How many hours a day do you clean?

[Lovelygardening]

I know obviously depends on who is in the house etc we are a family of 5. I am a carer to my youngest age 14 and have 2 older teens that work are at college and hubby that works long hours. I’m definitely not lazy but also I’m a rubbish housewife! How can I improve? It just isn’t something that comes naturally to me but bizarrely like a clean tidy home. For instance, the house was a tip the other day so I decided to dettol all my skirting boards and stair spindles. No one could tell I had done anything, I may as well have been sitting on my backside all day. How do people do it? I have no excuse of time and the chores should be down to me as that is my ‘role’ in the family life (no sexism just the way it is) my family don’t say anything and are very kind and forgiving but that makes me even more guilty. Help!!!!

We clean once a week, dishes twice daily and washing machine on every couple of days

Once a week, maybe a couple of hours each.

Not bothered about immaculate house and have other stuff to do

I'm in the constantly cleaning but can't tell camp unfortunately. I have realised we just have too much stuff and am slowly decluttering and going more minimal so that hopefully it shows the work I put in.
I'm sure people think I just don't bother, but I never bloody sit down

How many hours a day? I don't even do close to one hour tbh.

Sounds like a question of prioritising. If the house is a tip using Dettol on the skirting boards isn't the priority. Maybe focus on the basics like tidying, dusting and hoovering, cleaning kitchen and bathroom first, then tackle less routine jobs like that one. So for example, you could decide to do an hour every morning Monday to Friday. Monday: whole kitchen. Tuesday: bathroom plus laundry sort. Weds: tidy surfaces and dust whole house. Thursday: tidy floors and hoover whole house. Friday: one other job eg skirting boards, inside of windows, tops of cupboards etc.

Then each day fifteen minutes or so of laundry sorting. Give it a couple of weeks and it will likely feel much more manageable. Obviously that's just an example - you could decide to devote five hours to it on one day instead of that suits you better. But I think the key is to stop after an allocated period of time, regardless of what is left. Otherwise it feels endless and overwhelming.

Flipperdippers that is me! I keep meaning to get a Fitbit to show my husband how many steps I do, not that he cares.

20 mins?

Zero

You could get hubby to help

Once a week I clean the house, I am at home with a toddler. I do hoover the downstairs every day though because our lab sheds so much. And I definitely do more clothes washing since I had my DD.

DD is 2 so I'm regularly tidying up after her.

Hours as in more than one a day? errr.....none. One bedroom flat here and easy to pick up in a hour a week and tidy as I go.

without cleaners, at least an hour a day. While we have them , none. It’s not just the physical work of it for me but the headspace is invaluable.

Only if really in the mood and never more than hour at a time !Probably about 3-4 hrs a week that includes changing beds and general daily cleaning up after cooking etc,cleaning floors and hoovering Husband is actually more thorough than me TBH.Our house is definitely not immaculate and there is always something that needs cleaning if I could be arsed ..!

Zero

Umm, not much. Definitely not an hour a day!

Have a look at FlyLady or The Organised Mum Method to give you some structure to the cleaning. That might help you prioritise the more noticeable stuff.

When the cleaner is on holiday we blitz it for a couple of hours one weekend morning. So about four hours a week? Tidying up is like painting the Forth Bridge…although I do get a feeling of satisfaction each time an area gets clear.

As little as possible. I clean/tidy when something is noticeable. I had a cleaner when I worked full time but I hated tidying up before they came. I'm retired now and can't justify the expense. However it's a relief not to be tidying every week. I've got time to do it but would always prefer to be doing something else. I suppose I do the washing up and laundry when needed but I don't think too much about it

Are we including loading dishwasher/doing laundry etc as cleaning? And wiping the kitchen sides etc?
If so, probs about 45-60 mins a day
If we are talking actual CLEANING....then maybe two hours every couple of weeks At best

I spend 1-2 hours once a week cleaning upstairs (Mondays)
1-2 hours a week cleaning downstairs (Tuesdays)

Plus the daily jobs (dishwasher, dishes, wiping sinks, wiping wee off loo seats and rims and surrounding floor 😡, wiping round kitchen, quick hoover of downstairs, laundry…) which take about 20 mins in the morning and a bit more in the evenings.

On a Friday I do a reset and try to get all the things that have migrated around the house back in their proper homes plus clean the bathroom again.

My house is never clean!

0hrs. Have a cleaner who does 2hrs once a week. I run the robovac round whilst I’m in meetings, put a load of washing overnight, hang up in the morning or lunchtime. Husband takes it down and puts it away when he comes back from work (and does the cat litter). We both work 10hrs a day, so not sure where we would fit in any cleaning. Definitely don’t want to do it in the evening or weekends. Toddler is at nursery 4 days a week, so prefer to prioritise time with them. I don’t think our house is dirty, and we are tidy (have trained the 2yr old to put away toys before taking another one out!!)

Are you at home alone all day caring for the 14 yo? If they have a high level of need, then wouldn't be expecting much cleaning done at all.
If they are out all day, I was working out of home, came home to a disaster zone and you going 'ta-da! I've cleaned the skirting boards' I would look at you a bit askew, and probably think you'd be sitting on your arse all day!

It depends how big the house is, how many living in it, whether there are pets or not.

When I was single, five kids, five bedroom house, dogs, cats and all sorts, I spent around half an hour a day daily with a binge at weekends of maybe two to three hours. And it was never tidy (but the kids didn't help there!)

Now I live alone, tiny two bed cottage, only the one dog. I wash up daily, do a bit of a dust now and then, and clean like mad when people are coming round. But the place is so small I can bottom it out and have it spotless in a couple of hours, but there's only me to make the mess anyway.

I’m not sure of the hours exactly but I’m not working at present, I look after DC20 who has a life threatening illness, there’s also DC21 here plus DH who works away Mon-Fri. I am a minimalist which helps so much, I actually enjoy cleaning and organising too.

I wash 1-2 loads a day so laundry is never just sitting around. Complete through to putting it away.
Robot vacuum does it’s thing three times a day.
Toilet cleaned daily.
Bathroom wiped over daily, proper clean weekly.
Dishwasher goes on 1-2 times per day.
Pets dishes get washed after use.
Dog bedding washed weekly.
Dusting as and when I see it.
Kitchen cleaned multiple times a day.
Fridge cleaned on Mondays before bin day.
Sheets washed 1-2 times a week, towels after 2-3 days. All line dried.
Beds made every morning.

Hmm this is me too. Spe d at least two hours a day doing housework and my house is a tip. I'm also a full time carer. I think decluttering is key. I do try team Tom. I think if I stuck to it, it might show by the end of the week!

A big difference between cleaning and tidying in my opinion. A tidy house is much easier to clean and it’s much less noticeable if the kitchen floor needs a mop if there’s no clutter. So prioritise the mess and work on decluttering. Once you get that under control the cleaning will follow, much easier to give an empty worktop a quick wipe down.