How often to do you clean?

[Freyja]

Like so many others, I feel like I´m always cleaning something but still can never keep up with what needs to be done.
My DH and I both work more than full time jobs and we have 5 kids (ages 3 to 17).
We always do laundry daily (usually 2 loads, or more on the weekends), always load and unload the dishwasher at least once per day, clean the toilets twice or more often when needed (like in the summer when we have all been at home during the day), vacuum the entire house every 3 days (messy areas more often) and mop the floor with water every week. Of course we also put away all kinds of stuff, dust etc. every day.

Somehow I feel my house is always a mess (DH disagrees )

It´s hardly ever really tidy, unless we have guests.

I mean, the living room and kitchen are usually always o.k. But our family room and bedrooms are usually always a bit (and sometimes a lot) messy.

The house doesn´t ever get really dirty, but there is still so much I´d like to be able to do more often. Like clean out the kitchen cabinets and drawers, wash the walls, clean the windows etc.

I think part of the reason why it feels (and often is) messy is that we don´t have that much space. We live in a 2200 Sq.ft. house, DH and I, 5 kids, dog, tortoise and 2 guinea pigs

 

[monkeyboy]

Once a week she comes in

 

[Freyja]

Once a week she comes in

 

[wdwmom2]

I do cleaning and laundry every weekend. Dishes are done on a nightly basis.

I am a morning person, so after I get home from work M-F, all I really do is make dinner and do the dishes. If something REALLY needed done during the week, I would do it. But that is a rarity.

ETA: We are empty nesters. So MUCH less mess than we used to have.

 

[HelenePA]

is too much an answer? I feel like that is all I do and its never clean for long.. 4 little destructive tornadoes come along and poof its back to how it was 20 minutes later... I've given up on the kitchen.. lets just put disaster tape around it and call it a day.. plates never make it into the sink... the garbage must bite them because everything ends up on the counter... Right now I have 5 loads of laundry sorted into piles on one of my couches but what's the point of putting it away.. they'll just wear it with in the next week... saves me the time from getting it out of the drawers/closets again right? ... I'm kidding about the clothes they will get put away but there are times I do wonder WHY I even do it to begin with....

 

[dawnn12]

if im answering i'd say too much..... if dh was answering he'd say not enough

 

[Freyja]

is too much an answer? I feel like that is all I do and its never clean for long.. 4 little destructive tornadoes come along and poof its back to how it was 20 minutes later... I've given up on the kitchen.. lets just put disaster tape around it and call it a day.. plates never make it into the sink... the garbage must bite them because everything ends up on the counter... Right now I have 5 loads of laundry sorted into piles on one of my couches but what's the point of putting it away.. they'll just wear it with in the next week... saves me the time from getting it out of the drawers/closets again right? ... I'm kidding about the clothes they will get put away but there are times I do wonder WHY I even do it to begin with....

THIS sounds way too familiar Sometimes I just put everything into piles for each kid in the laundry room and they (especially the older ones) get to either pick them up, fold them and put them away or just run into the laundry room every time they need a clean t-shirt, jeans...

 

[mickeysgal]

I've learned my house will never look clean unless I declutter. You can clean, vacuum, dust, polish all day long, but if there are piles of papers, clothes, knick-knacks, etc. it will never look clean. I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff - countertops, closets, drawers, etc. to get to a *lighter* overall look.

 

[mhsjax]

is too much an answer? I feel like that is all I do and its never clean for long.. 4 little destructive tornadoes come along and poof its back to how it was 20 minutes later... I've given up on the kitchen.. lets just put disaster tape around it and call it a day.. plates never make it into the sink... the garbage must bite them because everything ends up on the counter... Right now I have 5 loads of laundry sorted into piles on one of my couches but what's the point of putting it away.. they'll just wear it with in the next week... saves me the time from getting it out of the drawers/closets again right? ... I'm kidding about the clothes they will get put away but there are times I do wonder WHY I even do it to begin with....

This is what we commonly refer to as the Laundry Buffet. lol

 

[castleview]

With the kids home, nothing is consistent except laundry. I do 1-2 loads a day to keep in controlled and make the bed when I wake up (I occasionally do FlyLady and those are two things that stayed with me ). Cleaning the kitchen is ENDLESS.

I guess my answer to how often I clean: When I'm about to have guests or when I'm leaving for vacation (like coming home to a perfect house).

 

[bellebud]

...I guess my answer to how often I clean: When I'm about to have guests...

this is me!

I do some of the flylady things (swishing the toilets all the time, quick wipe downs of counters all the time, instead of heavy duty cleaning less often, etc). I tried to do 'zones' for deep cleaning (wiping the walls down, etc), and get the kids to help me, but I honestly always forget to do it. I think we did the foyer once - that was it. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

 

[Plantlady]

I feel like I clean daily, but I look around and always see a mess.

 

[SandrA9810]

There was at one time 5 kids living with my aunt. She adopted a kid from church to hopefully put him on the right path, then he met a girl with a child and she was having a hard home life too. So she joined the household, plus me and my sister. My aunt worked all the time, so it was left to us to clean up. And the dishwasher was rarely ever used...

Make the kids do their laundry. My aunt had an itty bitty stackable washer/dryer in the kitchen, so there was no laundry room for storing stuff. And no one wanted to mess with any one else's. So we all did our own and took it back to the room.

I usually wound up cleaning the pantry out whenever we went grocery shopping, just cause I was the OCD one to have everything in perfect order. Once a month my aunt made us clean the fridge out before going to the grocery store. We were good at putting left overs away, but never using them.

 

[tvguy]

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing."
Phyllis Diller

 

[Freyja]

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing."
Phyllis Diller

 

[dyna]

Retired empty nester here who recently moved to smaller home with no junk. NO kids no pets has made a very big difference in my cleaning an laundry.

DH an I are both really really good about putting things back where there belong once done with them, wiping up little drips an spills as they occur etc.
I'm also lucky that Dh makes the bed he sleeps later than I do or I'd make it an I cook an he washes dishes no dishwasher here, he washes drys an puts away.

When we brush our teeth an wash face in the mornings we both rinse sink well, wipe off faucet an around sink of splattered water (I HATE WATER SPOTS) makes the whole room look dirty. We also use a rag sprayed with vinegar water clean mirror if we splattered it same rag works all week too. Swab the toliet every mornin it all adds less than 5 mins to time spent in bathroom.

We wipe our feet religously before coming in the house. I have been amazed at how clean my house stays now that there are no kids or pets to mess up dirty up etc.

The lani I have to dust every couple of weeks an vaccum out there but the windows are open an that is our comin an goin room, laundry room if off the lani etc. The actual house oh about once a month I pick up a dust rag an dust often wonder WHY because I use white rag an find very little dust. Vacuum once a month too an I keep checking bag it's maybe half full an I been in this house 7 months. After I vacuum I spray vinger wter on dirty spots in the hard floors an wipe up the dirty spots.

OHHHHHHH I'm very lucky on cleaning day too DH moves all the furniture so I can clean under an around it.

Laundry I do 3 to 4 loads a week more in summer than winter with us being in an out the pool all the time an we sweat we change clothes it seems.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

oohhhh sweetie. I sssssssssssooooooooooooooo know how you feel !

I got woke up this am at 5:45am. At 9:30 DH was still in bed, I went up to the bed, laid down and said it him " it's your turn" I don't remember falling asleep, but when I woke up at 10:30, I swear a BOMB went off .

I hate half-assing ! Seriously if we have to do these damn chores were going to do them quick and all the way the 1st time.

When the dishwasher is empty, why take your bowl to the kitchen counter, leave the milk and 5 cereal pieces in it still ? Why the *** didn't you just dump the milk out and put the *** bowl in the dishwasher ?

when you take the garbage out, you have to come back and put another bag in.

when you take the time to wash and dry your clothes, fold them and put them away., don't leave them in the dryer for 3 days and run it for 15 mins each time you want to wear something from the dryer, and run it for 15 mins to get the wrinkles out !

We we know that somebody is in the way, we do something called crisis cleaning, we clear away all the junk right in your face .

Seriously, I really think that my family thinks a magic fairy just shows up and cleans up all their crap that they have no freakin clue that's even been cleaned up behine them. They are going to be in a world of hurt when I leave for a week in Oct.

Also, what I've been doing is looking for house-cleaning deals on groupon and social living. It's far less than having a weekly cleaning service, and they do a great job at the deep-cleaning, and I just am able to keep up with the surface cleaning much easier.

Seriously though, it's time to start deligating the chores.

I saw a saying one time, something like :
Chores are not womens chores and mens chores, they are people chores,
If you a people, you do chores !