"Little and often" is actually quite a lot of time and work?

[oldsprouts]

I have a smallish house and it is just me and DH here. I am the sort of person who really needs to keep on top of the housework and clutter as if it gets too bad I feel really overwhelmed and start procrastinating and when the house is unclean and messy its just bad for my mental health as I feel like I need to get the house sorted before I can do anything else but I feel so overwhelmed I just can't take action.

Currently though I am on top of things and the house is ticking over. However it feels like it still takes a long time to do all the daily chores that need doing besides cooking so things like wiping down the countertops after dinner (and sometimes after lunch too), cleaning the hob, the sink, round the bins, emptying bins if need be, sorting recycling, sweeping the floor, spot cleaning the floor, sorting washings, putting washing away, giving the bathroom a quick wipe down and squeegeeing the tiles after a shower (partly to reduce mould), making beds, resetting rooms when going to bed, washing up cups, general squaring up, organising and decluttering as I go. It all takes hours work every day and that is not even counting a proper clean of a room. It is little and often and it does mean I keep momentum and don't get that overwhelmed feeling but little and often is also quite a lot of work and time if I am honest!

Does anyone else find this?

I find it takes me minutes. I do go through tasks extremely quickly though. I’m imagining you’re like my oh, I can’t even watch him do household chores as it gives me this weird rage. We’ll agree to do what I call a 20 min blitz of the house, where for eg I’ll tackle upstairs putting the washing away, doing a general tidy up of all bedrooms, a quick wipe down of the bathroom and I’ll run the hoover round. His downstairs tasks will be to empty the dryer and dishwasher, tidy the living room and run the mop round. After 20 mins all mine will be done. I’ll go downstairs and he’ll have literally just emptied and folded half the clothes in the tumble dryer. I could deep clean a house in hours, I can’t see how wiping surfaces and spot cleaning takes you hours every day 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yes I do. I never really stop cleaning and tidying. I do have kids though which makes a significant difference. I went away this weekend and it's taken hours to get the house straight. It's ok though, I find it meditative to sort the house (and I'm the only one who cares really)

I'm sorry but before kids i found housework a breeze. Now I have a 5 year old who leaves crumbs everywhere and a toddler who undoes a lot of my efforts and wees on the floor! It truly is constant.

The key for me is dh taking the kids out every 3 weeks, then it takes me 2.5 hours to give the whole house a good clean in peace. I can get loads done that way. Day to day it's relentless though.

It takes me hours too (added up over the day). Morning washing on, sweep, clean under cat food bowls etc. lunchtime hoover and hang out washing. Evening wipe kitchen, clean hob, bins, tidy sitting room, laundry away, wash lunchboxes etc. I also don’t really mind - I put an audiobook on my headphones and potter about. I like it to look nice. But it is not quick

The trick is to not cook every day and never have a cooked lunch.

I'm sorry but I can't understand how it takes you hours in a small house with just the two of you .

I really don't get those who do it so quickly, I expect my standards must be too high or something perhaps? If my DH does housework he does it very quickly but its always not done very well and I end up having to go over it myself.

People who clean the whole house in 2.5 hours, how is that even possible? If you clean in cupboards and drawers, if you jif the bathtub, do under furniture, wash windows, it can take me 2 hours to proper clean of a room and longer if I was doing the kitchen i.e. on top of cupboards and fridge, the light fittings, in drawers, the fridge etc? ( I don't do this every day of course but would about every month).

@TeatimeBiscuits I listen to audiobooks as well and it does make it less of a chore but it still takes longer than I imagine!

This might be the issue, I am a good cook and we only eat home cooked food, nothing processed at all so I'm always cleaning the bloody kitchen!

What are you doing for hours? In a small place I cleaned top to bottom on the weekend in two hours.

Are you sure it's taking you that long? Most daily things take a few minutes.

Just as I say, I must just be doing too through a job compared to many people and giving myself too much work I suppose.

I clean inside cupboards and drawers a couple times a year. How often are you doing this?

I clean the fridge out once a month and light fixtures get done monthly.

3 young DC here, we live in a small but nice best flat with plenty of storage yet we are both constantly cleaning, decluttering, sorting, washing, putting away, hoovering and wiping and the house is still in a state where I would be a bit embarrassed if somebody dropped in.

I actually wish it was taught is on schools or quantified somewhere exactly how bloody much work it takes to keep a house well.

I walked through the council estate I grew up in for a trip down memory lane and many of the houses are in complete states, definitely on the outside and where you can see through windows, many are states on the inside too. I also personally knew (not in touch anymore) 2 separate families with young children whose houses were absolute bombsites, though it never seemed to be enough of an issue for intervention. And I knew a couple of kids as a child who had similarly cluttered houses.

I'm not being judgemental, just trying to demonstrate that even though we are always fed images of flawless homes, the reality is very different. I am like you OP, I get easily overwhelmed by the relentless need for day in day out domestic work that comes with having a family, but I am only truly happy if my home is in decent order. So I'm not truly happy very often haha.

I'm also not naturally good at being organised, I reckon I'd be okay as a SAHM but in full time work I just find it hard to fit in.

Our house is definitely miles better than it used to be but the point of my long rambling post is, I agree with you that it's time consuming!

I clean the fridge out weekly before our online shop arrives and I do drawers when they need doing i.e. I can see crumbs etc in them. We have fitted carpets in most of the house so perhaps this creates more dust than for other people, for example my skirting boards need dusted / hoovered weekly.

You sound like you have an issue with clean and hygiene.

My house is spotless, anyone can turn up anytime spotless.

I hoover my skirting boards weekly, dust my walls (bloody matte paint) weekly, and can still do a 3 bed, 12 room house in 3 hours including mopping through.

Cooking from scratch - every night, and I clean as I go. So when something is boiling for example, I'll be washing the chopping board up.

I am the sort of person who really needs to keep on top of the housework and clutter as if it gets too bad I feel really overwhelmed and start procrastinating and when the house is unclean and messy its just bad for my mental health as I feel like I need to get the house sorted before I can do anything else but I feel so overwhelmed I just can't take action.

I've been in the overwhelmed stage for quite some time. I wake up every day thinking of all the stuff I'm going to do, then I look at the mess and cry.

But I don't think I do really its not like I am disinfecting the place or using loads of bleach which I hardly use at all. I do all the things you do including tidying as i go and still the time it all takes adds up. I also do a home cooked lunch & breakfast most days as well.

Op you are creating work for yourself. There's just two of you in the house, there's no need to be cleaning windows and inside cupboards every week,

I agree, its not that I am doing it all in one big go but if you count it up over the course of a day its at least two hours and that is just ticking over not any deep cleaning for which I usually do one house area a week as per the fly lady system.

"People who clean the whole house in 2.5 hours, how is that even possible? "

I don't do inside cupboards- that's a spring clean job in our house so only gets done once a year.

I start in the bathroom and just give everything a good scrub. Takes 30 mins. Then I polish / dust whatever needs doing in the landing and 3 bedrooms and clean the windows. Then I hoover including the edges and spray the carpets with a freshening spray. Then I do the stairs.

After that it's downstairs. I clean the windows and polish / dust. Then hoover. Finally I finish in the kitchen - wiping down cupboard doors and the surfaces, table and bench, windows and inside the microwave / toaster. I scrub the kitchen sink with viakal then it's the mopping then done. It's hard work but I find it satisfying and I promise it only takes 2.5 hours.

I don't do that every week in every room I do the windows about once a month, or at least the ones I can do myself, DH needs to do the outside downstairs windows which I can't reach. I will do the drawers / cupboards in a room when I do a deeper clean so that will be once every month or two, it won't even be all drawers but for the kitchen I probably wipe out the drawers more often i.e. when I am waiting for the kettle to boil.

What I am saying is that if you count all that up it ends up taking a long time!

I'd need to organise, declutter and clean the inside of things more often than that. I'm allergic to dust so prefer not to let it build up anywhere so I damp dust rather than use polish so I wipe down with a wet cloth then buff dry with a dry cloth.

Its fair enough I suppose, if I am going to do a deeper job more often then its all going to take longer so either I streamline my cleaning process or I accept its just going to take me longer.

Sorry I explained that badly. I never actually use polish but it looks 'polished' when I'm done. I either damp dust or use my method cleaner and a dry cloth.

Loads of the things you do regularly I only do once a year but each to their own as they say! It's a clean and tidy family home and I get compliments on if so that's good enough for me.

You’re cooking three meals a day from scratch, of course you’re going to have an unnecessary amount of cleaning to do.

I'm wondering if maybe you are over eating how long it all takes?

If you aren't doing windows and drawers weekly it sounds like you might be over estimating how much you clean?

@bakewellbride No thanks your post is useful in helping me see why I am using so much time up cleaning, I probably need to streamline a bit!