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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

If you work full-time, when do you do the housework?

37 replies

Mumpbump · 09/10/2006 20:38

I am puzzling over this question as I find it really difficult to find the energy to start doing housework when I get home and don't want to spend all weekend doing it either as ds spends all week in nursery. Any tips for fitting housework in??

OP posts:

MrsSpoon · 09/10/2006 20:40

Interesting question. I work a few hours from home so not the person you need to answer this question but figured that if I had to go out to work full-time it would have to pay well as I think a cleaner would be essential. I wouldn't want to spend my weekends cleaning either.

motherinferior · 09/10/2006 20:42

I don't. I pay someone else to clean my house. In the periods when our cleaners give up on us and put notes through the door saying they've got fulltime jobs (and are then seen cleaning houses up the road) DP and I squabble about it.

You're not a single parent, though, are you? Because if not, the housework isn't your job alone.

jennifersofia · 09/10/2006 20:43

I would really like to know too. ATM I work 55 hrs + a week, dh around 50, and am really struggling to keep everything sorted without killing myself. One good thing that we do is that every Saturday morning the whole family does 'chores' for an hour. The girls (4+5) strip beds, dust, etc. and dh has a running list of jobs whilst I get on with cooking/laundry. It is kind of fun in that we are all pitching in together. However, if anyone else has any miracle ideas...

krabbiepatty · 09/10/2006 20:44

No tips, we just have cleaners who disappear on us or watch television and then mostly we don't have cleaners and have fights about who is doing the cleaning. So my tip: find a better and more reliable cleaner than we have ever found.

expatinscotland · 09/10/2006 20:44

Right now and at weekends.

DH gets done what he can during the day.

It's a good thing I am an insomniac.

Blu · 09/10/2006 20:46

Lower your standards
Then get a cleaner - even 2 hours a week makes a difference.
Do little jobs in odd corners of the day - waiting for the kettle to boil

Blu · 09/10/2006 20:48

Find a Polish cleaner (Very very hard working, efficient and reliable) and pay a generous going rate.

Original poster

Mumpbump · 09/10/2006 20:48

No, I'm not a single parent, but dh has two children from previous marriage he only sees at weekends, so housework tends to go by-the-by and he generally works longer hours than me during the week... Like the idea of getting the children to muck in, but not sure how easy that's going to be in reality

OP posts:

krabbiepatty · 09/10/2006 20:50

This is a very sad admission, but I have started paying my chidren (not the baby)to do small amounts of housework, eg putting laundry in their drawers.

WideWebWitch · 09/10/2006 20:51

Cleaner does it, twice a week. It was that or dh and I spent all weekend doing it and no way did we want that.

Imascaryfairy · 09/10/2006 21:37

Cleaner comes once a week for 5 hours and does a big clean and irons DH's workshirts. I know it's a pain in the ass to do things in the evening after a long day at work, but we split the workload: one of us will put the kids to bed while the other tidies, and then one of us will iron while the other is preparing supper.
I also get my groceries delivered to me, which is one less thing to worry about.

bloodcurdlingstrawb · 09/10/2006 21:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bogwobbit · 09/10/2006 21:48

If you can afford a cleaner, get one.
Unfortunately I can't so I do mine on Saturdays. I work 4 days a week but Fridays are my day with my youngest dd (older ones are at school) and I'm not wasting that on tidying and cleaning, other than the basics that need to be done every day, like washing dishes. Also, I'm lucky as I've got older children that I can 'bribe' to do household tasks.

bluejelly · 09/10/2006 21:56

I'm a single parent and work full time. I have a cleaner for 3 hours a week, she does the hoovering, cleaning bathroom, kitchen floor etc
I do half an hour a day of washing up, washing etc when my dd is in bed
Usually on a saturday I spent a couple of hours decluttering, doing odd jobs like washing windows etc ( Actually that's an exaggeration, it only happens about twice a year)
But generally I think lowering your standards is a good idea!

curlysmum · 09/10/2006 22:14

I work full time about 40 hours , do put a clothese wash on every morning before I leave for work, unload it in the evening , hang up to dry , put clothes away every evening , I just iron as I go along, I iron uniform night before and my work clothes. Put the dishwasher (could not live without dishwasher) on before work every morning , unload each evening.
On a Saturday morning hoover and mop floors, I have wooden floors so does not take much time , dust T.V.,etc, clean bathroom, have leather sofa etc so just wipe them down too.(1-2 hours) On a Sunday morning I change all the bedsheets.
Thats all I do , must admit I don't often clean my windows, or clean kitchen cuboards etc I had a friend who cleaned her cuboards every Sat (very strange). Oh, and I pay a fella to cut the hedge otherwise the old lady two doors up moans about it.

crunchie · 09/10/2006 22:15

I have always worked full time and DH a mix of part/full/not at all. I still found myself doing teh bulk of teh cleaning. I spent years nagging at dh and it has finally got through. So we used to do it at weekends, with teh kids. Mine are 7 and 5 and HAVE to do their own rooms, with help. They can change beds (I remake) use a hoover, dust, tidy, sort washing and even wash up if they fancy it!! They get paid to do it though, pocket money is dependant on doing their rooms.

ATM we have a cleaner as we are both working full time, however I still do teh washing, tidying etc. Kids still have to do their rooms. The cleaners don't do the bedrooms at all, so I stil have to do stuff.

expatinscotland · 09/10/2006 22:24

If I could afford a cleaner, I would hire one in a heartbeat.

Even if I didn't work outside the home.

curlysmum · 09/10/2006 22:41

opps sorry forgot , do make dd who is 4 put her dirty clothes in wash basket each night and tidy her room each night, which sounds a bit mean but their just these stacking boxes from Ikea which she has one for different things and she just throws it all in the boxes before bed so it does'nt look quite so bad in the morning.

Tortington · 09/10/2006 22:43

Sunday.

clean the toilet - sunday
hoover anything upstairs - sunday
most of the washing for the week - erm sunday

kitchen sides, washing up, living room all done daily ish.

kickassangel · 09/10/2006 23:08

i work 45 - 50 hours a week, and do almost all the housework in eves.
i do have a cleaner once a fortnight, and someone else does the ironing, otherwise, it's shopping at late night tesco/sat mroning with dd, cook a meal whilst looking after dd, do it all once she's in bed. at 9 o'clock i get a break, and go to bed about 11. talking of which ...

Original poster

Mumpbump · 12/10/2006 12:16

The consensus seems to be that you need to draft in an extra pair of hands - we're getting an au pair so that will hopefully help. Can't wait until she arrives...

OP posts:

wheelsonthebus · 12/10/2006 12:21

my dp and i both work full time and in order to spend quality time together and with dd, we have a cleaner 3 times a week . she does the ironing too. i would go without a lot of things before i go without her.

horseshoe · 13/10/2006 13:41

Me and DH work full time and cant fit housework in at weekends as we are at the caravan and so I constantly de-clutter, have wooden flooring etc.....and then I get up at 5am and do a load of washing, quick polish....then have a rota for the evenings and get DD who is 3 to do jobs like polish and tidy her room.

I honestly dont take that much time to clean as if I haven't used something for 3 months (no matter what it is) it goes.

Judy1234 · 13/10/2006 19:27

Our pattern was put on washer and dishwasher every morning (for cleaner to empty/dry/put away/iron). And basically pay someone else that was after 10 years when we could afford someone. When we couldn't I used to put a baby in a sling and just get on with it at weekends. Then we did share it all 50/50.
I still find lots to do with 5 children and working full time but having that cleaning help is brilliant now. I do appreciate it because I remember the years when we couldn't afford it. At one point we had a lady who did cleaning mornings and then school picks ups but that never worked that well as good cleaners aren't good nannies often.

mooshy · 14/10/2006 16:47

We used to have a cleaner.
2 years ago we had to downsize from a 5 bed detached house on a private road (with cleaner ! ), to our present 3 bed semi. (Redundacy x 2 )
Anyway my question is do you think i could still have a cleaner ? The thing is its really more difficult with 5 of us living in a smaller house to keep on top of it.
We both work full time and i get so stressed coming home to cleaning and tidying all the time.Does everyone with a cleaner live in a big posh house like i used to ?
Also whats the going rate for a cleaner now-if i can find one to come to my weeny house .

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