How Much Do You Clean Your House?

I clean every day for about 30-40 min. Some days more but usually around 30 min so that way I don't ever let it get out of hand. On the weekends, I will usually have a bigger clean of 2 hrs or more to completely disinfect the house etc.

M

I feel like it's constantly from 7a-6p, not literally but it is frustrating! I try to limit it to morning, after lunch and after dinner but there is always stuff to put away, bring upstairs, bring downstairs. I do about 6 loads of laundry a week, the kitchen floor and dishes always seem to be a mess. It's very hard to keep up with but now that baby is off bottles that makes it a little easier! I only vacum every 2 weeks and use the hand vac a few times/week. I know I spend too much time on it but it bothers me when messy and I worry someone might stop by (although that's rare). I look forward to the replies.

I do laundry every day (two loads).
I clean bathrooms twice a week (unless someone has been sick then I clean them daily until those germs are outta my house).
I vacuum once a day.
I cook 1 dinner.
I put away toys at the end of the day when the kids are in bed.
There is no way I am adding more. My house is clean. eh clean. That is it. This is great for me as I was not born with the cleaning gene, so even this much is out of my character.

Cooking and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow for babies grow up I have
learned to my sorrow, so quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep, I am
rocking my babies and babies don't keep.

Do the essential things on a daily basis. Let some of the other stuff go
until you have time. Enjoy your baby.

Everyday: I set a timer for 5 minutes and that's how much time I have to straighten up that room. And then I move on. If the room doesn't need 5 minutes, I use that time in the room that needs it the most - usually the kitchen! Once I have spent 5 minutes in each room, I call it done for the day. And, then once a week I'll spend more time doing more thorough cleaning. But I find that if I spend 5 minutes each day it doesn't get so bad. It's manageable. And I can get on with my life. Otherwise I get sucked in to cleaning for hours each day. And if 5 minutes isn't enough, oh well! Life doesn't have to always be perfectly clean!

all day every day seems like

10 Minute Tidy
Everyone in the house picks a room in the house, they can pick different rooms or all work together. Put on some fun music, set the kitchen timer and GO! But only for 10 minutes. Then STOP!

We have a chart with EVERYTHING that should be cleaned every month. We pick one of those items for our 10 min tidy each day.

B.
Family Success Coach

I use to be crazed about keeping my house clean. I'm sooooo over that now! My house is clean 'enough'. Dishes get done every morning, and a quick pick-up/vacumn after breakfast in the kitchen. Laundry once a week. Pick up toys each day and return them to my daughter's room. I thoroughly clean once every two weeks, in the evening when hubby is home. I do upstairs one night (1 hour or so to clean), downstairs living area, kitchen etc. about 2 hours. Once a month I take out my dust buster and clean ceilings, corners of the room, vents etc. & I use Murphy oil soap on all wood throughout the house. We don't have any pets, which cuts down on the mess, and it does actually stay pretty clean (except for toys), in between cleaning. I say, have a clean house, but don't obsess over it. I'd even suggest to your hubby as a nice Valentine's day gift, a gift certificate for a one time professional cleaning, now there's a thoughtful gift I'd love to get!! :)

What can you do to make it easier? Don't clean so much! I clean just enough to make it look fine, but if I'm busy, I let it go - it will get done eventually! I remember my mom cleaning and ironing all the time! My kids will remember all the fun things we did, but probably not the dust building up or the messy table. I keep things like dishes cleaned up and messiness like clothes and stuff under control, but if I don't get to the dusting or bathrooms very often, oh well. That's life. I don't let anything get really gross, but sometimes I don't get to the bathrooms for two weeks. There's only one guy in our fam, my hubby, and he doesn't pee all over the toilet, so it really doesn't need cleaning every week.

I'm a minimalist, so for me, the less stuff the better and easier to keep up. I declutter every season. I get rid of anything that is in bad shape or I haven't used in a year. I consciously watch what I buy so that I don't have doubles of things like small appliances or have things that I don't use. Even if there is a great sale on say, bed sheets, I'll pass unless I throw out an old set. If something breaks, I throw it out and replace it. As far as the dishes go, for the dinner dishes, I'll use the dishwasher. Now, I don't have a whole lot of dishes because of lack of space, so they get handwashed and put away as soon as they are used. As far as daily chores go: I vacuum everyday, do laundry daily, and dust about once a week. I do not own many knicknacks, dust collectors as I call them, because they take up space to store. I clean my bathrooms top to bottom about every week --but I clean the tub, sinks and toilet daily (or when needed). Clorox Hard Surface Cleaner works great for these jobs:) I keep up my fridge up daily too. I throw out old leftovers (2 days in the fridge max) and wipe down the shelves if dirty. It doesn't take along because I do it daily. My house is clean and smells good when company walks in. I always try to keep up my house so that it is company ready. Sometimes, though, I do fall short:)

I clean everyday. And cook and everything else in between.
Like it matters???
So frustrating... and I am the only one.... who seems to care.
Sure my kids help, in kid ways.
But still, "Mommy" is the main cleaner... of everything.... interior and exterior.
Where is my Husband?
He appears sometimes.
Ugh.
Yah... frustrating.
I have 2 kids, 1 Husband, and a Grandma that lives with us.
4 people I care for... plus the pet rabbit and fish and lizard and insect pets the kids have.

I am TIRED.
Grumpy at PMS times.

Ditto.... you and probably everyone else here.

And when constantly doing stuff.... I cannot find my "humor."
Where is it????
I have not found it... yet.

Who takes care of MY needs?
Anyone?

No, I am not having a good day... sorry for venting too.

all the best,
Susan

You should check out www.flylady.org. This site has completely helped me feel less stressed out about clutter and cleaning in general. Really. Take a few moments to check it out. It has made quite a difference for me.

Peace.

I feel like if I'm not sitting down I'm picking up or washing something, so I would probably cry if I tried to figure out the time. We have one cat who sheds but I don't think he is responsible for the house. Most of my time is cleaning up the kitchen after a 2 and 4 year old have eaten (lots of cleaning every meal), dishes (no dishwasher), clutter (mail, broken toys and books that we "plan to fix," dishes in the wrong places, cushions on the floor, folded laundry all over the floor--it gets folded several times usually, etc.). Depending on how old your baby is you might be able to get away with a large blanket that is always cat-free to cover the carpet so you don't have to vacuum so often. I vacuum a few times a week to one time a week, depending on the week or if we're having company over. I try to clean my bathroom upstairs when the boys are in the tub (won't work with a baby) and work on dishes when they are at the table. I also can't total my time since it is broken up between meeting kids' needs and I work full days, so come home and drag my body around the house trying to stay awake and do things, too.

I clean too much, and not enough.

On average I spend 2-3 hours a day cleaning, but my house is rarely "clean". I too, do the floors every day (dog hair from a double coated dog). The floors, however, are the least of my worries, since that only takes about 20 minutes.

First thing I'm going to do when I start making $ again is hire a once a week housecleaner.

Try this: Ask yourself if there is really anything in the rug that could be hazardous to your baby's health. If the answer is no, then vacuum another time. Same w/ the floors.
I get to the dishes and laundry when I feel like it. Dishes get done a couple times a day, and laundry gets run a few times a week. there's a huge pile of laundry on the floor by the laundry room, because there are 3 of us in the house, and one dog.
Reading with my son or even just relaxing with a good book for myself or watching one of my favorite TV shows often takes priority over dishes and laundry. The dishes and laundry aren't going anywhere, and as long as there's room for my hubby to cook in the kitchen, by dinner time, and as long as we have things to eat off of, we're not going to suffer.
If the mess isn't causing anyone to suffer, then shouldn't you be spending a little time on yourself or with your loved ones? You'll be less neurotic for it and less tired in the end.
If you need to, get one of those automatic self cleaning cat litter boxes, and a little vacuum robot called a Roomba, and sit down and enjoy your family and your home. If you have to vacuum every day, choose only one room/day, because it sounds like ur just driving yourself nuts. Try switching to decaf, Sista.

I have 3 cats, I vac the foyer ( where the litter box is) daily and also the livingroom daily. I follow FlyLady. The best advice I have learned is you cannot clean clutter...so toss what you do not like do not need or have more than one of. I work cleaning two women's homes so the last thing I want to do is spend ALL my time cleaning = ) Check out Flylady, her site is free...her routines are easy to get in good healthy cleaning habits. One of her mottos is you can get anything done 15 minutes at a time. Sounds to me like you are getting tired and burnt out...FLY stands for Finally Loving Yourself...it does not have to all be done in one day.

Well I just try to pick up everyday. Like Every day I make sure beds are made, toys, clothes etc are always picked up. Never leave dirty dishes in the sink, sweep the kitchen floor usually after dinner and will vacuum as often as needed. But the deep cleaning stuff I usually only do once a week. Like moping the floors, clean sinks, toilets, dusting, etc. But because I pick up on a daily bases the house stays organized and clutter free so when I go to do the deep cleaning I'm not picking up a mess before starting the clean you know what I mean.

Hmmmm, when do you actually sleep?!?!?! Put yourself on a schedule and see how that goes (a realistic schedule). I have an at-home preschool, so the front of my house has to be vacuumed everyday, plus the kitchen and hallway bathroom have to be spotless, including the floors. Dusting - that happens 2x a week. The rest of the house gets cleaned once a week. Now for me, my goal is to not have any housework on the weekends. Laundry happens everyday, even on the weekends, but I am not cleaning the bathrooms or scrubbing any floors on the weekends. It's a nice little break for myself. Yes, I have to bust around and vacuum and mop the kitchen floor Monday morning before anyone arrives, but that is a small price to pay for not having to do it all weekend. Relax a little for yourself. How much time do you really get to spend with your baby if you are doing all this cleaning? Also, your husband would probably help with some things if that meant getting more of you all to himself!!! Put down the cleaning supplies & relax a little today! Have fun! B.

I can't imagine it being any easier. I honestly think that there is a balance to strike between cleaning all the time like it sounds like you do, and lowering your standards just a little bit. I can't lower my standards because I have people in my house 7 days per week and my line of work requires a clean house. If I slip, even a little, people will bad talk me all over the place.

I also believe that the daycare children are not the biggest culprits in my home. Dust is in everyone's home with or without cats. Laundry will need to be done no matter what and in the end, it's not that much harder to do 1 or 2 loads or 2 or 3 loads per day. It's a matter of what you are used to.

I'm sorry I don't have any great answers. I know people will recommend fly lady. So many people like that website. I don't. I just jump in and do what's needed and I'm grateful when it's clean.

I top to bottom thoroughly clean the house once a week, mostly out of habit (marine corps) trying to break it because it's silly, but daily i pick up after my daughter (she helps), do laundry when need be (I usually procrastinate because I hate folding laundry), scoop the litter box when need be, do dishes when she goes to bed, clean the counters, and if at some point during the week the floor needs to be vacuumed or mopped/swept I will. I can't honestly say how much time I spend cleaning, on the once a week day I can spend hours cleaning but daily I doubt it's more than an hour doing dishes and randomly picking up after my daughter, etc. It's so hard to say when its one minute here and there and 15 mins to load a dishwasher. I do live in the upstairs apt of my family's home so I am constantly picking up after them too which is irritating because they're grown and I'm wiping the counters fifty times a day because every time they drink coffee or make a meal there is a big mess.
I agree with other posters, sometimes you got to set it on the backburner and enjoy your lil one.. I can't believe mine is 2 years old. I remember when I first saw her and my first couple weeks when she couldn't even lift her head. I still have her first pair of shoes, they are sooo tiny compared to hers now. Time goes by so fast *sigh*

I tried to make a "schedule" for cleaning my house just to make things easier. I honestly couldn't commit to it and I didn't notice anything easier about it for the short time I tried. Ideally I like my bathrooms (have 2 of them) to be cleaned every other day. Not practical for how busy I am...mother of 3 and pregnant with # 4...hubby works M-F, "normal hours," and I'm full time at home. I'm lucky if my bathrooms get cleaned once a week. As for dusting, (3 bedrooms, 1 great room), I'm lucky if I dust weekly as well. No carpeting in my house, just ceramic tiles but even that gets difficult to do on a daily basis. I am thinking about getting a Roomba just to minimize the amount of vacuuming that needs to be done (mostly crumbs, no pets). My family are slobs, seriously, I tell them to pick up after themselves. It falls on deaf ears.
Housework for me seems like an endless and tedious job. I am constantly having to do and re-do things I've already done...often times several times in the same day. I would love, love, love to accomplish a room, walk away from it and say, "I'm done!" But no, a mess always reoccurs. It's frustrating and I have begun to hate doing housework just because I am so tired of re-doing things I have already done. I wish I had advice for you but from what you described, I'm in the same boat with you.

WOW! You moms clean alot!!!!! I am at work all day so I don't have time to clean!
When I get home, I TRY to cook dinner. If I am too tired, they get soup or sandwiches...something easy. I will just pickup anything laying around. I only do laundry a couple of times a week. I clean my house ONCE a week! I will wipe down counters if needed but that's about it. My house always looks pretty tidy. And I have two kids. I try to make sure the little one keeps her toys in her room at all times...the other one is a teenager. I also have my teenager help with the dishes and folding laundry. Sometimes by the end of the week though, I start to slack a little and things may start to pile up, but I don't want to spend my whole life cleaning!
Someone once told me "Boring women have clean houses." I am really trying to live by this :)

The simple answer is "relax"! Gee ... I got stressed just reading your post! My grandfather, a very wise physician, once told me that "A clean child is a sick child". Much to my gran's dismay he actively encouraged us all to get out and get dirty! Babies grow so fast and they actually build their immunity by not living in a "sterile" environment. Enjoy the time with your child - the cleaning can wait! :)

I created a monthly chore chart on an excel sheet and broke it into sections based on frequency. Some chores are 2x/week (like downstairs floors) some are weekly (bathrooms), some every other week (dusting) and some monthly (clean fish tanks).
The daily stuff isn't on their because it's just done by me and my Hubby (clean cat litter boxes, dishes, wipe down kitchen counters with bleach wipes, etc).
Everyone pitches in (teen step kids) and I modified frequency as we went along initially. Some weeks we don't get to it all but at least we know when it was done last and everyone is expected to pick and just knock out chores every week. I can tell you they don't clean the way I would but at least it's done. I has to relax my standards.
We both work full time, me from home so I can fit laundry into a work day between meetings, I have a 3 yr old and one on the way plus the two teens half time (live within walking distance). It's a big house and there is no maid. Oh, and we have six cats.
Good luck to you!

I'm sure I don't clean my house enough but I'm at an age where I don't care as much, I'd rather do other things. When the kids were small I was a nut job about cleaning, dusting, and such.

About once a month everyone pitches in so at least the front rooms are super clean. It's each man/woman/teenager to themselves for bedrooms. Bathrooms I catch about once a week.

I hear ya! My 2 main things i do everyday are: clean kitchen and do laundry. 1-3 loads a day. Its my husband, 7 yr old and 2 yr old girls and one on the way and me of course. Then i try to add one thing on to it. Its about all i can do. I ask my husband for help and my 7 yr old does small things for me as well. I try to organize it on my calendar too, that way i have a chore for everyone to do everyday. For example: Fridays are me clean downstairs bathrm. Hubby: dust living rm fan, 7 yr old, clean glass doors. Oh and these things dont nessecarily get done either.

We have 3 kids, I'm pregnant and my husband and I own a local business...and we homeschool...so we have VERY LIMITED time. We decided to get a housekeeper, who comes 2x/month. We have NO animals, for this EXACT reason....they are WAY messier than kids.

My husband and I split up the house into 8 sections (4 each). We set a timer for 15 minutes for each section and when the timer goes off, we are done with that section and we move on to the next and set the timer for another 15 minutes. In 1 hour, our house is spotless. We do this once per week, but you could do this 2x/week.

Mind you, my husband spent the first 15 minutes of the first time we did this, cleaning the toilet and STILL was not done. He learned how to clean (something his mother did not teach him) and can now clean the entire bathroom in 15 minutes.

I only dust my house once a week. I have 17 rooms, so I rotate days. Bathrooms are cleaned on Mondays and Fridays. Laundry is all done on Thursday. Floors are swept as needed, but no minimum than 2x/week. Dishes are done at the end of each day. My kids come first and I don't care what other people think when they walk in. If they don't like it, they can do my work for me or leave.