When do you do your 'deep clean'?

[bingsulaflop]

Hello,

Just out of curiosity really, when do you do your deep clean (i.e. cleaning the kitchen throughout, bathroom, hoovering through/hoovering stairs, dusting, polishing, cleaning bedrooms etc etc.

Not just the everyday cleaning like cleaning benches down, sinks and popping a bit of bleach down the toilet..

At the moment I usually do everything on a Saturday whilst my DP takes DS out for a couple hours, DS is nearly 2 and I have tried doing the bathroom during bath time but he still needs supervision at all times and has learnt how to climb out the bath so I cant really juggle the two safely.

Just wandered when you do it, how you manage it and if there's anything I could do differently to manage the time better

I do a deep clean twice a year - end of June and end of November. I schedule it into my diary so that I have no excuse to put it off.

Because I schedule it for a specific day I can adjust my usual routine in the days before it so that things like my laundry are up to date, daily cleaning tasks are all done etc so that for that one day I can focus on the big jobs that only get done on those days - moving furniture, shampooing carpets (if needed), taking down curtains to wash, taking off furniture covers, oven cleaning etc.

Since DDs and my birthday are in July I used to use it as an excuse to have DD go through her toys/games, donate anything she no longer played with and bin any broken or incomplete things before she got new stuff for her birthday. Additionally, since this was also the same time she was finishing school (we lived in Spain till a couple of years ago and schools finish at the end of June) it was the perfect way to start the summer holidays with everything sorted, organized and clean to give her maximum time to get it disorganized, dirty and messy before the next school term and it helped me see if there was anything that needed replacing - DDs summer clothes, sunscreen, beach towels etc - and stuff I could get rid of.

The November clean is the same - have a good clear out before Christmas, and since I usually have to move furniture to fit the Christmas tree and take down my usual decor for Christmas decorations I might as well use it as an excuse to give them a good clean at the same time.

I started reading this thread and I am now very very tired.

I currently have my daughter and her 2 year old living with me.

I wipe fingermarks constantly. I wash the patio doors constantly. I was floors every day as I also have 2 little doggies, but even so the place always looks dirty (to me)

I don't have time for schedules as my time is taken up by other people, but it's always in my head to do more.
One day they won't be living here and then I can do all of this; until then, it's a wet cloth and hope for the best :)

I don’t ever do a big clean

Daily I:
Make beds
Wipe loos and sinks
Empty and reload dishwasher
Wipe kitchen sink
Do laundry
Wipe surfaces and hob
Wipe fingerprints off kitchen cupboards
Tidy toys
Hoover downstairs
Mop hall and kitchen most but not all days

Monday I clean bedrooms
Dust, hoover, change beds

Tuesday I clean bathrooms
De lime scale, clean bath and showers (as well as loos and sinks), wipe all surfaces, clean mirror, mop floor

Wednesday I clean hall, stairs, landing.
Clean all woodwork, dust, hoover, mop floor

Thursday I clean living rooms and dining room

Friday I do a quick hoover through, quick wipe of bath and shower and tackle an area of doom. This is anything from sorting out a drawer/cupboard, pulling out big/heavy furniture to clean behind and under (smaller furniture gets moved for the weekly cleans), getting the ladder out to tackle the high up bits (light fittings/ cornicing etc), cleaning the tops of cupboards, cleaning the oven... To be honest some of these happen more regularly than others depending on how easy they are to do and how visible they are. I should probably rota them so they all get done regularly rather than just doing the bits I feel like doing!

I probably spend about an hour actually doing housework each day plus a bit more pottering around picking toys up and wiping up stuff or sweeping up crumbs.

Most cleaning systems TOMM, Fly Lady, Clean Momma etc. are based on doing a little and often, your everyday stuff and a few extras every day/week so you never have to do a deep clean, it does work but you have to really make it a regular habit. I do something similar to Clean Momma and have found it easier since I've been working from home, even with a teenager underfoot constantly messing up the kitchen.

We only use 4 rooms (bedroom x2 bathroom and kitchen) in the house and there is just 2 of us.

We don't make a lot of mess so I only really need to clean little and often. Kitchen is superficially clean a few times a day.. bathroom twice a week. Hoover twice a week. Other stuff once every 3 months.

Bedding changed twice a week.

a) before guests are coming to stay, not that I ever invite the sort of person who’s going to be looking for dust anyway,

b) coming up to Christmas, whether anyone’s going to be staying or not.

Usual cleaning as and when needed, or when I can be bothered. Since it’s now just me and dh, and no dog or cat hair or muddy paws any more,
the house is usually presentable enough, though admittedly I don’t see dust unless I have my reading glasses on. 🙂