Mums who work full time long hours. When do you clean?

[Gymmum82]

I’m about to start a full time role I’ll be leaving the house around 5.30-6am returning home around 5.30pm.
I’ll then need to transport the kids to clubs 4 nights a week. Make dinner, make lunches for the next day, eat dinner, do kids homework/reading etc.
So when do I clean?
What tasks should I be doing every day? Do I just leave the mess to build up and do a big clean at weekends? Then where does that leave family time?
Help. What do you do?

I have a cleaner and would not manage without her. My DH also works from home and does all the washing during the day.

Need more info. Single parent? Age of kids? Is money plentiful or tight?

We have a cleaner who does literally everything. I was really, REALLY struggling before we hired her.

Important to remember if you have a partner they need to be stepping up now if you're full time too. Discuss with them how to split it all 50/50.

Cleaner. Wouldn’t manage without her.

We all do it not just me as a mum we just fit it when we can

You get a cleaner and let them do it all!

I live and work on site so literally I take 5 minutes when it's quiet to run up and do some laundry.
Otherwise I get up at 7am, do the housework, and I'm down getting the business ready from 9am, and we open at 12pm.

It's exhausting but I can't relax and sleep if there's piles of stuff to do. My DCs are getting better at doing stuff but they're at 6th form.

Clean as you go. If I go to the loo, I grab some tissue and spray some cleaner and wipe something, anything. I WFH and do laundry slowly throughout the week. Kitchen, the same. Each day I wipe one kitchen unit door. Basically just cleaning very slowly non stop throughout the week. I can't afford a cleaner so have no other option.

We stick the kids in front of a Disney film on Saturday mornings and blitz it together. It’s their one guaranteed 90m of screen time and keeps us vaguely sane!

Counting down the days until we don’t have two in nursery and then we can afford a cleaner..

Presumably the other parent is at home getting the kids sorted in the morning. They will have to do some bits of housework while they are doing that. eg put bins out, load/unload the dishwasher or do washing up, write a shopping list, make the lunches.

Why are you doing clubs 4 nights a week? Could the other parent do 2 of those nights?

After sooo many night of me cleaning the bathroom at midnight we bit the bullet and got a cleaner. Otherwise we'd need to spend a good few hours cleaning at the weekend.

I just do odd bits as I'm moving around the house. I don't often purposely set time to clean I just do it as I go - need to go upstairs? I'll take this pile of washing and quickly hang it up in wardrobes whilst I'm there. Waiting for the kettle to boil/pan to boil - I'll just wash the surfaces down whilst I wait. Lots of small 5-10 tasks just slotted in as and when I'm going about the house.

I make use of the delay start function on the washing machine. So throw a load in as I leave the house and delay start so it's ready and washed just as I arrive home. Then I just shove most of it in the tumble drier directly.

Also have a robot hoover which has really helped with taking over mopping and hoovering tasks entirely! It's just programmed to come out once we've left for work so floors are nice and clean when we get back.

We both work Ft and have 2 kids (8yo and 3YO) and get home around 6:30 and leave for work 7:30.

Weekends I will clean the bathroom as that takes a bit longer!

I don't have a cleaner. I'm out the house Tuesday to Friday 7am to 7:30pm

Nights are making sure the kitchen is clean and the toys are put away. Sticking washing on. Anything else is left to the weekends. Monday is my day off but I try to spend the day playing with the baby. Nap times I may deep clean one area, log on to work or do life admin.

Cleaner. It's a life changing choice and I would never go back.

Cleaner for several hours a week.

It’s the best money I spend as it saves my sanity and means I can enjoy my time at home.

Wow. What is your job?

I work full time but don't have a cleaner. DH cooks and does most evening running around. Bathrooms (3) get done once a week. Takes about an hour. Laundry is done during the day when I'm wfh. DH cleans the kitchen in evening. Everything else just when it needs done. I probably have low standards

Are you a single parent? If not why it is just your responsibility?

I was out of the house from 8am until 6pm. I did the school runs in the mornings but worked locally. Full-time from when dd was 6. We had an au-pair for 5 years who did the children's laundry and tidying. We also had a cleaner.

When we no longer had an au-pair the cleaner picked up the laundry.

However, I did most club pick-ups and homework. Once the au-pair left, every morning I put in a load of laundry, hung a wet load and put away non iron able dry stuff. Unloaded the dishwasher and made sure all was tidy. In the evenings I cooked, tidied and made sure kit was ready for the next day. House always tidy.

DH was out from 7am ish until after 9pm. There was a year where he spent more time in NY than London.

DH and I are in our 60s now, DC flown but we still work full-time. It's comparatively sedate but the cleaner comes twice a week.

We have a cleaner.

Plus aren’t in the house all that much so it stays tidy.

Prep on Sunday for the week ahead- 5 days worth of uniform and kit bagged and labelled
Meals ordered for (Friday night is takeaway!)

One wash on overnight to be hung out first thing

One small job every morning- ie wipe bathroom over whilst cleaning teeth, change towels over, straighten beds

One larger job in evening- hoovering/mopping / bins/ clear down dump areas

Everyone pitches in- even small kids can tidy their breakfast pots to the sink or wipe up a side

Cleaner if possible to do the dirty jobs that aren't otherwise possible- scrubbing/ windows/oven etc

I'd get the car cleaned in and out once a week on a lunch hour if possible

Kids are 8 and 10. Money isn’t tight. But not plentiful either. Wouldn’t be able to stretch to a weekly cleaner.
Have a husband but he also works outside the home and comes home later than me

Washing every day, and Saturday mornings I blitz the house. I also do a thirty minute tidy up every night before bed so everything stays tidy

He will put the bins out and do the dishwasher. Won’t do lunches or shopping lists. He will be leaving around 7am so not much time either in the morning