How Much Time to You Spend Cleaning?

Wow - I must be a slacker! I vacuum about once every week or so and do laundry every 3 or 4 days. I wash up dishes after meals and do bathrooms about once a month. Kids keep their toys in the basement so I don't even go down there to look at the mess. Now the weather is warm I open windows and let the mess blow through. Life is too short to clean, especially with twins and a cat!!

I'd say I sweep 4-5 times daily, do dishes 2-3 times daily, laundry most everyday, picking up CONSTANTLY, clean a drawer or closet...weekly at least, wipe down the bathroom...wipe something every time I use the restroom, launder the blankets...one or more 2-3 times per week...Geeesh... I could go on and on. It feels like it's 1/3rd of my life.

Ya can't make a house 'stay' looking clean... without cleaning it. And of course, having it organized.
Which, in any house with kids... is hard.
Or, you keep toys/kid things, in 1 room only.
Thus, only 1 room is kid friendly.

I know a woman, whose home is immaculate. You would NEVER know, she had 2 kids. She is real anal that way. BUT... her kids are not allowed to play with ANYTHING... unless they ask first. Then they can take it out. Everything is in a closet. Then, AS SOON AS her child is done playing.... it goes RIGHT back in the closet. Thus, there are NO kid things, around her home. It is an 'adult' home.
But, her kids are really.... not very kid like. They are like robots. No carefree imaginative play from them. Everything, is so controlled. Because of the Mom.
I don't see this, as being very positive, for a kid.
She just has a clean house.
Not, playful kids.

Me- I clean everyday. And the entire upstairs and downstairs. That is a lot to vacuum and mop and pick up after.
Oh well!

Pfft, it is easy to keep the house clean, lock the kids out! Ya know what, lock your husband out as well, someone should look after the kids. :p

"make it stay looking clean?"
Evict everyone.:)

On my preschool days (tues-thurs) I sweep two or three times a day. Monday is the big cleanup, and I'm always disgusted at how much junk accumulates on the floor in three days. So I often sweep on those 'days off' as well. Bathroom gets a head-to-toe on Mondays and wiped down every day; extra if needed or kids are sick.

What I have found, though, is that I have to make places virtually off-limits to get anything done in them. Monday finds me shuttling my son from room to room so I can do floors and wipe things down. I also have a few gates in our house, and am not above gating him into his hallway while I get a few clear minutes to sweep up the dust pile and hit the floors with a rag to spot clean.

Sounds like your brother had best not have children if he wants to maintain his speedy cleaning record!

We don't really "clean"...we more like "keep up". It really has helped to downsize everything...get rid of stuff you don't need, want or truly love. It has made it easier to keep up with stuff. I dust the family and living room about once every 3 months (no kidding) and our bedroom...gosh, even less than that! And who cares???!!! Between hubby and I we keep up with the dishes, wipe counters and table down after we eat, hubby does all the laundry. We clean the bathrooms as we go, just wipe them down with those chlorox wipe things but really only "deep" clean before we have a party! Hubby keeps up with the sweeping and I usually mop after he sweeps but we don't do it consistantly, just when it starts to look like it needs it. Like its not a "schedule" clean that we do..does that make sense? Like my friend from high schools mom would vacuum every single day...I was like why? And she does too because that's how she was raised! But I'm like, it doesn't need it so why do it? So I have rambled enough but don't worry so much about the house being perfectly clean. I'm not embarrassed for anyone to stop by and invite them in. People understand you have kids so if there are toys on the floor or dishes in the sink, who cares???!!! :o)

If my house is CLEAN to start with (and I'm talking I had already spent 6 hours in the bathroom alone and twice the time in other rooms, the grout has been cleaned and curtains washed and the pantry faced, clean).... it only takes about half an hour to "do" the whole house every day.

If we're not starting off from that place... it takes 2 hours a day just to tread water in whatever state it was already in. I'm sure a physicist could explain why that's true. I personally have no idea.

But to answer how much time DO I spend:

More than I want & less than I should.

I count cleaning as different than decluttering. We have a contest for my kids that they have to put away 10 toys in 10 seconds that fastest gets a treat of their choice. I also involve my kids in folding laundry and handing me dished from the dishwasher (3 YOs can sort silverware think of it as a developmental game....).

How much time do I spend cleaning?
Too much and not enough.
My house never seems to be clean, and yet - life's too short to spend it cleaning when there are other things to do.
Last weekend, we spent Sat at an annual town carnival and stayed for fireworks. On Sun we got up early and spent several hrs on the beach.
Should I have cleaned house?
Probably.
Would I have traded fireworks and the beach for vacuuming up some dust bunnies?
No way.
Clean never stays clean for long.
The only way to keep it clean would be to move out (and there'd STILL be periodic dusting to do).
The cleaning will still be there tomorrow.
On the last day of my life it's not likely I'll be gasping my last breath saying
"I should have spent more time cleaning.".

I work 32 plus hours a week, my house is okay, I can tell you there is a 3 second rule on food that is dropped. But I clean the carpets every six months, and only ask I get 48 hours of it clean, and I try to make sure we stay at the table for meals unless you throw a blanket for dinner infront of the TV, all drinks stay on the kitchen counters. I pick up only twice a day and if we leave the house we pick up then. I clean their rooms once a week other than that, who cares. Bathroom gets scrubed once a week and wiped down once a day, while they are taking a bath!
I;ve learned a few tricks from other moms lint roller is good for dog and cat hair, kids clean lower part of windows and sliding doors!
Kids help transport dirty cloths to the laundry room! My girls like to help, so I don't stop them! they even help put the dishes away! they are 4 1/2 and 3!
Good luck and don't worry about the little things the presdient will call first before he comes over :)

I noticed on here that most of the time a question like this on here is asked, alot of moms spend TONS of time cleaning. And I am not sure why. I work 40 hours a week. I don't have time for that. My floors get cleaned once a week...sometimes every other week and they really don't get that bad. Well...if I go every other they kinda do. But mostly just in the kitchen. My older daughter helps with the dishes. I do laundry about twice a week. I am with the one mom who does bathrooms about once a month. All you need to do it wipe em down with a Lysol wipe. My house really doesn't get dirty. We do try to pick up daily. However, sometimes we are just too busy for that. We have a life. Life is too short to always worry about cleaning! Have fun and worry about other things!!! And really, your house won't be too dirty, I promise. I am really picky about making sure my house looking tidy and presentable, so take it from me, you will be fine!

This is what I tell my husband:
"I am a mom first, housekeeper second!"

I clean maybe a half hour a day, which is just enough time to find my crawler into something he shouldn't be in.

Honestly, if you want to keep it looking clean without actually being tidy, keep the kitchen counters clear and the table clear. That usually makes the whole room look a bit neater =)

Oh my goodness...I have never cleaned for an hour and a half in a day since my son has been born!! You're super mom compared to me :) I'm lucky if I get a few minutes in a day. We are only a family of 3 and he's 2, so we don't make big messes.

I spend about an hour cleaning the kitchen, living room,dinning room each morning. That includes cleaning the floor to vacum, cleaning the table and the counter and washing dishes. It would take a half if I didn't have a 1yo. I then do other things throughout the day like laundrey and straightening the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom. So probably a total of 2 hours everyday and then my older boys come home from school and the table is a mess and their room looks like a tornado came through...I have no idea how to keep it clean unless you get rid of your kids...lol

I spend as little time as humanly possible. As a former Barbie collector, I have a 'philosophy': Barbie Forever, Housework Whenever.
Seriously I wait till I can't stand it. When I was able to vacuum, I would wait till I couldn't stand looking at the need anymore. Dusting...forget it. I'll find means to make anything easier.
Being disabled doesn't make it easier. I do what I can, like find extension handles with dust mops at the end.
My son's mother in law does come once a week, normally, to dust and change sheets (can't do that either!).
But invite your brother to set aside a half hour and see how much gets done. Remember that guys have different standards of what is clean.

Not as much as I should, and too much - does that make sense? I typically do dishes twice a day, pick up toys, cook 2-3 meals (plus clean up the kitchen after), do a load or two of laundry, pick up toys, sweep, vaccum, pick up toys...and, oh ya! pick up more toys!!!

I say that a messy (not *dirty*) house means that there are happy kids and a busy family that live there - and how is that a bad thing? I figure I'll have a clean house (and a quiet, empty, probably boring one too) when everyone moves out.

Average day: 2 hours total.

The only way to keep it clean is to either:
A) Stay on top of everyone and make sure they pick up after themselves
B) Stay on top of everyone and pick up after them right away
I am trying to find a good balance:)

I know from experience that ALL by MYSELF, when my house is at it's worst, I can clean the entire upstairs (Kitchen, LR, DR, 2 kids' rooms, my room+master bath, hallway, bathroom & stairs) top to bottom in 2.5 hours.
My downstairs (FR, Teenagers Room, Bathroom, Laundry Room, office & hallway) about 2 hrs...but I don't normally do anything besides vacuum the Teens rooms!

My problem is that I think it's easier to just do it all myself and usually once a month I will send Dad out with all the kids to go play and give me an afternoon and I will do just that...but my husband always tells me I need to 'delegate' more...on the weekends we usually all go voom at once and can have the whole house done in about an hour but it's not as good as when I just do it myself:)

~My house is always needing to be cleaned somewhere...I have anywhere from 4-7 kids at my house at any given moment...but it's lived in and messy, not *dirty*...and I am always trying my hardest to relax, I SO don't want to be *that Mom* who is always yelling at the kids about cleaning or cleaning instead of playing...but it's hard to find the right balance!

Ha ha- I had to laugh because I saw that you have 4 kids too!! I swear it feels like ALL I do is clean!!

Sorry, no real advice, I'm still trying to figure it all out too. Hoping someone else can help us both!! :)

I sympathize. Once my kids got mobile, just vacuuming became a 4 step process:
Pick up toys off floor
Get out vacuum
Pick up toys off floor
Vacuum
:)

I try to clean as I go, but lately I feel the urge to do a massive spring clean, which is impossible when the kids seem to follow me around undoing my work. I figure once they are in school, I'll have all the time want , so I'll just have to wait three more years! Good luck!

at least an hour, not counting laundry.

hahahahaha, not enough, that's for sure!!! Ok, so right now I am backed up because I just got out of my first trimester, but I am about to jump back on my groove, once I get over this freakin' head cold.... At the moment I am currently catching up the laundry.... BUT in normal times, about 2 hrs a day or so, not counting all the sweeping in the day, picking up toys, washing the high chair tray, loading the dishwasher, wiping off boogers from various locations....I could go on and on as could we all!! But I have a little system of one or two rooms per day. After a couple weeks, it isn't too bad bc things just don't get that bad in a week, but like once a month I try to shampoo the carpet or really clean the fridge good or something like that. I seriously need to scrub my base boards, scrub my cabinets and wash all my windows, but my little system keeps it nice enough for me. So that is what I do, when I am keeping it up. Right now it has been all about survival!! But I am feeling a bit better, enough to try and get things a bit more sorted out. One thing I did in my living room was I bought a really big tub in the laundry section of walmart and I can throw tons of toys in that thing! So it can look straight pretty quick if need be. I have a basket for toys in the kitchen as well, that way the kids have stuff to play with while I cook and I can straighten the kitchen quick as well. I am sure some clean WAY more than I do, but that is about all I can handle!!!

Years ago Heloise said to clean up right before bed and early in the day, not heavy cleaning - just pick up and wipe up and toss things that need to be tossed. Put things in the right rooms. Once it gets out of hand, it breeds more mess and you feel overwhelmed. Vacuum as often as you need to for kids and pets. Same with mopping. Keep the kitchen as clean as you can from day to day. Kids can be taught to do some of these jobs, especially trash and recycle disposal and their own belongings. Have a place for shoes and teach everyone to use it. It helps if they take them off when they come in too.Clean up the kitchen as you cook if you can.

As little as possible.
I don't have kids living at home, but I have multiple animals, so I sweep fairly regularly. Dishes get put in the dishwasher once or twice a day, and it gets run when it's full.
Laundry gets done catch as catch can.
Litter box gets scooped twice daily.