What do you do every day as habit?

[ThatBloodyWoman]

I can't find it in myself to spend too much time on housework, and I certainly couldn't stick to a daily cleaning routine (ie beds Monday, bathroom Tues).

But, I would like to incorporate a little more into my daily life, as a barely noticed habit, so the big clean ups, especially if expecting visitors aren't so enormous.

So what do you do daily, as habit, and do you do anything (using various items, keeping things in certain places etc) to help you do this?

I don't feel particularly qualified to tell anyone how to be a good housekeeper, but this is what DH and I do every day.

breakfast 7-9
unload the load dishwasher
put wash on and hang out

get home from work 6pm
get washing in, fold up and put away (no ironing here!)
cook dinner, do homework
unload the load dishwasher
While DD is in bath, tidy everything away

on Saturday morning
clean bathroom and hoover.

That's it!

Every 4 weeks or so, we clean front of kitchen cupboards, walls, hoover behind beds etc - general spring clean.

Rather than clean everywhere, tidy instead.

I had a cleaner and, although she did hoover and clean, what made the big difference was tidying.

Pile papers, pens in one neat pile. Fold and hang towels, tea towels. Put shoes side by side. Stack school bags neatly.

Made such a difference, things look cared for rather than scruffy.

I have found something for a time pocket!

I've just done the cobwebs can't remember the last time they were done.

What a difference!!! I didn't realise quite what a big factor they are in making a place look squalid.....

Feather dusters are useful!

Oh yes minkah - excellent for playing with the dog too...

dozie I think you are so right.
If the place isn't tidyish its so much harder to clean, and when it is clean, the mess detracts from it.

I work from home every now and then and also use my lunch hour to hoover and wash the bedding on that day.

I also have weekly meetings at my house and having neat people round to visit is a great motivator too.

I set a timer and we all spend 5/10 minutes tidying up each day before bed, it is easier to get DC to help.
I'm trying to not put things down, but put them away so that things are always put back in their rightful place.
Spend 10 minutes a day doing something from the 'deep clean' list.
Put the dishwasher on every evening after dinner and empty it before bed
Clean the kitchen sink after using
Getting rid of a lot of clutter really helped. It is a long term work in progress unfortunately.

I try to stick to a routine...

Monday, clean downstairs
Tuesday, clean upstairs
Wednesday, ironing
Thursday, clean bathroom
Friday, General spruce of whole house for weekend. Nothing too crazy.

Generally though it's just cleaning up as I go. Dishwasher before bed, washing as is needed, though I try to time it with good drying days. Pick up toys inside and out at end of day. Shower doors and sink properly cleaned after I use it.

Little and often seems to work for us.

25-odd years ago, the brownie handbook told me 'an untidy bed is an untidy room', so every day without fail, i dutifuly make the bed, while the rest of the house is in varying states of messiness

Most days the dishwasher and washing machine gets loaded/unloaded and there's at least one point in a week where everything is clean and tidy, following an hour or so of me and dh running around wiping, dusting, hoovering and tidying, then the mess slowly reappears until the next blitz!

The best advice I got was to do a big blitz one weekend, then concentrate on "keeping it like you found it" from then on.

I make a conscious effort to have things tidy and "neutral" before I go to bed.

I'm amazed at how quick some people's washing dries!

Another one here saying don't put the dishwasher or washing machine on when you are out/in bed...they are fire risks.
D/W on straight after dinner and empty before bed...
And washing machine either load at night, so just press start as you wait for your kettle to boil in the morning and short cycles are finished (and hung out) before you leave - or ready to go on as soon as you get home in the evening ..if the weather is forecast fine I will hang out washing at 10/11pm ....or leave in machine till first thing in the morning...(I have a rain cover on my rotary airer not 100% waterproof but does stop it getting soaked in an unexpected downpour)
'Air' washing in tumble drier - we have autosensor so it decides when they are dry - usually less than 10 mins then straight onto hangers/ folded over night- put away in the morning.
And I guess like the pockets of time - from Unfuck your habitat - 5 mins or less -if something takes 5 mins or less just do it ...stops little jobs stacking up and making you feel as if your head is going to explode...
And YY to school/activity letters/payments - do as soon as they come home , onto calendar/ put straight into bags for the next day/week...(I even do Lunch money for the following week on Friday afternoon) - so they never even get on to your 'to do' list...

Morning: Get up, get dressed, open curtains, open window, make bed. Repeat in DC rooms. Wipe and tidy bathroom whilst doing teeth. Gather dirty laundry from upstairs and chuck downstairs. Take any upstairs stuff incl. dirty tea cups etc downstairs. Takes 10 minutes.

Have breakfast and tidy away. Dishes in dishwasher and put on to rinse. Wipe surfaces. Put on washing machine. Wipe round downstairs loo and disinfect. Takes 10 minutes (apart from the actual eating bit)

Put hallway straight (shoes tidy, coats hung up, bags tidy). Straighten front room and open window, fold throws, shove toys in big wicker baskets. Takes 5 minutes.

Close windows. Go to work.

Evening: tidy hallway (shoes, bags, coats...bane of my life!) deal with school paperwork whilst doing tea. DC do homework at table as I tidy up after tea. Dishes in washer and put it on. Hang up washing from earlier on airer or hangers. Don't iron. Takes about 30 minutes.

Hoover once a week on Sunday. Spray polish on feather duster and whip round whole house. Takes 30 minutes to do both over whole house.

DH sometimes can work flexi time, so can be done in half the time if he is here, as he will cook and do homework supervision whilst I do cleaning and tidying.

Open windows and tidy the hall every day are my best tips. House will smell clean and look tidy to anyone coming to the door.

To all those people that "wipe" round the sink, what do you wipe with? A spray and cloth or just a cloth or one of those flash type wipes?

Most days just a cloth or baby wipe. A spray about once a week.

We have a cleaner which is brilliant but I do a load of washing every day (3 children!) to avoid spending the entire weekend washing. We also try and deal with paper as it comes into the house, we have so much recycling it's ridiculous.

What the heck is up with putting loo cleaner down the bog every day?!? That's not very good for the environment and unnecessary IMO.
Ours gets done once a week, same for wiping the sink.
My only routine is to do laundry every day, hung up and stuff from the day before taken down and put away and DH washes dishes every day.
Everything else is on an as needed basis which keeps our house at a reasonable level of cleanliness.

Dishwasher
Cleaner
Internet shop everything. Get gift wrap.
Book People order every 4 months does all birthdays and most of Christmas (except for nearest dearest obv).
Nanny for 3 seriously much cheaper than afterschool club and puts shop away, does some HW and kids washing.
Reduce ALL unnecessary stresses - if at all poss live near school and work (I know not always realistic), walk/cycle commute
Enjoy

I agree that a made bed makes the bedroom look instantly tidier.

Re sink, every few days (last thing in the evening before bed) I put a wee bit of Zoflora down the sink. Currently using a citrus one. It's a disinfectant and smells lush. I also get a piece of kitchen paper and put a dab of zoflora in each corner and put it in the bottom of the bin. It keeps the smell for ages.

I read about zoflora in MN and it's chip as chips in the pound shops, bit more pricey (but still cheap) in the supermarkets and lots of different types to try. I wie round the washing machine seal with a 'clean linen' smelling one.

Another I've started doing without fail is dd1 packed lunch the night before. I'm intrigued how a pp does a weeks worth though - esp how do you do the sandwiches and things that need refilled (water bottles/ juice bottles)

I also started laying out breakfast things the night before. Only takes a minute tops but is one less thing to think of in the chaos of the morning

I never realised before that what I do is these "time pockets"

This morning:
breakfasts, lunches
DH and DS dress themselves (handy at 49 otherwise most of my morning would be taken up doing DH's shoe laces :) )- DS to vacation care, DH to work.
Fill sink (no dishwasher) soak breakfast stuff whilst make beds.
Making beds usually involves finding laundry - so:
Put washing on, quicky tidy around laundry.
Laundrt mext to bathroom and toilet - so:
Brush teeth- whilst do this, wipe sinks, rinse toothbbrush holder, hang up towels and bathmat and tidy bathroom (i.e rearrange things that morning use has out of place).
Throw empty toilet rolls away, thanks boys! grrr, pop cleaner in toilet. Leave to work.

Place is pretty tidy but I will vaccum in a minute, and finish the washing up. I clean the toilet just before I "go" next.

When I lived in a 2 level house, I used to do things like always take a cloth with me whilst going upstairs- to run along the bannister.

The main thing I have learnt to do is to address washing immediately - i.e hang up/fold etc as soon as the clothes are off the line rather than leaving in the basket for a bit. I liken washing to work emails - you have to address them immediately or you are in for a mess later. Read, do, delete.

Oh, and by the way..I dont have a broom
I never sweep, always vacuum and do the lot whilst I have it out.

thatbloodywoman I live in Queensland. My washing can dry in 20 minutes.

Having the RIGHT storage, in the RIGHT place is THE key I think.

Do a 'sweep' of the room as you leave it, if it doesn't belong in there, take it with you.

Then 'Don't put it down, put it away'.

PinkSquash, what's on your deep clean list?

I don't have one of those.. Do I need one?!