How much housework do you do?

[kathymuggle]

I am feeling like all I do is housework. I want to do LESS.

I am also trying to figure out what is a good number to have as a goal (hour wise) for housework per day. I do housework in spurts, but I think if I totaled it together it would equal about 3 -4 hours per day. This does not include childcare, or outings.

Breakdown - 1 hour on food prep
1 hour on dishes
1 hour on other - laudry, vacuuming, ect
about 0.5 hours tidying

I am a SAHM, homeschooling, and I have 3 children. (11,8,4)

How many people do you have and what are your totals?

[Abarat]

I don't know how you do it with 3 kids!
I have a 15 month old and I'd say from about 8am-9pm I'm on my feet either tending to him, out shopping (which is only 1-2 times per week), tending to some things in the garden, doing laundry, dishes, vacuuming (usually every other day because we have 4 dogs), dusting, etc. I spend much more time in the kitchen as just about everything I do is from scratch, including all our breads (rolls, loaves, tortillas, bagels, etc.). At this point my ds isn't happy if I try to take an afternoon to just loaf about with him in the living room. I don't think he knows what to do if mom's not either a)playing with or tending to him, or b)tending to the house or cooking. Also, I do a lot of sewing so any naptime he has is either used for cooking, house work or crafting/sewing.
I don't do as much cleaning as I feel I should (I'm definitely not the momma wiping down the bathroom daily) but I figure as long as the main areas (kitchen and his play/living area) are clean then I'm happy.
Everything varies by day, so I couldn't really say how many hours I spend doing something.
I did find that simplifying my cleaning materials really helped. Cleaning around the house I usually only use baking soda and vinegar for just about everything so there's less to keep track of. I use cloth towels/rags for cleaning, so I always know there's plenty there when I need them. Laundry soap is homemade. That's the only thing I can really think of.
These days we have large houses with so many rooms it really has made things more difficult on the homemaker...it makes for so much more to keep up with.
I probably haven't helped, but I know how you feel and I'd love to find a way to simplify even more so that I didn't feel like I was rushing and running all the time.

[Scribe]

It's just myself and my partner, and our menagerie (currently three dogs and two cats), and I'd say I do about 1.5 hrs of housework during the week and about 2-3 hrs/day on weekends. More than I'd like to do, that's for sure.

[Marvelleaux]

I was doing as much as you before I started my handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet .

Like spending money, if you approach keeping house on a "budget" you'll spend much less time doing it. For instance, when you know that Wednesday morning is vacuum time you can engage all household members Tuesday night to do a 10 minute pick-up (while you finish-up making dinner). If two people are picking up this will save you 20 minutes tomorrow. Three people=30 minutes saved .

Another trick is to prep all of the days meals at one time. I learned this saves a LOT of time. If I make my husband a bagged lunch then I make one for myself, too. And while I'm in the kitchen making a mess I might as well get the dinner veggies and a salad prepped.

Write out the chores you do and then try and put them on a weekly schedule. You soon see yourself "piggy-backing" activities that save a lot of time.

Edit: It's just my husband and our little critters at the moment. I have terrible allergies--including an allergy to my cat--which makes it necessary to keep my house pretty darn white-glove without using any chemical cleaners. Fun fun!

[velochic]

My mother lives with us, and dh and I have 1 dd (just turned 5 two weeks ago). My SIL, in Istanbul, Turkey, kind of gave me a big clue this last time we visited. She uses the first couple of hours of the day to get everything done in the house. I pretty much do the same thing now. Sometimes it's 20 minutes, sometimes 2 hours.

[AngelBee]

:

[oldgirl,newtricks]

Family of six. I spend approx. 15 min. in the morning starting a load of laundry, emptying the dishwasher, making the bed and sweeping the floors, and giving the bathroom a wipe. In the evening or during the day, I'll spend 15 min or so "cleaning" on a certain task or in a certain room. At night, I spend 10 min with the kids picking up, clothing folded and put away and getting the DW loaded, trash out. That is all I consider to be housework.

I spend approx. 30 min. daily on cooking while the kids do homework.

45 min. of housework, 30 min of cooking. Since I do the same thing daily, nothing builds up. I tend to do things in a certain order so I don't run all over the place. I pass the laundry room on my way upstairs so I throw the clothing in right then. No extra steps. I empty the dishwasher while the kids are eating breakfast. That kind of thing.

I got in this routine when my youngest was a baby. All of my kids pick up after themselves, so there isn't all that much. It works well for us. Occasionally when I've let the "cleaning" go, I'll have to spend an hour or so dusting, but that's ok.

[Josette Marie]

I did find that simplifying my cleaning materials really helped. Cleaning around the house I usually only use baking soda and vinegar for just about everything so there's less to keep track of. I use cloth towels/rags for cleaning, so I always know there's plenty there when I need them. Laundry soap is homemade.

what's your recipe for laundry soap?

I use borax, baking soda and zote soap. This last batch I made Jan 9 and I am still using it.

[Josette Marie]

Write out the chores you do and then try and put them on a weekly schedule. You soon see yourself "piggy-backing" activities that save a lot of time.

Hey, I love that term "piggy backing". We should all send in the chore we piggy back.

[Sharlla]

I probably do about 30 mins cooking and 30 mins cleaning a day.

I go to the laundromat every 2 weeks or so and that takes a couple hours.

[velochic]

I forgot to mention cooking. I LOVE cooking and often experiment. I spend an average of 2 hours a day in the kitchen making supper, feeding the freezer and experimenting. It's therapeutic for me, though, so for those that don't enjoy being in the kitchen, this probably not idea.

[kathymuggle]

Thanks everyone! I do seem to take longer to do housework...I will try the spreadsheet and piggybacking - see what happens. The irony is that my house is not even that clean - and I spend longer on it than most here

[*bejeweled*]

:

[UrbanSimplicity]

I also do one "chore" a day:

Mon-dd's laundry
Tues-dust
Wed-sweep
Thurs-bathroom
Fri-plants and animals
Sat-vacuum

Everyday I do dds diaper wash as needed, and the basica, dishes, tidying, etc. Our laundry needs to go to the laundramat 1x per month. I am fairly decluttered and its just my, dh and dd.

[antannie]

too much and never enough!