To those of you that live in a show home....

[Mummy2022FT]

Maybe not as extreme as a 'show home' but If your home is presentable and you actually maintain it (the hardest thing of all) how do you do it? What are your tips/routine?

Tidy as we go and we have a cleaner twice a week.

Did someone say they pay a cleaner 14 hours a week??!!

That really must be show home material...

I or DH make the bed when I get up
when we have a shower we clean it / mop the floor clean the sink / toilet daily

have wood / laminate floor everywhere and only carpet on the stairs vacum probably every other day or sweep up any mess

leather sofas so easy to clean

Tidy living room and kitchen do any extra dishes before we go to bed

wash dishes as we go

clean big mirrors once a week

deep clean skirting/ doors once a month

none of this takes ages maybe a few mins here and there

It helps that we are both reasonably tidy people
don’t mind cleaning and like to live in a nice house
even when my son was young and lived at home the house was always tidy and clean

i couldn’t live in a messy house

I have a morning routine and an evening routine that encompasses all those little daily essentials.

Dishes away, recycling out, messages checked, phones plugged in to charge as necessary, washing machine on and hung out after, bed made, plants watered.

Clothes laid out for the morning, all rooms tidied away, exercise, washing up done, dry clothes put away, relaxation time so I sleep.

Kitchen counters wiped after food preparation, microwave after food comes out of it, spills wiped up immediately. Post opened and put either: filed away, recycling or to-do pile.

Then once a week I sacrifice a day to cleaning (it's already tidy due to the weekly routine). I clean everything, takes a few hours. Vacuum throughout including skirting boards, sweep and mop hard floors, clean toilet, clean bath and sink, change bedding and towels, wipe doorknobs and hand rails, wipe windowsills, clean window smudges and mirrors too if necessary, take a feather duster to the cobwebs. Except the daily stuff, everything is left until next week so I don't feel like I'm constantly cleaning.

I'm about to start decluttering because I know this will make it all so much easier.

It’s really easy. First declutter. There is never anything to tidy as we always tidy as we go.

What is this app?

I tidy at the end of the day. Part of my wind-down routine.

I had a show home until I had a child. She can make a mess quicker than I can tidy up!

No clutter.

Don’t allow children into my house.

Have a cleaner.

Have a husband who knows he’s as responsible for keeping a clean and tidy house as I am.

@Creepyrosemary

And that's the sad truth!

I have 9 month old btw so my house is like a tip (not even because of him obviously at his age he isn't fully mobile) but because I can't fully give him my attention and clean and tidy at the same time

@DitzyDaffodils wow that's impressive!

Me and DH have 3 DC age 5, 3 & 1, and 3 cats. We have a very large 4 bed detached house, so things can very quickly get a mess if we don’t keep on top of it. We both work full time so paying for a weekly cleaner is a must have. Cleaner does 3 hours a week, not cheap but 100% worth the money.

So then it’s just a case of keeping things tidy, we do this every evening after the kids have gone to bed. My DH does the kitchen while I do the rest of the house. It’s easiest if you have a good clear out to start and make sure everything has a place. Then tidying up is less of a faff as you know where everything goes. The playroom and the kids room also has that one box/basket of odds and sods, where random toys that don’t belong anywhere else can go.
I vacuum downstairs (hard flooring) every other day due to food crumbs etc, leave upstairs for the weekly cleaner.
With clothes washing, I tend to put washing on throughout the day during the days I’m WFH. Everything goes in the tumble dryer, I don’t have time for line drying. We have 6 washing baskets as I only sort the washing once or twice a week. The huge pile of washing gets sorted into separate baskets for each person, which then gets put away into drawers room by room, again usually in a lunch break while WFH, or after bath time.

Despite all this the clutter will still accumulate, so every now and then I have to do a deep clean and sort out of each room. Keeping on top of it all is a never ending task, but I can’t abide mess, dirt and clutter so it has to be done.
With the cleaner and the daily tidying we manage to keep our weekends free for family time though.

Every day I follow the same routine,,

-Beds made

-All bins emptied

-Toilet bleached, bathroom wiped over with flash spray and cloth. Deep clean once a week

-Hoover downstairs. Upstairs hoovered and wood floors downstairs mopped twice a week

-Load of washing on first thing. Hung out or tumble dried depending on weather then folded and put away in the evening

-Wash up straight away after every meal.

I have 4 DC and my house is by no means a show home but everyone who comes round comments on how clean and tidy our house is.

Once a week I strip and change all bedding, polish furniture and dust/clean window sills, clean mirrors and go round with a soapy cloth and clean little hand marks off everything!

And obviously food preparation surfaces/worktops get cleaned with antibacterial spray after every meal

He doesn't have to have your attention 24/7 it's ok to leave him for short periods to clean/tidy. You can put him in a pram, playpen, cot and go sort the house for half hour 🙂

Your child doesn’t need your full attention all the time, so don’t use that as an excuse why your house is like a tip. Just put him on a blanket or a pram and clean. You can talk to him or sing at the same time if you want to interact. But having a 9 month old is no excuse. Not that you need an excuse, it’s your house and it can look like a tip if you want it to.

Honestly, spend more time enjoying yourself and less time aiming for a show home.

This. My top tip is to live with a tidy partner.

I wouldn't say it's a show home, but my house is neat, tidy and clean. I live on my own (definitely the major thing!), clean and tidy as I go, and I am constantly decluttering so I don't have too much stuff. Bed made, bathroom tidied and breakfast stuff in the dishwasher before I leave the house. My adjoining neighbours wouldn't thank me for hoovering before I leave at 6.30 am though😂

I have a long commute, so am out of the house 12 and a half to 13 hours a day. I don't want to spend even an hour having to 'tidy up'.

OP I spent a year on the FlyLady threads (Fledgelings) to get to this point. I was as chaotic as everyone else before! Although I've always done a big weekly clean since forever, I just prefer it to doing bits and pieces every day which to me feels never ending. I can't relax unless I know it's clean and fairly tidy, my stress levels go through the roof and I can't concentrate. Even if I noticed things that aren't perfect I tell myself it was done a few days ago and it'll be done again in a few days time, then I leave it. Cleaning day is my me-time, I put the radio on, take breaks to read or whatever, and spread the cleaning out through the day or else get it all done at once then go out. Knowing it's done reduces my general stress level by about 75%. Everyone knows that unless your limb is hanging off or the house is on fire, I'm unavailable on cleaning day 😁

I have just sat down feeling very pleased that I’ve completed my once per month clean. It takes me 4 hours - a bit longer today as windows needed doing due to all the flies coming in over hot weather.
live always done big cleans. Used to be fortnightly, but I live on my own now and once per month is more than enough.
I hate the thought of it when it comes around, but once I get going I’m fine, and love the feeling that it’s done for next month and all looks perfect 🤩
I do a bit in between, obviously loos and handbasins, kitchen usually needs floor mop fortnightly, and occasionally hoover up messy bits. But that’s as and when it needs doing and 5 or 10 min job
personally I’ve never liked the bit every day approach - the relentless onslaught of chaos never gets sorted across the whole house at same time- you have one nice clean room and then a dirty floor next room , drives me mad 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣
BUT, when I had kids and returned to work full time I insisted on cleaners. Again fortnightly clean as 4 in household back then. Saved arguments, time and assumptions that I was chief skivvy . Well worth the money if you can afford it just to stop the relentless asking kids to clean up

best advice? Live on your own😉🤣. Then you can have a perfect house with 1 clean per month

im now going to rinse my vinegar from my cleaned kettle and treat myself to a nice cuppa and sit here feeling smug with myself ☺️🤣🤣🤣🤣

@Mummy2022FT the best thing you can do is declutter. Then declutter again.

Dana K White is a very down to earth woman who developed a way to declutter that works for her. I like her because she's relatable and developed her method when the others didn't work for her.

one of the BIG things about her method is that it's progress & only progress, you never make things worse.

it's not the actual cleaning that takes time, it's clearing the surfaces to clean them!!

of course it's harder with a 9 month old, it's daft to say otherwise. But it's easier than with a 21 month old, so use this time to get decluttered & sorted. Your future self will thank you!!

Generally you can shove them in a playpen, bouncy chair etc and crack on at this age, they don’t need full attention constantly, as long a you are chatting away etc it’s fine, in fact prob better, if you’re focusing only on them constantly and doing nothing else it wouldn’t be in their interests. Watching you go about your day and chatting away would be good.

I do truly envy people who can live with mess or even, god forbid, dirt 😱
But I can’t
I reckon world splits into these 2 camps - those that cannot relax in a messy environment ( it’s not just house, I can’t relax in garden if there’s weeding, mowing or other “ mess”, and those that appear not to “see it” or be phased

tge issues occur when you have one of each type sharing a home 🤦‍♀️😱

so, the spend more time doing xyz is a naive sentiment- if it was that easy all our houses would be messy 🤣🤣🤣