The laziest question ever. (household routine) - Page 3

[ChristyMarie]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan

This thread is making me want to use a timer every day for a week or so to record *exactly* how much time we (every family member) spends cleaning our home!

Same here!

When I first read this thread I'm like, there's NO way I spend 2 hours a day.

BUT....

Between loading the dishwasher
putting it all away
doing a load of laundry a day
straightening up
doing some sort of organizational project
taking care of the dog
cleaning up after DS and DH
washing linens
making/cleaning up from meals
putting away shopping

I bet I do spend 2 hours a day. I usually have one solid hour in the morning then little bits throughout the day. No wonder when I worked my house was always messy! LOL. And I have a maid. If I had to clean this house too...I think it takes them about 6 man-hours (they are here 2 - 2.5 hours with 3 people) to clean this house so that would add at least another hour to each day - and I'm not as fast as them, or as good.

But I will say that my house is almost always company ready. It makes me much happier and less stressed to have an organized house. I HATE when I can't find something or can't see the kitchen table. I do usually slack on the weekends so by Monday I have a chunk to do but I like relaxing instead of cleaning Sat/Sun.

[Dingletwitz]

we have a small place, but I did time the "whole-place overhaul" one weekend and it took one hour forty minutes to do the whole thing, dishes and sheets, bath etc. So I would say about 15 minutes a day and about an hour on the weekend for the weekly things.

[newbymom05]

OP, I have a book rec for you--Cheryl Mendolsohn's Home Comforts. See if your library has it. It's a wonderful book about how to run an organized home, but I think you'd benefit from the chapter on her homemaking philosophy. Basically, she sees her home as her sanctuary, and tasks that she performs w/in it help to prepare and nurture her family for the world outside. She's a practicing atty, btw, not a SAHM w/ (theoretical) oodles of time.

I def spend 2 hrs a day but I include all meal prep, laundry and pick up in that. I have a 4 and 1 yr old and we're all at home, so picking up is constant. Once my kids are in school, I expect that number to go down, or my cleaning standards to go up.

On that note, I also have to say that being out of the house is HUGE regarding upkeep. I was a teacher, and pre-kids I would be surprised at how much more time I would spend cleaning during the summer months. Even if you're the type of parent who prefers to prevent child-led messes, those extra meals/snacks, entertainment, in and out of the house dirt, potty times, and etc equals more time for the housekeeper.

[catscharm74]

I don't spend to 2 hours cleaning..it is mostly daily maintenance for us. I wipe down the shower in the morning, since I am the last one in there for the day. I swoosh some toilet cleaner around and wipe down the sink and mirror probably 1x during the week. If we have laundry, I try to throw in a full load in the morning, drying it when we get home. We vacuum through, again in the middle of the week.

Saturday is our cleaning day but being a minimalist, I can honestly clean like company is coming in 3 hours tops. Otherwise, it takes us only about 1.5 hours to completely clean 2 bathrooms, wipe down all surfaces (things like window ledges, the dressers, fan blades). We keep the laundry going all day in need be, the trash is collected and taken out last. Then we vacuum through and I light a few candles for a nice scent.

We throw open the windows as often as we can and try to get things to dry outside---especially bedding..

Here is what a Saturday might look like:

COFFEE...plan dinner and take out what we will need...eat breakfast...get dressed...spend 30 minutes outside THEN::::

strip 2 beds---start load of bedding laundry--
wipe down bathrooms---sweep, take out trash
Hang out bedding loads- wash dog bed and toys---dry
Put in large load of darks
Wipe down surfaces, starting in bedrooms, working to the living room and then kitchen.
Transfer dark load over to dry, do another dark load or if no more darks, start on whites.

Take out trash, sweep down kitchen, vacuum whole house, mop floors last.

This is pretty basic for us but works and I think my house is very clean. Again, let me reiterate---we live VERY simple and minimal. It has taken me 3 years to get to this point of being very organized.

While we watch football, I organize papers, pay bills or make lists. I even do some sit ups or push ups.

We both work full time, go to college and have a 3 year old. We wanted a simple easy life to do the things we love. And my rule is if you don't like my home, then don't come visit.

[nascarbebe]

Yes, I spend at least two hours cleaning every day. Some days probably up to 4. My DH works full time and has a freelance business so he rarely helps around the house but he never makes a mess and always cleans up after himself. I'm the one with the bad habits . I have two little kids and take care of a baby during the week so I'm constantly wiping down the table because they eat several times during the day. That also creates dishes so I have to handwash or rinse and toss in the dishwasher. The baby always leaves crumbs on the dinning floor when she eats so I have to wipe all that down. And I have to keep the floors clean for her so I vaccum 1x/day and probably sweep the hardwood floors 2-3x/day when she's here.

I also cook from scratch nearly every evening so I make a big mess from that and I also clean all that. The little ones leave marks on chairs, the tv, walls, windows and doors so I regularly wipe all that down. We have a dog so I have to stay on top of the dog hair, even though she doesn't shed that much. My DD goes through several outfits a day so I'm always treating stains and doing laundry. And we also use cloth diapers. I don't mind picking up the kids toys and books because that only takes a few minutes a day.

Whew! No wonder I'm exhausted at the end of the day!

[Smokering]

I don't consider cooking itself part of housecleaning like a few PPs seemed to, but cooking is one of the things that contributes vastly to cleaning time, in my house. I cook from scratch and bake a fair bit, including bread... and it's amazing how making a batch of cookies and some scrambled eggs can turn a clean kitchen into a war zone! Even with a dishwasher. And our current main bench is small enough that it only takes a few dishes to make it look messy... add in some spilt flour or dirty teaspoons and it looks gross fast. So I do feel like I'm "always" cleaning the kitchen.

Two hours a day though? Even in increments? I don't think so. Some days, maybe...

[lolar2]

Remember, the two hours are time everyone spends. So if your spouse does the dishes, that counts into the increments.

[bluebunny]

I would agree that meal preparation would not be counted in my two hours but the clean-up would. It just makes sense that if you cook and eat at home, there is more mess and dishes to clean.

[becoming]

To put away toys that have crept to all the rooms of the house, I take a laundry basket from room to room and collect them all, then take them to their proper places. Same with shoes, clothes, backpacks, books, etc.

I wash & dry one load of clothes every day and fold & put away the load from the day before.

I clean the kitchen as I'm cooking (unloading & loading the dishwasher, wiping down counters, throwing away any trash).

We are also minimalists. We have basically nothing in our house that we don't use at least on a weekly basis (aside from importantpapers, filed in the appropriate place).

I clean for maybe 30-45 minutes a day and have a pretty spotless house.

[bobandjess99]

thanks everyone. LOL....i love how the thread sort of took on life of its own but strayed back to the op.

I think my biggest issue is that despite having decluttered MASSIVELY (a couple weeks ago we literally filled up a dumpster, we got tired of just throwing away bags in the regular trash) we still just have SO. MUCH. stuff that our house is just filled.....You can't even walk through the hallways sometimes, if clutter starts creeping in.
Plus, my kids have just tons of toys...we've given away (or in the case of a very few selct items, stored away) literally bags and bags..I took 2 cars full to donate, plus threw out ANYthing broken, lost pieces or dirty, etc......and yet..they have 2 rooms just filled so you can barely walk in....plus, my son is just a DEMON.
Cleaning actually messes up the house, becaue if I'm cleaning, I am not right on top of him, and he is off destroying, and in the 15 minutes it takes me to clean up the kitchen and load the dishwasher, he can literally create a 2-hour mess of toys in the play room. It's insane.

Dh and i clean and clean..right now, we actually are spending a good 2 hours per day cleaning, plus essentially his entire day off, like 8 hours, cleaning, and our house is still a complete mess.

i
m going through and weeding out diapers today, and orgnizing the kidas play kitchen so the 749836598694thousand pieces of play food they have aren't all over the place.
i just keep chugging away, but it seems like I'm getting nowhere fast. Maybe we need another dumpster...but I don;'t know what we'd get rid of at this point, except toys. We need everything else. It's just our house is too small. *sigh* 7 people in 900 sq feet is just not enough.

[Nature]

I easily spend at least 2 hours a day cleaning, if not more. With 5 kids there is always something to clean.

[3plus2isme]

Most days I do probably spend 2hrs... other days I might do absolutly nothing

I *HATE* clutter. I used to be a huge pack-rat but over the last couple years (much to DH's joy) I went through it all and tossed/donated/sold SO.MUCH."STUFF." If we don't use it, we don't keep it. If we're not going to use it, we don't buy it. I'm a shopaholic but have really tamed back since this whole "hating clutter" thing kicked in lol

I'm not really alive in the mornings before DS1 goes to school so nothing gets done then.. but once we get home from dropping him off I get to work.

If I didn't do the kitchen the night before I'll tidy that up, plan out dinner for that night and organized whatever is laying around.

I vaccuum every.single.day. DS2 has allergies and it seems to help (plus I love a clean floor.)
I clean the bathroom 2-4 times a week.
At least 1 load of laundry is done a day (washed, dried, put away.)
Dust several times a week (again, this would probably be put off more if DS2 didn't have allergies.)

The boys are *always* responsible for cleaning up their trail of toys through the house. I refuse to help with that and it's never a battle to get them to do it. Where I do step up and help is their bedroom (they share)... We've hit up Ikea to help with the organizing but it always seems to be over run so a couple times a week I'll go in and spend 10-20 mins giving it a good, deep "clean up." Other wise they go in there every day before dinner and get it "mommy approved" clean.

Kitchen floors are swept multiple times a day (our tile hides dirt way to well but I hate socks so I can feel it right away lol) but only washed 2 times a week.

Contrary to popular belief I don't feel like my life is over run by cleaning. #1 I enjoy it, #2 it keeps things under control, #3 I do it either with DS2 while DS1 is at school or while he's busy with his puzzles, toys, tearing up the backyard or at playschool.

DH is uber awesome at getting the house clean, fast... but he leaves the house at 6:30 and doesn't get home til 6:30ish and the boys are in bed by 7-7:30 so I'd rather him spend time with them at night On the weekends he does the "man stuff" and whatever I ask of him.

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

thanks everyone. LOL....i love how the thread sort of took on life of its own but strayed back to the op.

I think my biggest issue is that despite having decluttered MASSIVELY (a couple weeks ago we literally filled up a dumpster, we got tired of just throwing away bags in the regular trash) we still just have SO. MUCH. stuff that our house is just filled.....You can't even walk through the hallways sometimes, if clutter starts creeping in.
Plus, my kids have just tons of toys...we've given away (or in the case of a very few selct items, stored away) literally bags and bags..I took 2 cars full to donate, plus threw out ANYthing broken, lost pieces or dirty, etc......and yet..they have 2 rooms just filled so you can barely walk in....plus, my son is just a DEMON.
Cleaning actually messes up the house, becaue if I'm cleaning, I am not right on top of him, and he is off destroying, and in the 15 minutes it takes me to clean up the kitchen and load the dishwasher, he can literally create a 2-hour mess of toys in the play room. It's insane.

Dh and i clean and clean..right now, we actually are spending a good 2 hours per day cleaning, plus essentially his entire day off, like 8 hours, cleaning, and our house is still a complete mess.

i
m going through and weeding out diapers today, and orgnizing the kidas play kitchen so the 749836598694thousand pieces of play food they have aren't all over the place.
i just keep chugging away, but it seems like I'm getting nowhere fast. Maybe we need another dumpster...but I don;'t know what we'd get rid of at this point, except toys. We need everything else. It's just our house is too small. *sigh* 7 people in 900 sq feet is just not enough.

Oh man, that would drive me crazy. I've never allowed that in my house because I am LAZY and would never pick all those pieces up. Plus, my laziness is thoroughly transferred over to my kids, so they'd never pick that up. Hence, no toys with lots of pieces (except for my 12yos legos which I vacuum up freely when he leaves them out LOL).

We have 8 (almost 9) people, five of which are 18 and over, living in a 1400 sq. ft. house, so I really feel your pain. I find myself continually editing. About the only things I buy and bring in the house are groceries because I just don't have room to store anything else!

[Collinsky]

: I fall into the trap of refusing to clean for two or more hours a day (which is basically what it takes to keep the house from looking like a tornado whipped through it... I think I just spend time making piles and moving them around, only to have them get de-piled within a day or so... it's not working for me LOL) -- it's a minimum of 2-3 hours just to get it halfway decent, not even clean by anyone else's standards... and that's ridiculous, and not very rewarding, because it still doesn't look NICE after a ton of work. So I don't do it. The heck with that, I say to my self subconsciously. And then it gets wayyyyy worse. And then I have to do a blitz cleaning because someone is coming the next day, and it is seriously about a solid 8 hour job to get the house even sort of presentable. (Still not super clean or really all that pretty. It just takes that long to organize and hide a million piles of stuff. ) So then for the next week, I'm like, geez, I just cleaned for 12 hours, I should be good for a week. Guess how well this pattern is working out for me in the real world??

I don't mind actual cleaning, like wiping counters and sweeping. I hate spending so much time and energy managing these awful entropic random piles, that I have to deal with before I can even get to the cleaning part. So we're decluttering a lot (trying to... it's harder than it seems it would be) because I think that's a big key here.

The Messies Anonymous lady says that Messie people often end up spending way more time and energy on a daily basis trying to get/keep their houses in order than neat people -- until/unless they just give up because they decide it's just not worth that much effort for so little success -- and that really made a lot of sense. The theory is that while you do always have to do things to keep your home clean (anything else is just not realistic) it becomes a lot easier if your home and your life is set up to make that efficient and pleasant. It was so relieving to hear someone say that people with messy homes aren't necessarily lazy AT ALL. Because I work SO HARD. Until I burn out pulling an all-nighter and then end up feeling discouraged by how fast 12 hours of work is completely undone. I hate the continual feeling of struggle, and the only way I've dealt with it in the past is to just stop fighting the mess. So it wins for a while, and then I do a crisis cleaning, and then it begins again.

I'm loving some of the responses you've gotten. Ideas and advice like this is so helpful for keeping me motivated and on track to my goals for a more efficient, organized, pleasant house that doesn't take most of my day and doesn't feel like a war.

[Usually Curious]

Collinsky, are you sure you aren't me? Sheesh, I could have written your post word for word, except for the part about being lazy - I am.

I've been working to clean and maintain throughout the week since I started working mornings, because I just don't have the time and energy to 'blitz' right now (I'm 8mos preggo). It's amazing how little time it takes to get the house nice and presentable after everyone leaves in the morning, maybe 15 minutes?

I'm still having trouble keeping the kitchen clean, though. I hate hand-washing and hopefully that will be over when dh remodels the 'wet side' of the kitchen over Thanksgiving week.

[BunniMummi]

Originally Posted by Usually Curious

Collinsky, are you sure you aren't me? Sheesh, I could have written your post word for word, except for the part about being lazy - I am.

I think we might be triplets.

[Collinsky]

Originally Posted by Usually Curious

Collinsky, are you sure you aren't me? Sheesh, I could have written your post word for word, except for the part about being lazy - I am.

During the periods of "I give up" I'm definitely lazy. And then I have a period of "Ack! Someone's coming!!" or "I'm going to Once And For All get this under control." I'm cyclically lazy. I'm sure there's a name for that. LOL

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by Collinsky

During the periods of "I give up" I'm definitely lazy. And then I have a period of "Ack! Someone's coming!!" or "I'm going to Once And For All get this under control." I'm cyclically lazy. I'm sure there's a name for that. LOL

I like that name.

[GranoLLLy-girl]

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

Ok, so..a recent thread got me thinking. someone asked about household routine and if it was average to spend TWO HOURS cleaning up at night, at a minimum. And shockingly, most people responded that YES, that seemed to be what it took to maintain the household chores.

My reaction was

Seriously? No wonder my house is filthy. That's insane.

My outraged rant is that I simply don't accept that. I do not accept that I am "supposed" to spend THAT much of my life doing something I absolutely despise...cleaning. And my only other option is to live in filth? Or, I suppose, to somehow garner enough wealth to pay someone else to clean for me? i'm really supposed to spend 15% of my waking LIFE cleaning? That's just supposed to be peachy keen with me? NO. I just....seriously?

I'm with you---two hours a day is nuts. Now--I will say this: it must depend on your lifestyle.
This year life has changed for our family significantly. The kids are both in school now and I went back to work. So there is no one home most of the day---unless you count the dog walker who comes daily.
So for me, I clean maybe ten minutes a day. And my house is pretty clean.
Yesterday, I vacuumed and cleaned off the ceiling fans.
Daily, I do laundry, pick up after everyone and clean the kitchen after meals.
I have a yard service person now that I have returned to work.
My husband literally does NOTHING--he is going to work and school full time.
I do bathrooms weekly. But like others, I do clean as I go.
I will wipe off counters and tables after the kids have been there.
Other things that help: pegs in the laundry room for coats. A place for book bags and school work. A closet for "crafts".
The house is generally organized and that makes any real cleaning more of a weekly thing--like bathrooms and the like.
As for deep cleaning---spring cleaning or throwing out things...I do that as I go. I have friends that swap kids' clothes with me--so I will sort clothes when a bag of clothes comes from a friend. Toys go into bins. The kids are old enough to pick up their rooms and put a garbage bag into the trash can for me. We also have pets---so they require a lot of cleaning, but that's done on Saturdays.
Hope that helps!

[lolar2]

You're saying that all that "as you go" cleaning, added all together, only adds up to a total of ten minutes a day? The dishes? Wiping up messes? Post-meal clean-up? Daily laundry including folding-and-putting-away?