The laziest question ever. (household routine) - Page 4

[childsplay]

I probably spend more than two hours a day cleaning. Not all at once though, 10 minutes here, 1/2 hour there, 5 minutes after school, 15 minutes making beds and straitening rooms, then theres hanging, folding, washing laundry, breakfast, lunch, supper and snacktime clean ups plus sweeping at least twice a day....you get what I'm saying : ) But, I provide childcare in my home, plus I have my own kids, we are very 'crafty' so there's always the mess of paints, doll making etc to clean up.
Ya, so it's a good 2 hrs anyway, and my wooden floors still turn everyone's socks brown!
** DS had a friend over the other day, she looked up at me and said wow, your house is pretty messy, when's your lady coming?

[ashleyhaugh]

Originally Posted by BunniMummi

I think we might be triplets.

make that quads

[Marlet]

There's no way I could spend that long a day cleaning. I can deep clean (and not just surface areas) my house in that amount of time if I went slow.

Maybe it's not so much that people are really truely taking 2 hours to clean but more about what they define as cleaning. My sister qualifies random picking up of things as cleaning. So she literally cleans all day long. I have a friend who doesn't think it's cleaning unless she has to go all out...wiping things down, sweeping/vaccuming, straightening etc. I can see how both can be cleaning for 2 hours a day.

[NicaG]

One thing no one has mentioned about the 2-hour figure...a lot of that cleaning time is also multitasking time. Like, for example, I'm wiping down the kitchen counters while I'm playing with the baby, or I'm folding laundry while watching tv, I'm picking up the kids' toys while talking to my mom on the phone, etc.

When I have two uninterrrupted hours to clean, with no kids in the house....man, I get so much done! I can clean the whole frickin' house top to bottom! But I would never spend two solid hours cleaning every day. But I can see how 15-minute blocks here and there add up.

[flowmom]

Originally Posted by newbymom05

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.

Absolutely . I even find that when I let my kids watch more TV than usual, I am surprised by how nice the living room looks. Your daily activities have a huge impact on the cleaning effort.

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

orgnizing the kidas play kitchen so the 749836598694thousand pieces of play food they have aren't all over the place.

You need high shelves to put away bins of toys with small pieces. Maybe just keep one small pieces toy out at a time, and don't have any out when you are feeling overwhelmed. If I clean up at night and I want things to be company-ready the next day, I hide the small pieces toys at night to prevent toys being strewn over the entire living room floor (we don't have a playroom and the kids' room is small).

[lolar2]

Originally Posted by Marlet

Maybe it's not so much that people are really truely taking 2 hours to clean but more about what they define as cleaning. My sister qualifies random picking up of things as cleaning. So she literally cleans all day long. I have a friend who doesn't think it's cleaning unless she has to go all out...wiping things down, sweeping/vaccuming, straightening etc. I can see how both can be cleaning for 2 hours a day.

The original thread that this one spun off off, defined random picking up as cleaning when adding up the minutes. That's where the 2-hour figure came from.

Originally Posted by NicaG

One thing no one has mentioned about the 2-hour figure...a lot of that cleaning time is also multitasking time. Like, for example, I'm wiping down the kitchen counters while I'm playing with the baby, or I'm folding laundry while watching tv, I'm picking up the kids' toys while talking to my mom on the phone, etc.

Absolutely. But I'm jealous that you had a baby who allowed you to wipe down the kitchen counters while playing! DS is great about it now but as a baby? That would have been cause for scare-the-neighbors screaming.

Originally Posted by Ksenia

You need high shelves to put away bins of toys with small pieces. Maybe just keep one small pieces toy out at a time, and don't have any out when you are feeling overwhelmed.

This is a great idea which I plan to implement right away!

[greenmamapagan]

Originally Posted by stormborn

Wait. As in, after the kids are asleep clean for 2 hours straight? Or as in, count every time I take 2 MINUTES to throw laundry in or pick up a few things to put away?

'Cause if it's the first, I'm just...........either or.
There's no way, and while my house may be cluttered I don't think its anywhere near nasty. I do clean as I go, maybe if I left all the messes until the end of the day it would take hours to dig out. Or maybe my standards are lower than average?

If you count the increments during the day, it's definitely more than 2 hours. Seems to be all I ever do. Put on laundry, wash dishes, more dishes, pick up stuff 3 year old spilt on the floor while I was washing the dishes etc etc

Originally Posted by 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.

Gah, exactly!
But two hours after the children are asleep? Actually, anything more than wiping the benches after they're asleep? NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Once DD is asleep I consider myself "knocked off" for the day and I except for feeding the baby when he wakes I do nothing else for anyone except myself until she wakes up the next morning.

[greenmamapagan]

Originally Posted by Ksenia

Absolutely . I even find that when I let my kids watch more TV than usual, I am surprised by how nice the living room looks. Your daily activities have a huge impact on the cleaning effort.

So true. When DD watches dvds or youtube the house is suddenly liveable. I can only imagine how clean it could be if we actually owned a tv.

[lucyem]

Originally Posted by Ksenia

OP, it would take me a lot less than 2 hours if

• my dh picked up after himself
• my children could do some tidying with encouragement from me
• we had no clutter
• I didn't do a lot of "from scratch cooking"
• we didn't spend a fair amount of time at home (we are homeschoolers)

We do not homeschool but with a 4 yr old I am home all day with a mess maker. I swear if I blink he will have another pile of stuff on the floor. I also have dogs, horses, 2 more horses boarded 20 minutes away I have to see almost daily, chickens and my classwork to deal with. Oh and did I mention the dogs put their toys all over too. DH works all day and when he gets home he is trying to finish up other jobs and deal with the construction in our back yard.

Having a spare 2 hours to clean - well not around here. If I get a spare 2 hours I can think of other things I might be doing. Like making a real meal for dinner. To be honest I really do not care that much if my house is messy. It does not smell and no one is going to get sick from eating in my kitchen.

I personally think I am on the 5 year plan to a clean house. 1. Unpack 2. declutter 3. kids in school all day 4. less horses 5. no more construction or spare jobs for DH. Then we can talk about a clean house.

[sweetpeppers]

I guess it depends on what you thinking of as cleaning. I wouldn't say putting your dishes in the dishwasher after you eat counts as cleaning or picking up your toys when you are done playing with them. I think of cleaning as vacuuming, dusting, decluttering, mopping, etc.

[noobmom]

Interesting topic. I was talking to my mom the other day and in her opinion it takes 2-3 hours a day minimum to run a household. That's including preparing meals, in addition to all the cleaning, picking up, and laundry. I tend to agree with her. Of course that doesn't count the time you spend taking care of the kids.

This is how I define cleaning--is your house messier if you don't do it? If so, then it counts.

[RoadBuddy]

There's no way in heck I clean that much. My house is somewhat messy, but I'd never call it filthy. The playroom is regularly a disaster, but it's all toys and books - nothing messy like food, so I don't worry about it every day. He can destroy any organization in 3 minutes, so I don't spend all day picking it up. I can get the house from close to the worst it gets to suitable for company in a few hours if necessary.

I have a weekly schedule I try to stick to. I'm not always deep cleaning, but the "room of the day" gets basic attention then and more in-depth cleaning when necessary. Maybe 30 minutes?

M-all laundry. I do mine, DS, and some towels/sheets. Wash/dry/put away. All laundry is pre-sorted (thrown into the right hamper when dirty) so all I have to do is throw it in the machine, change it to the dryer, then take it to the proper room to fold and put away. I don't buy fabrics that require special care because they won't get cared for!

T-bathroom. We only have 1 bath, so that helps. Toilet, counters, mirror, floors.

W-kitchen.

R-living/dining room. Dust, declutter, sweep, sometimes mop the wood floors. This is the biggest day.

F- 3 bedrooms (incl. the playroom). I just dust, organize, and change the sheets.

Daily it's just maitenence like putting dishes in/out of the dishwasher, wiping the counters down (kitchen and bath), etc. That's not more than 20 minutes.

DH does his own laundry and the vacuuming. As a result we don't have great carpet (he doesn't do it enough), but I refuse to vacuum. He also does the dishwasher every night and a lot of general picking up.

We're out of the house a lot, the house is good size for our needs (1400 sq ft, 3 people. Enough room to store stuff, not too big to clean easily), DH is helpful, DS isn't into crafts or messy activities, and my cooking is fairly basic. I also don't care about some clutter being left overnight or longer. If it's not food or gross, it can stay on the floor if there's better things to do.

[maggiemae]

I recently posted a thread about a routine I started that has freed up my time so much. I now have Sundays off to play Today I am actually making bread, crafts and all the things I enjoy but used to never have time for.

[lolar2]

Originally Posted by sweetpeppers

I guess it depends on what you thinking of as cleaning. I wouldn't say putting your dishes in the dishwasher after you eat counts as cleaning or picking up your toys when you are done playing with them. I think of cleaning as vacuuming, dusting, decluttering, mopping, etc.

The original thread that this spun off of, did count the dishes/ toy pick-up as cleaning.

[Dar]

I spend an hour or so a week. With fewer animals, it would be less. OTOH, I have a fairly tiny house.

I sweep every week, and change and wash sheets. Every month or so I wash floors. I run the dishwasher about once a week and take out the trash about once every two weeks. I try to put dishes in the dishwasher during the week but usually there are a few in the sink on Saturday, which is when I load everything up and handwash what needs handwashing, and clean off the counters. I also put stuff away on Saturdays, which takes maybe 15 minutes. Mostly it's clothes that I've worn but aren't dirty so I've thrown them on a chair.

I wipe the bathroom surfaces whenever they look dirty. I dust every few months. No carpets. I Clean the catbox and the back yard (dog poop) a couple times a week.

Of course, I live totally alone now, too. . To be fair, I did a little more cleaning when my daughter was here but not much more, and most of that was because we had a bigger house that got dustier.

I never, ever spent two hours a day cleaning. Not even close. My house was dirtier when my kid was little - it generally always looks pretty good now, and within 15 minutes it's party-ready - but never horrid....

[artparent]

well, there seems to be some confusion between cleaning + tidying! i have a dear friend who is very clean, and married to mr. very tidy, together they have an amazing home all the time, with a two year old.

we're also homeschooling, love to be home, love to do lots of crafts etc...and our space is quite small and has a home business or two in it. so we really USE it a lot. however, my girls are now 4 and 9 and help me quite a bit, we haven't got a lot of belongings anymore and i've been working for years to get a system of routines and finding homes for our things. i'm also not nursing, i sleep at night, and for at least part of my cycle i am quite motivated, which makes up for the other part when i am really not.

i would say that i do spend 2-3 hours running the place. in terms of 'cleaning', i do a swipe of the bathroom at some point most days, and the kitchen gets a regular cleaning each day unless i am really not feeling good. i should sweep/vac every day, but i don't and i try to do one load of laundry every week day. *try*. i do a flylady-style weekly cleaning hour once a week, but i find that if i have company coming i still need to do the floors + the bathroom for a few minutes. it is really the tidying that takes my time, and if i didn't do that all day long, it would easily take me an hour to do it the first day, and much longer the second...in fact, if i leave it til evening then it is too overwhelming for me to even start. i also have a system where i address one room in detail each week day...but all of these things require following them, and not say, going on a field trip or throwing a party so i'm worn out and just doing the minimum.

*

[ischoll]

[[*]my dh picked up after himself[*]my children could do some tidying with encouragement from me[*]we had no clutter[*]I didn't do a lot of "from scratch cooking"[*]we didn't spend a fair amount of time at home (we are homeschoolers)[/LIST]Honestly, the trick is to do a little bit here and there so it doesn't feel like a solid block of cleaning.

Hey Ksenia,
If I cook, I get dh to do the dishes. It just isn't an option, as I am involved in putting the kids to bed. I don't count cooking from scratch as housework. It is more like a necessary thing, which vaccuuming wouldn't be. Dd 4, has to put dishes in the dishwasher in the morning and ds 6, vacuums the kitchen. Dinner is served after the 2 have cleaned up their toys. If they don't, the toys disappear for a while. Putting laundry in the washer takes a few minutes (have to spray the stains) and then I hang to dry (3 mins). I now have a routine every night that includes ironing in front of the tv for maybe 1/2 hour and not every night, but dh is in front of me on the excercise bike and we use that time to connect.
I would suggest looking into Flylady, who suggests doing decluttering and cleaning in 15 min increments and getting the children involved. I believe that as part of the family, they should contribute in some way, especially when we are also homeschooling and they have the time. Our house isn't super clean, but we can have unexpected visitors and I say that we live in a child friendly house. I have too many other things to stress about, so I don't want to stress over this.

Iska

[flowmom]

hey mamas who I know IRL.

Originally Posted by ischoll

If I cook, I get dh to do the dishes. It just isn't an option, as I am involved in putting the kids to bed.

After I put the kids to bed, I get to look forward to all the dinner dishes.

Originally Posted by ischoll

I don't count cooking from scratch as housework.

Oh, I don't either. But cleaning up after that is a big part of what I spend a couple of hours of housework on after my children go to bed. It's not just the dishes, but also taking out the compost, constantly going through the fridge, etc. The time really adds up.

Originally Posted by ischoll

It is more like a necessary thing, which vaccuuming wouldn't be. Dd 4, has to put dishes in the dishwasher in the morning and ds 6, vacuums the kitchen. Dinner is served after the 2 have cleaned up their toys.

That's so great . I've had a lot of trouble involving my children in routines, and that's definitely a big part of why I end up with so much housework at the end of the day. I don't know if I have failed to set the right tone, or if it's due to ds' challenges, or both.

Originally Posted by ischoll

I would suggest looking into Flylady, who suggests doing decluttering and cleaning in 15 min increments and getting the children involved.

I am a big fan of Flylady, for sure. I've definitely had problems following the routines though. Generally, it's quite difficult for me to scrounge the time to do basic food prep during the day. Even finding 5 minutes to make a phone call or clean up a snack mess can be really hard. It looks like: while I am preparing breakfast, ds is majorly harassing dd, or some such calamity. And it takes soooo long to get the children fed, teeth brushed, dressed, and everything packed for the morning outing that we run out of time to do anything else. I've been working on decluttering for a while and I have a long way to go. But actually the main living areas and the kids' room aren't too cluttered.

Originally Posted by ischoll

I believe that as part of the family, they should contribute in some way, especially when we are also homeschooling and they have the time.

I totally agree. I guess what's going on for me is that ds has a lot of trouble following instructions, and it's not totally clear to me whether this is defiance/counterwill or that it's actually really, really hard for him to do it. And he is a big role model for dd of course.

[DocsNemesis]

I haven't read all the replies, but I have 4 kids and clean MAYBE an hour a day. Every once in awhile I have a 4 hour cleaning marathon, but mostly its just an hour, if that.

I do have help-my fiance does what I ask for the most part, though I don't ask for much. He usually does half of the dishes (we don't have a dishwasher), helps with laundry (again, don't have a washer/dryer), and then vaccums or does something else. I do most of the rest.

I mainly clean the downstairs each day, as my kids don't spend much time upstairs, and when they do its usually on the computer. My kids are responsible for their rooms, but since most of the toys are downstairs, their rooms stay pretty clean. I usually do a quick one over of the bathroom before I take my bath-takes maybe 2 minutes. Our room is usually cluttered and messy but I don't worry about it.

Downstairs cleaning involves cleaning the counters, doing dishes, washing the table, sweeping, mopping, putting extra appliances away (I don't like everything on the counters)-then in the living room, we have to put away toys, which my kids take care of sometimes (depends on who made the mess, since I don't expect the 1 year old to clean), clean the bunny cage, feed and water them (my eldests chore), pick up, vaccume, etc. All of this only takes about 20-30 minutes, if that. Food isn't allowed outside of the kitchen and neither are drinks, which helps. I'm also minimalist with the toys.

Laundry takes extra time and I also have to carpet clean about once every 2 weeks (the living room-I do the rest of the house every few months, just depending on when I notice grub) which takes a good hour or two on its own.

My house isn't perfect, but its fairly clean and neat and I don't have to be worried about surprise visitors (unlike when I was still with my ex, ugh).

[Yvaine Undomiel]

Well, I think if you do it right, you shouldn't be able to even count your hours spent cooking and cleaning, because you just do it in little spurts all day.