How many hours on housework?

[ThePhantomRaspberryBlowerOfOld]

You have a 5-bed, 3-bath, 3 storey house, 2 primary aged children, 1 dog, no cleaner and a DH who works every hour God sends so can’t help round the house. You work from home PT. How many hours of housework a week do you do?

I’m trying to stay on top of everything and it’s a losing battle. There never seem to be enough hours in the day and I’m finding myself still doing stuff at 1am in the morning.

There has to be a better way, so I’m trying to find out what a normal amount of housework is reasonable. Thanks!

In that case, I don't think you are asking in the right place
There are some people on MN, who worry they aren't doing every week jobs that I never even knew were jobs!

tbh, I don't tend to do housework in blocks.
I have a cloth and spray in each bathroom / toilet, and give everything a quick clean as and when it looks like it needs it.
I clean the kitchen around me as I go - empty the dishwasher between mouthfuls of cereal..... rinse and load as I cook / serve up..... keep a long handled dustpan and brush in the kitchen and sweep when I see something on the floor, etc.
Vac'g and dusting are over rated, IMO.
I don't iron.

We don't have a dog & I work out of the house but otherwise the same circumstances. The cleaner comes twice a week and does one 4 hour clean in which she does the whole house & some ironing & then, later in the week, a 2 hour clean in which she does the bathrooms, kitchen, changes the beds and hoovers through and then does a couple of other things.
I then seem to spend at least an hour a day just sorting & tidying. Yesterday, I did nothing other than three loads of washing; today I have done another three loads of washing, the ironing and then put all of that away, I spent an hour or so putting winter duvets in beds which then lead to sorting out various cupboards upstairs and then I seemed to spend two hours this evening clearing up the kitchen after a roast, doing two loads through the dishwasher, packed lunches, checking the DC had sorted out the kit they need for various days this week, straightening up downstairs (eg putting the dining chairs straight; cushions plumped on the sofa). I have much higher standards than DH or the (primary aged) DC so end up doing a lot of stuff they consider unnecessary (like tucking in dining chairs).

I've just started following the organised mum method and it's seems to be working for me:

www.theorganisedmum.blog/

45 minutes a day, 5 days a week to keep on top of the housework. It works by focusing on specific tasks in different rooms each day. Would this sort of thing work for you?

I only have 4 bedrooms but also over 3 floors. I wohm pt, have 2 boys and a cat and do my own cleaning. I spend 1.5 hours each Monday morning thoroughly cleaning downstairs, 30-ish mins on a Wednesday doing a quick clean downstairs and another 30 minutes doing bathrooms. I then spend 2 hours on Fridays doing bedrooms, landings, stairs and quick go over bathrooms again. We spend about 5 mins a day tidying up and obviously wipe kitchen worktops and hob every day and sweep kitchen floor. At the weekends I do 5 loads of washing which is all our clothes, school uniform, bedding and towels. When I have spare time I'll do occasional jobs like wash sofa covers, cleaning out kitchen cupboards etc but that weekly routine keeps everything clean and tidy.

I came on to suggest TOMM :-)
And do a daily "search and rescue". Put everything that isn't where it should be in a box and make the rest of your family look for it and put it away. No matter how many hours he works your DH should look after his own stuff. Same goes for older children. The "stuff" fairy doesn't live in your house!

Thanks all. I’ve dowloaded the TOMM boot camp and am going to get stuck into that.

Certainly recommend TOMM! I've only been doing it for a week but feel so much more relieved already and were in quite a similar boat

My mum used to be very structured and Monday was her cleaning day.

Therefore I am unstructured and things happen as and when.

I should be cleaning now but I’m not.....🙄

Definitely the organised mum method, my house has never been so clean! Feels like very little effort. With a big house it’s a bit harder but the structure is great

Half hour a day and then more when I feel in the mood.

It's not the same as you but I have a 7 bed house with 4 bathrooms, lots of animals and children.

I like a clean house but I can't keep on top of it all on my own so I have a cleaner three times a week, so she does 9 hours a week, I also follow organised mum and do the 15 minute daily jobs and I do an hour in each room/category every day, this is aswell as cleaning up after the kids and animals and cleaning after cooking 3 times a day.

So the answer is lots!