How often do you clean your house?
Hmm?
I give the whole place a run-through three or four times a week. Sometimes the dishes fill the sink before one of us gets to them, to be honest. Thing is...by the time I'm set to clean again, the place is a mess--it had been cleaned the day before the previous day! How the hell does it get so messy so quickly?! Sometimes I feel like it's a mess again an HOUR after I clean it! Even if no one's touched a thing in the rooms that I've cleaned.
I...I'm astounded. I clean the damned thing from top to bottom, even if I'm too exhausted to move! I dust, I vacuum, I POLISH, I pick up, I re-arrange, I scrub the toilet and the sinks and the shower...I even get the step ladder and dust the ceilings and corners. I go through Windex and Scrubbing Bubbles and Pledge and various other cleaning products like a madwoman.
It really, really irks me sometimes. How do other people keep their homes so neat?!
Once a week, vacuuming and dusting. I do my dishes right after I'm done eating, and my golden rule is that the kitchen needs to be tidy before I go to bed.
Bathrooms are also done once a week. If I'm at my parents house where it's carpeted and there are cats in the house, vacuuming is done twice a week. I clean their basement (huge and unfurnished) twice a year.
I have a tendency to let things get really out of hand in my house (as in, if I had children, social services would probably have taken them away), but I also teach guitar lessons in my house, so each week before lessons I would have to do this major emergency cleaning run throughout the house (at least the parts that my students would see). But it never stayed clean.
However, I have been working on building up a daily routine for cleaning, with the help of the FLYLady.net. She's a little eccentric, but her methods are working for me. Its basically a system where you try to build up good habits a little bit at a time. You start by just shining your sink every night before you go to bed. Every few days or so, you add a good habit to your routine, and eventually you've got a daily checklist to go through. It the kind of structure that I need for housework, because obviously if left to my own devices it gets disgusting really fast. I've been doing it for about 2 weeks, and I'm really surprised at how well things are improving.
I'm also starting to realize that there is a lot of similarities between my struggle with my weight and my struggle with keeping the house clean....but that's a whole different story.
Every Saturday - dusting/polishing, big laundry, Hubby mops and vacuums, I clean bathrooms (he does the shower). During week it's as needed. Hubby usually vacuums during week as we have three dogs. He does the litter box daily. I clean kitchen as I do most of cooking.
My husband has allergies and needs the place cleaner than I can keep it we've hired cleaning people on and off over the years. It's expensive but it makes him happy and I prefer to spend the money then clean myself. Which is funny because I'll save money on other stuff but this one I'm okay with.
I agree in some respects with moonikins, I don't obsess with cleaning but some things irk me like finger prints on the front door. Don't get me wrong I'll be upset about it but I don't stop what I'm doing to clean them off. I would rather play a game with the kids then clean. When we do clean I make it a family affair, everyone gets a job.
I used to clean about twice a month, that means the dusting vacuum thing but I'm constantly doing laundry dishes, picking up dirty clothes, wiping the sinks and toilets.
My german mother does the cleaning. And then she does it again. And once more after that, for good measure.
I haven't inherited this tendency.
Original Post by moonikins:
I'm pretty serious about that statement. I really don't clean much. I vacuum about every other week. I should vacuum at least twice a week because of pet hair, but I can walk over it easier than I can vacuum.
Life is too short to spend excessive amounts of time cleaning. My house is sanitary. It is cluttered. That's OK with me. You will never meet an old person who wishes they had spent more time cleaning. You'll never be on your death bed thinking that there is dirt behind the fridge.
I love this.
I like things clean and tidy (not too tidy, though, my place isn't a hotel) but I'm also really lazy and I absolutely hate vacuuming.
So I basically clean once a month. Sometimes I get a bee in my pants and clean odd stuff, like kitchen appliances, or tidy my bookshelf, but I would never ever clean several times a week.
Kotov, how much do you sleep at night? Cus you sound like you are always on the go and I do not know how you fit so much into your days unless you just don't sleep.... or you have a time turner. I want your secrets.
I only clean when I know someone is coming over. Luckily that's often enough that it doesn't get too horrible. Although I don't really do things like dust, scrub down the shower, or clean the oven each time. Those sort of things should probably get done more often then they do...oh well.
Right now there is a huge pile of laundry on my bathroom floor and my stairs are stacked with things that need to go upstairs. I did tidy the kitchen last night and vacuumed. Gotta get the rest all cleaned up before tonight though!!
My ex was always shocked at how efficient I am at cleaning. I guess I'm really good at seeing the mess and coming up with the sequence of how things should get done to minimize movements and cut down on time. I think I would make a really great housewife...if I didn't hate housework so much.
I do a clean-as-I-go/see it kind of thing, especially if I am waiting on other things to happen. The other day while the coffee was perking, I noticed a spill on a kitchen cupboard, so I pulled out the Clorox wipes and wiped them all down.
Night before while the rice was cooking for dinner, I went out and dusted the living room. Waiting for the shower to get steamy this morning, I clean the toilet. Very, very much the multi-tasker with cleaning.
ETA: The kitchen almost always stays clean because DH and I tag team that a lot. I try to be sure the dishwasher is run at night so I can unload in the morning. Then it's ready to reload when I cook at night. However, DH feels that since I cook, he can clean it up. Fair division of labor! 
Because of the pets, I vacuum 2-3 times a week and mop the foyer, kitchen and sunroom once a week, however, I detest vacuuming the stairs. We have a 3 floor house with 6 steps and a landing, 6 more and you're either on the 3rd floor or at the basement door - all carpeted! I don't do that too often and honestly, DH is better at is so I usually ask him to do it. He is Mr Thorough and does a far better job than I.
Every Sping and Fall, I do a full cleaning job - moving stuff to get behind, wiping baseboards, cleaning all light fixtures, etc. That is totally my Mom! However, she used to clean the house top to bottom on Saturdays. Took hours and I had to help. Thank God we had a small house!!! We almost always had company on Sunday, granparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, so the house HAD to be spotless.
I put a load of laundry in each morning. This is a new routine for me. I used to do it on the weekends and decided I wasn't going to waste my days off doing laundry. I pull it out of the dryer and ask 'd' to fold it and put it away. I hate folding and hanging laundry. One thing I can't stand is laundry piling up and up and up and then having to go to the laundry mat because I've got 20-30 loads, which I have done on many occasions. I think I've broken that habit.
I hate housework. I do try to keep the kitchen clean because I cook a lot and like to have cupboard space. I have no problem leaving dishes overnight, I sweep my floor on weekends and mop if absolutely needed.
My husband and I seem to both be pack rats in different ways. I've got boxes stuck in all sorts of places with stuff that I might need one day. I am having a huge yard sale this spring so I'm going through all my stuff and parting with most of it.
I don't clean for company. I will fold all the blankets laying around, if the toilets are dirty I'll clean them. I shut the doors to my kids rooms.
In my younger years I would spend 8 hours of both my days off running like a mad woman trying to "be the perfect wife and mommy" that's not living.
What is this dusting you speak of? 
"Behind every woman is a great big pile of laundry"
We have a clean as you use policy for dishes, and we never let laundry pile up beyond 1 load. I'll clean the litter box at least every other day. What bothers us more than dirt is clutter - so we make a point to make sure that the living room floor is cleared of toys and other miscellaneous junk, and stuff is put in its place at the end of each day.
Besides that, we pretty much put off cleaning everything else until it gets to the point where we can't stand it or ignore it anymore, or when we have guests coming over. If you catch me dusting, you know it's bad, because I'd rather do anything else than dust - toilets, mopping, cleaning out the garage, bathe the cat.... yeah, I hate dusting.
Once a week or so. Tidy up, vacuum, dust, mop. Keep the dishes done, though. Hate bugs.
Kitchen = every day.
Inside the house = Every week.
Outside the house = Every 2 weeks.
I go for the lived in look. Dusting happens rarely. Dishes are done every day, but only because I have a dishwasher. Laundry happens on Sunday. Most things are not on a schedule. Things get done when it obviously can't be put off any longer. Bed is only made on the weekend. I hate making the bed and see very little point to it since I am just getting in it again anyway.
On the bright side, you don't have to worry about spilling something if you are visiting me. You can eat in the living room if you like. I have a dog to take care of any messes you may make. At my sisters house you can't eat anywhere in the house except the kitchen and dining room. Her house is immaculate. Family would rather stay at my house than hers. Imagine that.
Original Post by r4eboxer:
I put a load of laundry in each morning. This is a new routine for me. I used to do it on the weekends and decided I wasn't going to waste my days off doing laundry. I pull it out of the dryer and ask 'd' to fold it and put it away. I hate folding and hanging laundry. One thing I can't stand is laundry piling up and up and up and then having to go to the laundry mat because I've got 20-30 loads, which I have done on many occasions. I think I've broken that habit.
zomg! How big is your family?! holy cow... I cannot imagine this! 20-30 loads?! Of laundry!? In a week!?!?!
Roxy, around xmas my washer broke. I took 2 loads to the laundromat to wash. I hadn't been in a laundromat in at least a decade, maybe more. I was shocked to find washers that would do 6 loads at one time. I witnessed a woman coming in and filling up 3 of these giant washers.
Original Post by moonikins:
Roxy, around xmas my washer broke. I took 2 loads to the laundromat to wash. I hadn't been in a laundromat in at least a decade, maybe more. I was shocked to find washers that would do 6 loads at one time. I witnessed a woman coming in and filling up 3 of these giant washers.
Granted, there are only 2 of us in my house - but I do 2 loads each week... 4 TOPS and that's only because I have to wash sheets and towels!!! LOL
I am just going to go with the assumption that r4e's family is as large as the duggar family... that would make sense :)
Original Post by roxysparkles:
Granted, there are only 2 of us in my house - but I do 2 loads each week... 4 TOPS and that's only because I have to wash sheets and towels!!! LOL
Huh, see, I go through a lot of clothes. I wear work clothes, work out clothes, normal clothes, and pj's all in one day almost every day. If I'm really careful and hang stuff up right away, I can re-wear some stuff. But I am such a clutz and spill stuff and with all the animal fur, my clothes get pretty dirty pretty fast. I don't like reusing towels and like clean sheets weekly. So, I do tons of laundry. I probably do 4 or 5 loads a week just for me plus take work clothes to the dry cleaner.
Original Post by moonikins:
Original Post by kotov_syndrome:
That's an interesting statement. Everytime it's come up, it seems that the neat-freaks had slobs (pardon the wording) for parents and the casual cleaners had neat-freaks for parents.
My dad is a casual cleaner, mom's a slob, and I pick up the tiny pieces of debris from the carpet before I vacuum it and wash my garbage before I throw it away.Anyone an exception?
Me. My mother was 42 when I was born. My dad was an alcoholic. My mother worked all the time when I was a kid. She had all the chores, 2 kids and a drunk man to take care of. She was a stacker and a piler. The house was sanitary, but cluttered and messy. There was always a pile of stuff on the kitchen table.
I hold pretty true to how she did things.
I do know that the slobs seem to be much happier and more relaxed than the neat freaks.
This is me now, ten years ago I was a little neater. When I start dreaming about the clutter, I put it away.
Original Post by roxysparkles:
I am just going to go with the assumption that r4e's family is as large as the duggar family... that would make sense :)
2 adults and 2 kids in our house, and we average one load a day. Between clothes, sloppy kids, sheets, towels....it's really not that hard.
I think the Duggars would have to have a laundry service, or the kids wind up doing a lot of chores.
