Hellobee Boards

My favorite little change is this one: when you see something that needs to be done/moved/whatever, consider whether it's a fast job. If it'll take less than one minute to do, just do it now, when you first notice it. Doing these little tasks will, without too much effort, help prevent things from piling up.

@gotkimchi: we both work f/t too--we're gone from the house 8am until 6pm/7pm depending on who's picking up the baby--so I feel you. since I was about 4 months pp, we do have a cleaning lady come twice a month, but now that the baby is older, we could probably get by without her *except* for the fact that my husband, who I do love, is super lazy on this and basically won't lift a finger without being nagged to death and it's so fucking draining and annoying to a) be the only person trying, or b) spend more energy bugging him and fighting with him for him to do his part than I would have just doing it myself, which is completely unfair.

so I'm wondering if your husband is like this, or not like this, because it shouldn't be you alone drowning in housework unless he works crazy hours and makes five times as much as you do. hopefully you can get him to help.

as for schedule, here's what works for us:
Daily: mornings, I always make the bed and empty the dishwasher if it's clean, and every night right after we put the boy down before I collapse, I spend about 15 minutes picking up the entire house and clearing clutter, and another 20-30 minutes washing dishes (daycare containers, pots and pans from dinner, etc). I usually run the dishwasher, and I always quickly wipe down the kitchen counters and stovetop after cooking, which takes no time. So, maybe 45 minutes total for a weekday. it sucks and I'm exhausted but if I didn't do this we would for real live in filthy chaos. bonus if I can get the house picked up in the time between baby dinner and baby bath. also, my husband and I trade off dishwashing days--I still do the majority but whatever, I'll take it.

Every weekend--
Saturdays: (this was before we got our cleaner--and this is the only thing that having a cleaner has changed for us, now we only vacuum on her off-week) sweep and wet swiffer the floors and vacuum the rugs while the other spouse cleans the bathroom and more thoroughly cleans the kitchen.
Sunday nights: change the bed sheets and do all the week's laundry, we both fold while we are watching HBO.

Monthly: I windex the windows, clean/organize the fridge, clean out the microwave and try to straighten up messy closets.

Quarterly: take stuff to goodwill, actually clean areas like closets, re-style the shelves because they get messy-looking, clean out my spice cabinet, stuff like that.

I have been told I keep a clean house. I think of it as moderately clean or just ok. We have gone through stages of having help and not, of both of us working ft, and not, and frankly that stuff only mattered a little. I still have to sacrifice "me time," but I have been getting better about having the kids clean up after themselves, and I use their half hour of screen time at the end of the day to pick up. Me time or not, I honestly can't even think straight with a messy house.

I realize that's probably not even healthy!

So, this book saved my life. There's also a blog and a podcast.

https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/

She points out that if you're a slob, a housekeeper wouldn't even help that much, because it's really two different problems. She says you need to stop seeing cleaning as a project or as a goal you can somehow reach and be done with. She also believes in routines, especially a nightly routine (do the dishes, tidy for five minutes, sweep the kitchen--though she encourages you to customize it to your needs). I agree with her that a cluttered house is impossible to keep clean, so decluttering is essential to being able to keep things tidy.

I won't go through everything the book says, but I will say that I've been messy all my life (grew up that way and continued it into my adulthood), and now I've finally conquered my bad habits. I mean, my house isn't company ready...but it's 15 - 30 minutes from company ready, which is probably the best it'll ever get. Here's what my daily routine looks like. I use an app called Cozi to create a detailed to do list and check off my daily chores.

Monday - Living & Dining Rooms
Tuesday - Bathrooms
Wednesday - Kitchen
Thursday - Trash & Recycling / Laundry
Friday - Bedrooms
Saturday - Playroom & Office
Sunday - Meal Plan

Like others said, I have a morning routine (VERY small), an after-work routine, and an after-bedtime routine. That's for all the daily stuff.

I have a weekly schedule for laundry - a certain type each day. I don't like to let it pile up for the weekend, that's overwhelming.

I use Google Calendar to keep track of monthly chores, like washing bedding, floor mats, and towels; cleaning the dishwasher/microwave/stovetop, organizing the pantry/fridge/freezer, changing our air filter, cleaning out our cars, dusting, and bathrooms. I obvi do it more than monthly if it is bugging me, but monthly is the bare minimum.

Right now while home on mat leave I use a weekly action plan, posted below. Some of those things aren't "chores" but I like checking them off and I need them written down. When I go back to work, I'll have the morning, after work, and after bedtime routine checklist printed and posted so that I don't forget items, and DH can help.

@Iced Tea: yes! My 3 year old does this random klepto shopping thing around the house. Her favorite dumping ground is my closet.

As for dishes... this is what we do so I don't grasp how people fall behind, we grew up with this system too. (if they have a dishwasher - we didn't for a while and omg I hated it)
My husband grew up with a method of place everything in the sink/counter and mom will deal with it. LOL not happening anymore pal.

Every single thing gets a quick rinsed and immediatly put in the DW. No stopping in the sink or on the counter. Large items get washed immediatly and medium items that lots of people handwash... I stick them in the DW too. Every night the dishwasher runs. Every morning I empty it. I put everything in it. Kid cups, plates, we use glass Tupperware, etc. There's never anything sitting out because it's home is clean and away, or dirty in the DW.

@Mrs. Champagne: same here

It’s been harder since going back to work part time but we are pretty tidy people. I think it helps not to have too much stuff. Everything has a place in our house and we try to do things as we go. I never go to sleep with a dirty kitchen but I also barely wash my floors () so I’d say our house is more tidy then it is clean. An easy first step is to get rid of clutter. That makes it feel way more clean and organized!

@gotkimchi: How old are your kids? I set my one year old in her playpen and get the four year old to help me unload and lie the dishwasher. But I know you might not have time for that, or have kids that are old enough.

One rule I put into place last year was that I would no longer have anything that couldn't go into the dishwasher, aside from cutting boards. I need to be able to throw EVERYTHING in there. I also buy Cascade platinum action packs because with the really good detergent, I don't need to pre wash and I can put my bottles in there. The time it saves me is worth the extra money (plus I buy in bulk on Amazon).

@gotkimchi: I usually do it as they finish up breakfast! So we sit, they eat (so slowly!) I finish eating before them, unload dishwasher. Really only takes like 2 mins. Or they like to "help" aka pass me stuff. I just grab all the knives out first.
I do stay home though, so we aren't very rushed in the morning.. except getting to pre school twice a week.

How long does your dishwasher take? You could turn it on right after dinner and unload right before you go to bed. We typically turn it on as we head to bed.

I generally unload dishes while I am getting ready/making breakfast or just before I head out the door. DH usually loads the dishwasher just before he goes to bed. I prefer he do it right after dinner but he rarely does things exactly when I want! If I don't unload in the morning, he will ask me to do it at night so he can load or worse...he won't load.

Oh and to make unloading super easy...I just unload and stack in similar groups right on top of the dishwasher area, then put away large groups of things. DH painfully does one dish at a time so I had to just takeover. Plus he puts it in the wrong place and it drives me bananas. Loading...he is very picky bc he wants everything to fit in one load and he thinks there is a right/wrong way. I guess THIS is why we are meant to be together.

@Mrs. High Heels: yes about multi-tasking! I am all about clean as you go when cooking. My DH is not and it makes me crazy! We no longer have a dishwasher so we hand wash everything straight away after every meal. Otherwise we get pests.

I also have tidy habits, like clothes never go on the floor, they go in the basket or hung back up if they aren’t really dirty. If I use something, I put it away immediately. I’m trying to get my kids to do this. I think it’s too late to save my DH . I also try to keep the kitchen counter clear of clutter and have everyone put away their stuff at the end of the day. We have a house cleaner and she does the heavy lifting, but I still spot vacuum and wipe down surfaces as needed.

@Anagram: haha my husband also just puts tbingns down everywhere! Always batteries in random spots. Pens on the bathroom counter. 🤔

@gotkimchi: the best gift I got for my dh (and my own sanity) was a set of tiles. He has one in his wallet, one on his keys and the apps on his phones. Click the tile or hit the button on the app and all of they go off so you can find the missing one. He uses it multiple times a week for the same reason.

I am a totally neat freak but have lowered my standards a lot since kids I also do not use cleaning people. I've used them once and I may use them bi-annually for the stuff I'd never clean like door trims, sliding door tracks, random stuff like that.

I WOH, so the only time I have during the week is at night after bed time, which I am freed from probably earliest 8:45pm since I put our youngest to bed. DH puts our oldest to bed which takes less time, so he'd come down first and do all the dishes and any chores I assigned him (usually vacuum/mop or start a load of laundry). Then when I come down, I finish up wiping dining table/kitchen, putting things away, getting stuff ready for the next day, etc.

I also assign bigger chores and break them down to do over the week. For example -
Mon: Our landry
Tues: Vacuum/Mop
Wed: Flexible
Thurs: Flexible
Fri: Clean bathrooms, vacuum/mop
(Fri for us is overloaded b/c we'd have people over and then I want to clean away all the germs haha)
Sat: Flexible
Sun: Girls laundry
So on the flexible days it would be doing other laundry like towels, dirty rags, bedding. Or it could be I needed to organize something, etc.

I try not to leave anything for weekend day time so we can spend it as a family. I think all the work I do constantly to upkeep prevents us having to so something so huge that is unattainable. And this is still a lot of work, but again, I have super high standards when it comes to cleanliness and clutter, so it's worth it for me.