Mumsnetters with immaculate houses - tell me your secrets!

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I find housekeeping a never-ending battle. Every now and then I'll do a massive deep clean (which takes me several exhausting days!) and get everything in order and it looks fabulous. But it's never long before things inevitably drift back to their former state, with stuff all over the place, dust everywhere, cobwebs, dirty floors and just general untidiness, disorganisation and mess.

Does anyone on MN have a lovely, tidy, organised house all the time, without using a cleaner? If so, how do you manage to keep a house looking immaculate and crucially, guest ready 24/7? It must be so "freeing" (is that a word?) mentally to have a lovely home that you can just breeze in and out of with no clutter, everything in its place and every single item in the house something you can genuinely describe as either "beautiful or useful".

If you have any insights into how to achieve this I would love to hear them!

I've been accused of having an immaculate home. It's not, but it definitely has a lot less clutter than most family homes.

I've become pretty religious about both removing items we don't need, as well as stopping new items from coming in. It's SO much easier to clean when you're not constantly stopping to tidy or move things.

I also try to have very clear systems for where things go, and label them (excessively, perhaps!) so the whole family knows where to put things back. Once the system's in place it doesn't really take any extra time to maintain.

Cleaner comes in for 3 hours a week, plus we clean up after ourselves as we go. I have my husband and teens very well trained (most of the time). But I literally cannot sit down to relax on an evening until I'm happy that everything is in it's place and we've cleaned up after dinner. Yes, I am very anal.

But I literally cannot sit down to relax on an evening until I'm happy that everything is in it's place and we've cleaned up after dinner.

I'm the same!!

My house isn't immaculate as in we need to redecorate some rooms but I do try and keep everything tidy and orderly, even with 3 kids under 8.

The key is to have a proper place for everything so you can put things back where they belong once you're done with them. So essentially it's about storage and planning.

I'm always 5 minutes away (at the most) from ready for overnight guests. I chucked out 75% of stuff two years ago, which massively helped (when in doubt, throw it out! and if it costs less than 20 to replace and is easily sourced in case you need it again sometime, throw it out too). I clean a room and the toilet everyday, hoover the living room every other day (sometimes daily depending on the cat). I wash every day. If you do housework that often it's quickly done. I also left some walls bare so that helps with the tidy look. Not every wall needs a painting, not every surface needs an ornament. The book case has glass doors which helps against dust. We have hard floors throughout so that also helps against accumulating dust. We do have one rug in front of the fireplace for a warm and cosy look. No shoes inside (well guests can, but we don't). Curtains are the same colour as the walls (also looks tidier). Nothing is bought until we know where it can be stored neatly. Basically keeping the house neat is something that is never far from our minds. If something builds up somewhere we find a solution. We keep chucking stuff out that we don't really, really want (so after every birthday and christmas it's off to the charity shop to donate stuff).

I hate ironing with a passion though, that is the only thing that might pile up a bit for a few days. I do keep it in a separate basket out of sight.

Not sure if my home is immaculate but I do my best to keep it very tidy.

Here are my tips:

Keep your home decoration minimalist. The more stuff you have, the messier the house looks and the more you have to spend time on removing dust etc.

Buy storage boxes for toys, clothes etc. Organize things.

Tidy up before you go to bed and before you leave on holiday. It's nicer to get up or come back to a tidy place.

Do the important stuff every day. Put away the washing. Wipe countertops and kitchen table. Hoover. Make the beds. Clean the toilet (I do once per week a deep clean but wipe the seat every day with detergent, put some bleach inside, change the towel and wipe the floor arround the toilet). This sounds a lot but unless I have a lot of washing to put away it takes me maybe 30 minutes and makes me feel happy about my clean place.

Following for tips.

But fundamentally I think people who have perpetually clean houses just spend a lot more hours of the day cleaning than I would ever stick to. I just need to accept this. There isn't a magic formula that squeezes 2 hours' housework into 10 mins. I do think tidying little and often helps, but I'm sooo bad at bothering when it's already 95% (or 85%, or 75%, or... ) done.

I do think tidying little and often helps

I think this is the key. I'm going to tidy as I go and see where it gets me - just small things like washing up straightaway rather than leaving pots to fester on the side, and wiping down surfaces whilst waiting for the kettle to boil.

I do have some rooms that are a total state though (bathroom, I'm looking at you!) so will need to carve out some time to sort those properly.

I feel so much better mentally when my house is in good order that it's worth the extra effort!

I don't have clutter I think that's helpful, wash up and dry straight away, washing when the basket is full, and always wipe the units etc after cooking. The bathroom and shower room get cleaned every few days, when I'm running a bath or after a shower. Bed gets made in the morning and stuff tidied away. Make up lives in the dressing table and cups and glasses go down in the morning in the dishwasher.
I do think it's about every item you own having a cupboard space. I live on a boat 6m of the year and if you can't stow it you throw it.

Marie Kondo brutally and completely (4 years on it has stuck)
That keeps it very tidy but we do have a cleaner (2 hours a week) because I'm lazy.

if you can't stow it you throw it.

Ha - I'm going to make this my new mantra!

I’m always told my house it very clean and tidy. I do admit I do have a routine and it has to be done without fail everyday or I cannot relax but I do also really enjoy cleaning and having a clean house.

Each evening before everyone goes to bed I make sure certain things are done so:
-Toys are put away
-Dishwasher is on and ready to empty in the morning unless I’m up late and I’ll empty it before bed
-Washing it loaded into the machine and set up to come on early in the morning so I can either hang it straight up or chuck it in the dryer.
-Everything is tidy and away in all rooms, sofa tidied etc..

Then in the morning I’m naturally a early riser so I’ll get up and run the hoover round the house upstairs and downstairs every single day. I do live in a fairly large house and it may sound like a lot of work but I can literally run the Hoover round in 10 mins as it’s so quick to do being done so regularly. I also steam mop my kitchen/hall floor after this which literally takes minutes.

Seeing as I keep on top of things daily it takes no time at all yet people probably seem to think I spend my entire days cleaning when I don’t!

Then once every so often I’ll have more of a deep clean and move furniture out to clean behind and clean windows/doors and wipe wood work down etc.

OP, I don't like cleaning the bathroom either but here's what I do:

-swish and swipe one basin and loo each day, rotate bathrooms so each gets done twice per week.

• once a week, clean bath/shower. Spray and leave for dwell time for about 10 mins, come back, wipe off.
• use shower spray and squeegee after each shower
• do floors about once a week - 10 days.

Keep spray bottle and cloth in each bathroom.
Sometimes use other side of cotton pad to wipe round basin after have cleansed my face if it needs it.

I would say my home is guest ready, I work full time, 2 dds aged 9 and 11, 2 dogs and a cat. We have a hobby which we do daily, for 2 hrs plus (MMA or bjj)

Here is how we do it:

Dp does 50% of everything, he will empty a wash/ put it out to dry/ put away, wash up etc.

Dds keep their rooms tidy

Robot vacuum

Converted under the stairs to a drying room for washing

Weekly in depth clean and while I walk the dogs dp cleans the bathrooms

Also dp and I blitz the house weekly it takes under an hour as it's already tidy

Also we because we are busy meal prep, most meals

Check out The Organised Mum Method

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=theorganisedmum.blog/maintenance/support.html&ved=2ahUKEwisu-KhssjsAhUxolwKHVRwBBIQFjASegQIFhAB&usg=AOvVaw2VfRMFtuFzqMIHg7hjZVUo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=theorganisedmum.blog/maintenance/support.html&ved=2ahUKEwisu-KhssjsAhUxolwKHVRwBBIQFjASegQIFhAB&usg=AOvVaw2VfRMFtuFzqMIHg7hjZVUo

It's still fairly early days for me but I'm finding it really good so far and genuinely not really doing any housework at the weekends. There is a book and an app but you can get everything you need to start it for free on her website.

My house is clean and tidy.
My tips

• minimal furniture in my living room( I only have sofas, glass centre table , small cabinet , tv and lamp) . Really easy to clean
• My bathroom has a large wall cabinet, where all the toiletries go, so the floor is clear and easy to clean.
• storage boxes for dcs rooms. They have separate boxes for books, school books and a box labelled ‘bits and bobs’ where they place all their gadgets .
• dining room is always tidy because no one goes in there.
• every evening I spend twenty minutes - an hour focusing on one bit of cleaning eg polishing , the next day it could be the sinks.

-Keep the floor space clear so that it is easy to clean

• ruthless when it comes to chucking things out
• Saturday morning , I sweep the drive
• I have a gardener who comes twice a month
• ironing- fold clothes away , iron them when I need to wear them
• DCS have daily chores

It sounds a lot, but it really isn’t once you get into a routine.

I've never really loved cleaning and keeping on top of things. I moved recently and finally started following TOMM. It has completely changed my attitude towards cleaning/organising. I don't dread any of it now. Part of it probably has to do with the fact I moved into 250 year old house that was utterly immaculate and I simply cannot let it go to rack and ruin.