House cleaning... HELP!

[dreamer_dachsie]

Okay, so I am a 31 year old woman and I don''t really know how to keep a house!

How is this possible? Well my mom wasn''t much for it, and then when I went away to school my roomates and I pitched in for a house cleaner. Once DH and I started living together, we decided to keep the cleaner.

So here I am now with our first home (

) and we cannot afford a cleaner and I am just not at all sure how to go about keeping it nice and neat and clean.

I am not a clean freak, and I don''t really care about sanitizing and disinfecting surfaces

. I''d also like to avoid harsh chemicals if possible.

That said...

What do you clean/tidy on a daily basis? Weekly basis? Monthly basis?

What products do you use and what quick shortcuts have you developed?

Thanks so much!!

 

[neatfreak]

Lol-I am not going to lie it is HARD. Even for me and I like everything to be very tidy. I will admit though that I hate the "deep scrub" type of cleaning. If I can readily see it-it doesn''t get cleaned very often.

What helps me is doing a little bit everyday. And trying to keep on top of it when I notice it. If I see something getting dirty I keep my rags and cleaners right at hand so I can swipe it away right away. This helps so that I don''t have to spend hours at a time cleaning every weekend because I do a little at a time during the week.

Hope that helps-although I am not the expert at deep cleaning. I have my playgroup coming over in an hour and what am I doing? PSing instead of cleaning. Oh and baking. I figured fresh homemade brownies would go a long way towards people not looking under my sofa to see if it''s clean.

 

[KimberlyH]

What has always worked for me is setting aside a period of time that is meant for cleaning, and then following through. Saturday or Sunday morning I would spend whatever time needed to clean from top to bottom. On a daily basis I would wipe down surfaces I used, etc. to maintain. I typically spent 2-3 hours cleaning.

Since we''ve been married my husband does the cleaning now and his method is much different than mine (he told me last night that my home never looked lived in, I don''t think I was that bad but I do like things neat). He cleans here and there when it needs to be done, no real system.

Things will be different when I have the baby. He works from home now, but will be getting an office and I''ll be home more than he is so things will go back to being up to me (which I''m good with). I''ll likely go back to picking a day (during the week now that my job is changing) and tackle everything and then picking up as I go along. My biggest downfall is laundry, I tend to have clothes strewn everywhere. I won''t have my own closet or bathroom when we move so I''ll have to work on that.

We tend to stick to Lysol wipes and windex for the kitchen and bathrooms. Otherwise it''s just regular dusting, vacuuming, and mopping (vinegar).

 

[MonkeyPants]

Fi and I have two totally different definitions of "clean." For me clean means no crumbs on the counters and floors, no animal fur stuck to carpets and couch, no dirt and sticky spots, etc. For Fi clean = tidy and things put away. So i guess it makes us a pretty good cleaning team. I make sure everything is sanitized and fresh while he makes sure everything looks neat.

As far as our cleaning schedule, I vacuum everyday (I love my dogs but hate their hair and bits of chewed up dog toys) and load the dishwasher everyday so dirty dishes don''t pile up in the sink. Fi does the laundry about twice a week. I do a full deep clean on the weekend (vacuum, clean hardwood floors, scrub toilets, wash shower curtain liner, scrub tub, wipe mirrors, dust, run the dishwasher and put clean dishes away...)

I feel like i''m always cleaning but for some reason our house always looks plenty "lived-in"

oh well.

 

[MonkeyPants]

oh and i also don''t like harsh chemicals. I like Mrs. Meyers Clean Day products.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

If you can do at least these four things every day you''ll be way ahead of the curve:
1. make the bed every morning-even if it''s just throwing the duvet over the top
2. make sure all of the dishes are in the dishwasher or cleaned before you go to bed
3. wipe down your counter tops
4. sweep the floor

These tasks should take you all of 10 minutes at most every day. I try to do these and I find myself doing more because the hardest part for me is getting enough motivation to start. These little chores are minor and easy to do-you might already do them!

 

[monarch64]

You''ll probably laugh at me. I''m 32, have been married and kept house before but am divorcing and living on my own again. My routine was always and still is, get home from work on Friday, open a bottle of wine, change into something comfy, and start cleaning. I tackle the picking up and putting away of clutter first, and by the time the first glass of wine has worked it''s way through my bloodstream I''m ready to clean the bathrooms and kitchen. Quick dust and vacuum of living room, swiffer of hallways and hardwood floors in the bedrooms, I''m done. Typically takes me about 3 hours to finish--if your DH helps you out you can split it up, be done in 1.5 hours and go out and do something fun!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I''ve also always had a problem with doing laundry. Our new place has a laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms. It''s SO much easier to stay on top of the laundry now, I love it!

 

[stephbolt]

On a daily basis: dishes in the dishwasher and kitchen counters wiped down, clutter cleared off of the counter, dining room table, and coffee table, scoop litter boxes. I wish the bed got made but I can''t convince FI to do it and he''s still in bed when I leave in the morning.

Weekly: vaccuum, laundry, ironing

Every 2-3 weeks: clean bathroom, dusting, mopping

Earlier this fall I was following the Fly Lady system for a few weeks. I really enjoyed it - the premise is that you do a weekly cleaning hour, and on top of that rotate among five other "zones" in your house and do deep cleaning tasks and decluttering in those areas, approximately 15 minutes a day for those tasks. I was doing really well with it until we had to move out of the house for a week to get the floors refinished and then spend over a week putting it back together when we got back in and since then...

This thread has inspired me to check out the website again though. It''s www.flylady.net if anyone else wants to check it out. The website is a little bit focused towards SAHM, but it definitely can be adapted to someone who works full time!

 

[zoebartlett]

Congrats on your new house DD! How exciting! I love the IDEA of a pristine house, but unfortunately, that''s not our reality.

On a daily basis, I:

clean the counters in the kitchen and the bathroom with Lysol multi purpose cleaner and paper towels.
straighten up clutter (it never seems to disappear all together though -- not sure why!).
make sure the sink is emptied and the dishwasher is run before heading off to bed.
Scoop the litter box.

Weekly:

empty the litter box and wash it out
Dust furniture and sweep the floors
Vacuum
Change sheets
Laundry (sometimes it''s done on an as-needed basis, but I try to do big loads on the weekends)
pay bills (again, on an as needed basis, and my husband takes care of this)

Monthly:

wash the floors
go through random boxes of stuff and figure out what we can toss or donate

I don''t really like using harsh chemicals, but for some reason, it makes me feel like I''ve accomplished a lot if there''s an overwhelming clean/chemical smell in the house. I know, it doesn''t make sense. The only real "trick" I have is to make sure that we have cleaners and paper towels out and ready to go. Easy access is key for us.

I love my husband dearly, but he still lives like a bachelor much of the time. He helps but since I''m pickier about things, it''s just easier if I do it my way. I do the majority of the household cleaning but we each do our own laundry.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Dreamer - Me and my DH just bought our first house too and I''m going through the same thing. Neither one of us are really neat freaks, but with a 16-month old son and a dog that sheds the house must be cleaned often or it starts to look like a disaster area. Here is a list of what we''ve been doing:

Everyday chores:

- load/unload dishwasher and wipe down kitchen
- laundry
- sweep floors with Dyson
- go through mail and throw away/recycle the junk
- pick up toys and put them away
- our dog is a pug so her face/ears must be cleaned. I use baby wipes. She hates it but she doesn''t smell puggy!

A few times a week:

- mop entire upstairs with Swiffer Wet Jet (we have hardwoods)
- dust living room

Once a week (or so):

- scrub bathroom
- dust bedrooms
- give the dog a bath and brush her

One a month (or so):

- run Dyson downstairs (carpeted - no doggie allowed)
- dust downstairs
- clean windows on the inside. It''s cold now so no point in doing the outsides.

I''ve been using the Clorox Green Works multipurpose cleaner for most of my cleaning and use the all purpose Wet Jet solution. For a quick dusting of the living room I''ll use a paper towel or even a baby wipe

I also

my Dyson Animal!

 

[geckodani]

Date: 11/19/2009 2:49:19 PM
Author: MonkeyPants
oh and i also don''t like harsh chemicals. I like Mrs. Meyers Clean Day products.

I''m a big fan of the Basil Mrs. Meyer''s stuff, also love Method.

I have nothing useful to contribute other than that - I''m hoping to get some tips myself!

 

[steph72276]

I have to have everything nice and neat or it really puts me in a bad mood. So, my morning routine is (after a cup of coffee), make up all beds, put away dirty towels, wipe down countertops in bathroom. Make sure everything is cleaned up in the kitchen from breakfast, and put a load of clothes on. I can usually get away with 1 load a day. I do lights one day, darks the next. I just put things away during the day as needed and before bed, I always have all toys and dishes put away.

On a weekly basis, I: dust, vacuum, sweep and mop tile floors, clean the bathroom, mirrors and windows and clean out the fridge. I also change bed linens once a week.

On a monthly basis, I try to steam clean the carpets and clean out the pantry as well as clean off the patio furniture on the screened in porch and clean off the fans.

I do everything else as necessary. It is hard work, but I think the key is to stay on top of things, so it never seems to get too bad.

I LOVE Mr. Clean's Magic eraser! I buy them in bulk. I find they work the best in the bathroom. I also LOVE Pledge multipurpose cleaning spray. It saves so much time b/c you can use it to dust furniture, use it on granite, and on windows and mirrors.

ETA: Also Clorox wipes come in handy to wipe down the bathrooms in just a few seconds in between deep cleanings

 

[soocool]

One thing is very true. If you put things away as soon as possibel, cleaning is much more manageable. Keep as little out as possible. Much time is spent moving things around or putting away that eats into cleaning time.

Daily if the last person wipes the shower down you wiill find you do not have to clean that often. If you have shower tiles, after you clean them use car wax on them. You won''t need to clean them for a while. Get a spray bottle and fill half with water, half with bleach and spray on any mildew/mold spots in shower.

You can put the toilet bowel cleaner in the toilet before you leave for work and then brush out the toilet when you get home. The toilet will sparkle.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

You will fall into a routine very easily.

My daily routine is very similar to HH''s. I make the bed every day, make sure that the dishes are in the dishwasher before I go to bed, vacuum every day (but I have two dogs) and my general cleaning process is that if I don''t let things get out of hand, then I am not overwhelmed. I don''t let the laundry pile up, I wipe down the kitchen all the time so I''m not scrubbing anything off, etc.

What also helps me is that I tidy things up before I leave for work in hte morning. I always fold the blanket if we were lying on the couch the night before, tidy up the pillows, put something in the wash or dryer, etc., so when I walk in at the end of the day everything already feels pretty tidy and all I need to do is make dinner, vacuum, etc.

I do a deep scrub every Sunday. That''s when I polish my floors, wipe down the walls (again, drooly dogs), dust, windex, etc. I can get it all done within 3 hours now because it''s a routine. On top of all my regular weekly chores I''ll try to do at least two "bonus" chores--like cleaning out one of the vehicles, washing the sheets, washing the dogs, haha--something I don''t do every week, but every two or three weeks. If I keep them all in rotation, then they don''t build up.

Oh, and I''ve found that keeping shower cleaner in the shower is a great shortcut for me. A couple of times a week I''ll just spray it and wash everything down while I''m in there.

 

[MonkeyPie]

I absolutely LOATHE cleaning, but I don''t mind laundry, so I do that every Sunday. As for the regular stuff, I just try to keep up with it a few minutes each day so that it doesn''t pile up or get so dirty it takes forever to clean.

Of course, it helps to have a husband that doesn''t foil your efforts, which I sadly do not have lol.

 

[elrohwen]

Hmmm ... The thing I clean the most is by far the kitchen. Dishes get put in the dishwasher that day or the next (if I'm too lazy after dinner) and I keep the surfaces clean. I just can't stand a messy kitchen!

I'm much more laid back with the rest of the house. I only vacuum and dust about once every two weeks, though I will do some quick sweeping if the bunny hair is particularly bad. We probably only clean the bathrooms once per month because we're lazy and honestly they don't get that bad; it doesn't even look dirty until the 4th week. Laundry is every weekend - usually two loads will wash everything from the week, then I'll throw in towels or sheets.

I think the most important thing is to stay tidy. If I have things pretty picked up, I feel that the house is liveable, even if there's a bit of dust on the coffee table and a tumbleweed of bunny fur in the dining room. Clutter bothers me much more than dirt.

As for products, I like to use the all purpose Green Works cleaner by Clorox because I figure it's a little safer than most stuff and it works pretty well. For bathrooms, I like Tilex for getting rid of moldy stuff on showers. Also, I love Scrubbing Bubbles for showers and stoves. My stove gets stuff baked on and I haven't found anything that works better than Scrubbing Bubbles. Go figure.

For general cleaning, a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water works well as a very non-chemical cleaner. I use this on all things related to the bunny because it's very safe and I think it would be safe for babies too. I just fill up a spray bottle with it. It's also good at killing pet pee odors.

ETA: I'm realizing I clean far less than the rest of you! For me, as long as things are tidy, I can live with a little dust.

 

[somethingshiny]

Date: 11/19/2009 3:31:50 PM
Author: steph72276
I have to have everything nice and neat or it really puts me in a bad mood. So, my morning routine is (after a cup of coffee), make up all beds, put away dirty towels, wipe down countertops in bathroom. Make sure everything is cleaned up in the kitchen from breakfast, and put a load of clothes on. I can usually get away with 1 load a day. I do lights one day, darks the next. I just put things away during the day as needed and before bed, I always have all toys and dishes put away.


On a weekly basis, I: dust, vacuum, sweep and mop tile floors, clean the bathroom, mirrors and windows and clean out the fridge. I also change bed linens once a week.


On a monthly basis, I try to steam clean the carpets and clean out the pantry as well as clean off the patio furniture on the screened in porch and clean off the fans.


I do everything else as necessary. It is hard work, but I think the key is to stay on top of things, so it never seems to get too bad.


I LOVE Mr. Clean''s Magic eraser! I buy them in bulk. I find they work the best in the bathroom. I also LOVE Pledge multipurpose cleaning spray. It saves so much time b/c you can use it to dust furniture, use it on granite, and on windows and mirrors.


ETA: Also Clorox wipes come in handy to wipe down the bathrooms in just a few seconds in between deep cleanings

Big ditto to everything!

I find the biggest help in keeping house is reducing clutter. I only keep what I actually have room for. It''s when you don''t have homes for things that cleaning becomes daunting. Another thing is to try to not consider cleaning "work." It''s something that you do to have a nice home, that''s it. I do almost the exact routine as above and I do it in about 30 minutes a day. It only takes ten minutes to make a beds and wipe down the bathrooms, 10-15 minutes to clean up the kitchen (less if you have a dishwasher!) And about 2 minutes to throw in a load of laundry. (I use 3 hampers in the laundry area so whenever I take clothes down, I immediately separate them)

The hands down BIGGEST help in keeping house is for everyone to put their things away. Everyone should be responsible for putting their clothes in the hamper, dishes in the sink, etc. Chasing down random socks and cups adds a lot of work.

 

[Morgie44]

For us, the key is definitely staying in a routine as some pp''s mentioned. I try to do one bigger job each night and then there are a few small tasks that (I try to) get done everyday.

Everyday: Make the bed, load dishwasher, clean non DW pots, wipe counters, clean sinks. Then, I spend 5 minutes or so decluttering. We both love a clean house but tend to always leave stuff laying everywhere. If we don''t stay on top of it, it really piles up and becomes unmanageable.

Then, Mondays is a deeper kitchen clean, Tuesday is bathroom, Wed is floors, Thursday is dusting, and Sunday is laundry. Though to be honest, a lot of weeks these jobs get pushed to Saturday morning while DH is at school. We also have a very small starter house so that makes it easier to stay on top of things!

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

I'm like you in that I've never really got to grips with the whole housekeeping thing. Until I can afford a daily cleaning service, a little tidying / cleaning is done every morning and evening. It's an old house, seems to collect dirt and muck in quite amazing quantities.

However, my arachnaphobia is such that I don't do any sort of cleaning that would involve poking into dark places. DH understood this clearly when he undertook to share a house with me, it's all down to him.

So far, and to his credit, therapy has not been suggested...

In return, I cook and shop. So, if all else fails and you really hate cleaning, maybe you could trade tasks with your husband?
One thing I am picky about is the bed. I don't make it in the morning, that feels 'icky' to me, for some reason. I fold back the sheet and duvet then open the bedroom windows so that the bed it totally aired out by evening. We make the bed up about an hour or so before bedtime, so it isn't too cold to get into.

Good luck!

Jen

 

[Pandora II]

I''m another who is never going to win a domestic goddess award - I treat my cleaning lady like a queen lest she should ever decide to leave!

I don''t have any helpful hints, but I wish you an easy time!

 

[kama_s]

My absolute saving grace are the Lysol disinfectant wipes. I have one under each bathroom and kitchen sink and whip them out on a daily basis to clean counter tops and such. It saves me the time needed to spray disinfectant and soap! On weekends I do deeper cleaning, clean a washroom each week (our guest bathroom isn''t much used, so mainly it''s our washroom), kitchen, dusting and mop the floors. Hubby vacuums and sparkles the mirrors and the glass tabletops.

And then once a month or so, I do a ridiculous deep-cleaning - every DVD from the DVD shelf comes off, every single thing from the pantry comes out and such.

The thing with me is starting the cleaning process. It takes a bit of effort to begin. Once I begin though, I''m at it for hours and love it. I love being on my knees and scrubbing. And then seeing the house sparkling clean is so....refreshing!

 

[zoebartlett]

I was just looking around our condo, and the only real clutter we have right now is mail (well and my husband''s laundry, which he''s bad about keeping on top of). The mail drives me crazy though. We let it pile up and then it takes forever to file in our filing cabinet. That''s one thing we definitely need a better system for. Then there are the random pieces of mail that we never know if we should hang onto or not. Does anyone else hate going through their mail?

 

[kama_s]

Date: 11/19/2009 8:34:23 PM
Author: ZoeBartlett
Does anyone else hate going through their mail?

ME! ME! ME! Absolutely abhor it.

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 11/19/2009 8:38:58 PM
Author: kama_s

Date: 11/19/2009 8:34:23 PM

Author: ZoeBartlett

Does anyone else hate going through their mail?

ME! ME! ME! Absolutely abhor it.

Me too! My husband and I are both HORRIBLE about it! We have a little console thing with drawers in our front entrance and I had stuffed it with all the mail we needed to go through! I finally went through it all last week and there was a giant pile of stuff to trash! We pay all our bills online so I don't really need the paper bills but it makes me feel better to have them as a record so I haven't stopped getting them yet. Plus we get a decent amount of pointless junk mail.

As for house cleaning tips, I don't have any! I'm still figuring it out. I vacuum every Sunday and try to tidy up fairly often but that's about it! My husband does the dishes and laundry and cleans the bathrooms but neither of us have a good system.

 

[geckodani]

Okay, the hubs just had a giant guilt attack about not helping around the apt enough and is cleaning his bathroom. It''s so weird. And he had to ask me what to use. And I started to help and he sent me in here. Which is sweet. And so odd. And seemed somehow appropriate to this thread.

 

[Haven]

Date: 11/19/2009 8:38:58 PM
Author: kama_s

Date: 11/19/2009 8:34:23 PM
Author: ZoeBartlett
Does anyone else hate going through their mail?

ME! ME! ME! Absolutely abhor it.

I love going through the mail! I started calling or going online to get our address removed from unwanted mailing lists, so now our mail is really only bills, subscription magazines, letters from loved ones, and Crate & Barrel mailers. 
It''s really easy to get yourself removed from lists, it''s totally worth the call or email. You save a lot of paper, and a lot of time going through your mail.

Anyway . . .

Our cleaning schedule looks similar to many already posted.

DAILY
- Sweep kitchen floor, wipe down counter tops with cleaner, all dishes, file all of the day''s mail, litter boxes, tidy up any stuff that''s lying around; make the bed

WEEKLY
- Clean kitchen floor with liquid cleaner; vacuum all floors; vacuum furniture (we have a lot of pets); wash and change bed, kitchen (we use cloth napkins only), and bath linens; wash clothes; clean entire bathroom; clean the outside of the house, this varies depending on time of year from sweeping the deck to clearing leaves out of our planters; wash the dog (we often do this more than once a week depending on how dirty she gets); dust furniture; wipe or clean the walls

MONTHLY-ish
- Wash floors (we do this every two weeks, they''re wood); wash windows (our house is nearly all windows, so we do this in sections); clean ceiling fans and other hardware around the house, vents and such

I never knew how much work it took to keep a clean house. Having three cats and a dog doesn''t make it easier, but they are so worth it.

We don''t have a lot of stuff, so the only clutter we ever have comes from mine and DH''s bags that we bring to work. I think it helps a lot that we don''t have anything lying around, because even when we neglect the house for a day or two it still looks clean and I wouldn''t be embarrassed if surprise company popped over.

My husband is pretty obsessive about being clean, so he''s always cleaning something around the house.

I love Monnie''s wine and cleaning schedule--I am totally going to do that this Friday!

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 11/19/2009 3:02:46 PM
Author: monarch64
You''ll probably laugh at me. I''m 32, have been married and kept house before but am divorcing and living on my own again. My routine was always and still is, get home from work on Friday, open a bottle of wine, change into something comfy, and start cleaning. I tackle the picking up and putting away of clutter first, and by the time the first glass of wine has worked it''s way through my bloodstream I''m ready to clean the bathrooms and kitchen. Quick dust and vacuum of living room, swiffer of hallways and hardwood floors in the bedrooms, I''m done. Typically takes me about 3 hours to finish--if your DH helps you out you can split it up, be done in 1.5 hours and go out and do something fun!

Wine *always* helps me clean! Haha. I just get such a burst of energy for some reason and start running around the house cleaning things.

 

[dreamer_dachsie]

Ok, SOOOOOO helful everyone!

I am running errends this morning but I will be back later with some specific questions...

Actually here is one now: What actual *things* do you use to clean with when wiping down the counters in the kitchen and bathroom? Sponges? j-cloths? I like the idea of those clorox-type wipes, I will look into those if we can find one that is not antibacterial, I am not wild about that type of ingredient.

 

[MonkeyPants]

Hmm, DD depending on the task, I use paper towels (mirrors, windows, glass surfaces), sponges (counter tops, sink, bath tub), and just plain white terry cloth towels (floors).

And add me to the wine + cleaning camp!

makes cleaning soo much less tedious