To ask how long your deep clean takes ?

[Imperialleathers]

I have a small 2 bedroom flat and I deep clean probably about once a month, if that. It takes me about 4 hours. How big is your house and how long does a deep clean take ??

To me, a deep clean means , top of kitchen cupboards, inside all cupboards, moving wardrobes , beds and chests of drawers , pulling out the fridge to clean behind it and taking out shelves to wash ,cleaning the oven , cleaning all grouting, hoovering , dusting all surfaces and curtain poles , cleaning windows , cleaning the bathroom.

Plus a hot steamer to kill all germs!

🤣🤣 feeling very slovenly. I’m over 50 so it’s probably too late for me to start now (it would take too long) 😉

I think this is why I have little sympathy when some people go on about how many chores they do, how much time it takes, how exhausted they are due to it all, a lot of it is completely unnecessary

Deep clean is well known except that MN seems to have different definition and it's more like a mildly deep clean. My mum did twice a year and so do I. It means from top to bottom everything out of cupboards etc. Nothing stays untouched. It usually spans days and includes declutter. That's deep clean. Normally in a spring and early winter.

Changing beds, mopping and dusting are weekly/daily/biweekly normal cleans.

I agree - it would take an average of 4hrs per room I suspect. The bathroom would be a lot less, but the kitchen significantly more if you included emptying cupboards. We live a slightly cluttered life in a 4 bed for reference, and adding up the rooms gives me 52hrs. However, the DCs would need to be sent away for that time so they aren't destroying the rooms after I'd finished them or generally get in the way and slow me down.
DH and I can tidy and get the whole house to basic 'guest-ready' levels of cleanliness in 5hrs, so 10hrs total labour, or 4 if just downstairs. We would shut off our room and the office, to avoid needing to do those if guests will be upstairs too, so we'd only really need to do the bathroom and landing (DCs are mostly responsible for their rooms, I just run the hoover round once they've done).

Just to add I nkrmally spend just like 15 min a day on cleaning, except when I do bathroom once a week that requires another 15 min🙈

I dusted the bedroom ceiling once.
Only because it was an emergencey, here was a cobweb hanging down aimed directly at where my face would be on the pillow.

If you have the vacuum out and on, it takes seconds to chnage to the rush attachment and swipe along the skirting boards... never got why people make out that doing skirting boards is a hard or long thing to do

I do, but only spot clean when they need it (never from top to bottom!).

E.g. a mosquito squashed on the ceiling, dirty cat paws (they make the wall dirty when they jump on the windowsill), sticky hand marks from the children.

I do the same. It’s usually about the time I decide to do a big declutter or redecorate, which is right now as it happens. It would take me a good day or two for the whole house (cleaning behind furniture, inside cupboards) and that’ll include dump trips/charity shop drop offs.

I do have an In-Law level of clean which takes place over a week where the semi-resident clutter is pulled from its cosy corners and relocated to its true habitat.

I like fresh skirtings and paintwork (particularly doorways/ frames) so they tend to get done every so often when they look a bit dusty or grubby rather than in a big blitz. It does mean that the decor looks fresh even if it's years since it was done.

To me a deep clean is paying more attention to the corners and details where dust and dirt build up more gradually as they usually evade a regular level of cleaning. Most of our furniture can't be moved due to weight or being fixed to the walls. Also things like windows that take longer to get grubby.

It's keeping on top of tidying and monotonous daily jobs like washing-up that's the tedious challenge.

The In-Law level of clean has become less stressy since I started loosly following The Organised Mum Method.

A proper deep clean is one day per room, two for the kitchen.

That's normal cleaning for me and I do all that over the course of two weeks. I clean a bit every day, a bit like TOMM but I use my own schedule. Large 4 bed detached house.

A deep clean for me is washing the curtains, moving book cases and closets to clean behind them, emptying the garage, stuff like that. Maybe I do that once a year/ every two years.

I outsource cleaning. I get our cleaners to do a deep clean (they call it an ‘end of tenancy clean’) once a year. It takes two of them about four hours.

We’re retired. You won’t. 😉

I’m reading this and absorbing every detail.

I am a dreadful slattern, but for some reason, despite being mid fifties, I am determined to clean my house properly, and have taken a week off work to achieve this.

I have a bedroom, bathroom, tiny office, kitchen, and lounge. Plus stairs. I will require plentiful breaks for tea, hot cross buns, and self congratulation.

Do you think a week is enough? I have lived here six years and never cleaned the inside of the windows, cleaned oven once. Just to give you a flavour of my depravity.

Yup. Ours is usually spring and pre Christmas. I have now demoted it to just spring, but mums till keeps her twice a year.
No drawer left unturned 😁

Daily, I will:
Clean surfaces in kitchen and utility and sweep floor in utility (pets sleep in there), i keep on top of the oven and hob so it never gets to state where it requires a full deep clean, and do a general tidy up putting all the toys and stuff away, make bed, and do a laundry.

That means weekly it is easier for me to:
Clean the table, wipe down all windowsills, change the bedding, dust (including skirting boards), mirrors, vac and mop. I have a 4 bed house so this takes a few hours.

Then every six months I will clean the fridge and the tiles in the bathroom, and once per year the inside of the cupboards in the kitchen and utility.

So I never need a day to deep clean as I keep up with it weekly.

I try to do bits every day to maintain it, but I have 2 toddlers and I'm pregnant, so it often looks like no progress has been made atall

Thats not a deep clean. I clean once a week, 3 beds. 1 double and two singles, wipe down all surfaces including skirting boards and kitchen, including cupboards. Hoover upstairs, sweep and mop downstairs and 1 bathroom. Takes about 1.5hrs. I usually do it Thursday night after work for a nice clean house over the weekend.

Windows and fridge clean every couple of months. Wipe down the kitchen after every meal and sweep downstairs most days and I make the bed daily (find an unmade bed really uncomfortable). Takes no more than 20 minutes a day. By doing this I find it eliminates days of deep cleaning.

A clean and tidy house is good for me, I know this isn't for everyone. I don't judge messy houses, but couldn't live in one.

Deep clean? As in, the entire house?

Let's see I've lived here 6 years...

Has anyone seen the gypsy come clean with me videos on ticktoks. They do a proper deep clean daily 😳 on their hands and knees, no mops allowed.

I do find the phrase ‘deep clean’ irritating.

It seems to be used in two ways;

to describe just normal cleaning, mopping floors like here. So that’s annoying.

or to describe some extreme ritual of washing curtains and walls

both are presented with an air of smugness. And that annoys me.

It's things like Instagram and TikTok that makes people think they should see cleaning as a hobby and have spotless show homes that are cleaned and tidied constantly.

It's bizarre.

There is nothing smug on washing curtains once in a while. Especially if they are somewhere like kitchen or open plan. Or if you live on dusty road 😳 blimey that colour change is something then