What is your household cleaning schedule like?

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I do a general sweep of everything on Thursday afternoon (because Friday is garbage day). I do the rest of the housework on Saturday.

 

[usd2bmd]

Didn't house cleaning schedules go out the window in the 50's? I clean when things are dirty but I try to keep up as I go. I have many things more important to do than making sure my floors are spotless.

My house is never spotless, but it is clean. We both work full time, our daughter is a competitive swimmer who practices 3 hours/day 5 days/week. We help out with the team so are gone two nights a week for meets. I am the treasure of the band booster club for my daughters high school band so I am usually at some metting or event weekly with that as well....Our lists go on.

Our schedule for cleaning...there isn't one. Things get done, some more than others. All of my friends are always welcome at my house and nobody has ever walked in and gone wide-eyed at the sight of my house.

Could it be cleaner, of course, but since losing both of my parents, one of them unexpectedly I know that there are more important things in life.

People will remember how I made them feel and how much fun we had. I doubt anyone will remember whether or not my house was clean.

OP you have three choices the way I see it, Clean more, ask them to help, or move out and do it the way you would like it to be.

 

[mom2alix]

We kind of try to clean as we go and just try to keep up with everything so it doesn't get out of hand. Bathrooms get wiped daily. Kids do the Powder room and their bath and I do the master bath. It doesn't take really any time to grab a Clorox wipe and wipe everything down when you're done getting ready. We also squeegee the shower before we get out so that helps keep it cleaner. If you just give it a quick swipe every day, it never really has a chance to get too bad even if you oversleep and miss one morning.

I run the dishwasher every night and empty every morning. I also run at least one load of laundry every day. Put some in the washer before taking the kids to school, put in dryer when we all get home, fold and have everyone put their stuff away before bed.

On Saturday the kids and I all pitch in and vacuum/mop/dust/deep clean bathrooms while DH does yard work. It's usually just over an hour's worth of work if we've kept up with stuff during the week and then we're free to play.

 

[clm10308]

My house is generally messy.
I don't have much carpet, and what we have is more indoor-outdoor carpet, but even if we did, there is no way that we would vacuum more than once per week.

When I had a housecleaning company, they only came once every two weeks, so that was when the bathrooms got cleaned and the floors mopped.

the real problem is that your cleaning style does not meet up with the rest of the people you live with. You are going to have to come to terms with the fact that the others don't care and just do what cleaning you want because you want to. Otherwise you are going to be resentful and angry with the others because they don't appreciate all your hard work.

 

[diznygirl]

Didn't house cleaning schedules go out the window in the 50's? I clean when things are dirty but I try to keep up as I go. I have many things more important to do than making sure my floors are spotless.

Monday is laundry, Tuesday is ironing, Wednesday is mending, Thursday is churning, Friday is cleaning, Saturday is baking and Sunday we rest.

 

[Rylee]

Friend "P" was always bragging about how clean her house was... "I vacuum everyday." "I cleaned all day and my entire house smells like bleach." "I cleaned until my hands were raw." Etc.

So, Friend "C" said to her... "Either, you're very clean or very dirty, I just haven't figured out which it is."

 

[NJOYURLIFE]

Friend "P" was always bragging about how clean her house was... "I vacuum everyday." "I cleaned all day and my entire house smells like bleach." "I cleaned until my hands were raw." Etc.

So, Friend "C" said to her... "Either, you're very clean or very dirty, I just haven't figured out which it is."

Once I started having health issues, my housecleaning went out the window. The rest of the family will help and do stuff, but for some reason, they just dont see the dirt that I see. We can all be looking at the same thing and my husband will think it is clean while I am cringing. Let's just say that I have had to let go of some of my cleaning wants in order to keep my sanity.

 

[Ember]

Well, twice a year I wash my ceilings, which is apparently weird. So who am I to judge others?!

I tend to be clean, but not tidy, if that makes sense. I'll do the laundry, but then take forever to put the clothes away. Or I'll clean the kitchen but then leave things on the counter...

 

[NHdisneylover]

the real problem is that your cleaning style does not meet up with the rest of the people you live with. You are going to have to come to terms with the fact that the others don't care and just do what cleaning you want because you want to. Otherwise you are going to be resentful and angry with the others because they don't appreciate all your hard work.

Wise words


As far as the question in the OP--I do not have a schedule.

We always clear the table, sweep and wipe down counters after dinner. Most nights we get the dishes done and leave them to dry to be put away in the morning, bus sometimes on busy evenings we leave the dishes and I do them in the morning.

DD is home in the daytime (online school) as am I. Lunch and breakfast dishes I usually wash right away, but sometimes leave and wash while dinner is cooking or with dinner dishes.

I sweep the main level at least once a day--often 2-3 times. The rest of the house maybe once or twice a week (we have no carpeting).

Bathrooms are generally cleaned about once a week, but it varies--if they look yucky to me I clean them.

 

[cornflake]

I make sure to scrub the ceilings every week.

Just want to reiterate, I'm not looking down on anyone for not scrubbing their house down every day or anything!

I know I grew up with a rigorous cleaning routine at home and not everyone does. Was just looking for some confirmation that other households, all across the country and globe, do in fact, clean on some kind of regular basis.

Your post is arguing with itself.

You say you're not looking down on anyone - you just want to confirm that everyone but these people do clean. Which is just confirming they're filthy and wrong, but you're not looking down on them? Sounds like you're looking down on them and trying to confirm just how right you are and wrong they are.

I agree with another poster - if you think it's not clean, clean it. However, you can't then wait around for them to thank you for cleaning better or mimic your "superior" cleaning style or schedule or whatever.

They leave the dishes, they do. That drives me a little bonky but ... that means I'd do the dishes because it makes me bonky or I'd look someplace else when I walked by the sink, you know?

 

[NHdisneylover]

I do not mean this to be rude, but since you say you are living there to save money, I assume you either have a very low rent 9compared to what it would cost for you and your boyfriend to get your own place) or no rent at all.

Perhaps the mother is thinking that the least you can do to repay is pick up some cleaning slack?

 

[okeydokey]

I do not mean this to be rude, but since you say you are living there to save money, I assume you either have a very low rent 9compared to what it would cost for you and your boyfriend to get your own place) or no rent at all.

Perhaps the mother is thinking that the least you can do to repay is pick up some cleaning slack?

This sounds about right. Cleaning in lieu of rent. When you rely on the kindness of others to support you, you really have no choice about the living conditions unless you want to take care of it yourself.

Since I went back to work full time, the house is not as clean as it used to be, but that is the tradeoff.

 

[SaraJayne]

This sounds about right. Cleaning in lieu of rent. When you rely on the kindness of others to support you, you really have no choice about the living conditions unless you want to take care of it yourself.

Yup. And OP will have to decide which is more important ~ moving into their own place or going to Disney (per other posts).

If you live there rent free, expect to help out or don't complain.

Our house is always tidy. The kitchen is cleaned after every meal.

Bathrooms are done a couple times a week and laundry is done about every other day.

 

[RitaE]

My hard and fast rule is the dishes in the dishwasher and counters wiped down every night. Piled up dirty dishes and old food are my gag factor.

If I was living in somebody's house for nearly rent free so I could save money, I'd take on at least that task myself - even if they were just sitting watching tv all day.

 

[Ginny Favers]

Honestly, the only time we have a top-to-bottom cleanfest is when we're having company over.

I work full-time, my husband works full-time and is gone from 6 til 6, and I have a part-to-full time job on the side. We aren't in the house a lot so it doesn't get very dirty, even with a 3 and 6 year old in it.

I do dishes as soon as they're emptied and clean the kitchen as soon as a meal is over. If a child makes a mess, I make them clean it up before they move onto the next thing. If the sink or toilet looks dirty, we clean it. We make beds every day and do the sheets and laundry once a week on the weekend. So our house is always presentable.

I used to live with people who would let chores pile up-- they'd leave dirty clothes lying around and dishes in the sink, and by the end of the week it looks like a tornado ran through. We don't do that. We clean as we go along, putting things back in their place as soon as we're done with them. In that way, if unexpected guests show up, the place is never a sty.

 

[bigbabyblues]

These days, we clean up when we can. DH does most of it, but we both work and the kids are in things, and our house is lived in. We do keep dishes done each evening and counters and stove clean.

When I was SAHM, and when I worked a few evenings during the week and was home during the day, I had a schedule of sorts. It was just one room I focused on each day, dishes each day, laundry twice a week. It wasn't really a schedule, more of things I hoped to get done. With 2 kids under 3, some days I was doing well to get a shower. If I got the three or four things done on the list, it made my day.

 

[mrsklamc]

I hope I'm misunderstanding you OP...which is easy to do on the internet....But what I'm reading is that you were permitted to move in to an existing household, with an existing routine, to save money. I hope that you are not checking out what other people's household cleaning routines are like so that you can turn around and suggest to a family that allowed you to move in with them, that they should follow a cleaning schedule proposed by you.
That seems like the height of rudeness, so again, I hope I am misinterpreting.

I think the most you can do in that kind of situation, if moving out isn't an option, is do what you can do personally, (or with the assistance of your SO) and ignore the rest.

 

[tinkermommyof3]

SAHM so I do a little cleaning throughout the day when children are at school. Run dishwasher after DH and children leave in the morning, gather and wash laundry. Dust and vacuum 2 - 3 times a week. Hardwood floors 1x a week. Bathrooms light cleaning daily--intense cleaning 1x a week. Also, take care of grass and maintaining outside of property. Harder to do during Summer as I like to hang out with kids more. House is far from perfect--not that type of personality. Well maintained and clean enough.

 

[AngieMouse86]

Wow, who knew such a simple question would get so misconstrued!

Too many posts to quote but I'll just say..

-I do pay a nominal rent, as does the other GF.
-I never intended to assess other peoples cleaning styles to then ENFORCE something similar here.
-Once again, I do clean here! I'm just not cleaning the whole household all the time.
-For the people who thinks schedules are out of date, I didn't mean like you have a hard-set calendar of which day to darn your husband's socks. Again, was just curious what other folks do.

The cleaning isn't something I've talked about with them, and frankly, I won't. This is the internet and a community where I've enjoyed spending time, so I thought I'd poll people here about what they do. Never knew it was create such a fuss.

 

[RitaE]

Wow, who knew such a simple question would get so misconstrued!

Too many posts to quote but I'll just say..

-I do pay a nominal rent, as does the other GF.
-I never intended to assess other peoples cleaning styles to then ENFORCE something similar here.
-Once again, I do clean here! I'm just not cleaning the whole household all the time.
-For the people who thinks schedules are out of date, I didn't mean like you have a hard-set calendar of which day to darn your husband's socks. Again, was just curious what other folks do.

The cleaning isn't something I've talked about with them, and frankly, I won't. This is the internet and a community where I've enjoyed spending time, so I thought I'd poll people here about what they do. Never knew it was create such a fuss.

I think that is your problem. Your question wasn't simple. If you would have simply posted "I'm living in a 5 person, 1 bathroom household right now and it seems like we are having a problem keeping things clean. Does anybody have any tips for a good schedule?"

That would have been simple.

Instead you through in a whole bunch of crap about how they all don't clean correctly and stuff like this

ETA: The GF only works very part-time and DBFs mom doesn't work at all anymore. She's not very old or infirm, either, so it's not like light dusting would be tasking for her. And I can't say either of them use their time at home for anything productive, like preparing dinner or some such. Nope. It's tv and talking on the phone for the both of them.

As I said, how these people spend their days is none of your business. They are the ones giving you a helping hand, not the other way around.

When somebody is doing you a huge favor by giving you low cost housing so you can save money, it really isn't all that nice to hop onto a message board and slam them.