People with lovely houses - tell me how you do it!

[melrose]

I am serious

DH and I keep arguing about the state of the house, more of a issue as I am now back at work 4 days a week, but when at home with the kids, the house just looked a shambles.

I have friends with kids whose houses are always immaculate, so if you are one of them, how do you stay on top of it all??

I know I am not a nturally tody person, but need some help!!

Either be ruthless about de-cluttering or have lots of storage, ideally both.

Everything to have its place, everything to be tidied up by the end of the day.

Family members to tidy up after themselves. ok, young children might not be much help, but at least the older ones and adults.

Once tidy, cleaning is a breeze. And can be done by cleaners.

re. soupkitchen's comments:
"I would say no more than an hour or so a day.
Wipe kitchen /cooker down
clean bathroom
dust all rooms
clean tv
washing
hoover sweep through
wash kitchen and bathroom floors

Nothing is left for longer than a week that way it never takes long at all."

Areyou employed full time ? If so, I assume that you mean you do this in the evenings?

Whether working or not, I am thinking, how could I "dust all rooms2 plus the rest on that first list in an hour? I couldn't. And Icouldn't because ittakes l;onger than an hour. Maybeif I had a very smallflat it wold take nearer to an hour.
Why do you need to dust all rooms every day?
Why do you need to mop kitchen and bathroom floors every day?

Why do you clean the tv every day?

Get everything done in the morning - I rush around like a mad thing, then have lunch either at home or with friends and do the fun stuff in the afternoon. Or I have a siesta if the baby has been up in the night or if I am knackered.

You are hammered if you are still doing crap at five o'clock.

I clean my tv screen every day .. always covered in handprints (thanks dd)
It takes about 60 seconds (take out cloth/spray/wipe/put away cloth)

Main rooms get dusted once a week
Spare room/dining room much less

You need to concentrate your cleaning bursts , no flitting about

15 mins on the kitchen timer and get it sorted (am member of fly thread )

soupkitchen, I cannot imagine you take only take an hour to do all that.

My previous cleaner would take 3 hours to do the jobs on your list, and that does not include washing. She wasn't very thorough though, hence ex-.

I often wonder what other people's idea of a shamble is to be honest.
I have visited people with pristine houses who make a big song and dance about 'oh please excuse the mess' when all I can see is a book on a table and a cup on a worktop.

I've just read the thread properly and I see that soupkitchen says she cleans in the mornings, so I guess that answers the work question.

I am temporarily not working, but when working fulltimeI would say I did marginally less housework than I do now. This is because I used to do virtually no ironing, but now I have time todo it so I do it more. Also, it is because despite the extra hours I have, potentially I could be cleaning the house all day. But why would I? It is not necessary.I have However, I have to say that after about two weeks the novelty of freshly ironed laundry, freshly dried on the washing line, pegged up byme , carried in by me and ironed by me, got DULL.It just has to be done all over again within a couple of days. Dull, repetitive.

I am tidy and like to have a clean house. BUT I have to admit, I just find doing cleaning mind numbingly fruitless.

When I decide to blitz the bathroom, for example, Ilove the sense of a really sparkling room, folded towels etc. But,I can live without a constant level of perfection.

HMC, I'm going to take your motto with me for life!

how old are your dcs? my dd1 is four and loves to use 'mummy's big noisy hoover' and we have polish wipes that she cleans the tv with.

she also dettols hewr own table ready to be put away after eating. get them involved in helping as much as much as possible, im not workin atm so cant really answer as to what i do.

when i was working i only worked morning and dd1 stayed in nuresery the whole day three days a week so on those three days i spent the rest of the day cleaning on the other days i just did a wuick tidy up hoover and washed pots once i got back from work!

It really does only take an hour, and most days it is done by the time I take dd to preschool at 9.15.
Leaving the rest of the day to play with DC and MN

My Dc are 2 & 3. I am a SAHM, but to be honest I did the same amount before I gave up work. ( I worked til 6 months ago 2 days a week)

Katak, I do those things every day because then it doesn't build up and doesn't take long.
I mop every day because I have toilet training children who often "dribble" when getting off the loo and spill drinks in the kitchen.
Tv because of fingerprints from DC.

BTW I live in a standard size 3 bed terraced house.

Working 4 days a week and having a tidy house are not compatible in my book ,'The things that are Compatible'

I am working loads more hours at the moment and my once orderly, hoovered sanctuary is now a flea pit.

I feel like I'm constantly tidying! Before I take DS1 to school, I have all the beds made and kitchen tidied. While he is at school, i do laundry, quick dust, clean kitchen, make lunch, and tidy again. At the end of the day, I clean the kitchen, conservatory/playroom and entrance floors and tidy any mess, again.

I also have a cleaner 2 times a week...

Melrose I wondered this a lot in the past and have recently found out the answer.

Many more people than you would expect have cleaners.

And some of them pretend they don't!

my house goes through cycles of being tidy.... most of the time it's tidyish. can't reccomend huge rattan baskets for toys enough. have a big one in the living room for DDs toys. just chuck everything in when she's done/we're going out.

i usually do DD&DSs beds in the morning while they are having breakfast. put loo cleaner down toilet before i start making the beds. do beds, pick up toys, throw washing down the stairs, clean bathtub, toilet then go downstairs to put washing on. pick up any cups etc out of the living room while they are brushing their teeth and DS gets ready for school. once DS has gone to school hoover upstairs, clean sink (which will look like a warzone...) hoover stairs, downstairs (except kitchen), then do breakfast dishes, clean counters, hoover kitchen. got a handy spray mop so do the bathroom, hall,landing, living room and kitchen. dust every other day with a damp cloth..... gosh sounds like i do a lot doesn't it takes about hr and half.

my downfall has to be the ironing.... hate it. tends to sit in a neat pile in the airing cupboard..... i have to say i have boxes for everything so at least i can shove it all away

I am ruthless about clutter, that's a large part of it.

i came from a house that was lovely and warm, very outgoing, and where 'everything goes' but always messy. my dh came from a house that was lovely and clean and where everyone had to pay attention to small details, to how they smelled, and how the house looked.
my dh taught me to be tidy, to declutter and the value of things that smell good, feel soft and look clean. It is hard work but I wouldn't have it any other way!
I often need the help of a cleaner!

i came from a house that was lovely and warm, very outgoing, and where 'everything goes' but always messy. my dh came from a house that was lovely and clean and where everyone had to pay attention to small details, to how they smelled, and how the house looked.
my dh taught me to be tidy, to declutter and the value of things that smell good, feel soft and look clean. It is hard work but I wouldn't have it any other way!
I often need the help of a cleaner!

One for the decluttering demons - what do you do about a DH who is a terrible hoarder? He hates to throw anything out and I really can't just start lobbing his stuff down the charity shop.

Sorry for hijack - but what to do?

up into the attic

chukkypig, I adopt a 3 stage approach to DPs shit precious stuff:

put it in vacuum bags under the bed or boxes with lids (to keep it 'nice' you see. ).

after 6 - 12 months it goes into bin bags in a cupboard or shed.

if he hasn't asked for anything 3 months later, out it goes (the night before the bin men come).

yes, its a loooong drawn out process, but I have gotten rid of most of DPs belongings this way.

Spend large part of each day tidying up after small child and messy husband. Constantly return items to rightful place. Keep on top of laundry. Employ cleaner for 8 hours a week. No way the house would be clean otherwise. I am a SAHM, but I used to work full time when DD1 was small. It's easier to keep the house clean when you work IMO, because everyone is out all day and not messing it up.
Depends on the size of the house as well. I used to live in a dinky house that took two hours to clean top to bottom and was always immaculate. Cleaning this house is an ongoing project.

I am really glad about that Egypt , but reading the other posts, I feel that my work here is not yet done

I mean this kindly when I say "STEP AWAY FROM THE HOOVER"