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 have set rules/habits yet. I just try to do as much as I can each day. We will be moving shortly and in the new (bigger) house I shall be doing the following:

• dishwasher stacked as we use stuff - put on as soon as its full
• until we get dishwasher, washing up will be done twice a day to keep on top of it
• make sure house is tidy before going out / to bed. I am hoping this will help to keep on top of things!
• hang up washing nicely to reduce the ironing pile as much as possible (already started to do this)

I also think storage is important - I will spending a decent amount of time in Ikea once we move, making sure that EVERYTHING has its place. I will then spend even longer teaching DH this

Going to utilise my pockets of time more

I try to clean as I go as habit, but with a child with high care needs, some days this is impossible, so on those days where the house goes to shit, I make sure I clean up everything of a night when DS is in his bed (not necessarily asleep but just contained In his room) no matter how exhausted I am.

That way I can start the next day afresh

DD gets 1/2 h reading time before bed. I split this into 2 chunks: 15 min in the kitchen (washing up, load of washing on, wipe counters, bread on). 15 mins dealing with the dry washing, polish shoes, wipe dinner table, tidy the bedrooms, clothes and bags ready for the morning.

I have a little table next to my armchair, I sit down with a cup of something and do my admin for 20 minutes or so: shopping list, things to go in the calendar, payments etc. Then the table gets cleared away, I get another drink at 9 pm and I read or mn etc.
I have wipes for a quick swipe in the bathroom while brushing my teeth.

The rest is routines of 15 mins in the morning, I do the flylady.
I think one has to be pretty regimented if you work full time, have kids etc.

Oh, I'd love a roomba. That'll be my savings project for next year I think.

Hoorah, I'm not the only person who thinks like this and doesn't spend every spare minute with a can of Pledge in her hand!

I have posted on here before about the fact OH is useless around the house, but we had a huge row in which I threatened to leave (but not before putting the tools he was storing in the lounge in the charity shop) and things have definitely improved.

Some good tips here, and going to steal and pass off as my own start using.

I always put a load of washing in first thing, so then it has all day to dry.

I fill the dishwasher as I go, so if I have a drink, I put the empty cup straight in when it's done, then I put it on when it's full (it's only a tabletop one so it doesn't take long to fill up).

We also have one of those two in one hoovers, so when the kids are in bed, one or other of us gives the lounge a quick once over with the DustBuster bit.

Open letters and either file or bin them on the day they arrive.

But my biggest life hack is subscribing to the theory that people only iron because everybody else does. So I don't.
My one exception is school uniform because DD's is set and includes cotton, not polo shirts, and pleated skirts. The shirts are non-iron but the collars always look rubbish if not ironed.
But if you think about it, if ten people were in a room, and 9 had neatly ironed shirts, you would notice the 1 who didn't. But if none of them had ironed shirts you wouldn't.

So I only buy clothes that don't need it.

And I'm on a mass declutter mission right now so am disposing of at least three things every day.

I bought one of those cordless Dyson handheld dust buster things. It's amazing. It's very handy for cleaning up quickly without the faff of getting out the upright and plugging it in. I'm aware that sounds ridiculous but it's true. The stair/upholstery attachment means I can Hoover the stairs in less that 5 mins (and it's actually very good). It has a charge of about 15 mins which doesn't seem long it for quick bursts of dropped cereal or dried mid etc, is more than sufficient. We also keep it topped up when possible.

Possibly one of my more expensive and boring buys - it was about £130 - but I think it's been worth it and helped a lot.

Clean bath
Wipe sink
Wipe toilet
Wipe kitchen surfaces
Mop kitchen and hallway floor
Hoover

yy cordless vacuums/sweepers.
I have a hoover one - it is like an upright but has a handy removable hand held bit too.
Easier and less dusty than brushing (on hard floor downstairs) still needs a thorough going over with a big vacuum every so often though. It sits in a corner on a charge - pick it up and whip over the floor every day. I empty it outside straight after use.
I also have a cordless gtech sweeper upstairs (carpets) - again great for a quick run over to keep things under control.
Use either on stairs (carpet) - sweeper down if I'm doing upstairs, vacuum up if I'm doing down ...and if they still have charge I tend to keep going until they really run down...

Ah! That explains it skinny.

I was eyeing up a spot in the bathroom earlier to permanently site a clothes horse -maybe that'd save time on a daily basis, rather than trying to find places to hang stuff all over the place, or fetching the clothes horse in!

Maybe its also very much to do with streamlining what you do, as much as anything.

I treated myself to a long handled dustpan and brush yesterday -in the hope that I may get a couple of minutes to sweep the kitchen and hall floors before work/bed.

We are going to treat ourselves to a Roomba for Christmas I think.

Another one here who never irons. DH buys those non iron shirts from M&S and they honestly look perfect. You just take them straight from the washer / dryer and hang them on a hanger, making sure to button the top button and one at the bottom. I am hoping DD will eventually go to a primary school with just non-iron polo shirts for the uniform!

I am mostly lurking rather than contributing, mainly because our house is a tip but I've just bought the Marie Kondo tidying book and took 3 bags of clothes to the charity shop this morning so it's doing something!

Ideally I do the same thing every day, I start in my bedroom after the rabble have left for school/work and-

make the bed, open curtains and windows, quick wipe of dust gathering surfaces with either a rolled up, clean, odd sock or a damp microfiber cloth

Then on to bathroom with damp cloth, wipe round everything except loo, rinse cloth and use another I leave in there to clean the loo. I hate the smell of toilet cleaners so instead use a scourer to clean under the rim, while wearing elbow length rubber gloves. Mirrors get wiped with damp cloth and buffed with yesterday's hand towel. Hand towel gets changed daily.

Wipe all other dust gathering surfaces along the hallway, lounge, dinning room then kitchen. Tidy shoes etc by door. Clear breakfast things and DD's general detritus, empty and reload dishwasher, wipe all surfaces, clean sink with washing up liquid and a cloth.

Gather things to take upstairs, dump those in appropriate rooms.

Rinse cloth and then drag it slowly along the annoying groove in the annoying ornate bannister to get the dust out as I go upstairs. Repeat wiping/dusting/bed making/opening curtain activities in DDs rooms and tidy the stuff I've brought up. Clean main bathroom. Vacuum upstairs, stairs then dust the wooden floors downstairs before vacuuming. Clean kitchen floor.

That's my "keep it looking presentable" routine, take me about 40-50 minutes. If DH doesn't come back here to work. Frequently he does and is on the phone, in an office without a door, so vacuuming is out and at that point I think fuck it and log on to MN

Laundry gets done when weather permits, which is most days here. I have someone else do the ironing due to ishoos.

DH does things like polishing wooden floors, cleaning windows, cleaning terrace etc. at least, he says he does to be completely fair he does chip in and do things around the house when he's not working. DDs were doing little things like emptying the dishwasher but homework has ramped up this year so I'm letting them off.

Packed lunches get prepped and packed, sandwiches made for next day, mostly.

I iron the school uniform when it comes out of the machine, straight onto hangers and hung over the fire, it dries perfectly. It's quick to iron as its so damp and dries in two hours.

I have a cleaning day, where i hoover, mop, bathroom, kitchen. Then one day where i do lots of small jobs, it's these jobs that keep it all lovely. wiping the walls on your way up he stairs/ quick sweep while the kettle boils or wipe out the microwave.