Anonymous wrote:I don't. I'm a single mom of one in a one-bedroom rental. We clean as we go, and then I do a little extra a few times a week. It just ... works fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FT WOH with no housekeeper and no plans to get one.
-Our house is really, really small - so although I bitch about it, cleaning it doesn't actually take that long.
-I tend to do one room or one activity at a time... think "mop kitchen floor" not "clean kitchen" or "mop ALL floors." I do as much as possible in 30 second sprints while DD is blessedly entertained by something else. You can accomplish a lot while your 3YO attempts to get stickers off the sticker sheet
-I clean the full bathroom (except for the tub) while DD is IN the tub. Then I clean the tub while I shower.
-We only have carpet in the bedrooms and DH is willing to vacuum those, when left a very specific to-do note. He actually does a really good job.
-clutter is the thing that drives me nuts, and it is just not allowed to happen. Periodically I sweep through the house and toss everything of DH's that doesn't belong, into a big bin and sit it at his side of the bed. I pick up the flotsam and jetsam of daily life every minute, it's practically a nervous habit. Mail does not come in the house unless it needs to be opened. The mail is picked up and sorted, and mostly recycled, before I put my key in the door this helps a lot.
-DD's toys are picked up nightly, in the living room at least. She is very good about cleaning up one activity (say, painting) before moving on (to dolls or such). So at the end of the night there's usually just one or two or twelve kinds of crap spread all over, which she helps to clean up before bedtime.

It's totally doable, and while I KNOW my standards could be higher, my house is neither a pigsty nor a health hazard.

Do you have any kids that need to be driven to and from evenind activities? That's a killer on the cleaning schedule.

No, DD is still too young for that. I am both anticipating (b/c it's fun, right?) and dreading (b/c I solo parent most evenings) the introduction of after school/evening activities.
My feeling (perhaps wishful thinking, LOL) is that when DD is old enough for these kinds of things, she'll also be old enough that I can do more on the weekends without feeling like I'm ignoring her, and I'll have more time in the evenings (b/c it will no longer take 1.5 hours to do bathtime, bedtime, and repeat "back to bed" instructions).
Now I"m sure I'll be told that I am wrong, but isn't that where wine comes in?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FT WOH with no housekeeper and no plans to get one.
-Our house is really, really small - so although I bitch about it, cleaning it doesn't actually take that long.
-I tend to do one room or one activity at a time... think "mop kitchen floor" not "clean kitchen" or "mop ALL floors." I do as much as possible in 30 second sprints while DD is blessedly entertained by something else. You can accomplish a lot while your 3YO attempts to get stickers off the sticker sheet
-I clean the full bathroom (except for the tub) while DD is IN the tub. Then I clean the tub while I shower.
-We only have carpet in the bedrooms and DH is willing to vacuum those, when left a very specific to-do note. He actually does a really good job.
-clutter is the thing that drives me nuts, and it is just not allowed to happen. Periodically I sweep through the house and toss everything of DH's that doesn't belong, into a big bin and sit it at his side of the bed. I pick up the flotsam and jetsam of daily life every minute, it's practically a nervous habit. Mail does not come in the house unless it needs to be opened. The mail is picked up and sorted, and mostly recycled, before I put my key in the door this helps a lot.
-DD's toys are picked up nightly, in the living room at least. She is very good about cleaning up one activity (say, painting) before moving on (to dolls or such). So at the end of the night there's usually just one or two or twelve kinds of crap spread all over, which she helps to clean up before bedtime.

It's totally doable, and while I KNOW my standards could be higher, my house is neither a pigsty nor a health hazard.

Do you have any kids that need to be driven to and from evenind activities? That's a killer on the cleaning schedule.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FT WOH with no housekeeper and no plans to get one.
-Our house is really, really small - so although I bitch about it, cleaning it doesn't actually take that long.
-I tend to do one room or one activity at a time... think "mop kitchen floor" not "clean kitchen" or "mop ALL floors." I do as much as possible in 30 second sprints while DD is blessedly entertained by something else. You can accomplish a lot while your 3YO attempts to get stickers off the sticker sheet
-I clean the full bathroom (except for the tub) while DD is IN the tub. Then I clean the tub while I shower.
-We only have carpet in the bedrooms and DH is willing to vacuum those, when left a very specific to-do note. He actually does a really good job.
-clutter is the thing that drives me nuts, and it is just not allowed to happen. Periodically I sweep through the house and toss everything of DH's that doesn't belong, into a big bin and sit it at his side of the bed. I pick up the flotsam and jetsam of daily life every minute, it's practically a nervous habit. Mail does not come in the house unless it needs to be opened. The mail is picked up and sorted, and mostly recycled, before I put my key in the door this helps a lot.
-DD's toys are picked up nightly, in the living room at least. She is very good about cleaning up one activity (say, painting) before moving on (to dolls or such). So at the end of the night there's usually just one or two or twelve kinds of crap spread all over, which she helps to clean up before bedtime.

It's totally doable, and while I KNOW my standards could be higher, my house is neither a pigsty nor a health hazard.

Do you have any kids that need to be driven to and from evenind activities? That's a killer on the cleaning schedule.

Anonymous wrote:FT WOH with no housekeeper and no plans to get one.
-Our house is really, really small - so although I bitch about it, cleaning it doesn't actually take that long.
-I tend to do one room or one activity at a time... think "mop kitchen floor" not "clean kitchen" or "mop ALL floors." I do as much as possible in 30 second sprints while DD is blessedly entertained by something else. You can accomplish a lot while your 3YO attempts to get stickers off the sticker sheet
-I clean the full bathroom (except for the tub) while DD is IN the tub. Then I clean the tub while I shower.
-We only have carpet in the bedrooms and DH is willing to vacuum those, when left a very specific to-do note. He actually does a really good job.
-clutter is the thing that drives me nuts, and it is just not allowed to happen. Periodically I sweep through the house and toss everything of DH's that doesn't belong, into a big bin and sit it at his side of the bed. I pick up the flotsam and jetsam of daily life every minute, it's practically a nervous habit. Mail does not come in the house unless it needs to be opened. The mail is picked up and sorted, and mostly recycled, before I put my key in the door this helps a lot.
-DD's toys are picked up nightly, in the living room at least. She is very good about cleaning up one activity (say, painting) before moving on (to dolls or such). So at the end of the night there's usually just one or two or twelve kinds of crap spread all over, which she helps to clean up before bedtime.

It's totally doable, and while I KNOW my standards could be higher, my house is neither a pigsty nor a health hazard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two full-time working parents with long commutes here- no housecleaner or lawn service. What I'd pay for would be a meal planner/grocery shopper! I know they have online meal plans, but we have dietary restrictions, including food allergies, so those plans never seem like a good fit for us.

OP here. I used to be in your shoes re the food allergies (so severe that I had to be "on call" for school every day--hence, my only going back to the office recently, after things calmed down). I would keep it ridiculously simple. Assuming you eat meat, make a list of the acceptable meats, veggies and starches and just stick to that. If everything can be thrown in the crockpot, so much the better. I had a rough list of about two dozen meals I could do easily, and I put the rotation on the calendar. On weekends, DH would take the non-FA kids out for pizza, PB&J, or whatever as a treat.

Sorry you're dealing with this. I was a SAHM at the time, and I felt like cooking and shopping for DC was a job in itself.

Apologies for hijacking my own thread!

Anonymous wrote:Two full-time working parents with long commutes here- no housecleaner or lawn service. What I'd pay for would be a meal planner/grocery shopper! I know they have online meal plans, but we have dietary restrictions, including food allergies, so those plans never seem like a good fit for us.