I second the Fly Lady tips: daily "swish and swipe" for bathrooms, 2 minute hot spots morning and night, and 5 to 15 minute "room rescues".

I am a SAHM and I just tossed my cleaning service to save money. I plan to divide it up into daily tasks.

Monday: vacuum, change towels
Tuesday: clean powder room, dust and clean kitchen and dining room and family room.
Wed: clean main entry level, organize, empty all trash cans, change sheets
Thurs.: clean bedrooms and upper floor baths
Friday: change towels, do a more specific project like windows, etc.

I think that most of these things can be done in an hour daily. DD can watch a little TV or hang out and play with me. I will do it while DS is at school.

I do wish I had a Roomba because I do also have to sweep a lot each day. I do the laundry each day as I prefer this to doing 8 loads one day a week. I am hoping to just relax and enjoy family time on the weekends.

Hmmmm. Value of time with kids vs value of time cleaning house

Anonymous wrote:If someone's house is too much for that family to clean on their own, that's too much house.

We have a home appropriately sized for us. We don't need a 2,500+ sq home. We have a schedule for different days (bathrooms on Mon, vacuuming on Fri, etc). We all pitch in. There's no way I'm paying maids to take care of my home for me.

GTFOH

Anonymous wrote:Meh, my focus are my kids and I just get the basics done during the day. I'll do major cleaning projects during naps, playdates, or at night/weekends. With 3 boys ranging from 3-7yrs old, I can't just shove them in the playroom or in front of the TV.

And yes, i have a cleaning service as well. Weekly.

Well this is very nice for you. You have a WEEKLY cleaning service! What do you have to clean, anyway?? When I had a weekly cleaner my house was spotless. I washed the dishes every night, did some laundry, and that was it!!

OP, I no longer have a cleaning service like the PP, and my house is a MESS!! I have no real tips, but I'll tell you I am struggling with this problem every single day. I have older kids, so I've engaged them in cleaning their rooms, and vacuuming, and one child takes out the trash and mows the lawn. I've also been very strict about keeping the kitchen clean. DH washes the dishes, and runs the dishwasher at night. That's his job, and he's pretty good about doing that. I wipe down the counters and put everything away.

I've been trying to clean up clutter and organize a little bit at a time, and it's working, sort of. There are parts of my house that are organized and clean, so when I want to feel less depressed about my messy, dirty house, I go look at these corners of organization and cleanliness, and I imagine my entire house looking that way. FWIW, we bought a fixer-upper a few years ago, so we have far more than the usual number of home-related projects.

I feel your pain, OP. I just don't invite anyone over to my house, it's too embarrassing. Sad that my life has devolved so, but blame the recession and aging. I'm tired and don't have the energy to clean, nor do I have the money anymore to pay a cleaner. I just make do, clean up the worst messes, and let go of everything else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meh, my focus are my kids and I just get the basics done during the day. I'll do major cleaning projects during naps, playdates, or at night/weekends. With 3 boys ranging from 3-7yrs old, I can't just shove them in the playroom or in front of the TV.

And yes, i have a cleaning service as well. Weekly.

OP here. I don't take offense that you have a weekly cleaning service--all power to you. But I do take offense that you assume my focus is not on my kids. It IS, which is why my house isn't always clean. For what it's wroth, I don't "just shove them in the playroom or in front of the TV" all the time, as you suggest, but while you *don't* have to scrub toilets and your kitchen floor and the grout in your bathroom and dust every corner of the house because you have a WEEKLY cleaning service, I do have to do all those things. Just not quite sure how you thought your post was helpful.

Huh? My house is messy too.

If I had a sparkling clean house, my focus would be my house, not my boys.

Oh sorry, I missed the part where you said your house was messy too.

Anonymous wrote:"If" in the title, not "I"--of course.

I never leave the kitchen in a mess, ever. Pick up and always put things back in proper place. My children are teensgers and it took awhile for them to get this concept through to them but I started when they were very young. They can keep their room as messy as they like but no food or dishes allowed in bedrooms. Once a month, however, they have to vacuum BR. Just start a routine when they are young.

Look into the Fly Lady. She has pretty practical advice on creating habits, one at a time, that will help you keep your house clean. Some tid-bits that I remember from perusing her site:
* set a timer for 5-15 minutes and clean just one room for that length of time.
* keep a basket by the stairs for things that need to go upstairs and bring them all up (or down) at once
* create a schedule for what days you will do specific tasks (laundry, mopping, dusting, etc). Between loosely supervised play time and naps, you should have some time to get these things done without resorting to TV as babysitter.

And it sounds like you need to relax your standards a bit. You don't need to scrub toilets and grout on a weekly basis. A quick wipe down and swish of the toilet is fine. If you keep the bathroom fan on for 20-30 minutes after showering and use body wash rather than bar soap, you shouldn't have mildew or soap scum to scrub off your grout.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meh, my focus are my kids and I just get the basics done during the day. I'll do major cleaning projects during naps, playdates, or at night/weekends. With 3 boys ranging from 3-7yrs old, I can't just shove them in the playroom or in front of the TV.

And yes, i have a cleaning service as well. Weekly.

OP here. I don't take offense that you have a weekly cleaning service--all power to you. But I do take offense that you assume my focus is not on my kids. It IS, which is why my house isn't always clean. For what it's wroth, I don't "just shove them in the playroom or in front of the TV" all the time, as you suggest, but while you *don't* have to scrub toilets and your kitchen floor and the grout in your bathroom and dust every corner of the house because you have a WEEKLY cleaning service, I do have to do all those things. Just not quite sure how you thought your post was helpful.

Huh? My house is messy too.

If I had a sparkling clean house, my focus would be my house, not my boys.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you all for the tips! I love a lot of them. I do need to be more organized with my chores. I will write down a plan and stick to it (I've written out plans before, I just haven't stuck to it yet). Good to know it can be done

FWIW we have a 3 bedroom (plus small office) house, it's definitely bigger than anything I've lived in before, but it's not huge, 1700sqft I think.

Hi OP, I'm the poster who mentioned house size. You can do it! Your plan will help. It will become habit after a while. Good luck! =)

Thank you for the vote of confidence!

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you all for the tips! I love a lot of them. I do need to be more organized with my chores. I will write down a plan and stick to it (I've written out plans before, I just haven't stuck to it yet). Good to know it can be done

FWIW we have a 3 bedroom (plus small office) house, it's definitely bigger than anything I've lived in before, but it's not huge, 1700sqft I think.

Hi OP, I'm the poster who mentioned house size. You can do it! Your plan will help. It will become habit after a while. Good luck! =)

Anonymous wrote:Meh, my focus are my kids and I just get the basics done during the day. I'll do major cleaning projects during naps, playdates, or at night/weekends. With 3 boys ranging from 3-7yrs old, I can't just shove them in the playroom or in front of the TV.

And yes, i have a cleaning service as well. Weekly.

OP here. I don't take offense that you have a weekly cleaning service--all power to you. But I do take offense that you assume my focus is not on my kids. It IS, which is why my house isn't always clean. For what it's wroth, I don't "just shove them in the playroom or in front of the TV" all the time, as you suggest, but while you *don't* have to scrub toilets and your kitchen floor and the grout in your bathroom and dust every corner of the house because you have a WEEKLY cleaning service, I do have to do all those things. Just not quite sure how you thought your post was helpful.

Anonymous wrote:If someone's house is too much for that family to clean on their own, that's too much house.

We have a home appropriately sized for us. We don't need a 2,500+ sq home. We have a schedule for different days (bathrooms on Mon, vacuuming on Fri, etc). We all pitch in. There's no way I'm paying maids to take care of my home for me.

We moved from a super small house 1100sq feet to one nearly 4,000square feet. It is so much easier to keep the big house clean because we actually have a dedicated space for their toys and crafts. Very few toys make it outside of the playroom, so clutter is no longer a problem. We also do not have pets and don't wear shoes in the house, so that severely cuts down on dirty floors. I found it such a struggle to keep a family of 4 packed into a small space with active young children.

Meh, my focus are my kids and I just get the basics done during the day. I'll do major cleaning projects during naps, playdates, or at night/weekends. With 3 boys ranging from 3-7yrs old, I can't just shove them in the playroom or in front of the TV.

And yes, i have a cleaning service as well. Weekly.

Here's another tip: I keep cleaning supplies close to where I'll need them. Every bathroom gets a bowl brush, bathroom bowl cleaner, clorox wipes. When I need to do a quick clean as I go, this is an easy way.