Housekeeping Tips for Those Who Hate Housework

[Canyoucheckonme]

I'm a book worm and a bit of a lazy arse. I work p/t and have two kids. I can just about keep on top of laundry, food shopping, cooking, vacuuming and keeping kitchen and bathroom relatively clean-ish, but the rest of the house I struggle with. DH does do his fair share (dishes, gardening, tidies and cleans kids' rooma fairly regularly, does the bulk of the ironing, bins etc).

It's all very well watching or listening to tips from people like Mrs Hinch, but they clearly enjoy tidying and cleaning! And have way more energy and enthusiasm than me.

I'd love to have a tidy, clean home... But I just almost always prioritise rest and reading.

Any tips?! Only one I can think of is listening to a good podcast whilst doing it to help keep the edge off the mundanity and sense of drudgery. I have a four-bed, two-bath home with large conservatory so there's always something that needs cleaning...

I think that keeping the house tidy makes you half way there, so declutter constantly.
I hate cleaning so I break it down and do the bathrooms one day, dust and hoover upstairs another, dust/hoover downstairs another, and kitchen/utility when I have the energy.
I have a towel washing day, and a bedding day. Windows when they annoy me.

I think I'm awful at it too - a bathroom would take me 45 mins. I don't have 90 mins a day to clean 2 x bathrooms 😩

We do a load of washing every single day.

Getting better at de-cluttering now kids are older.

Need to get them more involved I think (they do recycling and empty dishwasher, set and clear the table and keep their rooms reasonable. They're 9 and 12).

Have a look at The Organised Mum Method - breaks it all down into totally manageable 30 min daily chunks - you can download printables from the 2nd link

https://www.theorganisedmum.blog/tomm/

https://www.theorganisedmum.blog/free-printables/

The children could be doing more eg dusting but I would suggest getting a cleaner if you can afford it. I love to read but you need to have a set time for reading - not when you are supposed to be running a home and looking after a family.

It's critical to be organised and tidy generally, so you only have to clean.

Everything to have its place and be put back there.

If going upstairs, take stuff that needs to go up

I find the "A Slob Comes Clean" podcast, blog and books helpful for this. Its essentially cleaning and tidying for people who either don't like it, or don't know where to start. I listen to the podcast while doing housework and find her very motivating! And also her tips are super helpful.

OP it sounds like you have the basics covered, give yourself a break, you don’t sound lazy, the list of things to clean, sort, mend, and tidy is infinite.

It sounds like things are ticking over and everyone is fed, watered, and clothed. And good on you for looking after yourself by resting and reading.

If it isn’t hoarding or filthy maybe reducing the mental load by letting go of thinking about how much you aren’t doing could re-energise you.

Or just drink more coffee 😀(red bull?)

Thank you everyone! I was feeling a bit down and overwhelmed yesterday (flipping hormones).

I'd forgotten about the TOMM so thanks for the reminder. Never actually got further than reading the website/Insta 🙈

Generally in life I'm known to be extremely well organised. Work, kids, School etc I'm the organised one. The house isn't at hoarder level or will ever likely feature on some Channel 5 horror show, but never feel it's all clean.

Thank you @DinosaurOfFire I shall look that podcast up now!

And huge thank you to @Finestreason you are absolutely right - it is infinite and it's ok to prioritise rest and reading - life is too short not to enjoy it! I will try to stop comparing myself to others (what's with the cleaning videos on social media where they start with a gleaming, minimalist room?!).

We all have different priorities I guess...

I hate housework. Only way I can do it is if I put some full on techno on

@0rchard I'm partial to some Radio One Dance myself - love a bit of house/dance/trance!

I loathe housework with a passion - I'd rather be reading/sewing/knitting any day. I try to keep on top of it by doing just one job at a time and then rewarding myself with a cup of tea or suchlike.

If you can't/don't want to cope with a whole room, do part of the room first, then a bit more later if you have the energy/motivation. Try and make it into a habit.

Don't turn into a lazy slattern like me.

Also set a timer. 10 mins in one room, you can get a lot down in ten mins

I think decluttering is key - it's so much easier to keep on top of cleaning when you don't have to move a ton of junk out of the way first!

I do it by rewarding myself - if I clean the bathroom, I can do something nice for me afterwards. Or I tidy just one drawer or blitz DD's room. It's amazing how much you can get done in a short time if you set yourself a time limit or give yourself something nice after you do it!
Dil swears by her roomba, which just does it's thing and leaves her out of it .

Read 'How to Keep House While Drowning' by KC Davis. It's brilliant. And has many excellent tips

Hate housework. My strategy is to work flat out for an house and that's it. After that it's tidying after meals. Never let it hang over you all day. But if l know l am only doing an hour l feel better and l go very very quickly so get a lot done.
Then l sit and read or go drink coffee.

@Canyoucheckonme "never feel it's all clean"

This was a massive revelation to me.
It isn't ever "all clean" because you live there!!
If you just pick up the kitchen after breakfast you will need to make lunch and have lunch. If you take your drink into the sitting room to read your book, that's okay.
I can't be doing with hooovering lines into the floor.
Timers and podcast help me though.
Even show homes need cleaning occasionally, never mind a house with 2 kids and a working mum who likes to read.

1. as PP say cleaning a decluttered house is a million times easier
2. Get a robot hoover. We got one on Amazon for £100 - he’s not the best in terms of intelligence but I shut him in a room and he goes for it eg kitchen after dinner, bedroom when I’m getting ready for bed, dining room when we’re in living room at night
3. 10 min tidy every day - fly through all rooms while dinner in oven or whatever
4. clean kitchen every night before bed

TOMM has these guided clean type podcasts called Rock the Housework on her Patreon. I struggled with her initially as it took me so much longer than 30 minutes. I find it sooo much easier to do each day with the audio.

I like watching the minimal mom YouTube videos and I'm anything but a minimalist. But one if the best ways to keep tidier is less stuff. I also found a timer good. Set for even five minutes a room.

I have specific audio books I listen to for specific things. I hate folding laundry. There's a book I listen to when doing that.

I have another book for general housework.

I don't get to find out what happened next unless I get that mop out.

£20 Bluetooth earbuds.

I used to use audible then kicked myself when I discovered the library (Libby app, Borrowbox app) do free audio books of bestsellers. Put in a library card number and it's free.

Loving all these tips - thank you. I can't get on with audio books (did know about the free library app tho!) as my mind seems to wander and I prefer to read and make up the characters' voices and accents in my head?! It also forces me to stop and sit and relax.

Oh, I struggle to stay in one room for 30 mins most of the time too...! Am one of those flighty things whose brain flits from one chore to another, eg go to tidy my bedroom, see some laundry, put that in, but whilst there stick the kettle on, then remember it's bin day to rush to empty bins and get the bin out. Then I'll start dusting the hallway before remembering I was actually meant to be tidying my bedroom..!

I'm off work atm and thinking if I could be a SAHM with two older school children, I'd totally nail the "whole house clean and tidy" utopia! I do what others here so and reward myself when I've finished a job.

Oh, I watched/listened to a little bit of the Slob Comes Clean lady yesterday and it was reassuring to know I'm on the right tracks. Have filled three sacks with stuff to go to charity, free cycle and recycling yesterday so feeling good about that. And will usually prioritise places I see when I first walk in the door/see most frequently as agree with her that you get a sense of achievement and satisfaction more from de-cluttering that than a drawer.

I honestly couldn't commit to doing the same 30 mins job or room every day. It's just not my style. Me and DH tend to be the sort where if we see it needs doing, we'll do it (might take us three weeks to get around to it tho...! 😂).

It sounds like you'd benefit from Rock The Housework/ TOM Rocks (as it's just been re-branded)
It's so much easier being talked puposefully what you need to do. There's hundreds of them now, some following The Organised Mum Method, and many for rooms/ specific jobs and of varying lengths.

https://spotify.link/rRlHFagA9Db there's a few original samples on Spotify from March 2022.

I've seriously found it life changing. I'm not immaculate and never will be, but I now always feel within a couple of hours of being in control and keeping up to a reasonable level which is a major change of gear.

Keep cleaning materials handy in the bathroom, or a duster hanging around upstairs so you can do a quick go over when you think about it rather than having to schlep up and down the stairs with stuff and plan it in.

I feel your pain, I am reading a book at the moment called how to keep house without drowning, the author is Nuro diverse and gives some good tips, some of which I’m using. But one of the important things she stresses is not to let the shame get to you, or others judgments get to you. I live in Greece, and people are neat freaks in general. Whenever somebody comes to my home, they complain, even about little things like the placement of my sofa, but I hadn’t use vinegar to clean my mirror, etc. It is very very draining, I’m not a person who enjoys cleaning either, I would much rather be reading. We also just experienced two very large floods, and my place was damaged and there is dust everywhere. I’m visually impaired, and I just spent two hours cleaning one side of my very large balcony. I had tried to find a professional cleaning company, at least to clean the balcony but they were charging a lot of money, so I’m trying to do what I can on my own. I will go for a strawberry hot chocolate later on to reward myself for the work I just been doing. I will give the podcast ago as well, a slob comes clean, sounds interesting

The other thing the author of this book stresses is that house needs to be functional, so you clean to maintain a functional home. And if you don’t clean today, you will have a bigger mess to clean tomorrow. There is a method, like choose three things that require low energy, three medium energy and three high energy, and so if you’re only in a mood to do so much, choose something from the low energy list.