Routines. I need routines. Tell me yours.

[nkf]

The house is often not what I want it to be. Not a tip but often a bit untidy and dusty. And sometimes laundry gets out of hand. I work long hours and can't afford a cleaner right now. So, I need something simple. Three basic rules that will keep things under control. I won't spend evenings doing housework because I work after the children are in bed. Please help me plan a strategy, Should it be weekly, daily, monthly? I tried Flylady for a while and the house did look better but I was always cleaning and the emails got on my nerves.

Everyone will tell you to get a cleaner...

No routines here either. But - i only iron (i know - people will tell me not to iron but i can't not! Lol) when the soaps are on so it doesn't seem a chore. I only do housework on an evening when DH is doing doing work too. If he's on his arse then I'm on mine - we both work similar hours

Do a laundry wash every/other day, the main rule is NO laundry at the weekend. Ideally, the last one should be on Thursday, by Friday everything should be put away ready for a weekend with no knickers hanging off the corners of the radiators. You'll only start again on Monday, so let it pile up at the weekend.
Set a reminder on your phone for a day/time when you'e not likely to be busy. On Saturdays late afternoon I bake, the minute I put the thing in the oven I whizz round the house with a slightly damp microfiber.
I wash the mirrors every week too, the windows every other month. The month I don't wash the windows I clean the doors, handles, light switches.

I do 1 major clean once a week as then for the rest of the week it's only a little clean that I have to do makes my life easier

No laundry at weekends? Us that to give you some time off?

if I didnt wash at the weekend then the kids would have no clean school clothes! I do at least one wash a day and sometimes 2 or 3.

I put a wash on in the evening and empty before I go to work. If I pick something up I try and put it where it belongs rather than just down on the side. Dishwasher goes on in the evening and gets emptied in the morning. The tidier my house is the quicker it is to clean and dust so I try not to let it get too messy. The main thing that works for me is to not let things pile up so I do a little and often. Could you work out how long it would take you to clean the house and then divide it into segments ? Decide how much time you are happy to dedicate to cleaning/tidying and then just do it for that amount of time. Could you get the kids involved with tidying / dusting their rooms?

I do laundry every day, however much or little, tumble dry it and put it away, the children (12 and 8) put their own away, do the beds once a week and the same bedding then goes back on. I don't iron.

Anything needing to be binned goes straight there.

The children do their own rooms.

NKF, yes, no laundry at the weekend. It is 3 of us, but we only wear something once.
For me Friday is the uniform day. That's when shoes are polished, Tshirts ironed etc. In my daughter's wardrobe I hung a cotton shoe rack, it happens to have 5 shelves. On each shelf she has a complete uniform, tshirt, cardigan and tracksuit bottoms/trousers, underwear and socks. Nothing expensive, all Sainsbury's. I'm the first to admit that's OCD, but is saves a lot of grief. It's all there, just grab the lot and put it on.
I'd be lying to say I never do a wash at weekend. Ocassionally I have to, because it's sunny and it would be a shame not to. But it is rather rare. We're both fed up to the back teeth of living in a chinese laundry, so that's our compromise.

Plan out the main jobs to be done each week or twice a week then allocate a day to them. This gives you a daily routine which will not be too onerous.

I hoover every day but it only takes 10 mins. Also put a load of laundry on most days.

Also aim to iron every day, say while watchign soaps or whatever, then it doesn't build up (I am not very good at this one!).

So I have two days when I clean the bathrooms, a day when I change our bedlinen, a day when I wash the towels, and I am off now to do the weekly mega downstairs clean (dust, hoover sofas, clean TV) but even that only takes 3/4 hour.

TOP TIP: If you have a spare 10 mins (eg you are ready to go but the kids need to finish breakfast) do something - take the ironing upstairs, empty a bin, put loo roll in the bathrooms, whatever.

I do a machine wash every other day. Any more than that and I'd have nowhere to dry it, any less and we'd be knee deep in laundry. I iron in the kitchen, often whilst dinner is cooking, as little as possible and just whenever there's something hanging on the airer to dry that needs ironing.

I try to tidy away as I go and I tend to tidy before going to bed or leaving the house. When I buy toilet rolls they gets stored in the bathroom so no one has to fetch a new roll each time. I try to have places for things, preferably in cupboards, so there isn't a lot of clutter. I gave away almost all our ornaments and paintings before a house move last year.

I wash up most evenings after dinner and often leave it to dry and put it away at breakfast time. I wipe the kitchen surfaces when I wash up. I clean the kitchen sink once or twice a week after using it for anything messy.

I keep a list of chores like vacuuming rooms and cleaning bathroom and I note when I do them, to make sure each gets done reasonably often. Same with changing towels and bedding. How often depends IMO on things like kids and pets and how much time you spend at home and how messy you all are and how much time you have.

I empty all the bins about twice a week usually when the kitchen bin is full.

I do dusting very occasionally as needed. Other stuff like windows, when I get the urge which is never.

i haveva good routine now but only in the last month or so but im a sahm so dont know if its any good for you let me know if anyone wants to see it if it helps

I am no expert

I am no expert, as I have a cleaner. But:

I don't ir

Clearly not an expert here!

Dont iron, except for summer linens.
Always carry something.
I try to do laundry most days.
Fold ASAP out of tumble dryer.
Am teaching three year old to Hoover and put away cutlery.

Oh, my top tip is to use both hands! I often found that I was doing jobs with just one hand and that using both was more efficient. :)

I think you need to do laundry every day or else it piles up, and you need to have an appointment with your washing machine for things like double sheets - ie you do them every Thursday.

Make sure you have a tumble dryer or are prepared to line dry outdoors, I can't bare hanging laundry indoors, it looks a mess and isn't good for the fabric of the house anyway. I tumble dry, it saves my sanity as it means no ironing (or very few items) fold immediately the dryer has stopped and pop back into drawers. A washable and a dry goes on daily.
I agree about tidying little and often.
Declutter kitchen and keep all surfaces clear aside from toaster and kettle.
When ever you walk upstairs, scan around for anything that needs carrying upstairs and tidy it away to its place.

For washing I do on a Friday - one week DCs bedding, the next ours - this is because there is always one of us home to hang outside where at all possible. Towels get washed on a Saturday and ditto hung out if poss. I do 2 darks washes during the week (DS's nursery clothes, DH's work tops etc) and one light (school blouses, underwear).

Cleaning is shared. DH does dusting and hoovering plus washing floors when he is off during the week. I do ironing on a Sunday evening, kitchen on a Monday evening and bathroom on a Tuesday evening. I realise that's prob not much help to you if you can't do evening cleaning but you could adapt to daytime??

To keep on top of general untidiness I try to spend 10 mins every day when DCs are playing just putting away washing, tidying clutter etc.

Let the laundry pile up and then have a wash day - we do it overnight sat, several on sun, and then sun night. Try to get it all away tues eve at the latest. Only iron Dhs work shirts. 2 uniforms a week. 1 set of weekend clothes. 5 of us, inc grubby baby and washable nappies - it can be done! And is a huge pleasure to feel the laundry is 'finished' for the week

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Posted by DinoSnores on a different thread

I think you need to break everything down into smaller jobs. I have three lists of jobs that I do after breakfast, lunch and dinner that keeps the house running much more easily. I set a timer and spend 5 minutes on each job. Sometimes I need a couple of minutes longer just to finish up something, but it means I know the time is limited.

After breakfast:
Tidy bedrooms (5 minutes in each)
Tidy bathroom
Tidy hall (bring everything that now needs to go downstairs down and put it away)
Laundry
Breakfast tidy up (clean table, dishes to kitchen, toys away)

After lunch:
Lunch tidy up
Prepare dinner (get everything ready as much as I can, v helpful when I have a toddler and a tiny baby who are both grumpy come dinner time!)
Tidy kitchen (5 mins dishes, 5 mins tidying surfaces)

After dinner:
Dinner tidy up
Tidy kitchen
Laundry
Review meal plan (do I need to defrost or prepare anything for dinner tomorrow?)
Desk time (5 min at my desk, tidying it, shredding, dealing with post etc)

I do try to deal with as much as possible during the day in terms of the post, bags etc.

I've also got weekly tasks to do at some point during the week, none of which take longer than 10-15 minutes, so again I use the timer.

• clean out car (take all the toys, rubbish etc out)
• change sheets
• change towels
• empty all the bins and put rubbish out
• vacuum
• mop bathroom & kitchen floors
• clean mirrors & French doors (DS likes sticking his face right on to it to look out!)
• check smoke alarm
• water plants
• clean fridge (I do this the day of the next two items so I know what needs to be used up)
• menu planning for the week
• Ocado order
• review next month (anything to arranged? bought? sent? etc)

nkf, I work full time, I'm a single mum and I can't afford a cleaner. I'm also a bit OCD, so I can't bear the house being untidy or grubby - which makes me all about the routines!!!!

My biggest most TIPTOP tip is to declutter. My house is tidy, I have lots of storage & I have trained the DCs relentlessly drilled into them to always put things away. This makes life so much easier. It takes no time to wipe a clear surface, it takes ages to tidy stuff away, so you can wipe the surface under the clutter.

Like others have said the best thing to do is small bits daily. Before I go to work in the mornings, I'll put a machine load on or empty a machine into the airing cupboard or on those rare sunny days out onto the line. Empty the dishwasher and make my own bed. DCs make theirs too. I never leave for work without putting all the breakfast stuff back into the dishwasher so the kitchen is tidy when I get home from work.

In the evenings, I try to do one room while the DCs are doing their homework. It takes no time at all to do one room - probably 10 mins to do a quick pass around with the vacuum & a quick dust. Even the bathroom will take me less than 15 mins. I tend to keep on top of the kitchen daily, but do get a professional oven cleaner in twice a year.

I fold any dry laundry & put that away. If there is any ironing from that load, I'll quickly do it then. I try to do the bare minimum of ironing.

Nearly all my bills are paid by direct debit & I do my weekly online shop in my lunch hour at work.

Interesting. Some of these I do. Perhaps my house is not as bad as I think. I don't use the tumble dryer though. That would make a difference to laundry.
I think I need to get into the habit of tidying as I go. I don't and the kids don't. There are too many shoes/coats/school bags in the hall.

nkf

Come over to our declutter thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/good_housekeeping/1766888-DECLUTTER-in-40-days-care-to-join-me

nkf we have an ikea box for all the shoes with a lid on, obviously if they get wet they're dried before being flung in there with lid on. Keep like with like, all shoes together and all coats together and all school book bags together. Like Post said, decluttering is key. For me, the more minimal I am the tidier the house is. Less stuff, less mess.

Do you have a shoe box? With those rack thingies. Or just an ordinary box.