Do you do a little each day? The whole house on one day? How often do you vacuum, mop, scrub showers and tubs? How often do you move furniture to vacuum? How often do you vacuum upholstery? Clean baseboards and cabinet faces?
Full transparency here - I have been a super spoiled person my whole life. My mom had a “maid” (I know that’s not a correct term now, but that’s what we called her) that worked in our home about 25 hours a week. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? For most of my married life, I have had a weekly housekeeper. Dh is retiring, and we are doing a MAJOR downsizing to a 935 sq ft condo - 2 BR, 2 BA. In the interim, we have been renting a similarly-sized apartment as we transition. Please don’t throw tomatoes, but I am seriously inexperienced at cleaning a house. I feel like I am not very good at it and that I am woefully inefficient as well. I don’t even know how long it should take me to clean 935 sq ft, but I do feel like I’m taking too long. We have no carpeting - only tile and wood laminate flooring. Not sure if sweeping + mopping or vacuuming + mopping is better? I prefer the concept of having my entire home cleaned all at once, but doing it all at once makes me grumpy. I think because I’m so bad and inefficient at it. Is there any way to enjoy housekeeping? I am a very tidy, minimalist person. I don’t have a clutter problem at all. I just don’t know how to clean well.
I know this is a first-world problem, but I’d really appreciate some advice/insights.
Her website focuses more on decluttering, but don’t be discouraged that you have to search through decluttering tips to get to the cleaning stuff. She has a great method for doing housecleaning chores each week. You can break them down into daily portions, or do them all in one day.
Her website is gentle and does not talk down to you. She is very encouraging with taking baby steps.
Do not feel bad about lacking cleaning skills. You are able to admit you don’t know something, and are asking for ways to learn. That is half the battle!
Upholstery, never. Baseboards & cabinets, state occasions. Move furniture to vacuum? Nope.
The only thing I am on top of is the bathroom and the kitchen sink & counters. I am most motivated to clean house by knowing people are coming over, so I should really host a dinner party once a week! Otherwise I tend to wait until inspiration strikes, which is not consistent. And I thought my Roomba would be a huge timesaver, but I tend to get distracted and watch it, which defeats the automatic purpose
First, YOU decide if you want to do it in steps or if you want to do it in stages. If you don’t pick a method that jives with you it isn’t going to happen routinely.
And +1 to having less space to clean!
My method (I work full time so no “one whole day” to clean and I’m NOT going to spend a precious weekend day doing cleaning for hours!):
Daily tasks: pick up clutter, load/unload dishes in dishwasher, laundry as needed, sweep kitchen floor, clean counters and stove top. Swiffer as needed.
Weekly tasks: vacuum hardwoods and area rugs on main floor, clean sinks/bathrooms.
Monthly sort of: dust furniture, vacuum hardwoods in bedrooms, vacuum furniture cushions (shedding dog!), any other glaring needs.
If you do it all at once, I find it helpful to do the tidying up the night before. That seems to be half the work, lol.
Playing music helps, or listening to a podcast, but of course vacuuming spoils all that. I find vacuuming the most annoying part and if I could get away with just sweeping I would be happier. Sweeping is more relaxing, but vacuuming is sometimes necessary (I’m religious about vacuuming under my bed, and vacuuming my mattress because of allergies and asthma). It’s important to get a vacuum that you like, since it’s so annoying!
I make a “lemony dust aid” that I found a recipe for in a natural housecleaning book. Fill a spray bottle with water + a few spoonfuls of Murphy’s oil soap + a few drops of lemon essential oil. Smells great!
For the bathrooms, I windex the bejeesus out of everything. Our bathrooms are small and mopping would be annoying, so I windex the floors and back out slowly while using a paper towel to clean it all up. It’s nice to have it all done!
I clean my own house now and it’s nice to just do it on your own schedule and in your own way.
Maybe it could be at least a little enjoyable if you and your husband do it together, with the major tasks saved for a few hours on the weekend. That way, you’d have company, and you could each choose the tasks you dislike the least. And you could come up with a shared reward for later in the day to celebrate getting it done.
I used to do the whole thing at once, but I just don’t have the energy anymore. I really deep clean the kitchen about once a month. That means down on the floor cleaning, moving all the small appliances and cleaning counters with granite polish, cleaning big appliances, etc. on a daily basis it’s kept free of crumbs and picked up.
I do the bathrooms really good about once every 2 weeks, maybe even 3. Between then I keep things just wiped down quickly when I see it. I usually clean the mirror every other day.
I just do about a 1/3 of the house at a time. With the size of your house, I’d split it into 2 days, maybe more often.
I also do it all at once. I schedule a day in advance to do it so my calendar is clear. I start at back of house and work my way to front of house. Bathrooms I do last.
On my cleaning day I vacuum, wash the floors (use Bona for hardwoods.) I wipe down baseboards, window sills, etc. I dust everything, change the sheets, wash sheets, comforters, etc. All granite counters get cleaned, micro, toaster oven, and stainless appliances.
In between I vacuum several times a week, plus swiffer almost every day thanks to two dogs that shed.
I’ve just hired a house cleaner to come once a month (she started last month) so all I plan on doing now is keeping things tidy (I wipe my kitchen counters/Island daily for example) and doing stuff in between like ridding tub of soap scum - I use magic eraser so it’s easy peasy. And I still need to vacuum, change sheets, etc.
I grew up in a house with a cleaning lady who came twice a week so never had to lift a finger until I was on my own. But I quite enjoy the task - which is why I’ve only gone to once a month cleaning lady.
I do a deep clean every two weeks that includes towels and sheets. I don’t change them every week, and tend to put the same sheets back on the bed and the same towels on the rack so no folding.
I do bathrooms maybe once a week (more if they need it - teenage girls can be pigs!). I do the same thing as above with a glass cleaner and Scott towels (Scott towels are less lint-y).
Kitchen is kept up daily. I run the sweeper every couple days, mop on the every two week schedule.
Vacuuming whole house and dusting is about once a week.
The basement is my husband’s domain, and it’s up to him to clean it. Eventually it gets dusty enough that he does it.
I stink at cleaning, but I have learned (from spying on other people’s maids!) that the right products and tools will make it so much easier. Get one of those Bona mops with the microfiber poufy thing (Bed, Bath and Beyond or possible Home Depot) for your floors. It’s way better than Swiffer. I have several of the microfiber mop things, so I can rotate washing them and always have one ready if needed in a hurry. Bona has a regular floor spray and a deep cleaner. They are magic. Also, Simple Green makes a great spray for granite. It’s way less toxic than most other products, and it cleans insanely well. I also use a lot of vinegar in water in a spray bottle on anything that won’t get wrecked by vinegar and water. Barkeep’s friend or Bon Ami–also less toxic and super awesome for porcelain sinks. I also suggest cleaning with your partner for the deep clean so that you don’t start resenting it. We have a rule in our house than only men should have to clean toilets because…
I am constantly cleaning my kitchen. I handwash a lot of my things and run the dishwasher a couple of times a week… Bathrooms weekly , dusting …when I need to. Laundry seems endless. My husband got me a roomba for Christmas ( we had one of the early versions which was pretty useless ) This one goes every morning and I am amazed at how much it picks .
I have been really loving Mrs Meyers cleaning products since I signed up on Grove for them. They seem a lot less harsh than anything else I have ever used
I could never have a housecleaner…it’s just not me
We love our Roomba so much we have two in our small house—one for living area and one for bedrooms. We try to only have furniture that Roomba can vacuum under (except file cabinets and bookshelves. We rarely ever move those. We deep clean with white vinegar & water before our kids come to visit, to keep their allergies & asthma from kicking up.
I sit and read comments on CC about house cleaning instead of cleaning the bathrooms (which is what I am supposed to be doing while I am home on this snow day!)
One piece of advice: house cleaning is A LOT easier if you:
Pick up every night before going to bed
Clean up the kitchen every night -- no dishes/pots and pans in the sink! Also, don't get one of those air drying dish racks... they tend to not get emptied enough and always seem to add visual clutter
Assign one specific day to a specific cleaning task, say, Monday - laundry; Tuesday - sheets/towels; Wednesday - vacuum/dust etc.
For big jobs, get a cleaning service. You deserve it after all that disciplined weekly housekeeping
I suck at house cleaning, and working full time with three kids and a husband doesn’t help. I have a Roomba, but it’s still in the box it came in - since I’d have to clean up for it to vacuum…haha. I’ve contemplated a hiring it done, but again, I’d have to clean up first. I too love the magic eraser for tubs, it’s awesome. I also second barkeepers friend. I’m gonna check out some of these tips, so thanks for asking the question, and know you are not alone.
Additional questions: how do you clean base boards, hand and knees, is there a tool? what about ceiling fans? it seems the dust from them goes everywhere. What about the kitchen stove? It seems that stuff gets inside the door and I can’t get it out, not to mention that I have yet to find a good product to get grease off cabinets. Help in these areas please…
Our house used to be filthy because H & I had just…given up. We were never very motivated house cleaners to begin with, and there have been many, many panicked whirlwind cleaning moments (ex: GUESTS are coming THIS WEEKEND…EEK!)
Over the years, I have felt an awful lot of shame and guilt about it. So much. Last fall, we hired someone to come in every two weeks, and it has made all the difference in the world. We can keep up now, and the week the housekeeper comes is the cue to change the sheets, wash the floor rugs, wash the shower curtain, etc.
I’m focusing on decluttering and organizing, with some home repairs sprinkled in. It’s also a lot easier to keep up now that the kids are out of the house.
First–what’s your starting square footage? That would really be a MAJOR downsize for me! And while everyone thinks smaller is better it isn’t always–clutter “disappears” when you can spread it out over a wide area or have plenty of storage room and big closets. When that storage disappears the clutter comes out because it has nowhere to go…
Unless someone is visiting and it looks okay–I don’t care much. I “tidy” more than clean.
Kitchen gets cleaned and the family room because we “live” there the most. Same with often used bathrooms.
I use “Whip it!” for most cleaning (not windows or mirrors). It’s pretty much a one spray does all and smells good. That and a can of “Bar Keepers Friend” plus a few good microfiber cloths (get the “as seen on TV” kind) will cover most things. Keep supplies to a minimum.
And the best cleaning incentive is guests!
Look up Don Hasslett–“Speed Cleaning”–it’s an old book but great on shortcut techniques for cleaning your house. It certainly helped me eons ago. I still adhere to his techniques.
