If your house is always tidy enough for company can you tell me your daily routine

[Ostryga]

I can’t keep doing panic cleans 2 hrs before someone is due, and cancelling things because I don’t have time to tidy.

I don’t mind cleaning - ie my kitchen is usually clean and my bathroom is fine, but actual tidying and putting stuff away is the bane of my freaking life. So I end up with clean floors and crap strewn everywhere. Doesn’t help that Dd is the messiest tiny human alive (takes after me! But we’re working on it!)

I do have ADHD and epilepsy, so I can’t always do hours of cleaning a day but any tips most welcome!

the answer is quite literally “cleaning as you go” it’s hard but once you get into that mindset then it is worth it. I just do it as I go, examples…when I wake up I make my bed straight away, I put things away when I’m leaving a room. I tidy as I’m cooking, i hoover the busy zones pretty much daily. Etc

Honestly, just pick up as you go! Each time you finish a task, put away what you've used.

Does everything have a home? We use the Toothbrush method!

I'm also a childminder and we tidy up toys twice a day, before lunch and before dinner. Wipe tables and load dishwasher after meals.

Laundry in baskets and put away clean stuff as soon as its folded.

What other mess do you have?

Having an actual place of things is the main fix to the tidying issue. Then you just put everything back in its place at the end of the day, which is much quicker than spending time wondering where to put it. I only focus on living room and kitchen. Junk is thrown into other rooms that guests don't go into :)

Also, make sure DD helps in an age appropriate way. Get them used to the idea that tidying is their responsibilty while they are young enough not to moan.

We don't have children

Having less stuff really helps, clear the clutter if you can. I force myself to tidy up after myself even when I don't want to, I have one child which sounds like you do to - insist activity is put away before a new one is started. Lots of storage is great to have as well, those hollow ottomans that you can get pretty cheaply from Amazon and can also be used as seating. A dishwasher also really helps, plates go straight in there - not left on the side for later. But honestly, less stuff is the biggy.

Minimise the amount of crap you have. Declutter properly rather than spend hours wading through shite before even starting cleaning. It takes me 30 min to clean a three bed house.
I get up in the morning and put a kettle on. While it is boiling, I put away dishes from last night and wipe the counters. That’s kitchen done.
While heating up lunch, run a hoover in the living room and the kitchen.
At the weekend, we do the bathroom, mop and dust.
Everything is put away before bed by the person who was using it (I.e. kid tidies all the toys and tech, partner puts his clothes into the laundry basket). Clean as we go when cooking.
I wouldn’t even need to hoover every day had we not had a dog

Cleaner once a week and I put thinks away after I’ve used them.

Everything having a home is 100% my problem, but my god the thought of sorting it all out makes me just shove stuff in drawers and close them and pretend they’re not there.

Dd is getting better, she’s v proud of herself when she’s put her toys away and loves the praise, but sometimes after a couple of days of me not being on it it becomes chaos. Why is organising so boring?!

Have less stuff, and everything has a home. Clean and clear as you go.

I just have friends with lower standards than me. Works well 😂😂

Have less stuff. I go through my home 3-4 times a year and declutter.
Makes it much easier to clean doesn't mean it's always visitor ready though!

DD has moved out so we are just two adults and just don't create much mess. If I use something I put it back. Although I suspect that DH has ADHD and never puts anything back, doesn't close drawers or cupboards and doesn't switch lights off.

Basically, the advice you have had upthread is the best - tidy up as you go along, put things back as soon as you have finished using them.

Yep, wait til your kids leave home!
a robot vacuum is so helpful and the cheap ones are fine.
little tasks are the way forward - quick wipe over the kitchen cupboard doors while the kettle is boiling, wipe down surfaces waiting for microwave to ping etc.
keep antibacterial wipes handy, do the bathroom basin or floor when you have a wee.

I have Adhd and find it absolutely impossible to pick up or clean as I go! I just can't do it. As ridiculous as it sounds, it's too much pressure and I find it stressful.

So what works for me is having a timer. 10 minutes each kitchen and living room. 5 minutes each bathroom and my bedroom. It's surprising just how much you can get done in short bursts. I wfh and split those tasks up through the morning. Usually while the kettle boils! Then, even if I get nothing else done, the place looks reasonable.

I just don't have a lot of stuff. I hate clutter. Everything in my home has a place. Shoes/coats get hung up and put away as soon as we come in. Laundry is put away as soon as it's dry. Dishes done as soon as we finish eating. I wipe surfaces and windowsills daily.

I don't have young children either so there are no toys or mess that young children create.

We don’t have a lot of stuff. We also have a kind of box system for toys, each child has an ikea box (the ones that fit in the four box unit) and they are the toys that can live outside their room, if they’re not being played with they either live in the box or their bedroom. The play kitchen also only has play kitchen stuff on it, no lego rammed in the sink etc.

I have a messy house. I'd like a tidy house but I've come to realise my house isn't set up in a way that makes it easy to tidy up.

There is paperwork everywhere because we don't have a good way of getting rid of confidential paperwork, so we leave it on the coffee tables, sideboard, desk etc forevermore.

There are piles of clean washing because our chests of drawers are in the eaves and we're always bumping our heads. And our bedding goes in 2 ottomans, but they've got piles of clean washing on top of them that I can't be bothered to put away, plus the lids are really difficult.

I don't mind washing up but hate drying up and putting away, so there is never any space to do the washing up, so there are always piles of washing up.

Now I've recognised the main issues, I'm hoping that I can work on them and resolve them, and maybe I'll have a house that resembles a grown ups soon

Tidy as you go, declutter regularly, one big clean once a week, massive clean twice a year

My house never gets really messy so it’s easy to keep clean . When the children were small toys were put away after use or at least tidied into a box . We don’t have clutter and have a vacuum on each floor so that also helps . Washing is put away as soon as it’s dried / back from ironing .

Previous messy person turned to tidy, I now;

1. Declutter
2. Don't put it down, put it away
3. Steal wasted minutes to do a quick tidy, ie; during TV adverts to straighten up the living room or empty the dishwasher whilst the kettle is boiling.

Once you get used to clear surfaces, it's hard to see stuff out of place.

No kids, which I appreciate makes a huge difference.
But I work full time, doing 3 days from home, and have a dog and a husband who works on construction sites and drops dried mud and saw dust in his wake.
I clean constantly - not obsessively, but every time I'm in the kitchen, for instance, even if I'm just getting a glass of water, I'll grab the soapy sponge out of the sink and wipe over the surfaces. It takes 10 seconds.
I put things away the second they appear. If there are 3 items on our hallway console, I'll immediately run to 3 different locations to put each item where it should be.
I get rid of things constantly, or at least edit what we have out - ie, I'll edit the coats and shoes in the hallway and put some away.
As for a proper daily routine, I'll make sure the kitchen is tidy and clean before bed, including running the Shark around if needed. It lives in the kitchen, not in a cupboard, so is always to hand.
I wipe over the bathroom sink every few days as I'm brushing my teeth. We have a sponge and cleaning spray in each bathroom. I also bleach the toilets on the 2 days that I go to the office so that it can sit all day.
I clean the shower when I'm in it.@
I tidy the living room before bed - straighten up the sofa, plump the cushions and put all dog toys away.
I empty the dishwasher as soon as it's done, so it's always empty and available for adding dirty dishes to.
I make the bed every day.
I have 2 flannels on rotation for my skincare routine. When one is ready for the wash, I use it - damp - to wipe over as many surfaces in our bedroom and the spare room as it will take. This is just a de-dust. I rarely properly clean with cleaning spray.
If I'm putting a damp tea towel in the wash, I'll use it to de-dust a load of surfaces downstairs before doing so.
I hoover the whole house about once a week.
We clean the windows rarely. We mop rarely. We change the bedding when we can be bothered. We do a couple of loads of washing at the weekend.
The house looks beautiful and smells fresh.

We pick u as we go, so things don't get left lying about.

Agree with all of the above tips. Also sounds like you are easily overwhelmed by big tasks like me. I find if I say mentally, I'll just e.g. tidy the lego away (but not bother with the other toys for now), once the lego is tidied, there suddenly appears to be much less to do so I can either perservere doing another task like putting the cars away, or if I don't have time, the next time I go into the room I can crack on with a much more manageable looking task. I also try to use mental motivation like, "I'm tidying this because it's nice for my children to have a tidy house", and I use podcasts if I need to have something to look forward to when starting a very mundane task. If you have something you like listening to you can go into autopilot and not get so easily distracted. And there's some good advice out there on the power of habit building (which I'm still working on!), for example forcing yourself to always put a dish straight into the dishwasher rather than leaving it by the sink for later. I still had to do a manic tidy when friends came over today... but fortunately it was a 15 minute job, rather than a 2 hour one!

This might sound silly but thank you. I like how straight and to the point your answer is and it's exactly the advice I needed to hear as I, like the OP, really struggle with tidiness. I am going to keep your words in my head and see if it makes a difference this week. I'm autistic and clear advice like yours is incredibly helpful!

We have a wicker basket on the bottom step. Stuff that needs taking upstairs gets put in there and then the basket gets carried up when the kids go up for their evening baths and everything gets put away.