What's your basic cleaning routine that leaves your house in an acceptable state?

[thedrummerswife]

Following a very busy time at work, I'm now off sick with stress and depression. Nothing much had been done in the house and now I need to get back into a routine. However, I have no motivation and am tired and struggling to get going.

The house isn't untidy (apart from ds 23 room and I'm not riding that!), although the garage and cupboards are full of clutter, but all I've done recently is occasionally dust the living room, wipe over washbasin and loo, wipe over kitchen work surfaces and hoover.

What's your usual routine and how often do you do things like cleaning skirting boards, doors, tiles, lamp shades?

I washed the kitchen floor today for the first time in months! Now I don't know what to do next, it feels overwhelming

I'm not thinking of decluttering at the moment, I just want to feel like my house is acceptable.

Then I'll tackle the garden ...

Should add that I am encouraging DC to join in.

DD (13) is much neater than I am at getting the wash in. She loves to unpack the shopping too (result).

DS2 (11) can be persuaded to sweep kitchen floor. All do their own beds.

Ok after reading most of the posts i realise im a complete slob and im fine with that :D... I like my home tidy and fresh but the reality is i am lazy and i guess i ignore whats around me. out off 100% this is how i would rate my rooms.
Kitchen 80%
Living room 60% (Too much junk, homework, magazines, xbox games)
toilet 90%
Bathroom 100% (it just got done)
DS bedroom 70%
My bedroom 0% (Clothes on floor, Vanity needs cleaning, 4-5 washloads of ironing needs putting away, needs hoovering...)
The list goes on but i shall not continue all though i will add my DS 11 does not use his clothes hamper he just throws it into my room on the floor at which point i ignore it or kick it in the general direction of my clothes hamper.

Is it weird, that I clean the dog kennel and his bedding? Yet we've had our gorgeous GSD going on 10 years and he's only ever had 3 baths!...

I've figured out that if I fold/coat hanger the clothes as soon as the dryer is done (and not on too long) then I can completely avoid ironing. Also, if you roll up your clothes instead of folding, you avoid the creases - all the DCs clothes are rolled up in drawers

DS (6) attempts to help me clean, but he just EVERYTHING in the clean closet including toys....

Just choose the one thing that pisses you off the most, in the room that pisses you off the most. Do it, feel a tonne better, then after an hour/day/week or two, do the next worst thing. And rest often with tea & biscuits/mn/stroking the cat or whatever while doing it.

OP, please listen to your Dr and go easy on yourself! Spend some time in the garden, even if with a cup of tea and magazine planning what you might like to do in it . This warmish weather is supposed to be here all week so make the most of it and spend as much time outside as possible, if only to top up on vitamin D before winter arrives!

Then you can move indoors and do little and often. Do one particular thing that's been bugging you and it'll give you the satisfaction to perhaps inspire you to tackle something else.

Blimey, shouldn't have read this thread feel like a complete slob compared to most of you lot!

The kitchen is kept clean and clear - so I keep on top of this every day.

The bathroom is kept tidy but cleaned properly (everything bleached and scrubbed) once a fortnight week.

I hoover when the floor looks messy.

I dust when the surfaces look dusty and I have time.

Dd 8yo is pretty good at keeping her room tidy.

There is normally a load of washing to do most days and I make the most of nice weather to get bedding, sofa covers etc washed (prob about once or twice a month).

I would clean other stuff like lampshades, skirting boards etc if I thought they looked grubby and I had time.

I wouldn't want and don't leave in a complete flea pit but also wouldn't want to live somewhere that you couldn't relax in or worried that if you sat down it would look untidy.

Clutter however does drive me mad and I am very careful about what stuff I keep and try not to get sentimental about things. Over the summer hols I blitzed dds room and got rid of 8 bags of 'stuff' - felt great leaving it at the charity shop and dds room looked twice as big after!! I don't keep anything unless I really like/want it and/or it is useful.

DAILY

• put any clothes in washer
• wash up, put away pots, wipe down sides
• put away clothes
• make beds
• wipe down bathroom sink, loo, bath.
• put away any toys
• vacuum downstairs

WEEKLY

• dust and polish
• mop kitchen and bathroom floor
• change bedding
• shine mirrors

MONTHLY

• wipe down kitchen tiles
• wipe skirting boards
• clean inside fridge
• clean inside oven

I only iron items as and when they're needed as I hate ironing!
Morrisons own brand tumble dryer sheets on radiators give off a lovely smell.

Looking forward to reading this thread for ideas when I get chance later.

Dh was out Friday and I managed to get some stuff done, mopped the floors, hoovered and dusted. Then I was shattered! I didn't feel like gardening It looks like an impossible task, it has been neglected for too long.

Thanks for all the replies. I don't know if I can do as much as some of you. I think I have to go back to work very soon while I still have a job to go back to I'm going to have a chat with my gp at my appointment this week.

Daily

Wash dishes and counters after every meal/snack. Put it all away

Sweep downstairs once a day. Kitchen after every meal.

General tidy throughout the day.

Wash kitchen floor every other day.

Squirt stuff down toilet every day.

Clean toilets and bathroom sinks every day or every other day.

Make beds- never

Tidy kids rooms- never

Washing- a load most days

Clean fridge- once in a blue moon

Wash inside windows.. well

Dust- When it gets so bad I can no longer stand it

Wash stairs, walls, doors etc most days but just a quick go over and visible marks.

Wash all the floors- well not as much as I should but I aim for once a week.

The upstairs of my house is a mess. Downstairs can be cluttered.

MONDAY - living room and dining room
Polish mirrors and glass
Damp dust skirting & paintwork
Vacuum floors, curtains and soft furniture
Empty out woodburner when in use

TUESDAY - kitchen & utility room
Clean microwave
Clean oven
Strip and clean fridge
Clean cupboard doors/sides
Clean washing machine and tumble dryer
Sweep & steam mop
Polish table and furniture
Clean underneath small appliances

WEDNESDAY - bathrooms x3
Clean all sinks/loos including the pedestal & underneath the bowls
Clean tiling
Polish mirrors
Steam mop floor
Clean paintwork

THURSDAY - DDs bedroom
Vacuum stairs 3 flights and hallways
Change bed
Tidy up drawers and cupboards if necessary
Wash rug
Clean paintwork, pictures and polish wood

FRIDAY - our bedroom and my study
Change bed
Sweep
Hoover rug
Clean furniture
Wet dust skirting, sash windows, lamps

Spare bedroom is cleaned when occupied. BIL and SIL are responsible for their own rooms.

Daily jobs - clean down kitchen worktops, washing up, clean bath after use for next person, basins and loos every day. Make beds and tidy

truffle do you have an out of the home job and children as well?!

There just wouldn't be enough hours in the day for me to do that much house work and I am at how nice your house sounds!

Your house sounds too clean for me. I'd have to where an apron in case I dropped anything on your clean floors

That reminds me; the bath needs cleaning. The DC were weirdly filthy today

I have a 5 year old and work about 50 hours per week out of the home. I dont do all of that - DH does quite a lot of housework and i potter in the evenings with my ipad. Apart from tuesdays i don't soend more than an hour a day on housework, working in hotels for donkeys years made me very quick at cleaning bathrooms and bedrooms lol

I like a clean house. I lose things easily, have suspected adhd and living in cleanliness and order helps me to feel on top of things,

Another vote for flylady, come join us on the fledglings thread.

My routine:

DAILY -
Wipe around sinks, toilet, kitchen surfaces etc
Washing (I have 3 DC and can't manage to not wash daily)
Ironing
Sweep kitchen floor

TWICE A WEEK -
Hoover
Dust downstairs
Clean bathroom and toilets properly

WEEKLY -
Mop kitchen and bathroom floors
Change beds
Dust upstairs

Things like skirting boards, windows etc get cleaned when they need it, but roughly once a month.

We are all out all day (3 DC at school, DH and I work FT) so there isn't that much mess, but tidying up every night keeps on top of it. The DC's rooms are the least tidy parts of the house and so the hardest to clean.

I hate cleaning but like the feeling of having got it done. Nothing beats sitting down with a cuppa in a tidy, clean house for five minutes until the DC get home.

I envy your speed of doing things. Takes me ages just to do the bedding - hate the bloody things

Our office is probably the only thing deep cleaned and clutter free! Can't work in clutter with missing papers and DH pinching my stapler!

5 ? She's not 5 ! She's 4 !

Because the house never gets too dirty none of the jobs actually take too long. All those kitchen jobs take 1.5 hours max, i do them while dd has her breakfast in the kitchen with me.

DH does the daily jobs like loading dishwasher, washing, quick once over of bathrooms. I mAke the bed when we get out of it, 2 second job

The best time managment tip i can give is "stop procrastinating, just crack on with it"

multiple i hoovered and mopped (with a string mop) 150 capacity function room this morning - my kitchen with an electric steam mop is child's play

I so need to brush up my efficiency!

I agree trufflehunter, a lot of these things don't take long.

I will quickly strip our bed in a random 5 mins before I go to work. It takes 8 mins to hoover the downstairs of our biggish house. It takes about 4 mins to steam mop the kitchen floor.

It's often a question of cracking on before it becomes an impossible task.

Sounds sad but I find keeping on top of housework and having at least one tidy room I can sit in helps my depression. Tidy house ,tidy mind as my partner says. My bare necessities in the morning is washing up ,a load in washing line ,a load out on line and sides cleaned. Going by how much time if I have any I'll I'll usually go on to hoovering ,or something that's needed doing in a while like cleaning a cupboard etc... I find my motivation usually comes AFTER I've done everything but I try and think about how good I'll feel afterwards once I've done it. For instance I'm settling down now after getting kids to bed feeling pretty great as I've done all the bits that I haven't been able to do in the morning as I've been working (usually I'll leave it until Monday morning ,which means bigger workload ) ,and have also done my 3 aims this week (ordering a new carpet for hallway ,sorting front garden and sorting back garden ).

Wow, truffle, you are truly inspiring

Standing..I agree.
I feel so much better mentally if my environment is clean and tidy.