Question for those with a generally organised house

[Violettatrump]

How long do you spend cleaning/tidying each day if your house is already quite organised

Deankoontz- I'm intrigued with your list - where did you get the idea and do you truly stick to it in order ?
I do stuff when I notice it if I have time. My house is averagely clean and organised but housework is never a priority !
I do Hoover downstairs at least once daily as there are 5 people, and a furry friend here.

yes Claybury I do. The only time I deviate is when we have visitors and I give the toilet and sink a once over.

I don't know where I got the idea, something similar to January Cure probably started me off, but it's wildly different from the original now. I fiddle with it occasionally.

Apartment therapy has a similar list to Dean's here ... Clearly I need to do more cleaning and less reading about it...

Yes, that's it!

I keep it on the ipad (notes) and just leave a space between the last thing and the next thing so I can remember where I'm up to. sometimes weeks days go by...

Make bed after shower but before dressing.

Tidy up breakfast things, dishwasher on if needed, tidy rest of kitchen =10 minutes before work.
Later, dinner, tidy dinner things and kitchen again. Ironing once or twice a week.

Only work 3 day week ; the other days I do about 2 hours a day, some of these jobs one day, some the other. Floors, 2 bathrooms, dusting, clean cooker, change bed linen. checking bank account.
dh tidies paperwork at the weekend. I try to see gardening as leisure rather than another job, but I'm not keen.

Last minute kitchen tidy before bed unless we're really tired. Also it's a bungalow which I think is easier, and dd has just gone to uni but she's fairly tidy when she is here.

To me it's less stressful just doing it then I can sit and relax, I can't sit down if I know there's stuff to be done! Me too. and if you keep on top of it in the first place it doesn't take that long. I also find there is nothing like reading a thread like this to make me want to get up and have a quick tidy round

4 bed house, both work full time, one DD (7).

Daily - 5 minutes? Don't eat breakfast at home, shove washing on if desperate. After work - hang wet stuff on hangers on a rail, move dry stuff to wardrobe (DP irons each morning if needed), stack dishwasher and wipe kitchen surfaces after dinner.

Weekends - do 2 or 3 washing loads.

Friday's - pay cleaner (2 hours)

I wonder if we are counting different things, because I can't get by on much less than 2 hours and my house is far from being the tidiest I know! (It's pretty clean and tidy, but not perfect).

I'm counting time for cooking and preparing meals in mine as part of 'organisation'. I honestly can't see how you can cook an evening meal in less than 20-30 minutes of pretty concentrated effort - at least, I've never managed it. Maybe I'm doing something wrong!

I have a routine each day.

• Bathroom and kitchen get cleaned every morning - I'd rather do 5 minutes a day on each than have a 30 minute clean once a week and have it look a mess the rest of the time. Towels get done twice a week.
• Surfaces and table get wiped after every meal
• Floors get a light mop or hoover every morning. You can get away with an unbelievably quick and easy job if you do it every day
• Logburner gets cleaned
• One load of washing goes out a day, one gets put away.
• Dishwasher gets put on early evening and unstacked later the same night
• Compost and recycling get emptied

Then I have things I do once a week:

• I divide my house into 6 'zones' and dust one each day with a proper wipe down. Bedclothes get done each week when it's the bedroom's turn
• Fridge gets done before new shopping comes in

Then once a month things like:

• Oven clean
• Wall tile wash
• Inside of bathroom cupboard gets wiped (because it somehow manages to get filthy that quickly)

Then quarterly things like:

• Carpet cleaning (I have messy cats)

Then half-yearly things like:

• Getting into drawers and cupboards, decluttering and tidying them up properly and spending the next 2 weeks nagging DH about putting his jumpers in properly, before I give up and let it go.

I spend a day at the weekend doing my garden, but that's more for pleasure than anything else.

Shove - we can fit a lot into 20 mins slot as everyone helps

Ie last night we all arrived home 7.30pm

Me: Hoover bedroom/ bathroom/ hallway. Fold all dry laundry and in drawers

Dh: throw some skewers of marinated steak on grilling machine, make salad, cut bread. Unload dishwasher. Load with any stuff from dinner prep

Ds1 and 2 (3 and 4): make sure all their shoes/ coats away, any toys off floor.

By 8pm we were all at table eating dinner, with home fairly organised.

This morning all breakfast things straight in dishwasher, kids make sure their pjs and bed tidy.

At weekends or days home all day we make sure toys are tidied before lunch and before dinner. Same with anything out ie empty cups/ etc

Ooooh, one other thought - I think the amount of time spent cleaning depends a lot on the state of your house. In our case DH bought a basket case of a place before we met, without realising the work involved in sorting it out. Because there are problems that we're still fixing, parts of it are much harder to clean than my old house, which was in a better state. And every job seems to create more mess. I just had a new front door fitted, and it's created a right mess in the hall plaster, so that now needs to be sorted!

Artandco - that sounds amazing!

I didn't include cooking Holly.

Generally the kids are doing their homework when I'm cooking, or giving me a hand. dh does the washing up.

Something else I'd not included was the cooker. I detest cleaning it. So I pay to have it cleaned about once a year.

Also, I hardly iron anything. Dh iron's his work shirts as he goes along, and there's the odd other thing. I like ironing, but I just don't have time for it. I gave it up following an injury where I couldn't stand up properly and nobody noticed! That was about 6 months ago.

I also have a veg patch in my front garden. But, like cooking, I see this more as a family activity than a job to be done. As it's at the front of the house, it gets little bits of attention throughout the day as we come in and out. A weed pulled here or there, or a bit of watering etc. When it comes up on 'the list' it gets a good seeing to though .

I don't iron either. Cooking is a chore for me, not a pleasure. I used to enjoy it a lot, but now have an appallingly poorly designed kitchen the size of a postage stamp and I just hate being in there. Planning to extend the house soon to get more space, so hopefully I'll get the pleasure in it back. (Some people say to me 'XX is a Michelin starred chef who cooks in a 2 x 2 ft cardboard box' and I say 'Bah! Well I hate it!')

I currently do a lot of the housework because I am not at work due to ill health. When I go back, I will be implementing a more equal regime (DH will be fine with this, he's very supportive). I've never had a cleaner, but it sounds amazing.

1. Everything MUST have a home
2. Clean/tidy little and often
3. Reduce clutter in the home
4. Deal with letters/paperwork asap and shred /file/bin

I could not cope with a chaotic home. The only mess I will tolerate are the dcs toys laid out on living room floor. They are all neatly packed away before bed.

It really does take me 45 mins to clean my bathroom! And it is actually tiny. Am I doing it wrong?

This is what I do in the 45 mins:
Spray all tiled surfaces around bath/shower/basin areas with method bathroom cleaner
Spray shower screen and taps with that anti limescale thingy
Pour harpic down the loo
Spray dettol all around loo surfaces
Scrub tiles, tap, screen and bleach grout/seals if needed
Rinse and dry all areas
Clean toilet
Scrub floor next to toilet and clean all other floor areas
Damp dust and wipe down woodwork
Clean mirrors
Clean bathroom window
Wipe down all bottles and tidy

If I work quickly coz I have unexpected guests arriving then I could probably blitz through in 30mins or so but 45mins is how much time I allow for a good thorough once a week clean

Depends what you are counting really. I wouldn't count cooking, washing dishes and wiping worktops, quick sweep of the kitchen floor, putting toys away as housework, just things we have to do every day.

To me, housework is a proper sweep and mop, hovering, cleaning worktops not because you have cooked and made mess, but just removing everything and cleaning properly, etc etc.

But maybe I don't actually give myself enough credit for the things I do daily? I think I create work for myself by not thinking ive done any 'housework' when ive perhaps spend the last 90 minutes doing just that!

My top tip though is to clean the bathroom when the kids are in the bath if they are still at an age where you have to be with them. Obviously wait till they get out to clean the bath though . I keep a pack of bathroom wipes and a bottle of toilet cleaner in the bathroom so im all ready to go at any time. I only give the bathroom a good scrub about once a month now as it stays pretty clean this way.

wings it also takes me 45-60mins to clean my bathroom if im doing a proper thorough clean. Every couple of days though a wipe round and toilet scrub takes 5 mins.

Phew! I'm glad I'm not the only one then! Yes my daily quick wipe around takes 5mins as well.