How Often Do You Clean?
I recently read this post by Jamie of Steady Mom and Simple Homeschool, A Day in the Life of a Once A Month Cleaner*, and was fascinated by the idea of only having to only deep clean ONCE A MONTH. I could just imagine the lightness of that ongoing guilt that comes every time I find myself doing something other than the never ending cleaning gone, *poof* like magic!
But when I thought about it, it is not the big cleaning jobs like the bathrooms, dusting or the mopping that weigh me down. It is keeping on top of the stuff that must be done everyday – like sweeping under the dining table, and folding another load of laundry, and the never ending tidying up of stuff! It is these small jobs that really add up if they are not done everyday. And I struggle to find the motivation to do them everyday. And the fact that they are not done bothers me and nags at me and makes me feel like a bad housekeeper.
So I got to thinking, maybe I need a simple system for the everyday stuff. So this is what I am going to try. I have made a list of little jobs that can be done in just a couple of minutes and hung it in my kitchen. I like to drink tea and coffee and probably boil the kettle four to five times a day. Now every time I boil the kettle or wait for the tea to brew I will do one little job from my list. And hopefully that will quiet the nagging voice and help me stay on top of the little cleaning and tidying tasks.
What system do you use for cleaning your house? How often do you clean? What cleaning tasks really give you the heebie jeebies?
*To clarify, Jamie cleans lightly everyday, and in a more recent post Jamie talks about the fact that she also tidies everyday).
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Your kettle-boiling system sounds like a good/tasty one! 🙂 I’m a big fan of the FlyLady way of doing things. http://www.flylady.net/ I keep a timer clipped on and do 15 minute bursts of things all day (not just cleaning either.) I have a list of bigger and less frequent tasks that i assign to a day of the month (clean the oven on the 1st, the fan blades on the 2nd, etc.) Heebie jeebies? Nothing really grosses me out — I don’t really mind bathrooms — but I’m terrible about actually folding clothes. I can get them clean, but putting them away is always a different story. I wish it was acceptable to just live out of piles! 🙂
I think this looks like a good system too!
This is a topic I’ve given a lot of thought to in the last few years. I’ve always been a person who lets things build to a certain level, and then I spend an afternoon or day cleaning really good. After I had my second child, I found that this system no longer worked for me. There was never a full afternoon or day that I could dedicate solely to cleaning without seriously neglecting my kids (and feeling terrible about it). When he was a few months old I really started to get discouraged. My house was a horrible disaster. Every day my husband would come home from work and I would feel so terrible that he was working hard all day, and then had to come home to a disheveled, messy house, with no dinner on the table and a frazzled wife. I knew that it would probably never get easier– we’d probably have more kids etc… So I decided something had to change. I made what is actually a pretty simple system for me. I decided that I would focus only on getting the house straightened every day, and that it only had to be done by the time my husband got home from work. I also decided that I would have dinner on the table, or in the works by the time he came home, and that besides that, I would focus on only one other area of the house per day– it could be as simple as vacuuming the entire house, or cleaning windows, or cleaning bathrooms– whatever was driving me the most crazy.
This worked like magic for me. Suddenly my house seemed very manageable, and clean, and I found that I was able to enjoy the day with my kids more, and not feel guilty or stressed out.
I also started up a little project group with a couple of my closest friends. Once a week we would go to one of our houses and work on whatever project that friend wanted to get done for a few hours. This was so helpful to me, and when I would do my hardest, most time consuming projects.
Recently I’ve also started doing laundry every day (I’d do it once a week or so before). Every morning I get up and throw a batch of laundry in the washer, and then sometime during the day, dry it, and then fold it and put it away.
I also find that if I start my day by making my bed, getting that batch of laundry in, and making sure the kids make their beds, that I’m WAY more likely to keep the house in order during the day. I don’t know why that is, but it works for me.
These things have all worked really well for me the last few years, but in all honesty, the first trimester of this pregnancy seemed to drain all my energy, and I found it really hard again to keep on top of things again for a few months. I’m feeling better and more energetic now, which is good, but I guess that’s the thing about motherhood– we have to constantly be flexible, and adapt to the changes that come our way.
Sorry this comment is so long! I guess I like talking about cleaning! 🙂
I love the sound of your project group, what good friends they must be 🙂
I was also going to recommend FlyLady. Her system has definitely helped me out quite a bit. While I don’t adhere to it strictly, I do follow the 15 minute principle. I try to spend 15 minutes after my kiddo goes to bed just picking up and putting things away. I also spend about 15 minutes in the morning cleaning things up that didn’t get done the night before. Sunday nights while my hubby’s at work and my child is asleep, I do a weekly clean to get everything looking nice for our week. As for deep cleaning, it happens when I get inspired and the kiddo is in a happy, cheerful independent mood for the morning. 🙂
I love the FlyLady’s methodologies also. I have an iPhone app called Home Routines which helps me to customise and track my cleaning routine and also has a handy to do list and a 15 minute timer. You check off stars as you achieve each task so at the end of each day/week you can see what you actually achieved, which is often more than you remember. It also helps me to stop doing a job twice in a week. I was notorious for wanting to vaccuum up to three times a week, but now once I have checked it off for a particular week I leave it until my stars are reset the following week. In addition to the weekly cleaning task the app allows you to set your home up into zones and focus on one zone a week which is where you can implement your 15 minute bursts, tasks such as cleaning skirtings in a zone are done during this time and this way your house gets a clean from top to bottom every month, just not all at the same time. If you have an iPhone I can highly recommend this app.
Wow, an app for cleaning, that is organised 🙂
I prefer small doses of cleaning, done very regularly. I have a schedule in place now, which has me cleaning most days – I’d rather do one or two things a day than twenty in one day!
See the schedule approach leaves me with the guilts if I miss a day and then it all snowballs!
I also do little things while waiting for my coffee machine to get to temperature- usually fill the sink ready to wash up, because once the dishes are in and soaking, actually washing them seems easier. It’s the whole-house things that get me down, not the little ones- cleaning the windows, washing the wooden floor (which means moving all the furniture if you’re a bit OCD like me), getting the spiderwebs off the cathedral ceiling. My kingdom for a maid!
I ‘pick up’ daily for the most part, I do a load of laundry a day, and hang it to dry…I try to fold the load that was already hanging and sometimes it gets put away at the same time. I do the dishes daily (load/unload the dishwasher), and I change our bed sheets every Monday….the rest is hit or miss for the most part. I do have a schedule that I try to stick to, but it’s so dependent on the kids nap schedules and what else we got done that day! Deep cleaning is nearly impossible…I have that as part of my weekly checklist (doing zone cleaning like the fly lady)…but most weeks I’m lucky if I just get the basics done. It is what it is, atleast my house is not filthy or over cluttered, at first appearance it looks ‘clean’ and that’s all I care about. 😀
I tried Flylady but tended to become a bit obsessive and feel the need to do everything on her lists – which I never accomplished – and feel overwhelmed. There are things I can’t NOT do each day because it would drive me nuts – the kitchen needs to be tidy and benches wiped; family room floor vacuumed; washing done; bathroom sink and toilet done. At the end of each day I do a tidy and put things back where they are supposed to be. Then, when I have time or the spirit moves me I do the bigger things like mopping.
I feel the same way about systems like FlyLady. I much prefer to have a go to list but not a schedule as such, as then I miss a day and chase my tail every day after trying to catch back up.
I definitely don’t clean often enough and our house gets out of control. If I did a better job of it during the week then we wouldn’t get stuck doing it on weekends. It’s the laundry piles that drive me crazy. They always seem to be there. I always say that I should have people over more. I do crazy cleaning if we’re having guests and I love how the house feels. I like the idea of your system Chrisie but I don’t drink hot drinks. Hope it works really well for you.
As a WAHM it would be so easy to get carried away cleaning and never get any work done. With such short workdays (the munchkin is at pre-school), I often just tidy up the breakfast stuff, pop a load of laundry on (which I often forget to hang until 10.00pm, and get stuck into work. Cleaning gets done on weekends while the munchkin has his Daddy to occupy him. While not the best system, I know that sitting down to work on a weekend would be frowned upon, but domestic duties are not.
I hear you about the juggle to fit everything in!
I have decided to embrace my adhoc approach. No more trying to stick to a routine or achieve a certain standard at any given time, I can know by looking what is most pressing and I like to give the house a good go-over if we are having company over so it happens frequently enough. My desire for clean toilets and floors and sheets motivates me more than the calendar or clock. I usually try and keep Friday’s for getting stuck in so their is less chaos over the weekend but if it doesn’t happen, no biggie 🙂 The only job I find it works better for me with a routine is the kitchen because I detest cleaning it, so if I try and commit to going to bed with it complete every night it is better.
I don’t feel overwhelmed with cleaning most of the time, and when it gets to be too much, my husband will take our daughter out for the day, so I have lots of time to clean. I wish I had a system for organizing the clutter particularly all the crafty, educational stuff. My office is my room of shame. All the clutter ends up thrown in my office which eventually ends up shoved in a cabinet or closet.
Sounds like my office, Rebekah!
Well I am “one of those” – that would like to be a clean freak, but lacks drive and motivation entirely. 🙂 Besides this, I’ve been banned from vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and “heavy cleaning” tasks by my Osteo – more so while I’m pregnant. So I have to be content with a bit of mess. Thankfully my toddler is a clean eater – that helps immensely. Andy hubby knows that I do the best I can (and I get in trouble when I overdo it – which is more frequently than not!) and he is a great help.
So things that ate essential (dishes, washing/laundry) get done regularly and the rest when we can. Not ideal, but we cope.
It is great to have a supportive partner. I couldn’t do it all without my husband 🙂
I hate unpacking the dishwasher. HATE IT. I hate taking the garbage out but I LOVE SPRAY AND WIPE!
As bizarre as it sounds, I prefer packing to unpacking the dishwasher! Garbage is a boys job in our house!
When we got married, I made my husband agree to taking the rubbish out FOREVER. Two years on and I’ve done it twice, from memory. That’s love!
I like your system 🙂
I do a tidy up in the morning. Evenings are pretty horrific at our house. … mind you so are mornings before school. But I find while I’m prompting the girls for the millionth time to put ‘socks and shoes on’, it is rather soothing to take out my stress on scrubbing the kitchen bench.
We usually do a family clean up of the whole house on a Saturday and then spend Sunday enjoying the tidy house.
Inviting friends over is also a highly motivating way to prompt us all to get the house clean.
Must invite more friends over!?! Are you free? 🙂
Totally would live to come over 🙂 now who should I get to sponsor a visit? 😉
I do the tidy up daily and try and stay on top of the washing. Once a week (dare I say it) I have a cleaner who does the big jobs while I work. This is perfect for us because I much prefer a day at work than a day cleaning the house….Fortunately the numbers add up too.
Before I had kids I was a clean freak. I had to make a conscious decision to relax about this once I was a Mum.
Like Mrs Woog I am also a huge Spray N Wipe fan.
Oooh, I love the idea, and all the other tips and ideas from other commenters. I would love to be organised, have a sparkly house and a wonderful timetable for doing it but I don’t like cleaning – would much prefer to be doing other things! I don’t mind washing though so we always have clean clothes!!
“Inviting friends over is also a highly motivating way to prompt us all to get the house clean.”
Marita took the words right out of my mouth 😉 We are fairly sociable bodies anyway and husband and I have both been known to look around at a messy house and say, “Time for another party / brunch / dinner…” It sounds counter-intuitive but deep tidying is *much* easier for us to push ourselves to do if guests are coming.
Re the everyday stuff, I have some loose systems / routines that work to greater and lesser degrees. One thing I do is to put toilet cleaner in both the loos as my last act before leaving the house for school drop-off on Mondays and Thursdays. That gives it 30-45 minutes to soak, then as soon as I come home I scrub it. It’s just become so habitual now that I do it without even thinking about it. Similarly, I tend to set the washing machine and dishwasher going before I leave in the morning, and getting the wet washing hanging is always first cab off the rank when toddler and I get home (whether it’s on the clotheshorse or the outside line). I’ve got into the habit of vaccuuming Mondays and Thursdays too, and that tends to just happen without great wailing and gnashing of teeth now.
My biggest blah job, without any doubt, is mopping my slate and floorboards. I dislike doing it, it never looks that much better than before I started, it takes ages, and I can’t do it unless toddler is sleeping or elsewhere. I have to force myself to do that one.
I hate mopping as well! I like your toilet cleaner tip 🙂
Great post, a topic I often mull over to myself to come up with a grand solution. Back when I worked full time I tried everything from doing a bit each night to dedicating Saturdays to cleaning. When Grace was born, I used to have a sort of cleaning schedule where I’d focus on one major cleaning things each day like mopping, bathrooms etc. but I found if something popped up or our routine was thrown out, I felt like I was falling behind with housework. Thesedays, I do things in a more relaxed way. The essentials are done every day like dishes, meals cooked, beds made, washing (if needed) done and larger tasks get slotted in whenever I get a chance and whenever Grace is in a good mood and happy to amuse herself.
I feel like all I ever do is washing, if I take a day off I pay big time.
I can’t believe there is an iPhone app for cleaning! Must check it out. I am crap at all things cleaning. I try, I really do, but it always wins. Piles of washing! (inspired my url) x
I am a really bad housekeeper. There’s just so many other, more interesting things to do. But I like this tea system. The more cuppas you have, the more housework that gets done!
Love the cup of tea idea, but I only have one a day – what I find works for me is a selected sound track, chatting to friends and cordless appliances!
Our four kids all take turns in doing 3 jobs a day. OK, they aren’t always done well – but it’s a start. A cordless vacuum in the hands of a four year old (especially under tables) is fantastic. Microfibre cloths are a godsend. With the marks on the sliding doors/walls – a few rubs and they are gone (they can reach them all too – they put them there!). We put on the same songs (our 4 clean up songs) and we only clean for that amount of time! It’s amazing what can get done. This either happens first thing in the morning or the last thing at night.
During the day, while I’m facing cleaning – I’ll call up friends I haven’t spoken to in ages – or when they call me, I’ll get off the computer (I mainly work from home) and do a job. By the time I’ve finished wiping over things, unloading the whatever and folding a basket of washing – I feel so much better (my friends inspire me) – my house is more organised and there are piles of clothes for the kids to put away before they plug into anything LOL!!
If it’s the thought of cleaning that puts you off, while you are doing the job – focus on what you are going to do AFTER you have finished. Even better for those times you are doing a major clean – get a podcast put on your ipod thingy. A great one for those with an aversion to cleaning is a meditation called “Think like a Clean and Organised Person” – available on ITunes. I catch up on business podcasts, sometimes they are so good I look for more jobs to do to keep listening!
What brand of cordless vacuum do you have, Marina? I must get a new one. I love the podcast idea.
Fly Lady changed my life! I don’t follow her religiously, which is kind of the idea of her system- don’t be a perfectionist- good enough is better than no doing it because it won’t be perfect. After 4 years of following her system, I can actually hear her voice in my head!
The best thing for me is at about 5 or 5:30 I do a 15 minute challenge where I try to put 100 things away in 15 minutes- sounds likes heaps, but it is really easy to find 100 things that are not in their correct spot. Once the 15 mins is up, if 100 things aren’t away, it doesn’t matter, but I’m 78 things closer to having a tidy house!
I’m with you! I’ve invited my fb readers to join in too, and see if cleaning-while-the-kettle-boils helps us all to stay on top of the daily chores….
Thanks C! xx
Thank you, Cath 🙂
“cleaning-while-the-kettle-boils ” – I do it all the time that I find reasons for refills, not only for coffee but for second helpings. I continue to do it. OCD’ish about a clean counter and remove everything from it, wipe clean it even before I am done with my meal.
Probably I dread guests (CHAOS) coz there is a certain image that I had which no longer is achievable with a toddler.
The big tasks still get done on a quarterly basis – pug marks off walls, closets rearranged, front porch ceiling cleaned, window rail guide grooves, under the couch etc. Never so far have been able to get/do power wash on windows and gutters.
After keeping up with the toddler and the clearing-up, have very little energy left for putting anything together, talk about dinner. With a back that has started to complain, I’ll be heading the flylady route. Thanks ladies, for cueing me on her/it !
If my husband and parents were asked this question about me they would say NOT OFTEN ENOUGH but after the struggles of the past 12 months I am slowly finding my way. Laundry and tidying are my big areas of focus at the moment with cooking being a close second. Dh seems to be able to get in and clean pretty well at weekends if he has a “clear path”
I think your system sounds like a good one, a list always helps me to keep on top of things I need to do during the day. If I had to pick one of my worst house keeping jobs it would have to be vacuuming and mopping, I really don’t like them at all and they take me ages to get them done.
I detest mopping *sigh*
Before I had my 2nd son (who is nearly 5 months), I was cleaning on Mondays and Fridays (and by that i mean bathrooms, dusting, floors etc) and then just tidying up every other day. That way the house was clean after the weekend and before the weekend.
Now is another story and I’m trying to find a routine that is right for me…..I’ve subscribed to the fly lady but it’s been a month and I’m still trying to find the time just to read the daily emails that come through!
I have to admit that I do LOVE the pine o clean wipes and keep a tub in the bathroom and ensuite and daily try to wipe out the vanity and over the toilet….
I like the sound of your system, but, it wouldn’t work for me. At least, I have enough trouble remembering to make and drink that cuppa, so if I went off and did a job whilst the kettle was boiling I would forget about it even more!
Housework gets done on my child-free days, after I come home from the gym. That way I don’t get all hot and sweaty again as I try to get every bit of white cat fur off my dark grey carpet :S