Cleaning - what are the 'basics' and what's more than that?

[vanimal]

Hello all,

I am after some cleaning advice after a row with DH.

DH is quite a clean freak, I am also a reasonably tidy person and like my house to be in order, look nice etc. It's generally very tidy, even with two preschoolers at home with me (we make a mess when we play/cook etc, but always tidy straight up afterwards).

Anyway, DH reckons I clean, but only do the basics. E.g. I'll clean the bathroom sink, bath, shelves, but haven't mopped the floor ever in a while. It's a black, grey swirly print and so spillsand stains aren't really evident unless you really look closely.

Similarly every room gets a tidy and a hoover, but I won't notice the cobwebs on the ceiling.

Does anyone have any tips on going the extra mile? What are the easy-to-miss things I should be looking out for?

If he is a good earner then can you not afford a cleaner? You see a lot of men don't actually want the expense of a cleaner because deep down despite all their modern protestations they believe that the job of keeping the house clean falls firmly on the wife. If you or particularly your DH have any luxuries in your budget then you can afford to put some of that aside to save your sanity.

If you are working even part time and looking after pre schoolers and managing the basics then I say get a cleaner if you can even vaguely afford it and you want one. When I was single I had one once a fortnight as that was all I could justify but even once a fortnight means a lot of the ongoing maintenance is covered.

DH and I are having a bit of a stand off at the minute. Our new cleaner does not do ironing, I hate ironing and always buy non iron stuff, at first I was ironing them but then I thought dammit I work too and hate ironing so I buy non iron stuff if DH was that bothered he would buy the non iron ones from M&S, and now a pile of shirts is building up beside the ironing board waiting for the weakest to crack first I so hope it isn't me.

In my attempt to remove cobwebs from our lounge I knocked the curtain rail off and it took my sodding ages to put it back. The thing is, once you start looking for cobwebs you find all manner of muck - tops of doors, tops of door frames, tops of cupboards and high shelves, the stair well (how in the world do you clean that?!).

Then it gets you to thinking about what's UNDER everything and you start moving the freezer and peering under the fridge with a torch.

Don't even THINK about cleaning a bit of grout in the bathroom, you'll wish you'd never started.

Just do the basics and then move house!

Having a cleaner at the moment it's not a possibility, reasons: DS in two years will start university, we are trying to save everything that doesn't have to be spent.
So and so this year we are not having a holiday, yes I work part time from home, but we have to prioritise with our money, also we made some bad financial decisions in the recent past, so we still repaying chunk of it.
DD in independent school, full fees from this year, so our expenditure is very high, add mortgage and living expenses, it rockets, so no cleaner I am afraid for us.
All of it manageable but we have to be careful.

I'd give your kids some cleaning jobs around the house - they are bleeding you dry!

Stair well - you put a duster over the end of mop or broom, pop elastic band round so it stays there, then use that to dust the really high bits.

I'm not single, hence reference to MIL, but my DP is quadriplegic so he doesn't do any housework. I work full time from home and we have carers tramping through at all times, so it's not a low traffic house.

I don't have my own children, and you're right, when kids aren't there full time the house is always cleaner, but in general, you know, my house is a tiny two up two down and I don't have tons of possessions, so even when my nieces and godchildren have totally devastated the place, it only take 10 minutes to tidy up (though I might just not bother if that happened every day!). Frex, my dining room is a 10x12 room with only a table, chairs, and a bookcase in it. Even when all of the lunch including the crockery is on the floor it doesn't take very long to sweep it up. It's different when you've got a larger house. It takes forever to clean my dad's suburban semi, compared to this place.