Housework routine

Alfietinker

Well I must admit I feel a little ashamed (not too much though ). I haven't hoovered for at least a month, although we only have 2 carpets. And I can't actually remember the last time I dusted. I just don't seem to notice the dirt!

By the time we both get in from work and have cooked and washed up it's usually gone 9pm and the last thing I'm going to do is start cleaning. I tend to put washing on in the evenings and put it on the airer. When it's dry I may or may not do the ironing, I may leave it until the next load. The bathrooms get cleaned once a week and the kitchen surfaces are always clean but apart form that we do very little.

Every so often I do a big clean and spend a Saturday doing everything but not very often.

Heth_2

Daily: cooking, washing up, clean kitchen surfaces while/after cooking, use dustpan and brush if the floor looks a mess

Weekly (unless away at the weekend in which case it is either left until the following weekend or done on a weekday evening):
-hoover house
-wash bedclothes
-clean bathroom
-bit of dusting

As and when:
- mopping kitchen floor
- windows (once every 6 months maybe...)
-sorting/decluttering.

We both work full time, I commute, no kids, so most weekdays the house looks after itself.

Alfietinker

This has been a really interesting thread! I found it through another thread posted today so I hope it's still OK to add to?

I'm wondering though. There doesn't seem to be many answers that say OHs help. The odd 'hubby does hoovering' but is that all? Sometimes it seems like partners/hubbys will do something as a favour.

I ask because we had this conversation at work recently and I pretty much branded as 'odd' because I don't do more than the basic housework. My view is as long as it's hygienic I'm OK with it. I don't like mess much but I know if I were to keep the house as clean and tidy as I'd like then I wouldn't have time to do anything else. When I said if I were to clean as much as they do then I'd wake up, go to work, get home, cook dinner, do housework and go to bed, only to start again the next day the answer was "and your point is?"

I also think "why should I?" Both hubby and I are out of the house 12 hours a day, use the same dishes, the same bathroom, the same bed, the same washing machine. So therefore housework should be equal too.

I know it doesn't bother him if there isn't room to eat on the dining table because of all the junk lying about. It does bother me but I know if I start tidying up after him then (a) he'd become complacent and (b) I wouldn't be able to sit down and do what I want in the evening. It is hard sometimes to leave the mess but it will get done eventually, in equal measure. It doesn't impress hubby by having a tidy house or he'd keep it tidy so who am I trying to please?

On the same vein, next year when we plan to maybe start a family then I'll take on more of the housework as I'll be at home. But that won't mean when he gets in he can put his feet up all evening either! He said once "I've done the washing up for you". For me? Nah, you did the washing up, it's not a favour.

I know I may sound harsh and even slovenly but I do wonder if us ladies take too much on ourselves sometimes, and expect too much.

A bit off topic, sorry, just an observation and curious as to how others see their role in domestic duties?

3KIDSNOMONEY

I agree with you Alfietinker. I am a housewife and mother to 3 kids and do all the housework and house maintenance and hoover my hubbys car. Don't mind too much as I am at home all day but when i was working and pregnant and my husband was made redundant, he just sat on his bum all day watching tv. Good on you for not clearing up after your husband, it's not the 1950's, housework isn't woman's work, if you go out to work too then the housework should be shared equally.

OneSpike

Well I was full of good intentions earlier, then my husband rang from town having forgotten something he needed en-route to Scotland (10 hour drive from here!) so I drove into town to meet him and take him the bits he needed. While I was there I did the errands I'd planned for tomorrow, but the housework I'd had in mind is still glaring at me

I also do more housework when I know people are coming round, namely the bathrooms and the utility room and kitchen floors, but it's always hard finding the right moment for floors as there are five of us in the house and DH and I both work from home. Usually I have a routine of clearing up from breakfast (which for ages now we've laid out the night before, great system) when I get back from the school run, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes I do it in a rush 5 mins before DH and I have lunch. I find things get done at totally random times. For instance, FIL rang just now and I had a 10 min chat with him, all the while clearing the breakfast table, which previously I hadn't got round to. Last night I thought >horrors!< that I detected a faint whiff coming from the loo, so I cleaned the bathroom there and then, having been putting it off for a while (can't admit how long as there are people on this board who clean theirs every day and I'm ashamed LOL!). I often have a mad moment about 3 o'clock frantically tidying the kitchen before I leave for the school run so the house looks tidy when the children get back, as I work on the basis that if the house is generally a tip then they will never learn to be clean and tidy.

Okay now I have to tackle the washing up as our dishwasher is currently unwell

JillD_2

I know there are tons of housework threads on here and I know all about flylady but I wondered how much time people spend each day on housework.
I seem to spend too much of my spare time on it and it annoys the h3ll out of me.
I have 2 children aged 3 and 2, and I work 2.5 days a week. When I am home the kids are at home. I cram the housework in to evenings and in the day between the kids getting stroppy. My entire evening seems to be spent tidying things up and getting ready for the morning, If things slip, like they have the last 2 weeks as we've had guests, there is no time to catch up on paperwork etc.

Here's how much time I spend on daily stuff when not at work:
- tidy up upstairs - make beds, pick up toys, put away biots and pieces - 20 minutes
- tidy up after breakfast, unload dishwasher and load up again, 20 minutes
- tidy up after lunch, clean detritus off floor, chuck out nappies etc - 20 minutes
- hoover or dust or wipe a bit of bathroom or something - 20 minutes
- tidy up after tea, load dishwasher, wipe down surfaces and hob, tidy playroom - 1 hour (why does this take so long)
- put on a washing, sort out paperwork and stuff lying around kitchen - 30 minutes
- get lunches and bags ready for the morning - 40 minutes (another one that takes so long)
- hang out washing to dry, hang up stuff in bedroom, tidy up dirty clothes and get clothes etc ready for morning - 30 minutes

Then of course there is shopping, cooking and ironing to throw in as well.
It all seems to take forever. Is this normal ? What does everyone else do ?

dlb

Oh yes lol.
I spent alot of time doing housework, only im sad and enjoy it lol.
The lunch boxes dont take me that long though and i have 4 kids and dh to pack up. I pack them at night and put sandwiches in fridge, then in the morning just load them all up and pop into school bags. Takes about 10 mins in total.

I tend to have one morning a week where i completly bottom each room, then it only takes 10 mins to rearrange the next few days, just pick up toys and quick hoover.

As long as you are happy with how much you do then why worry.

DonnaP

Hi Jill

Why not get the children to help tidying up their toys. I have 3 year old twin girls and that's what they do. We have turned it into a game, which took some getting used to (1 daughter is better than the other at it!!). It relives the pressure on mum a bit.

The other thing is to remember life won't be always this hard and when they are at school there will be more time to get things done (that's what I keep telling myself!!).

Donna

inkie

Here's how much time I spend on daily stuff when not at work:
- tidy up upstairs - make beds, pick up toys, put away biots and pieces - 20 minutes 5 min for me - kids make their own beds
- tidy up after breakfast, unload dishwasher and load up again, 20 minutes 10 min to tidy up after breakfast/put WM on- tidy up after lunch, clean detritus off floor, chuck out nappies etc - 5 min - but then only me in for lunch
- hoover or dust or wipe a bit of bathroom or something - 20 minutes 10 min max each day (don't hoover everyday)
- tidy up after tea, load dishwasher, wipe down surfaces and hob, tidy playroom - 10 min max for us - this is when our DW would go on - we only put it on once per day
- put on a washing, sort out paperwork and stuff lying around kitchen - 30 minutes - only do paper work about once per fortnight and that takes 20 min- get lunches and bags ready for the morning - 40 minutes (another one that takes so long) one packed lunch for us that takes 10 min outside - although DD had been doing her own as I am laid up at the moment.
- hang out washing to dry, hang up stuff in bedroom, tidy up dirty clothes and get clothes etc ready for morning - 30 minutes 5 min max - DDs get their own clothes out for the next day - and OH can manage this as well with minimal supervision!

Mine obviously takes less as DDs are 7 and 10. Perhaps you need to ask yourself if it's necessary to hoover every day, for example.

Linda32

These only myself and OH at home. I get home at around 3.00pm at the moment.

I usually try to do one room a day, for example yesterday I dusted and mopped in the kitchen.
This afternoon I'll dust and sweep in the hallway and so on. Tomorrow I'll dust and vacuum in the living room.

In the morning I make both our pack-ups, (sometimes some of it will be prepared the night before) and make the bed and wash up.

Evenings, usually ironing or any other bits and peices as necessary.