Cleaning day vs. Clean a little at a time

[JubilateDeo]

When I first got married, I did Flylady.  I'd go for a stretch where my house looked reasonably clean, but then as soon as I had my first baby, I let the house go for about a year (and by "letting the house go" I mean only doing the bare minimum like laundry, dishes, and sweeping/vacuuming every now and then).  At some point, I get tired of looking at dust bunnies everywhere and I get the itch to clean.  That often means setting aside a full day to tackle the whole house.  When I had my 2nd child, the same thing happened.  I have bipolar, so sometimes when I'm feeling a little 'hypomanic' I'm fine with pulling an all nighter to clean while the kids are asleep.  But most of the time I have to drink lots and lots of coffee to get the energy to do a big cleaning day.  It's been difficult getting the momentum necessary to clean every single room top to bottom in one day. 

Some people like to do a little here, a little there, or divide the house up into zones (this is what Flylady recommends doing).  This sounds a lot less draining than doing my usual deep clean every 2 weeks, but this also means that I wouldn't get to enjoy the satisfaction of having the whole house clean (until my family makes a mess of it again).  I also tend to get more of a sense of accomplishment after cleaning the whole house, vs. a little bit of time, even though the cumulative result of cleaning a little at a time would mean that the whole house is in varying stages of "reasonably clean."

One of the pros of having a cleaning day is that my 8 year old is happy to help out. I will give her a spray bottle of all purpose cleaner and a roll of paper towels and she will dust all the surfaces in her bedroom, sweep floors, and clean toilets and bathtubs.  We put on her favorite music and I buy the cute paper towels with the patterns on them.  Right now they are Minion paper towels.

how do you schedule cleaning your house and how involved are your kids?  Are you a "get it over with" kind of a person or do you prefer cleaning in stages?

[Non Nobis]

I prefer not cleaning.... My place is full of dust bunnies.  I keep up with cat litter (thank goodness), laundry and dishes (more or less), and make the bed, the rest only sometimes.  It has been bad for many long years.  Actually it has gotten a little better; the excess stuff has been minimized over the months and years (I was never a hoarder, as such, just bought too much when I was young and rich; and terrible at handling paper). My family has told me it is a lot better than it "used to be".

Maybe I should try coffee all day sometime, although steady discipline would be better. I very occasionally get a real burst of energy and humor to tackle some areas. But usually I have to force myself; and don't. I have lots of books on cleaning (but I think I gave some away in cleaning purges), but they don't sink in much.

Being older doesn't help; things don't get better over the years by themselves.

(I don't know why I am confessing this here - this isn't even Mary's Garden! Oh well!)

[Gardener]

A little at a time, as needed. Then, have a once every 2 weeks or once a month good cleaning day.

[OCLittleFlower]

Since I got sick in 2014, the most I can do is keep up with dishes, laundry, and vacuuming and hire someone to do the rest.

[MundaCorMeum]

I just do what I can, when I can.  Since I'm always either pregnant or nursing a baby (sometimes both), I pretty much live in survival mode, so I don't get nearly as much cleaning done on a regular basis as I'd like.  My preference is something similar to Flylady, and that is my goal.  But, it often ends up that I just do a big clean once every so often, and just muddle through in between those days.  Even then, I rarely get the entire house done.  I get the main living area, bathrooms, kitchen, and dining.  I tackle the kids bedrooms about once a quarter, alternating between the girls room and boys. 

The kids help out a lot, but it's mostly with daily maintenance.  The deep cleaning stuff pretty much falls by the wayside.  Each person, including myself, has a zone that we are responsible for each day.  Every day after breakfast, we have to straighten and sweep our zones; then, do laundry and dishes.  The kids have dish duty right now, and they take turns washing the dirty stuff, putting away the clean stuff, and clearing/wiping down the counters and table.  I wash, dry, and fold laundry, but each person is responsible for putting away certain stacks of folded clothes once I finish.  We swap out dishes and laundry duty every so often.  We also rotate zones every few months, so everyone gets a chance to learn how to clean various areas of the house.  They are also expected to do a wipe down of the bathroom sink and toilet every day.  The two big kids take turns doing that, and the littler kids are responsible for picking up dirty clothes and sweeping their bathroom.  I do my own. 

[The Curt Jester]

I clean when there is a project to do in that particular room and everything is in the way.   As long as I have to shift furniture and whatever other junk is in the room in the first place, why not do it right?  As for other times, I avoid a complete mess by having a designated mess area (and I'm not talking about a dining hall) where everything can be piled so the rest of the house looks decent (as far as that goes when there's a baby running around).

[Carleendiane]

We have so many people in and out that it makes me do my cleaning duties. When people just pop in they can expect a clean kitchen, bathroom and living room. My dining room table is my bill catcher, so i have to get on top of that! Husband does all the vacuuming and we do deep cleaning together, and "when"  is dictated by when the next get together  at my home is. When I had a house full of kids I kept a clean home. Now, I am not so motivated. But I still turn to for company. Every kid I had mastered the art of making a house presentable for guests. When young they all did their parts, cleaning bathrooms, kitchen, whatever,  and could have it done quickly for visitors who gave short notice. It was fun and satisfying to watch them turn to and get it done. They cared almost as much as mother did. With them gone and husband retired, the two of us make a darn good team!

But back to OP. I think a few good cleaning days a moth, with just ordinary upkeep in between, meaning wiping down bathroom at least every other day, daily kitchen clean up, and living room vacuumed at least 3 times a week, or as needed with little ones, and pick up clutter which does nothing but multiply. And laundry as needed. If that's daily, then so be it. If you can do it less often, good for you. But, I could never get by with one laundry day a week. As the baskets filled I put my loads in.

[Akavit]

Clean works best as a lifestyle rather than a chore.  The easiest way to do it is to get rid of as much stuff as possible and what remains becomes easy to "systematize" so that it remains clean.  But this does not work for people who hang onto their belongings for sentimental reasons.

On that note, I should be logging into eBay and posting more stuff soon.

[Perpetua]

I clean according to how much energy I have (we're expecting again), how willing our toddler is to help out by playing and following me around and how much time I have at hand. I prioritize. Sometimes I get very into cleaning and I like doing it, but some things like doing dishes and cleaning the stove daily gets boring and I have to force myself. In general I'm a cleaning freak and perfectionist and cleaning gives me satisfaction, but I have my ups and downs. Decluttering is one of my favorite sports too. The less you own the better!

[Greg]

I clean toilets and bathrooms religiously.  Toilet bowls every other day, sinks every other day, toilet floor (one kids use) weekly, bathroom and ensuite floor monthly.  Hall floor vacuumed every other day.  Carpet is only upstairs and my son is responsible for doing that twice per week.  Oven inside, once per year.  Main living room floor once every week as heavily trafficked.  Descale shower doors when they need it, at least once per month because a hard water area.

I have a lot of cleaning equipment.  Four vacuum cleaners including a Charles wet and dry, Karcher steam cleaner.  That way nobody needs to move the vacuum up and down the stairs.

For the windows I use a window cleaners rubber blade.  This is much quicker than a rag.  Leaves a few streaks at the edge but saves ages with large windows.  I reckon we must do about 10 man hours per week, at least, between 3 adults and 2 children who clean.

I used to steam clean the toilet seat area to get the dirt from the cracks between the bowl and the plastic seat, but I found recently that it is much faster to brush it with soap and water or thinned bleach leave it for 5 mins and then wet vacuum it up.  Wet vacuums are great tools.  Got my Charles brand new for 100 quid.  You can scrub up a grungey soapy mess and just suck it clean and dry.  Wiping the same up with a rag or sponge takes longer and involves repeat rinsing,

[Greg]

I recently discovered Rain-X (the stuff you use for can windscreens to stop bugs and dirt sticking), can be used on the toilet bowl to reduce skid marks.

You clean the toilet with a de-scaler (important if you are in a hard water area) and then coat the rear half of porcelain bowl with Rain-X.  Let it dry for 20 mins and then use the toilet as normal.  When poop drops against the side of the bowl it either does not leave a mark or the flush cleans it away.

[Kaesekopf]

I lold. 

Also, brilliant

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

[Lynne]

Clean works best as a lifestyle rather than a chore.  The easiest way to do it is to get rid of as much stuff as possible and what remains becomes easy to "systematize" so that it remains clean.  But this does not work for people who hang onto their belongings for sentimental reasons.

I know. 

[Obrien]

Cleaning houses on a professional level..... ooooh....... the stories I could tell.

[Chestertonian]

we pay a lady to come in and clean once a month and then my wife does basic stuff as needed.  The money is worth having time together on the weekends