, quick sweep of floor or hoover, quick wipe down of bathrooms, clean toilet, take out rubbish. Once you have everything in order, all these quick chores will keep everything ticking over and you don't really notice 30 minutes go by.

The Organised Mum Method is breaks everything down so well. I don't follow it religiously but her little and often approach is broken so well. She devised it when she had babies and wanted to make sure the house was always reasonable clean and tidy.

Get a robot hoover - life changing! (Ours is a Eufy we got in the Black Friday sale for under £200).

Also an e cloth mop thing from Lakeland (got one after seeing a recommendation on here) - kitchen floor clean in no time using that and a squirt of Method floor cleaner.

Other than that what you’re doing sounds fine, and exactly what we do (actually we probably do less). Having said that we’ve just employed a cleaner who is starting soon as I’m sick of feeling like I ought to be cleaning on the one day of the week I’m not at work. We’re very fortunate to be able to afford it, but if we weren’t, we would carry on just like you are and it would be absolutely fine! I’d rather spend time with my children instead of constantly trying to keep everything clean and tidy.

What is this "ironing" of which you speak...? 🤔