Anyone clean by doing one room a day?

[quelindo]

The housekeeper thread got me thinking about how I *could* really be doing a better job around here. One idea I've been toying with is doing a deep-cleaning of a different room every day.

We essentially have eleven rooms in our house (including a hallway/staircase and basement rec room) so I could clean every room within two weeks' time. Of course I'd still have to stick vac the dining room & kitchen & probably mop the kitchen in between, but (I'm embarrassed to admit) the bathrooms and other rooms would definitely be cleaner than they are now.

Would this work? Or am I just trying to come up with contrivances to keep me from actually working?

[Nazsmum]

Yes I do. I started when my first guy was very little. I was alone with really no one to help me and I need to clean. I still vacum the floors and clean the floor in the kitchen more BUT for the most part that is the way I clean.

[Mom2GCNJ]

I've thought about doing this too. We have five rooms, so I was thinking each room gets attention one day per week and the other two days are dedicated to laundry. The thing is I think room one would look pretty bad by the end of the week, since when I do deep clean in a particular room it is usually pretty much trashed by the end of that same day. But it would be a system that I could stick to and if things looked bad anyway well - so be it - I did what I could. It might give me permission to let go of the guilt and shame I feel about my house now.

I'd love to hear what others have to say.

[Zuzu822]

That's pretty much what I set out to do: bathrooms Monday, bedrooms Tuesday, etc. What has happened, though, is that I more or less do upstairs one day, downstairs (minus ktchen which gets its own day) the next. That doesn't really mean total deep cleaning each time I'm in the room, however. I do the basics each week plus maybe one job that needs to be done less frequently: basic clean plus windows one week, the next week basics plus ceiling fan, etc. I think rotating around the house is a great way to stay on top of things!
Posted via Mobile Device

[TheGirls]

I usually do bedrooms, bathroom, living/dining room, kitchen, and floors. Which means that I forget the stairwell most weeks, lol. Not a total deep clean, but at least the basics (dust, sweep, mop, clean toilet, wipe surfaces),. I try to do more if I have time/energy and some weeks certain rooms get skipped because life gets crazy. I try to make sure it's the bedrooms or living/dining rooms that get skipped because they don't really get dirty (only dusty). I sweep more often, and I should mop the kitchen more often, but sometimes I don't. Mopping the kitchen is the one thing I do if I suddenly find out I'm having company.

I'm not very good at keeping up but it's better this way than any other way I've tried. I do laundry twice a week (mondays & thursdays). Usually anyhow. Today DD woke up early and nothing happened. So the bedrooms will remain dusty so I can clean the kitchen (which is icky) tomorrow.

[mamazee]

I've tried this, but I've found personally that there are some rooms I have to clean every single day. Not all. Some rooms every few days. I clean our main living areas, the kitchen, and the bathrooms every day. And it does take a little while to do the whole thing, but I find it's pretty easy to get them back to clean if I do it every day, like wiping a bathroom counter with a cloth doesn't take long when you do it every morning because it never gets dirty enough to require much work. And I vacuum every day, including running the attachment for hard floors over the bathroom and kitchen floors every day. Although not super thoroughly every day, like moving furniture or anything. Usually just a quick run-through to pick up crumbs and pet hair.

I have a smaller house than it sounds like you have though (8 rooms) so what works for me won't necessarily work for you. Still, even with just one room (or on one day two rooms) each week, I found that by the time I got to each room they were awful and took ages to clean, whereas just quickly going through and picking up and cleaning the main areas every day, and adding another less often used spot each day, takes some time but less. And every room is always reasonably clean.

Anyway, that's my experience.

[Katie T]

no way, lol We have 6 people who live here and can trash a room in a day. I clean every night when kids go to bed.

Littles help clean up toys and DD1 empties the dishwasher feeds and waters the dog and lets him out when asked and anything else I need help with. I think when they are old enough it is important to have them help.

Otherwise I do a quick clean up after bedtime routines are done and it takes about 30 to 60 min. and I have a clean house. I will fold clothes while the kids do playdough and bathroom while they are in the tub as well.

Finding a routine that works for you and your family makes it much easier.

[maddymama]

We don't do one room per day. That overwhelmed me, and the house was a wreck by the time I was back to room #1 again. I recently found the Motivated Moms thread and program and started it about two months ago. I love it bc it keeps me on track with a clean house without my spending tooooo much time cleaning. You do some chores daily, and some other chores on a rotating schedule (every few days, once a week, once a month, once every few months, etc.) My house looks great 90% of the time now, and I'm only spending 45-ish minutes a day cleaning.....
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1219297