what minimum daily cleaning do you do?

[Anonymous]

I am an all-or-nothing cleaner. I do the bare minimum during the week and I find myself spending 6 hours cleaning on the weekends. I need to find a balance and I'm looking to see what other working-out-of-the-home parents do on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

we use a cleaning service once a week because there is no way I have the time, energy or desire to spend the weekends cleaning. it takes a team of 3-4 professionals 3 hours to clean our house so it would take me the entire weekend to do it myself.

in between cleaning during the week, i scrub the kitchen, sanitize countertops, sweep/mop kitchen floor, vacuum daily.

[Anonymous]

Wipe the sink out after brushing teeth.
Throw a load of laundry in the washer. Put it in the dryer if I have time.
Go to work.
Get home, make dinner.
I clean the kitchen pretty thoroughly after each meal, including wiping down the stove, the counters, the table, sweeping the floor, and rinsing and putting dishes in the dishwasher. When it's full, I run it. I usually wipe out any obvious spills or drips in the fridge.
After dinner I fold and put away laundry.

We have a cleaning service every two weeks. What I list above is pretty much all I have to do. When I didn't have a cleaning service, I rotated one larger chore each night. It might be vacuuming, washing the kitchen floor, scrubbing down one bathroom, dusting.

[Anonymous]

Ditto PP

Plus wipe down the toilet bowls with Clorox wipes due to 2 young boys who have bad aim.

I also make sure all the toys are put away before the kids to go bed (they have to help.)

Pre-cleaning service my DH and I would either clean Friday nights after the kids went to bed or first thing on Saturday morning. It would take the two of us 2-3 hours to get the house completely clean. It sucked. Best $180/month we spend.

[Anonymous]

I have a cleaner come once a month for deep cleaning (bathrooms, floors, etc, that I never do). Daily, I'd say I run a vacuum over high volume area (takes 3 minutes), dishes, toys get put away, and I sort through daily paperwork. Usually do laundry as well, occasionally wipe off a sink or toilet.

[Anonymous]

I have a monthly cleaner. In between I keep clutter off tables and floor, load/unload dishwasher, wipe kitchen counters, sweep floor, touch up bathrooms, and do laundry.

I fit it in in the half hour between my arrival and DH/DD's arrival at home in the evenings, while DH puts DD to bed, and pausing the Tivo to run downstairs and take care of the laundry loads.

[Anonymous]

OP here. For those who have someone come once a week, how much do you pay?

[Anonymous]

I used to have a service but I canceled because I found they really weren't doing a thorough enough job. I SAH so I just make time to do it myself.

Every day I make the bed, do at least one load of laundry, dishes after every meal. I rotate rooms to clean, some rooms get done twice a week. Like yesterday was kitchen (thorough kitchen cleanup like polishing the stainless, etc.), today is dusting the dining room and living room, tomorrow will be dusting the bedrooms, then I'll devote a day to each bathroom. Seems to work.

[Anonymous]

I have pretty low cleaning standards.

Every day I just clean up the kitchen (clean up after dinner, wipe the counters and table, wash dishes). Once Spring hits (dog hair and sand from my kids shoes) I'll probably use the stick vac every day or every other day.

Instead of doing one full house clean a week, I do parts throughout the week. I clean the bathrooms one day. I dust another. And vaccum a third (although sometimes I dust and vaccuum one level of the house as one task). I try to do each once a week. Any other heavy-duty cleaning is just done when I notice something is dirty (like the kitchen cupboards, washing the area rugs).

[Anonymous]

Daily:
A load or three of laundry.
Kitchen after evening meal, run dishwasher, wipe down counters.
Continual recycling into respective bins outside (cuts down on clutter).

Once per week:
Vacuum, dust.
Change sheets (DD does hers).
Clean shower (DD is responsible for the rest of the bath).
Remind DD to take out trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. For those who have someone come once a week, how much do you pay?

Mine's every other week, but they would charge the same for weekly cleans: $92 a week.

[Anonymous]

Mine is $100/w - she comes every other. Small house, 3 bedrooms and finished basement. BEST money i have ever spent. Saved my marriage really!

[Anonymous]

housekeeper comes every other week. She dusts, vacuums, mops, kitchen, baths, and changes our sheets. She also manages to get all my shoes back in my closet, which I am somehow incapable of doing.

Daily: we wash dishes, clean the kitchen counters, spray the shower. Take out the trash and recycling as needed (we recycle a LOT more now that we have a two-canister slider in the cupboard instead of a single trash can; highly recommend it). In theory we sort the mail into recycle, shred, read, but it ends up being more like once a week.

On the off weeks, I wipe down the sinks & toilets with a Method wipe. DH may or may not vacuum (our new rug is still in the pilling stage). Even with two dogs, it just doesn't get that bad when we are all out of the house 8 AM - 6 PM.

Every weekend, I do 3-6 loads of laundry (whites, lights, brights, darks, sheets & towels, tablecloth & napkins). I might do one of these loads on a weeknight if I run out of time on Sunday.

If we didn't have a housekeeper, I'd probably subscribe to the Fly Lady way of doing it. One task per day, plus a set amount of time every day for de-cluttering.

If we didn't have a housekeeper, I would seriously resent DH for not cleaning enough, or well enough. Her services have prevented much anger and tension.

[Anonymous]

Every day, we wash dishes, kitchen counters and declutter.

We can't afford cleaning help, so my husband and I alternate weekends spending a couple hours cleaning. (We divide up which parts of the house we clean.) Whoever is not cleaning takes our son out for a couple hours.

[Anonymous]

Barely any. Every day after my daughter goes to bed, I put all her toys and books away or the mess will drive me crazy. And I usually wash the dishes and/or load up the dishwasher. I telecommute one day a week and on that day, I do whatever laundry has piled up - everything except the folding. I also vacuum during my "lunch break" while my food is microwaving. (If I have time, I'll wet-swiffer the kitchen floor.) I'll wait to fold laundry till there's at least 4 loads to fold, and then I do it on the coffee table while watching TV.

The rest of it is on a "need to" basis. If I notice dust, I'll dust. (I usually use the kitchen handtowel and then toss it in the wash.) The various bathroom fixtures get cleaned (usually with the washcloth from my daughter's last bath) when I look at them and see toothpaste scum or soap scum or realize it's been a week since I cleaned the toilet. I usually wipe down the kitchen sink and counters when I'm tidying up after dinner. I change my sheets about once every 2 weeks and my daughter's every week. (takes a lot longer to strip and make my own bed in winter, and I only have one set of flannel sheets. In summer, I change the sheets once a week.)

My house is never quite as clean as I'd like it to be, but I'm generally not totally embarrassed by it. I'll spend a little extra time if I'm having any sort of company. (and usually dump any clutter in a cabinet, the piano bench or my laptop bag.)