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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

What is your housekeeping routine?

167 replies

pecka · 29/05/2006 14:38

Come on..... love to read about peoples domestic habits.

What do you do to make sure how is tidy and clean throughout the week (or not as the case may be)

OP posts:
accessorizequeen · 30/05/2006 14:12

Most of you much cleaner than me. I like to be tidy tho.

Cleaner once a week for 3 hours
Hoover downstairs on sat as that's when dirt is visible again after cleaner
Mop when necessary (battery mop fab)
Clean kitchen work surfaces after every meal
Dishwasher every day
Laundry every day
dp does toilet 3 times a week
tidy tidy tidy all day long

When house gets to chaos, I set time limits for tasks e.g. 10 mins to sort a room otherwise I'll faff.

Also, size of house makes difference here? No-one has mentioned. No. of children/age of children too? I only have one toddler with small clothes Smile Surprisingly little mention of what dp's/dh's do to assist, if anything.

Cappucino · 30/05/2006 14:13

clairemow you're not a failed housewife, you're one of the most sensible people on here

I honestly can't believe how much people clean. And like you said, ds has not been ill from you not cleaning as much.

I honestly believe a lot of people make mountains out of molehills when it comes to housework. What's the worst that's going to happen if they don't dust every other day?

motherinferior · 30/05/2006 14:14

I'm in Cappucino's gang.

Cappucino · 30/05/2006 14:15

oooh! have I got a gang? Grin

how exciting

LIZS · 30/05/2006 14:16

I don't get how the bathroom an take that long- 15 mins max. Clean loo, wipe along window sill and around basin and bath, use shower to rinse, wipe all the tiles about once a month, e-cloth the chrome and shower screen ,hoover/mop floor. Done ! Might do most of it while kids are in the bath and then finish off next day.

Tutter · 30/05/2006 14:16

(1) extract cash from purse
(2) give to cleaner

grumpyfrumpy · 30/05/2006 14:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Gingerbear · 30/05/2006 14:42

Don't your menfolk do any of this?
Why is it that women have to bear the brunt of cleaning up after the family? I would love to have a routine, but organising one that DH would stick to is nigh on impossible Wink

clairemow · 30/05/2006 14:43

Cappucino, might also join your "gang"...

Guess housekeeping is a v. individual thing. I'd rather go to the park than clean (house stays cleaner if I'm out...). DH says that on days when I'm working (I work 2 days from home), the house is really messy when he gets in, much worse than if I'm here with DS! Think I am just a naturally messy person, who feels more comfortable in some nice clean (all right, maybe slightly dusty) clutter than in a house where everything has a place and stays in it.

Someone mentioned DHs - DH unloads the dishwasher, does all ironing required (i.e. his own!), often polishes the coffee table and does most of the hoovering upstairs and the stairs. He never changes the bed (but then I do that after a nose test... probably once every 10 days or so). But I think he does as much as me to be honest.

EmmyLou · 30/05/2006 14:52

Much the same as clairemow - i do iron maybe an hour a week or every other week but its mostly my stuff. Thank the powers that be every day for the fact that dh never wears a shirt. Have a cleaner for 2 hours a week and a big hairy dog that comes home from work (he goes with dh) covered in dust every day and stands in living room and SHAKES.

Cappucino · 30/05/2006 14:53

come in, clairegow, make yourself at home

the floor's the cleanest thing, so if you want to put your biscuit down, that's the best place

my philosophy is that my kids can't eat the dust on the top of the bookcases

motherinferior · 30/05/2006 14:55

Does dust get on top of bookcases?

And more importantly how on earth do you know?

moondog · 30/05/2006 14:56

It is nice to have a bit of order though.
Smile
Just done a load of ironing and made two meals.
Feeling v pleased with self.

speedymama · 30/05/2006 15:04

I can't live in chaos and having order gives you more time to do more things. As I said earlier, I am now baking biscuits because I have the time to do itGrin. An orderly house means more time to spend with DC and to perfect your culninary skillsSmile. Give it a go!

Cappucino · 30/05/2006 15:08

motherinferior you only notice if you want to get a book from the top shelf

which is exactly my point

motherinferior · 30/05/2006 15:12

I don't live in an absolute tip, although I have been known to stomp and bellow about how the Inferiority Complex has all the domestic charm of a Manila slag-heap...but no, the routine here is that our very nice cleaner comes (and also does the ironing) once a week. We keep the loo clean because I am a bit phobic about keeping the loo clean. If the cats and/or Inferiorettes have rendered a rug too unspeakable I might concede to running a hoover over it. We wipe up after cooking and eating. Er, that's it. I think.

FrayedKnot · 30/05/2006 15:13

Sticky carpets make me phobic, it's not a "oh I think I might clean up" thing, it's a "can't relax until I have cleaned" thing.

I'd like to be more like clairemow and NOT CARE.

OK I'm weird.

Cappucino · 30/05/2006 15:16

frayedknot what do you have to do to a carpet to make it sticky?

it's not that i don't care, it's just, well, I don't do much cleaning but nothing is ever sticky

or slimy. or grimy. or mouldy.

it's just not sterile

motherinferior · 30/05/2006 15:17

Apple juice makes carpets sticky, I happen to know.

Cappucino · 30/05/2006 15:19

lol

motherinferior · 30/05/2006 15:21

And probably Unspeakable Sexual Acts, but I am clearly not Desperate enough a Housewife for those.

LadyGreensleevesofGreendale · 30/05/2006 15:25

"housekeeping routine"

Cappucino · 30/05/2006 15:27

LadyGreensleeves you'll be joining me in the Coffee House then?

MadameClarydeClary · 30/05/2006 15:28

Now cappucino, I agree about bleaching the loo daily...
But I think it helps me personally to have a sort of routine.
My colleagues laugh at me for “towels day” (if any of them are MN-ers they’ll know me now lol) but then I know how long towels have been out so there’s no danger of manky (IMO) 10-day old towels. Ditto for bedlinen.
The hoovering etc is only because I can’t stand to look at the carpet being skanky. And I actually like ironing (don’t do underwear tho).
I close my eyes to the mess quite effectively, and DH is a great hoarder so it’s just as well. DD/DS2 share a room and the stuff in there is unbelievable. I push it all to the sides and hoover around it.
I too am surprised by how little some DHs do. Maybe some of the people posting that they do it all are SAHMs (in which case it’s probably fair enough). My DH doesn’t like ironing and is allergic to the hoover (lol) but he does sort out bills, arrange insurance, bank money for the kids and lots of other important stuff. Also he periodically tidies the kitchen cupboards and other major projects I just cannot be bothered with.

Helenemjay · 30/05/2006 15:30

My mother-in-law is fanatical - she scrubs everything! we have been down over christmas just after they have had christmas dinner and had loads of people round and its still absolutley spotless!!
I have seen her on her hands and knee's at 11 o'clock at night scrubbing the kitchen floor! she even has a toothbrush for the skirting boards and a toothbrush for the worktops Shock