If you work school hours, when do you clean? What am I doing wrong?!

[CautiousOptimist]

Recently started a job which means everyone leaving the house before 7:30, breakfast clubs and working until school pick up time.
It works fine. I empty the dishwasher and throw a load of laundry in the machine before we leave in the morning. I dry and sort the washing and cook from scratch in the early evening somehow alongside clubs and homework. Wash up later or DH does (often out at work until 8pm).
If you have a similar work pattern, when do you clean? Do you do it in the evening? 5 in the morning? At the weekend? While you're cooking and trying to look after children? Or not at all?! A quick vacuum I can manage but when do you clean the microwave, the windows, deep clean the bathrooms etc? What am I missing?

I’m a teacher.
DH does our housework. Usually at the weekend while I’m planning.
Although I can hear him vacuuming in the back now - so maybe he does bits and pieces in the evenings? I don’t know.

Frankly, I found it impossible and got a cleaner- I appreciate I am lucky to be able to afford that and not everyone can. Otherwise it is weekends or evenings I am afraid which is fairly depressing. Like you we whip round doing the surface level stuff in the week before bed/before we leave the house.

The blessing of all being out most of the day is that there's less tidying up to do. Cleaning at mine happens on a Sunday morning but my aunt used to swear doing it on a Friday evening after work was best. Order food in and spend the time waiting for it to arrive doing a quick clean.

Frankly. I don't. My house has a basic level of cleanliness, we all have clean clothes and decent food and that has to be good enough.
No deep cleans in my house for the time being!

I get up at 5, do dishwasher, unload washing.

In the evening I put a load onto wash, wipe down the kitchen and set off the eufy.

Bathrooms get done at weekends with one room/hallway deep cleaned on rotation.

Same! I can do cooking and tidying up in the morning or evening, but proper cleaning is impossible (especially during winter - you need natural light to clean).
I don't want to sacrifice my weekend to clean, so I ended up with a cleaner.

I do DW and washing before I go to work and empty washing machine when I get back. Cook in the evenings and was up. I hoover dust etc Saturday mornings and pay for a cleaner to do kitchen and bathrooms

I do a room an evening after the kids go to bed and lowered my standards.

Low standards, clean as I go, bits and pieces, routines and set times for laundry for example and the big jobs (hoovering, bathroom etc) at the weekend. Everyone pitches in, including DD.

At the weekend. I do tidy and clean as I go though so kitchen is always clean after dinner. I tidy living room ( cushions, throws) etc before going up to bed. Dishwasher on last thing at night and first person up empties it, washing on throughout week and hung up before work.

I dust, DH hoovers , he also does bins and cars( washes and hoovers) and I do bathrooms and floors. Takes about an hour on a Saturday. Not cars but they’re only done once a month.

when do you clean the microwave, the windows, deep clean the bathrooms etc

How often are these really needed? I deep clean the bathroom probably every other Saturday morning max. Microwave and windows even less frequently, maybe 4 times a year.

What I do do is wipe down the bathroom sink whenever I use it. Wipe the microwave plate whenever anything gets on it. Deep cleans aren't weekday tasks.

Deep clean a bathroom?? What’s that? Surely the toilet, bath/ shower and floor are cleaned every time you clean it- once a week. What else?
Microwave gets a spray and wipe regularly. It’s not a big job. The glass plate gets taken out and washed as and when.

Windows once or twice a year- springtime and autumn. I might give the glass garden doors a few cleans over the summer if heavy rain marks etc.

My day is exactly as you describe. We have a cleaner. Wouldn’t get done otherwise!

A mixture of lowering standards, weekends mostly, some evening jobs and multitasking. If I'm brushing my teeth I'll clean the sink, etc

I've got young children so even though they are out most days they can explode a room in 5 seconds. My eldest does a tidy up before bed , the two eldest unload the dishwasher of an evening. We all pitch in a bit which helps. We have robot hoovers they help keep on top of the hoovering but a big hoover is needed now and then. We try to have less stuff although always difficult with kids.

It's definitely not the cleanest house but it's all liveable. We are even Slowly renovating so sometimes there is extra mess and dust but it gets done slowly. Just lower those standards if you can't afford a cleaner. Definitely don't look on Instagram or compare your home.

I do similar to you, always give the house a quick tidy up, a load of washing in the machine, etc, and a cleaner every 2 weeks!

Depends on the house- we have a 5 bedrooms, 2 sitting rooms, a huge kitchen and 3 bathrooms.
There is no way I could clean that in an hour- well, I could, but it won't be deep cleaned.

I only have one bathroom and one downstairs loo.

My DD is 16 so has chores, which helps. She's been involved in keeping the house in a reasonable state since about 8 - loading dishwasher, sorting washing, watering plants, keeping her room tidy etc.

Other than that, I do one room each day on a rota.
A good clean but not deep clean. I can generally do one room in half an hour.

Deep clean gets saved for when visitors are expected. Which I try to restrict to Christmas only 😆

I don't work school hours but same principle if you work 9-5.
I do basic wipe rounds, tidy, quick hoover, stick washing on, dishwasher, bit of ironing etc in the evening.
Full clean at weekend, one of us takes DC somewhere
It can be relentless.
I try and have one weekend day to relax.

When me and ex were both working full time with 2 kids, Thursday evening (or a night with no clubs...) was blitz night. Got the kids involved as they got older.

So bedrooms tidied and beds changed, dusted, hoovered, bathrooms done, kitchen floor mopped etc etc the only thing we really done during week was a load of washing most days, the dishwasher and wipe down of kitchen.

Between 2 of us it took 1-2hrs but meant the weekends were free.

At the weekend and evenings. I might clean the loo while I’m running a bath, clean the sink while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil etc. but mostly at the weekends, my dh also cleans. My house is never sparkling clean, but is definitely passable.

Kitchen wiped down after tea, downstairs floors once everyone has disappeared to watch tv/phones. Will dust at the same time a couple of times a week
Bathrooms and upstairs floors on a Saturday am, (sinks and toilets get a quick wizz over most nights) woodwork wiped down on a Sunday.
Washing and ironing on a weekend too.

I don't clean the Kids bedrooms - they're old enough to do that themselves so that gets done every few months 🤢

Thanks for all the tips.
It's heartening to know we're basically all in the same boat, lowering expectations and doing what we can while getting a bit of help if possible.
I need to rope in my DC more for sure, food for thought.