cleaning!

now-or-never

Full Member
hi guys, bit of an odd question but just wondering what your cleaning routines are? Im sick of just moving stuff around sweeping the floors etc and then on every day off i spend the day gutting the place. My house used to be spotless till i had kids! :D Dont get me wrong its not dirty just wondering how others deal with it so i can have day off to myself once in a while lol
 
Well i have a routine where i do one room a night after work. I schedule the lighter work rooms at the start of the week because I feel less like cleaning when I have the Monday blues. The bedroom is the last room and done on a Thursday so that when I get home from work on Friday the house is clean and I can relax with the night off. Laundry gets done on a Saturday and ironing on a Sunday.

But the best tip is 'if it would take less than a minute to do, then just do it' - you would be amazed how all those tasks that individually take up less than a minute can add up to a lot being achieved.

I don't know how old your children are, but kids should have chores that they are expected to do such as making bed, picking up toys and putting clothes away. Try and cut down on the kiddie mess by only having a limited number of toys available at any time, say 6, and rotating them. My sister's house is packed to the rafters with toys that get played with once in a blue moon.

On the food front, only ever cook one meal - none of this cooking different meals for different people.
 
I'm afraid i'm from the 'sod it, that'll do generation' then it comes to cleaning. My routine is generally to ignore the mess until my flat looks looks like students live in it, consider moving rather than cleaning, & about 2 days later (under duress) clean the place top to bottom.

The exception is the kitchen, which gets cleaned daily.
 
I'm a morning person, so do some housework each morning before I go to work. At the weekend I only do ironing everything else can wait.

As for the children I allowed my two to have as many toys out as they wanted, as long as at the end of the day it was all put away. They've always 'tided' their own rooms.

Life is more important than housework:D
 
Oh I think somewhere I wasn't meant to be a full time professional earning 10k more then my oh, but was meant to be a 1950s housewife! I love domestic goddessing!

Each evening i'll clean the kitchen whilst dinner cooks, run the dyson around downstairs and declutter. It only takes a few mins if you do it each day. That way I get Saturday off and Sunday I just have to clean bathroom, kitchen and dust everywhere.

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:) we have a lot of electrical items. If I didn't do it weekly we'd wouldn't be able to see the tv screen!

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Feel free to call me a liar...... I got home at 7.30 last night so other than loading and unloading dishwasher, I did sod all!

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I hope that my children looking back on today, remember a mother that had time to play. There;s plenty of time for cleaning and cooking, children grow up while you're not looking. So hush now cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Cleaning the house while children are growing is like shovelling snow when it's still snowing!

Honestly after a fortnight, no more dust appears. It just recycles and stays the same!
 
mumtheshopper said:
I hope that my children looking back on today, remember a mother that had time to play. There;s plenty of time for cleaning and cooking, children grow up while you're not looking. So hush now cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Cleaning the house while children are growing is like shovelling snow when it's still snowing!

Honestly after a fortnight, no more dust appears. It just recycles and stays the same!

I like your thinking!
 
I'm also of the same school of thought as kingleds - I do the bare minimum.
The kitchen surfaces are anti bac'd daily, the loo and sink are wiped round daily but other than that, it's as and when. I do the ironing when we start to run out of things, I do the floors when I can see the doggy paw prints if it's been raining and I hoover round a couple of times a week.

I am a tidy person but hubby and daughter are not so I've given up fighting and live with it.

I love my house, it's "lived in", not a show home - I just have to put up with my mum's comments about mucky windows!

If I didn't work it'd be a different story and I'd be doing things just because I had the time. In my hectic life something had to give and I'm afraid it was the housework!
 
I'm also of the same school of thought as kingleds - I do the bare minimum.
The kitchen surfaces are anti bac'd daily, the loo and sink are wiped round daily but other than that, it's as and when. I do the ironing when we start to run out of things, I do the floors when I can see the doggy paw prints if it's been raining and I hoover round a couple of times a week.

I am a tidy person but hubby and daughter are not so I've given up fighting and live with it.

I love my house, it's "lived in", not a show home - I just have to put up with my mum's comments about mucky windows!

If I didn't work it'd be a different story and I'd be doing things just because I had the time. In my hectic life something had to give and I'm afraid it was the housework!


This is me exactly too!!!!

Our house is full of toys and dog toys and everything and anything but underneath it all it's clean!!
 
I'm the same. Kitchen is always clean, its my thing. And I am forever scooping up bundles of dog/cat hair, but I usually hoover the whole house once a week, mop the floors when they look grim, do the bathroom on an as-and-when basis, and dust when it's starting to get embarrassing!
I do sometimes have moments though when I just can't stop, even resorting to cleaning light switches and every nook in the fridge. Infact, I might do the switches this afternoon. But everyone better move out my way when I have anti-bac wipes in my hand, I get a bit addicted :D
 
My routine is my cleaner comes in Monday morning & makes my place look like a palace.

Although with 2 cats & 2 small kids I have to pick up & hoover up each evening. I find though that once the big clean is done it's easy to do each evening.

But this little luxury I have will be stopping very soon as I doubt my H will pay for this when he moves out!! and I won't be able to afford it.
 
jaylou said:
Ah, I used to do this but with the cost of electricity these days, the tumble dryer is now for Emergency Use Only!!!! (has a sign on it!!)

You don't even need a tumble dryer. I haven't got one and haven't ironed in years. Take everything out of the washer as soon as its finished and hang up to dry. We have a picture rail and I hang shirts etc on hangers all over the dining room! They dry in 24 hours as its a sun trap with the patio doors. Voila, dry crease-free clothes!

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How much does your cleaner cost BB?

Its 10 pound there hour, they are so good & quick they do it in a couple of hours! That's a 2 bed flat with 2 messy kids & 2 cats! We're in London so that sure if its cheaper elsewhere.

They sometimes stay an extra hour to clean out the cupboards in the kitchen...they also clean out my fridge.

They are fabulous.
 
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