How much time do you spend on house work each day?

[yari]

I am curious. I will admit, I am not the best at organization, and I basically clean my house whenever I am able to (like if I'm not too busy with work and the kids) so I don't keep a schedule. But I want to! I want to have more control of my house and I have noticed that when my house is clean I am more inspired to think creatively. I've been looking at springcleaning365.com and Pinterest for ideas on how to make some things a habit as far as house work goes. I am just wondering, so that I can have a good assessment to go by, how much time do you think you spend daily on house work? 15 minutes? 1 hour? 3 hours? And do you feel like after doing your house work you have much time for yourself or not?

[Darcy Baldwin]

Yari - I don't do it by time. I really do have a schedule. Certain things get done on certain days, and the boys now have chores they are responsible for (that really does help, but takes a little time in training).

I just schedule my chores according to my work flow for that week, and adjust if I find I'm spending more time on one day and way less on another to balance it all out. I don't schedule the time so much as I do the actual chore.

Each day I do one load of laundry, hang one load of laundry, every Wednesday I deep clean the bathrooms (and if we've been keeping up on our daily bathroom wipedowns, the deep clean is a breeze), strip and change sheets on Saturday, vacuum on Friday (and touch up if necessary during the week), and so forth. I honestly couldn't tell you how much time per day I spend since I don't do it all in one shot. I fit something in between lessons during the day, get one or two done before everyone is up, try to do some while I'm cooking dinner. But never more than an hour a day unless it's a heavy clean day for a project.

[mariewilcox]

I don't have a schedule but then again it's just me and an almost 13-year-old, and we live in a really small house. Every other morning I throw in a load of laundry and hang it out on the line. Dishes get washed as they're used. I do vacuum every other day because of the cats and sweep the kitchen every other day or so. I would say all in all on any given day I never spend more than 20 minutes on housework. Cheyanne has her responsibilities and that helps.

[YepBrook]

I'm not a scheduler by nature, so I don't have one when it comes to chores. I basically do it when it needs doing. Things I do daily (like laundry, tidying rooms, dishes, sweeping, wiping counters, etc.) can take at least 1 hour a day total. Add to that things that I do every-other-day or weekly like mopping, vacuuming, wiping down toilets, dusting... and some days are more like 1 hour 15 minutes or so. My Deep clean days are about 2 hours of cleaning because I'm not fast when it comes to scrubbing down the sinks & bathtubs, dusting, stripping the beds, and washing windows. I rarely time myself, though. I'm sure sometimes I'm faster than others. I also don't clean in a solid block of time, I do a little here & there over the entire day.

[jacinda]

Not. e. nough.

[Sarah8914]

I am one of those people who can have the entire house clean in 15 minutes. I tend to clean areas as I go by if they need it so I keep up pretty well. And once an area is REALLY clean, it's much easier to keep clean.

Of course there are always toys. I don't clean those up all day but I *try* to get the kids to clean up something before moving on to something else... and then before dinner they each have a room to clean up.

If I had to sum it up in a day, I would say probably 15 minutes in little bits here and there. Especially now being very pregnant, I don't do as much so I just do my best to keep it clean!

[lingovise]

i cannot stop laughing.
seriously.

[ksbella]

If I spent as much time cleaning as I do on Pinterest or online chatting, my house would be spotless!! But with 5 kids that's never going to happen!!

[staciahall]

You mean you're supposed to WASH the windows....

I do have to break out the windex occasionally but that's because my son is windex challenged. I mean how can streak free turn out like this! He does get the opportunity to dust because I'm allergic to it but it's not very often. I figure I keep up with the laundry, the kitchen, my own bathroom and vacuuming whenever the dog hair tumbleweeds or the cat litter makes me twitchy and that's got to be enough.

When they are both out of college, I'll hire someone to do it. But until then, I just keep swimming.

[maryinaz]

Bwhahahahahaha!! Each DAY???? I find that terribly funny. LOL

[Lyd]

Originally Posted by jacinda

Not. e. nough.

^^^ This.

I work really well with deadlines and a schedule. But, I'm not good at self-imposed deadlines, so I don't keep a housecleaning schedule very well at all. I've tried many times, and I'm sure I'll try again. Maybe one day, it will stick.

[Milmomma]

I'm a little crazy. Sunday is cleaning day. All the laundry gets done. Kids do their weekly chores then. Then on Monday I go through and deep clean after everyone goes to work/school. I pick up each night before bed and load the dishes in the dishwasher. Kids do their own laundry, rooms, all the bathrooms, sweep all down stairs, and the whole dinning room. We add chores each fall to their lists. Their lists are almost longer than mine now. But I want them to be responsible and learn how to keep things clean.

[nun69]

Originally Posted by jacinda

Not. e. nough.

yep...this is me.....and I swear everytime I clean something it is dirty within 20 mins...pick up the living room and then it is a disaster the same day, clean the kitchen, disaster again by the end of the day...but with 6 of us at home, laundry is NEVER ENDING....I do do laundry EVERYDAY.....that is the only schedule I have

[SeattleSheri]

I work full time, so I don't do any housework during the week

[PrincessT]

I am fanatical about having my place in order. so we clean as we go. My place is always lit with indirect lighting so it is cozy. Even though we have a housekeeper that clean once a week, I still vacuumm on sundays. I am just crazy that way. (it helps that it is only me and my husband)

[kim21673]

Wait a minute.....you mean to tell me....we are suppose to clean the house? LOL Obviously, I don't do it enough!! Our house is very much lived in....toys are supposed to stay in the basement (the boys have the WHOLE basement as a playroom) but they always find their way upstairs. Having 4 boys...sometimes I just get tired of cleaning up pee every time I walk in the bathroom.......sigh

I keep saying we are going to have a schedule and then sports or life just gets in the way and the schedule is shot......one day I will totally shock people and will have the cleanest house ever...maybe when the boys are grown and out of the house!!

I do vacuum, sweep and mop constantly....pretty much daily in the kitchen for the sweeping and mopping...once again...4 boys in the house!!!! I wipe down everything in the kitchen daily....I can't stand a messy kitchen.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Kim - those boys can 'wipe' up after themselves Put a bottle of wipes in the bathroom and say I never want to see pee anywhere again or you all clean with your toothbrushes! They should keep each other in line LOL. I make my boys wipe down the bathroom every day and then there is a penalty for pee if I see it. Of everything I love about being in a boy house, that's one thing I cannot abide LOL

[maryinaz]

Originally Posted by kim21673

Having 4 boys...sometimes I just get tired of cleaning up pee every time I walk in the bathroom.......sigh

As a fellow mom of 4 boys, there IS a point where this gets better and you don't smell pee every time you walk by the door to the bathroom. But it took years and years.

I work from home full-time and I just quit beating myself up about having the house in order at all times. Oh, and we got a puppy so that made everything so much WORSE!

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by ltarbox

^^^ This.

I work really well with deadlines and a schedule. But, I'm not good at self-imposed deadlines, so I don't keep a housecleaning schedule very well at all. I've tried many times, and I'm sure I'll try again. Maybe one day, it will stick.

This is SO me.

[Lyd]

Originally Posted by Nettio

This is SO me.

I'm telling you . . . I think we were separated at birth or something.

[LeeAndra]

I work FT outside the house, so I only do dishes and laundry during the week. I don't have motivation to do anything non-essential.

Everything else is saved for the weekends. Depending on if DH helps or not, it doesn't take too long. Then again, I'm a bare minimum cleaner.

I can't wait to make enough money to hire someone to do the bulk of it.

[~Cindy~]

I usually do at least a load or two of laundry a day depending on how much laundry is there to be cleaned. I hate dishes so those may stay there two days If someone comes over I will throw them in the dishwasher lol! Usually I do the big cleaning when Cole is at church with my in laws. It's just I can get it done a lot faster without him messing it back up as fast as I can clean. He's four so he likes to help. So I let him help the days I'm not trying to clean everything. I do sheets every Sunday.

Since I got pregnant and have been sick however, things fell way behind. I thought my husband would get tired of looking at it. Evidently things do not bother him as much as they do me. So I spent Mother's day cleaning like a mad person. I probably spend thirty minutes a day during the week cleaning and maybe a hour to an hour and a half on Sunday.

[taracotta7]

I use to schedule it, every day. I have "zones" that was deep cleaned on a certain day. I have let go a lot of that. I have just learned that we live here and it can't be spotless. It is just one of those thing that use to make me a grumpy mom. Daily I do "maintenance" cleaning. I clean dishes as I need to. Do at least 1 load of laundry to stay on top of it. That is about it. Then weekly........I dust, vacuum and scrub bathrooms. (usually on the weekend) That is about it. So, to answer the original question.......maybe an hour a day? Then my big day of cleaning.....like 2-3 hours.

[glumirk]

I have this ideal in my head of a regularly cleaned house, but then I would go into a panic attack whenever the kids ate/played/existed, so to keep my blood pressure low I've decided it's not worth it. We clean up really well on a deadline, like if someone is coming over.

We try to have the kids pick up every night, but you don't even want to see my kitchen and dining room floors.

[rach3975]

I have no idea. I feel like I spend half the day in the kitchen dealing with meal preparation, dishes, and cleanup, yet it never seems to be done. A few mornings a week all 3 kids are in school; I probably spend 2-3 hours of that time per week on cleaning plus another hour a day on the kitchen and dishes (in lots of bits and pieces) and a few hours a week (2?) on laundry. So that would work out to 10 or so hours during the week. Over the weekend we usually just keep up with kitchen chores and let most of the rest go. So with all that time being put in, why is our house never clean? I've tried schedules, and I still haven't found something that works for me. I still procrastinate the chores I don't like and barely manage to keep my head above water with the kitchen and laundry.

You asked about time for ourselves, and during the day I have very little of that. But I refuse to do any house stuff after the kids go to bed. That's my time off for scrapping. But give yourself a break about the housework; I think so much depends on family situation and what stage of parenting you're in. When my kids were a little younger I barely did any housework; their needs took up too much of my time to do more than the true minimum. Now that they're a little older I can't get away with that anymore. I'm sure things will change again in a few years when DD goes to school full days and I (hopefully) find a job.

[jk703]

Originally Posted by Sarah8914

I am one of those people who can have the entire house clean in 15 minutes. I tend to clean areas as I go by if they need it so I keep up pretty well. And once an area is REALLY clean, it's much easier to keep clean.

Of course there are always toys. I don't clean those up all day but I *try* to get the kids to clean up something before moving on to something else... and then before dinner they each have a room to clean up.

If I had to some it up in a day, I would say probably 15 minutes in little bits here and there. Especially now being very pregnant, I don't do as much so I just do my best to keep it clean!

^^ totally me... well, except for the pregnant part!


~Jenn

[yari]

Wow you guys, so it seems like the schedule thing is done by less people than I thought. It's like, I want to be better at organization so I go online for resources and most of what I find are schedules and lists so immediately I think I must use them too if I want to be successful at it. I guess not! LOL And for those of you who do about 15 minutes a day, I have no idea how in the world you can do that! No way I can pull that one with the kind of kids I have!

Thanks too for the replies, it definitely helps me. Perhaps what I need to find out is what would work best for me and my family and not compare my house or the way I organize and clean to anyone else's. Easier said then done for sure so if you have any suggestions on how to do that please let me know!

[NeverendingJen]

I spend 30-45 moinutes a day on cleaning, counting dishes and laundry.

I have two cats so I have to sweep or vacuum every other day to keep the fur under control. I do the bathrooms once a week but try to keep up on them as needed daily. All bedding gets changed weekly as well, I also have to clean all windows and windowsills every few days as well due to the dust we get.
I don't do it in big chunks anymore other than floors, everything else I just do a little as needed and then about ocne a month I seem to spend a day deep cleaning an area and it just rotates as needed

[chicka]

I live in two near cities. 2 weeks in Cianjur. and the next week in Bandung. I just focus in laundry and dish washing everyday. clean up the bedroom every morning. and do the other cleaning job when my scrapbooking "Job" has done.. :P

[mlewis]

I'm a SAHM, and this is how I do it.

All the laundry on Monday (so for a brief few minutes I feel like I accomplished something). Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursdays I vacuum every day and just try to keep the house picked up. Friday I clean all 3 bathrooms, sweep, mop, and dust so that the house is clean going into the weekend.

Extras like baseboards, washing windows, dusting blinds, etc. I don't do every single week but maybe 1-2 times a month.

[newfiemountiewife]

Not enough. I am gone from home for 12 minimum hours a day, and I'm flying by the seat of my pants in this regard. I depend on my hubby for a lot, because at least he's home more than me! I feel like I need to take a week off to do a deep clean.

[ColleenSwerb]

I'm better with some things than others. Since we put in the wood floors I have to be much better about vacuuming/sweeping/mopping. It shows a lot, and between the toddler and the dog, I probably do it 3 times a week. I always dread it because I have to clear out all the toys, etc, but in reality it doesn't take that long and I'm always glad to have clean looking floor for a little while, lol. Since I SAH now too, I'm always in the kitchen so it's constantly getting destroyed and cleaned. The bathrooms probably don't get clean enough, and I don't even have pee everywhere to clean up (YET). I dust weekly, whenever I feel like it. Laundry is once or twice a week, I usually do baby laundry on mondays and then our laundry whenever. Sheets/towels are done whenever. I haven't cleaned our windows in 2 years, those desperately need to be done, maybe tomorrow now that I'm thinking about it, lol.

[ashersmommy]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

Kim - those boys can 'wipe' up after themselves Put a bottle of wipes in the bathroom and say I never want to see pee anywhere again or you all clean with your toothbrushes! They should keep each other in line LOL. I make my boys wipe down the bathroom every day and then there is a penalty for pee if I see it. Of everything I love about being in a boy house, that's one thing I cannot abide LOL

That's funny because I DO keep a tub of wipes in the bathroom yet they rarely use them. For awhile my oldest would wipe up after himself and does a pretty good job but now my four year old is EVERYWHERE with it like my oldest used to be. I have two boys, my husband and our new baby girl in the house, too, and since I am outnumbered, apparently it is okay to leave the toilet seat up all the time. Oh, and did I mention that NO ONE flushes after peeing? Yeah, I'm sooooo done with that one lol.

As for cleaning, I do the majority if not all of the work in the house but I have no idea how long it takes. It seems lately like I'm ALWAYS cleaning something or cooking something. I still have yet to figure out how we get 2-3 loads of laundry and dishes every day lol. :P

[Andrea G]

I used to have a schedule...that got shot to heck. At best I spend an hour a day. I'm an unstructured person - if something needs to be cleaned or washed - I do it, but there's no rhyme or reason to it. My house is not perfect, but for the most part, it's not embarrassing if I get a surprise pop in.

The boys have chores that are done daily, that's helpful (3 boys = a bathroom that needs to wiped down with Clorox wipes at least once a day!)

[Lyd]

Originally Posted by Andrea G

I used to have a schedule...that got shot to heck. At best I spend an hour a day. I'm an unstructured person - if something needs to be cleaned or washed - I do it, but there's no rhyme or reason to it. My house is not perfect, but for the most part, it's not embarrassing if I get a surprise pop in.

Lol. My house is frequently embarrassing if I get surprise visits. Luckily, I only care a little bit what people think of me in that regard.

[rach3975]

Originally Posted by Andrea G

My house is not perfect, but for the most part, it's not embarrassing if I get a surprise pop in.

LOL-I suppose that's the one nice thing about living so far from family. The only surprise guests we get are a few neighborhood kids. I figure that 9 year old boys are probably not judging my housekeeping skills.

[4noisyboys]

Boys are just disgusting pigs...period!