And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

Do you clean your house whole in one shot - or do it little by little?

There have been times when I had to cancel the cleaning people for whatever reason, and I clean the house room by room whenever I get a chance. I feel like *MY* house is never fully clean then. It could take me up to a week to get the whole thing done and then start over again. KWIM?

Besides that - my husband and kids are total pigs - so I'm basically doing the daily maintenance of being their maid on a day to day basis - I couldn't imagine doing the hardcore cleaning on top of that.

So, what is your routine like with cleaning if you don't have cleaning people?

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

Before kids, I use to do the entire house on a Saturday or Sunday morning...I kept with that routine until I had two kids.

Now I do a room at a time (besides the daily maintenance) & like you, feel my house is never clean. There are days i look at the furniture & say "didn't I just dust you" Honestly I don't have the time on the weekends to just clean the entire house.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

My BIG cleaning is usually done in 2 days...Bedrooms one day and then rest of the house another.

Now that I am pregnant, DH does the bathrooms though. (he doesn't want me to do them)

ETA: if we are having a GTG at the house, I generally send DS to my ILS and do it all in one day though!

Message edited 12/3/2010 7:46:54 AM.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

I have a love for the vacuum, so that gets done at least 3 times a day. ( I do seriously love to vacuum). I clean my kitchen after each meal, sweep, bleach counters and wipe table down even though we don't use it. I dust my living room and pictures daily. I make beds 6 out of the 7 days. I clean my bathroom, every day. I hate a funky bathroom. I do serious cleaning, like moving furniture, under couches in couches, every Friday while ds is in daycare. I scrub the shower and bathroom floors on weds when ds is in daycare. But like I said, I clean it daily. I personally find cleaning to be relaxing.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

Message edited 12/3/2010 7:52:16 AM.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

I clean a little everyday but more as maintance and still do anone day full clean

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

Daily i tend to sweep and mop the kitchen now that DS is on table foods and making a mess every meal. I have a little hand vac that i vacuum out his chair and the surrounding area.

the weekends i tend to strip beds, do laundry and clean the bathroom. DH will vacuum the house on saturdays.

i wipe down counters/sinks daily.

usually I do the nitty gritty...like major dusting, cleaning baseboards around the house, windowsills etc. every few months. Too much to do every week.

thankfully my DH is very neat and doesnt leave a mess behind him.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

I clean a little every day and I NEVER feel that the house is fully clean. It's so frustrating that I feel like every free second is spent cleaning something but the whole house is never fully clean at once. If it were in the budget, I'd definitely still have cleaning people!

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

All kidding aside, it's a sickness. I have to have things clean and in order. I get nuts if it's not. Oh, I totally have company when I pee. I haven't peed alone in almost 2 years. I put his little punk butt to work. I give him a swiffer floor duster and let him have fun. I also have central vac. So, it's much easier. I'm lucky, that while ds is a lunatic and has his moments of climbing up on my bar height kitchen table, he plays well with his toys. He knows I clean, he knows to stay out of the way. he spills his juice he runs in and gets a tissue to clean it up. he should give his father a lesson or two.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

Posted by JennZ

All kidding aside, it's a sickness. I have to have things clean and in order. I get nuts if it's not. Oh, I totally have company when I pee. I haven't peed alone in almost 2 years. I put his little punk butt to work. I give him a swiffer floor duster and let him have fun. I also have central vac. So, it's much easier. I'm lucky, that while ds is a lunatic and has his moments of climbing up on my bar height kitchen table, he plays well with his toys. He knows I clean, he knows to stay out of the way. he spills his juice he runs in and gets a tissue to clean it up. he should give his father a lesson or two.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

upstairs one day
downstairs the next

3 bathrooms of fridays
twice a week a big project, like closet, pantry, fridge, or cleaning floor on hands and knees.

I am not a person with "things" though.
I feel like so many people are picking up the same stuff all day long.
folding a ton of clothes

I HATE toys. Only a handful for the baby downstairs, all his are up in his room.
In his closet, I built toy shelves. In the AM his room is clean, at night his room is clean, I don't care what he does during the day.

Every morning I wake up with an agenda. Today I want to tear apart living room furniture and vacuum cushions.
Tomorrow I would love to tear apart josh's drawers and re organize them.
While this is done...I am sure they are going to be ripping apart his closet. Which is okay, because I would have had to clean it anyway, but atleast then his clothes are organized as well.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

A little bit of daily maintenance- but usually I send DH out with DD and the dog and do it all in one shot.

It's rare though....my house is a wreck.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

My house is a mess. I admit it.

I have a 2 year old & Im pregnant.


I gave up. I just dont care anymore.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

During the week, I do little by little.."Clean as I go".

The weekends I tackle the bedrooms and bathrooms. I'll wipe down bathroom counters and floors daily if needed. On weekend, scrub!

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

I tidy up during the week but I still do the all in 1 shot "DH take DS for 2 hours" cleaning on the weekends. lol

its no where NEAR how tidy it was before DS during the week but if someone comes in and is taken back by the playroom that doubles as my living room - tough you-know-what.

Message edited 12/3/2010 8:45:24 AM.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

I clean daily as well... The morning I start by vacuuming and using the steam mop. DS loves to just follow me around when I do those, but he never gets in my way. When he takes his morning nap I clean all the tables and tops of things that collect junk...b/c my DH just throws things everywhere. I clean the bathroom, the tub, the floors the sink, and the toilet. I can admit MY bedroom can looked pretty bad from time to time, b/c I'm lazy with folding clothes... so a huge pile will just sit in the corner...and then DH comes home and just messes it all up looking for something. I finally just organized my bedroom completely...so I'm hoping it stays like that. I also wipe down the ottomans in our living room everyday...DSs mouth gets on it..YUCK. That's my daily routine... Oh, and after dinner I clean up all the kitchen... We don't have a dishwasher, and I hate, hate hate having things left in the sink. Wednesday is my big clean day... I clean under the couches, (once a month I even move them completely off the wall to steam under them as well)...I clean all picture frames, and TV... vacuum the tops of my curtains and my ceiling fans... clean the fridge and the stove... actually bleach the tub to kill all those germies... lol. and that's also when i clean my air purifiers...I have one in each room.

I do have a small house, and only one DS so it's not that hard. i do love to clean...once I start (on Wedsnesday LOL) it's real hard for me to stop. DS does make a mess as well, but it's usually just putting things on the floor... and just leacving it there. So I am constatnly picking up things all over the floor LOL. I know my house isn't perfect, but I know that all the germs are dead!! I am a little nutty about having germs...I am a disinfecting freak! LOL. I'd much rather have a 'sloppy' house with no germs then a 'neat' house that has germs on everything from not ever being disenfected..if that makes sense LOL.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

each day starts out the same:
make beds, pick up laundry, straighten out bedrooms
make my way downstairs, fix couch cushions, clean off papers on kitchen table, pick up shoes, etc, etc.
That way the house is 'neat' before 9 a.m.

Then depending on the week (weekday playdates, weekend company, nothing planned at all, etc...) I clean ....

usually I do the bedroom floor all one day. Dust/windex/mop ... It stays neat/clean because we are never up there unless to sleep. Every 2-3 weeks I wipe down the moldings, go all the way under the beds and get any dust, clean the ceiling fans, get behind the dressers, etc.
The living room is only used by DH & I at night, so that gets dusted, mopped, etc once a week.
The dining room is a separate room and is only used to hang jackets or put paperwork on if needed. I straighten up 2-3 times a week and dust/mop 1x per week.
The kitchen gets wiped down & swept every day, mopped every 2-3 days ... & playroom get cleaned 2-3x per week --- toys are put away every night before bed, and the room gets windexed/dusted and vaccuumed a few times a week. I do that while DS is playing.
Both bathrooms are scrubbed to within an inch of their lives 1x per week and wiped down with clorox daily.


This weekend I am getting company on Sunday. So since Tuesday I have been doing a room or two a day --- really getting into every nook and crany I can think of. refolding draws, organizing closets, moving furniture, washing blinds and windows and curtains. By tomorrow all the rooms will be done, then tomorrow night, I can go back around and do another quick round of dusting/windexing to freshen it up. Sunday I will check everything, spray my air freshener in every room and relax with company.
Monday I am sure I will be rewashing the entire house. 6 kids will be running rampant.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

During the week its more like maintenance cleaning, I do the bathroom sink and toilets everyday, kitchen swiffer floors, sanitize counter tops, vacuum (2x a day) we have 3 dogs so just imagine the mess they make. I quickly dust. On Sunday morning I do a real clean takes me about 3 hrs but that is a top to bottom cleaning.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

I just clean as I go.

Kitchen and bathrooms are my top priority and always clean, because to me that's a hygiene issue.

Vacuuming and sweeping are done nearly daily, but on an "as needed" basis. So if per chance I can skip a day of vacuuming, I do. I don't just do it because it's "vacuuming day", kwim?

Dusting is the cleaning task I'm most neglectful of.

I'm not a "things" person, I like everything as decluttered as possible at all times. That helps so much in keeping a house clean.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

I think the "things" is a real factor in all this.

Some homes I go to have toys in every corner. That is a great house for playing...but with toys all over or extra furniture...too many pictures on walls...to me makes it look like so much more of a mess then it really is.

the day my baby looked bored in her jumperoo...before sundown, the thing was packed up and delivered to a pregnant woman's home

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

It's endless. My main problem is CLUTTER. I don't have enough storage space. Which makes my house looks so messy.

My 2 dogs run outside then bring dust, leaves from outside and I have to do the vacuum swifter AGAIN. I could vacuum 10 times every day in my LR.

I CANNOT wait for the extension in the back to start next Spring because I designed a walk-in CLOSET as a part of the new extension. I am dreaming about it.

Re: And of course a spinoff - SAHM's a question about cleaning if you don't have a cleaning person

Message edited 12/3/2010 9:47:01 AM.