When do you do your "everyday" cleaning?

[YoniBottsBumgina]

I need to get into a proper routine. I tend to just avoid doing stuff until the whole place looks like a proper tip and then it annoys me so much that I do a big blitz, but it can take several days to get into this state.

Don't tell me to do it as I go along as I seem incapable of this even at work they comment on it, although I do clean up after myself when I've finished!

Washing up and a quick wipe of the kitchen surfaces is either done at lunchtime or dinner time while the baby eats in her highchair watching me, or while someone ok, DP is also cooking.

Clothes sorting for the next morning is done early evening before dinner. Toy and general family crap tidying is done in the ten mins to half hour between the baby going to bed and dinner being ready. If it's desperately needed, I'll sweep up or run the hoover around at this time too.

And that's it. That's not much housework, is it? Must be a slattern But I don't really understand how people have hours to do every night. I must have very low standards.

You have higher standards than me I don't really know what sorts of things people do every day, because I leave it, having a general tidy up takes me forever so I put it off, which makes it a bigger job (vicious circle).

I know intellectually that if I just did a little bit every day it would stay looking nicer for longer and it would hardly take any time at all, so I'm just interested to hear when others manage it (especially if you work out of the home too) to remind me that it's not some horrendous big chore that I can put off because I feel tired or whatever.

I want to get it sorted before moving back in with DP as I don't want him to end up doing everything and I don't want him to have to tell me what needs doing. I'm also concerned that DS is not developing any respect for the home and that he won't grow up naturally wanting to take care of it. My mum was always drowning in housework (she has ME) and I think that's where it went wrong for me (she also lacked the energy to battle me and DSis into helping )

I should have posted in chat, shouldn't I? :)

I hate hate hate hate hate housework and put it off as much as I can, but I like having a clean home so i would do a big blitz everynow and then, be all happy and then get down and it all starts to mount up again, you can tell my mood by the stateof the house.
I tried the fly lady but found that overwhelming and then I found this chart which divides tasks into daily/weekly/monthly and I made my own monthly rota using this as a guide

www.vertex42.com/Files/pdfs/1/house-cleaning-checklist.pdf

I have the big jobs scattered through the month and so far its working, once you get into a routine of doing the dishes and making the beds etc it only takes an hour or two, ive only been following this for a couple of weeks so I hope to get it down to under an hour, after each task I allow myself a treat like ten mins on mumsnet or summat. I leave this list on my sparkling kitchen counter and to my suprise dd or dh will see items that have not been ticked off and do them and tick them off so its a win-win for me. If for whatever reason I cant get a task done I dont let it bug me, i either do it another day or will tackle it when it comes round on the rota again. Some items are on my Daily list at the moment as its gonna take alotof doing, such as dds shit tip of a room,it will end up a weekly task for dd, but she is helping and doing ten mins a day for just this week its over half way done, much better than spending whole days on the house and then leaving it.
I find i am nagging a lot less as its mostly kept clean.

How old is your DS btw? You could try giving him a few little tasks to help, like setting the table and clearing away after meals an then get him to be resonsible for clearing his own stuff away if he is old enough that is.
My dd is 8 and I am astounded at how keen she is to help now, even asking me to wait for her to get home so we can work on the list together

Yoni you sound a lot like me. I am forever putting housework off. I want to change this too.

cloudpuff I googled that. It is possible to google from MN and not regret it!! I think that that is really useful and especially like the idea of other helping with the list. Thanks for that.

I don't have set times but house doesn't get messy - only two of us. So it is just floor washing/laundry etc.
Lately I have been cleaning and sorting/chucking out every night for a couple of hours but when baby comes that should be all done. The washing gets done when the basket is full, I usually run around with a hoover and mop while dinner is on.
I clean the bathroom/toilet while I am in there - have a box beside toilet with supplies.
Things like light fittings ( I need to do tonight) are when I see them. I usually do a big clean on a Thursday ready for the weekend after grocery shop.

DS is 4 and we don't have a table :( He likes emptying the dishwasher though but the problem is because I'm not in a routine I forget to give him jobs to do!

I liked an idea I saw on a thread today where everyone goes around in a circle taking turns to say their least favourite job and another person takes that job on.

I can't get involved with big lists of things to do. I get enthusiastic for a week or two and then it all becomes too much work.

I am talking basic, basic stuff here like picking up crap off the floor, (toys/clothes) throwing a hoover around and wiping down kitchen sides. If I can get on top of that the other stuff is much easier to do when I feel like it or notice it.

Could you make tidying the toys part of your DS's bedtime routine?

I think the trick is to make everything a habit. For instance, I empty the dishwasher while DD is eating her breakfast and we chat. If I don't do that then it doesn't get done all day, the dirty dishes get shoved in the sink and I end up at midnight cursing while I empty it and reload it all at once.

As soon as I'm back from the school run, I get stuck in. I don't let myself sit down with a coffee until I've whipped round and done a few jobs. It's a habit now, and I usually feel more energised when I've been doing something than when I've been sitting.

I make myself earn a cuppa! As pp I don't sit down with one until I've earnt it.
I do a big clean up day before bin day, that consists of:
Wipe all wood work
Bathroom
Tidy bedrooms
Polish
Hoover
Beds
Tidy living room.
Clean kitchen cupboards
It's an all day job but i literally do everything starting at the bedrooms working

Then during the week bits that need doing get done like bathrooms, tidying, hoovering. Odds and sods

Only recently started the big clean day and I can't believe the difference it makes, I'm not constantly chasing my tail and thinking 'I must do that'

I think after the school run could work for me.

Don't want to add anything to bedtime as it's stressful enough as it is!

Big clean up before bin day is also a great idea - get it all out and done!

Three days a week I'm out of the house from 9am until 11pm so I have to really get on top of things all the time. Definitely no time for big cleans in this house so we have to keep on top of things. This morning I wiped down all the kitchen surfaces, cleaned the cooker hob, put the dishwasher on, and swept the kitchen floor while the kids ate their breakfast.

Beds are made every morning before getting dressed. I do mine, ds (5) just about does his, I do dd's. Open windows if it's warm. Dishwasher gets put on or unloaded as necessary. It only takes a few mins so I'll usually do it while we're faffing around having breakfast in the mornings.

Tomorrow I'll clean the bathroom and sort the pile of laundry that's in our utility room. Maybe hoover too but I did it on Saturday so could probably go another day. I'll also do another couple of loads of washing.

Wednesday I'll do about 30 mins of dusting, sort out the clothes I cleaned on Tuesday and iron any school uniform/smarter stuff. Give the kitchen another clean (cooker, floor etc)

Then on Thursday and Friday I'll be at work all day again, so I'll not be able to do anything until the weekend, but dh will do the washing and hang it on the dryer on Friday evening ready for sorting/ironing on Saturday.

That's my usual routine.. changes occasionally according to requirements.

oops, sorry forgot to add, the kids clean up their toys at the end of each day before bath time. Dh does any left over tidying up after they're in bed.

musickeepsmesane yes after the dragonbutter discovery Im not googling anything from here again :)

I hate lists too, my cleaning list looks massive but a lot of the stuff on there are things Id forget like plumping cushions or dusting the tv and only take seconds to do. I could end up getting fed up but so far so good. A lot of out problem is clutter, just random shit left all over, its almost all put away and five mins are spent by all of us putting our stuff away before dinner and it really helps, will prob save time in long run too.

Some jobs are easy to slip in to your routine and then become habit, I now make a point of not going upstairs empty handed, so if I run to the toilet I will grab a few bits of clutter and put away, these few mins add up and make a difference. I still hate housework but I force myself to at least do the basic daily things and once I get started its not too bad. Im fining I actually enjoy being in the house now and it feels all echoey when its clean.

A lot of people reccomend the fly lady, if I remember righlty you start off in small doses and then build up until everything is done, it didnt work for me but maybe it would for you?

I work part time (finish early three days a week) so I can pick DS up from school. On those days, I tend to do a bit of housework after school, then cook dinner. I always, always wash up straight after dinner and usually hoover at least the dining room/sitting room/hall too.

Then after DS is in bed I may do a bit more, possible ironing while watching TV etc. Quite often while I'm watching TV I'll get up in the ad breaks to put the washing up away, make packed lunches etc.

The "little and often" method of housework suits me best as I never seem to have time for a big blitz. Also DS uses the conservatory as his playroom so all the toys live in there and so I don't feel the need to tidy them all up at the end of the day, I just shut the door! Any toys outside the conversatory are tidied by DS after dinner, before he's allowed to watch TV.

I tend to clean as I go - wipe bathroom sink in the morning after everyone brushed teeth ( i do mine last) wipe counters or empty bins or similar short jobs while waiting for kettle to boil.

What about just doing a quick tidy during the commercial break of your tv shows? Wipe the bathroom mirror while brushing your teeth? That sort of thing? I find having cleaning stuff in the bathroom makes it easier to do a quick swipe if I notice something. A duster hidden in the living room can be whipped out during g the commercial break and run over surfaces/grubby finger prints on windows etc

I'm in first trimester and wrecked and gotten out of habit of doing the above and its showing :(

Fly lady was too overwhelming for me but her crisis cleaning /15 min ideas are good.

I agree blue I have added the 15 mins a day (well its actually 10/5 mins lol) into my routine so I that I am tackling the bigger jobs bit by bit but still managing to keep on top of the daily stuff.