We make sure every room is immediately picked up when we leave it and bed is made as soon as the last body is out of it. Dishes are done immediately after every meal. We hide the rest of our dishes in the dishwasher. In this way, our house always looks"clean" even when it is not. We are slightly minimalist so probably have way less nick nacks than others. I dust every two weeks and vacuum the same amount. The bathrooms get the 5 minute cleaning every 5 days(or more if needed) and a full clean every two weeks and shocker of shocker, nobody has died yet due to this. I don't dust and vacuum on the same day, trying to spread out the work. Laundry is done on the fly - put a load in before work, dry afterwork and immediately fold and hang. I never waste whole days doing laundry. I hate ironing so hubby has that job on his clothes and I only have a couple shirts that I iron about every two months.
A similar system was in place when we lived with the kids and their friends often came over and remarked how clean our house was. Not so much but it was neat and that counts way more than clean in my books.
Our carpet needs a good steam clean but frankly, we can live with a little dirt as there is no energy right now for that. Mom owns a carpet cleaner that we share so the cost is not an issue.
Hubby has been busy slaving away on the grass and cutting and trimming hedges and that takes a lot of time and energy too. Fortunately, we both do jobs inside and outside the house and usually the work is about even.
Do you let your house work slide in summer?
OH YEH! I have ALWAYS lived my Mother's Mantra 'the housekeeping will wait for you' - if she was invited to go somewhere or had obligations outside the house, she has never let 'living life to it's fullest' pass her by in order to be a 'slave to her home' - and yet it has always been neat and comfortable!
ReplyDeleteLike you, my house may not pass the 'white glove test' all of the time, but my friends all know they are coming to a HOME where they are Welcome any time. 8-)
If you wait long enough it looks incredibly clean when you do actually dust :)
DeleteWe do that and we have kids! We also have cleaners that come in and do the bathrooms very well in between our cleans. I don't dust however because the cleaners do. But my morning is just like yours - bed made as soon as I get up, load of laundry in before I get my first cup of coffee!
ReplyDeleteI think the way you do it is perfect - why would you need to do more?
Bathrooms and kids....we made them clean their bathroom and it was a constant battle. My four stepkids always blamed the other one.
DeleteYour a girl after my own heart! I do exactly what you and hubby do. But I even have it easier, my home is a 900 sq ft bungalow, so doesn't take up to much time to keep it tidy. I did a big clean out this spring and loving the space! My time is for outside during the warm months. Love the great big outdoors, and we are really lucky that we live where we do!
ReplyDeleteWe live a lot outside in the summer. I read on our patio last night until 9pm. Our biggest problem is we are barefoot outside so much and then come inside and end up tracking it in. We are so lucky to live here - I completely agree girlfriend!
DeleteI'm like you - I like things to be neat and in their place. There was an episode of Roseanne where they were getting a family portrait taken so needed to clean up the house a little - Dan said "we're going for the illusion of clean" and that's now my motto!! Nothing wrong with a bit of an illusion :) Time is precious - housework should be limited!
ReplyDeleteI like that saying. Time is too precious to have your arms in the toilet!
DeleteI try my best, but we have a large house, 2 kids and cats. And I have a really messed up back. There are days when my back is moderately pain free and I get a bunch of cleaning done, and there are days were if I drop a carrot while I am cooking, I kick it under the stove. My husband helps a lot, but we are always trying to get ahead of the cleaning. It isn't really the cleaning, but it is all the stuff (kids school paperwork, forms, permission slips..etc) Even though we have a very large house, we do not have good storage. Thankfully, our goal this summer is to install a very large built in wall unit/office. That will help immensely! I can't wait!
ReplyDeleteI remind myself that no one on their death bed ever says " I wish I had a cleaner house." They say "I wish I spent more time with my family" I wish I traveled more" " I wish I worked less to just pay bills..." etc.
You are so right. Sometimes people forget that. Kids and cats are especially hard in the cleaning category.
DeleteMy house always looks neat, but keeping it clean is tough with all our pets. I do my best. My main goal is to not let the house smell like we have pets. So I have to keep up with the litter, vacuum often, wash the pet bedding once in a while and steam clean the rugs every couple of months. We have a small house, so it's not so bad and only 3 rooms have carpet. I hate dusting. That doesn't get done as often as it should. Keeping knick knacks to a minimum helps though.
ReplyDeletePets are so hard on the cleaning regime. You have to teach Zoey or Muffin to dust!
DeleteWe are also just the two of us and we do the minimum. We deep clean when we have house guests, which is fairly often since we live in vacationland, Florida and we dust and vacuum when we know someone is stopping by. The bathroom and kitchen are the only daily chores.
ReplyDeleteWe deep clean when we have houseguests too - except the kids. I wait until after they leave to do the deep clean.
DeleteMaybe its contagious! I have been letting things go too. I've been feeling better so it doesn't seem so overwhelming to leave it. If that makes any sense. Or it could be that I'm too busy trying to get everything ready for DJ to get out.
ReplyDeleteI too, pick up before I leave a room.It just makes sense to me and has always been the way that things have worked around here. I'm thinking that it might actually stay picked up once DJ leaves.
You are right about the kids thing, our house always was hard to keep clean when the kids lived with us. Now with just the two of us, we only have each other to blame so things tend to stay pretty clean.
DeleteThat's one nice thing about our small cabin home, in a day we can clean it from top to bottom. But using a vacuum requires cranking up the generator, so I usually use the stiff broom and a dustpan. Works almost as good. - Margy
ReplyDeleteSmall spaces are certainly easier to keep clean, our last big house drove me crazy!
DeleteHello! I enjoy your blog very much!
ReplyDeleteThanks and welcome!
DeleteI laughed out loud at the picture, and I don't even drink :)
ReplyDeleteHousework gets done a little deeper here in the summer as my grands are not here as much. The yard work sure takes lots of time though and we have a small yard.
I liked the picture too - especially because I hate ironing :) We have a small yard too but the work seems never ending out there.
DeleteSlide? I don't think either of us has ever had any kind of regime! If it looks untidy, grubby or dusty we'll clean - but life takes priority! xxx
ReplyDeleteI would hate to miss out on a fun experience for the sake of housework - I agree, life takes priority!
DeleteWe clean every week, I find that with 4 cats there's always stuff to pick up....
ReplyDeleteYou have long haired ones too, no getting away from the cleaning with those cuties.
DeleteI've been cleaning a lot, but only because our home is new (to us). Normally in the summer I would let things slide, although I do keep it tidy :)
ReplyDeleteThere certainly is a lot of cleaning when you change homes. I am so glad that part is behind us!
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