WOHM of 2 in elementary school and I feel this way. Get a good quality lightweight stick vacuum. It makes crumb cleanup tolerable and when kids are a little older they can do that job.

We use paper plates and napkins. That way, we run the dishwasher only once a day, at night. Every little bit helps.

No.
I just found the source of my dust problem - an extremely dirty fan that DH always likes to keep turning, which is why I hadn't even noticed it was accumulating and distributing so much dust.
Otherwise, I do not find clean-up too onerous with my two children.
We are a no-shoes household and I keep things pretty clean.

You're doing it wrong. For a family of four, you shouldn't need to run the dishwasher more than once a day. Also, you need to have more picnics - eat lunch and a snack or two outside. Lastly, really push your child to eat neatly. This partially means saying "Eat over your plate/bowl" and "Hold that over the table/don't make crumbs" but also having them help you clean up so they really grasp how not being neat makes more work later.

Anonymous wrote:I think 1/2-1 hour a day between dishes and tidying up after 3 meals sounds about right. Our DD's nanny does it for us, but I would guess she spends about that much time in total (she cooks dinner). She isn't that great about cleaning up crumbs off the floor, so I tend to do that in the evening, but that doesn't take much time.

When I'm home, I try to clean as we go (e.g. dishes go straight into dishwasher). But yeah, keeping a kitchen clean does take some time.

PP again. I am confused how/why you're running the dishwasher twice a day with just one toddler, though. We run probably once every 1.5 days.

I think 1/2-1 hour a day between dishes and tidying up after 3 meals sounds about right. Our DD's nanny does it for us, but I would guess she spends about that much time in total (she cooks dinner). She isn't that great about cleaning up crumbs off the floor, so I tend to do that in the evening, but that doesn't take much time.

When I'm home, I try to clean as we go (e.g. dishes go straight into dishwasher). But yeah, keeping a kitchen clean does take some time.

I'm a SAHM of a 4 year old and 1 year old, and completely relate with the OP. I'm not sure how there are so many responses of shock! I'm always cleaning the kitchen and cooking. Any advice appreciated!

I have a toddler and preschooler. The crumbs between the two of them and the dog are unbelievable. They seem to eat every 1.5-2 hours. I'm kind of a germophobe, so I don't reuse plates. Sippy cup of water, I'll reuse.
I have a full dishwasher at least once a day, sometimes two, but we all eat 3 meals a day at the house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We don't use paper plates but do use plastic cups. That has helped a lot.

It's also the crumbs/food on the floor that seems to get everywhere--and even gets in other rooms a bit. It's hard to keep up with all the crumbs.

I just find the housekeeping part of being a SAHM very challenging. Also, my toddler no longer naps so I don't have much time during the day to clean. We're out all morning in between breakfast and lunch and then I have one hour during "quiet time" when I usually just rest. I do most of my cleaning after dinner but by then I'm really tired.

Get a dog! Seriously. My dog keeps my floors crumb-free!

This is literally the one appealing thing about dogs. I don't have one because I don't have time for it (I'm a single wohm). But a living vacuum cleaner would be amazing.

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of four - one in ES, the other in MS - and we run the dishwasher once a week.

Unless your toddler is the size of Honey Boo Boo's mom, I don't understand your situation.

I am being honest here.

Do you not eat on plates? I don't have enough plates for a family of 4 to eat breakfast and dinner even 5 days a week. My dishwasher only holds like 20 plates anyway. How do you manage this?

Yes but DH and I do it together. We constantly bitch about it. We have now assigned our kids (7 & 9) with unloading the dishwasher. They also have to put their dishes in the dishwasher. I know you have toddlers, OP but soon you too will reap the rewards of forced child labor. It is sweet!

Anonymous wrote:Yes! Or not cleaning it, and then it gets filthy.

The mess is never ending.

Yep! Same situation here.

Yes! Or not cleaning it, and then it gets filthy.

The mess is never ending.

Um, no

Family of four, soon to be 5 when DC comes back from school.
Everyone puts their* own dirty dishes in the dishwasher, (well, I do my Dad's as he isn't walking anymore).
I wipe down after each meal, NBD- 3-5 minutes if that. Dinner has the most and DH does clean up after dinner. We run the dishwasher after that and someone unloads it in the morning, usually DC. We could go a day and a half, but some things we use every day and it just works better this way.
Sweep, once at the end of the day.

The only time we run the dishwasher twice a day is at holidays when we have 10 people living here and bigger more elaborate meals.


* intentional