Housekeeping essentials

[harrap]

I feel like tidying, cleaning, organisation and cooking could take up every second of the day if I let it and I don't know how much is reasonable/necessary and how much is just procrastination. What do you consider the daily, weekly, monthly essentials to keep chaos and total grot at bay?

What is the minimum I need to achieve in the house before I go on to do something else like exercise, gardening, reading a book etc.

I have one 4.5 DC, do paid work about 2.5 -3 days a week, a partner who works long hours and does hardly any housework. To avoid domestic disharmony we have a weekly cleaner who goes over the whole house but there is still a lot to do.

i think as long as you tidy up and wipe down the kitchen after cooking/eating, quick wipe round in the bathroom and toilet - you can do that while DC in the bath? and a run round with the hoover as needed... the cleaner can do the rest - dust, polish, hoover properly- round the edges etc, give the bathroom and kitchen a proper scrub and mop the floors... sounds doable?

Bathrooms - wiping down the basins and cleaning the toilet
Keeping the kitchen surfaces and floor clean
Tidying away the stuff that gets left around
Washing the dishes/stacking the dishwasher