How Are You Able to Keep the House Clean?

My house is not clean.

I work like a maniac to get it clean before people come over, but most of the time, I focus on doing the laundry and the dishes, and the rest of it just goes to hell.

Do I like it that way? No. Am I willing to sacrifice my time with my kids, my sleep, or my sanity to keep it cleaner? No. Maybe sometime I'll win the lottery and hire a housekeeper. ^_^

I had to laugh. Short answer: no.

Longer answer: We do a "big clean" with the help of a cleaning lady 2x a month. I try to keep the laundry and dishes and trash down in between. It's only truly clean for a few days before the toys or the laundry or the random stuff finds its way out again. We are not filthy by any means, but don't look at my counter right now.

WD40 takes crayon off walls, BTW.

I can't. I do what I can when I can, but would much rather play with my kids. I clean a little each day and it keeps the house decent.

Easy answer. I am not able to keep the house clean. I'd rather stay out of the house and entertain DD than feel obligated to clean. As long as the dishes are done and the floor in the kitchen is sweeped I'm OK. DH and I take turns on the weekend doing the rest.

How am I able to keep the house clean?

I got rid of my husband ;)

Um, I don't.

Seriously. I try to do laundry at least once a week (there's five of us). The computer desk is a mountain of papers, there's no visible counter space in the kitchen, and sometimes both the kitchen and dining room tables are both so covered we have no where to eat. Don't even get me started on the basement. The only reason the floors are remotely clean is because we have a baby.

And the sad thing is there's no excuse for it. I don't work, my oldest two are at school all day. The baby takes two 2 hour naps each day. It seems like the only thing that motivates me is pressure and deadlines. Like LivTokyo, I freak out before someone is coming over and clean like a madwoman. You would think I would just try to keep up with it on a more regular basis.

per DAY??????
:X
khairete
S.

It is only clean for 10 minutes, and then it is a mess again. People keep saying that it is impossible to have a clean house if you have children. A friend is obsessed with wallpaper but decided to delay it until her sons pass the stage of wall drawing, she thought when they were in elementary school they will obey her commands not to draw on it, but she was wrong. I am not surprised, I also like to draw on the wall until middle school, and wrote the phone numbers on the wall near the phone, too. My mom painted the wall when we are all married, but she was wrong again. Bye children, welcome grandchildren.
You are not alone,don't worry. Maybe if they are bigger, the house will less wreck.
I feel pity for people who adores neatness and cleanliness.

You all make me feel better, I thought I was the only one who struggled with this!

I give myself a big pat on the back that I keep up with the laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and sweeping of the kitchen. If anything else gets done it's a bonus. Don't even get me started on the yard work. sigh.
L.

I don't really. I clean every Thursday and told my husband that is also my night off and I won't be cooking. I get off work at 2:00, get my son, fix him dinner and then start my cleaning. I just do both bathrooms, dishes, kitchen floor(sometimes I skip it) and living room--pickup and vacuum. I don't dust often. I have a spare bedroom cluttered with stuff which I manage to clean 2x per year. I do dishes every night and that way its a habit. Laundry is usually done on Saturday unless we start to run out of clean undies and socks. I try to do a load or 2 during the week as well. If I have my friends over, then I will clean on friday instead. Nice weather can potentially trump cleaning. I try to vacuum on tuesdays and thursdays but sometimes it just doesn't happen.

In our home, the toys live in the basement (for the most part anyway). It's a wonderful luxury to have that space - and I am thankful for it. That space is generally a bit of a mess, some days worse than others.

I clean something every day - as needed. The bathrooms once (or twice) a week (with every other day wipe downs).

The kitchen is cleaned at the end of each day.

I vacuum our first floor about every other day - and upstairs once a week.

I do laundry every day.

I cook from scratch every day.

I'd say I spend at least an hour a day doing "housework" that involves cleaning - plus laundry.

2-3 hours one day on the weekend plus maybe 15 minutes a day on maintenance items (litter box, sweep the entry, wipe down the counters, etc.). My house is NOT immaculate. My husband and I both work fulltime and we have 3 and 5 year old sons. I wish it was cleaner but I have better things to do on the weekends than clean. We like to ski, ride bikes, camp, etc. My time is better spent with my family than hovering over a dust bunny.

For being a SAHM of one, my house should be cleaner. I just don't care. Being in my first trimester to baby #2 isn't helping. I always scold myself because once I do something to clean/straighten, I'm reminded how little time it takes. I'm driven by pressure and deadlines. But my hubby could care less about having a neat and tidy home. My MIL is instead obsessed about keeping a perfect home. I can't tell you how many friends have told us that they don't feel comfortable there because it's so sterile and picture perfect. I want a home that people can come into and put their feet on the couch and cozy up with a blanket. I've got it!

I agree that it depends on what your definition of "clean" is. Immaculate, squeaky clean, eat off the floors? NEVER in my house. Decent looking is about the best i ever shoot for.

I am fortunate to be a stay at home mommy. 4 of my 5 children are school aged. For me, I do the majority of the daily cleaning when my youngest is down for his nap, and the others are in school (dishes, laundry, vacuuming, toys clean-up, etc) and then a "refresher" at night after everybody is in bed, which usually only takes me about 15 minutes with hubby's help. My older children (9, 8, 8) can also do a few chores to earn an allowance (their choice), so that tends to help too.

About an hour at most per day. Which means just basic straightening up, and dishes. I have a 4 story town home, so cleaning is a bit harder. BUT once a week I do a full cleaning, that includes sweeping, mopping, dusting, vacuming, and bathrooms. It usually takes me about 2 hours to do all of that. I'm kind of a clean freak, lol!

Depends on what your definition of 'clean' is? Ha!

I spend probably an hour tops every day, M-F and that's about it!

Together as a family we do a '10 Minute Tidy' before the kids go to bed every night and this helps A LOT...they pick up their toys and I do a general tidying up. Other than that as far as everyday work( M-F) is concerned what I usually do is: ~Unload dishwasher in the morning while the kids eat breakfast so it is ready for loading during the day/night, then try to throw in at least 1 load of laundry relatively early, vacuum the living room and hall after kids go to school, rotate laundry when kids get home, then it's just the dishes and wipe off counters and fold the laundry before bed (that's usually my part of the 10 minute tidy) ....but that's about it for mandatory stuff M-F. It helps me to give myself those easily accomplished set of tasks that I know that I can do, so I do not feel overwhelmed and I don't feel like all I do as clean!

When the weekends roll around we usually all get up as a family and set aside 1 hour where we ALL get up and clean, hubby does the bathrooms each child does their own room, then together the kids do the family room and I usually do the living room, the mopping (my arch nemasis) and all the small detail type stuff, like vacuuming the stairs and reorganizing book shelves, de-cluttering the back counter (our 'drop zone') and that's when I do all our bedding . When everyone is working at the same time I think it makes all the kids feel like it is 'fair' and that they do not have a ton of 'chores' to do, ya know? Growing up I lived in a spotless house and felt like a maid and it sucked, so I tried to do something different w/my own family!!

I have 3 kids of my own, 2 stepsons and 2 nephews(who are here all the time), 2 cats + 1 BIG dog... so my house is what I would call 'lived in'...I try to make sure that nothing is gross and that the living room is always pretty respectable (has to be vacuumed for me not to go crazy) but I will be honest I hardly ever dust, mopping is designated to weekends only and I haven't cleaned my walls like ever (I am aware they need it though, ugh)...my kids' rooms are usually not the cleanest but I am OK with that, I am happy as long as their beds are made and you can see some of the floor ;)

My kids are 20, 17, 16, 12, 8, 6 & 4 and when I first became a Mom/Auntie and they were all younger (well the oldest 4...my 2 stepsons+2 nephews) I turned into my Mother and was a clean freak...always grouchy when the kids would make a mess, I was the woman who was right on top of them picking up everything as soon as they set it down 'Are you done with this'? and everything had a 'place'....but I was miserable and so was everyone around me...I learned how to relax and it is way better this way!!

*The only time I ever feel like going back to my old ways is when my in-laws or my Mother comes for a visit and I have to do the mad scramble to 'REALLY' clean...that is stressful and it is then that I wish I has my old 'always clean' house....but alas, it is not to be anymore!

We have a cleaning lady every other week.

I don't know if it's been mentioned already, but check out flylady.net! She teaches you how to have routines in place for cleaning so the house just stays "company ready" and you never have to spend a whole day cleaning again. My house used to be a wreck all the time, I was always losing things, forgetting things, etc. Now it's usually pretty clean, I never lose things in my house, and I have been relieved of SO much stress! I have a 4 year old and 2 year old, and they are learning to help out as well, Go check it out, and start with the baby steps. She makes it really easy to get started without getting overwhelmed - you don't have to learn the whole system at once. You will be so glad you did!

To answer your question - I spend about 30 minutes a day on my cleaning chores (flylady calls them home blessings). Everything else stays done as part of our daily routines.

These answers make me feel better. I am not able to keep my house clean, but I do know people who have spotless homes. I'm not sure how they do it. And yes, some of them have kids. I am adamant about doing the dishes and vacuuming the kitchen floor daily and I do a load of laundry almost every day, but other than that I clean in spurts or for guests. I do like to keep the family room in decent shape so there's at least one nice room in the house. Right now my 12-year-old has Legos scattered all over the living room and dining room, we are going on vacation next week and we are hosting Easter the week after we get back.

I spend about an hour a day on average on weekdays. That's dishes, laundry, etc. Although I will let the dishes sit., just putting away food and throwing out stuff from the fridge etc. takes a while. I work all day or I'd probably do a lot more. On the weekends, I spend at least 5 hours I'd say. And my house is not clean! I let my son (3 years old) interrupt me while I'm doing my stuff. I think it's so important to interact with you kid and play with them. More important than a clean house that's just going to get messed up again.

Per day? ;-)

So, my husband and I both work full time. We have a 2 y.o. and two part-time teenagers (from my first marriage, shared custody, they aren't around all the time). During the week, anywhere from 15 min to an hour, depending on what else is going on and how gross things are. On the weekends, up to two hours total, unless I'm doing a major cleaning. This does not include time spent doing laundry, which is its own sisyphean task. I HATE cleaning the house, yet I hate things to get yucky, too. Such a catch-22.

Well that is a good question because being clean to me might be super clean to other people or the opposite not clean enough. I have a cleaning lady that comes twice a month and I do my own cleaning most of the time as much as I can handle. I have come to accept our little clutter because in the end its time I spend with my family to do the fun things in life that is most important. One thing that is my pet peeve though is the dishes. I try really hard to keep the kitchen clean and get dishes done before bedtime. So I would say at least I spend 2-3 hours a day cleaning up one way or another (laundry, floors, kitchen, picking up around the house, vacuuming etc.) mostly when my kiddo is at school.

I don't have young children in the house which makes a huge difference.

If I am home on a weekday, usually an hour of picking up, vacuuming, dishes, quick spot clean in the bathroom is enough.

On the weekends I spend about 2 - 3 hours cleaning. My hubby pitches in too so we can get ALOT done in that time.

While my house isn't *immaculate* it's clean and tidy most of the time. I probably devote about an hour or so per day for cleaning. I involve my older two (3 and 5) girls to help with picking up their toys, putting away their laundry. My husband cleans up the kitchen after dinner (that I've made) while I'm getting our girls ready for bed.

Sure, there are days when there's clutter....but I just can't relax in a house that's a disaster.

I have one daughter who is 12 now. My husband and I have bad backs/necks for various reasons. I'm a SAHM but I have a home business so I do spend time doing that every day. I cook dinner from scratch every night. I like fresh ingredients so I'm at the grocery store at least 2-3 times per week.

That said, I try to keep up with the laundry and hubby helps on weekends with whatever didn't get done during the week (I wasn't feeling well this week, so we're a little backed up). My daughter is very helpful with doing the floors, but her allergies/asthma are bothering her so I'm not letting her do that for a few weeks. She actually cooked a simple dinner tonight while I rested. My house is not spotless by any means but I keep it picked up as much as possible-at least the downstairs part.

We try to entertain company at least twice per month. That forces us to pick up and clean at least the living room, dining room & kitchen areas. I try to reduce clutter as much as possible and that helps. I'd rather make room in my life for having a friend or neighbor over for a cup of tea on a moment's notice than worry about my house being perfectly clean - few people's houses are that way. I'd rather my daughter remember spending time with us and having fun than having a perfectly clean house. BTW, my house growing up WAS perfectly clean. I have no memory of my mother spending time with me and my sisters. I don't think she ever had time to read a book to me or play with us.

I made up a schedule that broke down morning and afternoon M-F. It included nap (in am and pm), lunch, park, homemade bread 2x a week. After I got the hang of it I could do more and have time off. Friday night I didn't cook and Sat was leftovers. I did cook every meal and the kids and I would eat leftovers for lunch.

Boy I miss those days and you could eat off the floors as my daughter was crawling and they were washed daily.

It can be done without losing your mind. Just a little planning.

The other S.

PS Now my house looks like a wreck happened, things everywhere and it only hubby and me. Much of it has to do with our hobbies.

Have happy children and don't worry about a lived in house. You will drive yourself crazy if you worry too much about the state of your house. There is not enough time in the day for everything.

I do what I can when I can and say fark the rest. I no longer have any small children, but I have a lot of animals.

It's not clean right now, but it will only take a short amount of time on Sunday to get it in order - we'll be out of the house all day tomorrow for a dance competition.

Everyone has to help. My kids are just turned 5, 7 in April, and 9 in June. Everyone makes a mess and everyone is busy - so we all do what we can.

My kids rotate vacumming the living room, wiping the table and counters, and brining the dirty clothes to the washer.

The also unload the dishwasher when asked, rotate the clothes when asked, clean their rooms, and my daughter loves to mop.

They have to clean up after themselves, and try to keep things organized - which fell through this week, hence the mess.

I don't have HOURS every week to dedicate to my house...what gets done gets done when I find the time.

I didn't read the responses, so I hope I'm not the only one with a messy house right now!

I have a wonderful lady who comes every other week and keeps things tidy. In between, I pick up toys, do laundry (usually), and straighten. If we didn't have her, not sure what I would do ....

Fly lady.net. Very helpful website!!!

We have 6 children and we homeschool. We *live* in our house. However, we also work hard to keep it clean and tidy. Spotless,no. Clean, yet. Everyone has chores to do in the morning before breakfast, and then again around 5pm. Plus, we try to get everyone to clean up after themselves all during the day. I do all the laundry. The kids do much of the tidying/dishes/floors/bathrooms. I cook most of the meals. We all work together. My husband works incredibly hard to provide for us, so I work very hard to make sure he doesn't have to do much around the house, if anything. He is willing, but I don't want him to spend his little bit of time doing that. The boys are responsible for outside chores. We're a team. When things start to get backed up a bit, clutter, we take a day and all work to make the house shine. I love those days. :)