Hellobee Boards

I am overwhelmed by it too, but it's so routine at this point and I'm a neat freak so I'd sacrifice sleep to clean

Daily - Vacuum, tidy up all living areas
Every 3rd day - Steam mop
Once a week chores that I plan out in advance what to tackle each night
- Clean bathrooms (2) * I clean tub while I'm in the shower once a week *
- Wash/dry one load of laundry (be it clothes, towels, bedding, dirty rags)
- Put away load of laundry
Once a month-ish
- Scrub our sink
- Clean out pantries/fridge for expired/old food
Bi-annually
- Purge, re-organize stuff

Also, it helps A LOT that DH and I divide this so we get it done sooner together. I don't really do much deep cleaning; my goal was to hire someone to do deep cleaning annually but in the 5+ years I've had kids, I've only done it once haha.

To add, are you overwhelmed b/c there is even more you're doing at night after bedtime, like prepping for tomorrow, etc? For me I mostly just have these chores plus any special projects. We currently don't really meal prep in the sense that we pre-cut/cook stuff, and DH makes their lunches in the AM since we're not super rushed so I don't spend time doing some of the prep stuff at night.

I just dont. My house is often a disaster. But I get to spend more time with my kids.
I try and make sure the floor is clean because Cassius is crawling. And I try and keep the kitchen clean. That's about all that happens.

I figure it's a season. This year we plan to pay for my mom to fly down about every 6 weeks to help me clean. She's down and I'd rather have my mom visit than pay cleaners

I don't have time to clean during the week, other than to keep the dishes taken care of and the kitchen counters clean. I insist that the kids tidy up their toys and their room before bed, but this is a real struggle in our house. There's just not enough hours in the day to get everything done.

I definitely do not have a system. I vacuum the carpeted areas once a week and sweep the kitchen (wood floors) when I can (probably 5 times a week?). Laundry whenever I have time. Bathrooms I wipe the counters/sinks down pretty frequently and do the toilets at least weekly. We had to get a cleaning service—we just couldn’t keep up both working FT and DH having especially long hours. We would completely lose our weekends to cleaning before this.

I’m a total neat freak so everything gets done almost every day. I SAH though so things like laundry are a bit more manageable.
Everyday:
- beds are made
- clothes put away
- every dish is done before bed
- all toys put away
- counters/table wiped
Every 2-3 days:
- vacuum
- fold laundry
Then I spend one weekend day every other weekend doing a “deep clean.” That includes: washing floors, baths, toilets, bathroom counters, mirrors, dusting, etc. I really don’t mind these 3ish hours. It’s sort of “my” time to just put in headphones and go to town. I feel so satisfied after. I feel way worse being stuck in a dirty house all day so a little less down time everyday is better for me than waking up to a messy house.

@crazydoglady: same thing with LL, she won't let me put her down at ALL basically after about 3pm, or if I do I pay for it in hearing her fussing and crying you're not alone. re cleaning, did you get anything out of that other post a couple days ago on new years efficiency? There was some good stuff on there. The only thing I'm doing lately that makes a significant difference is making the boy "help" me pick up all the toys before dinnertime, so I'm not overwhelmed with a crazy cluttered shit show mess after baby bedtime which is solely on me to clean up. Right now he needs a ton of supervision and nagging to put the duplos etc AWAY instead of just playing with them more, but I want to set the groundwork for kids picking up after themselves, and it's getting a little better.

@annem1990: I love reading your posts on these cleaning/decluttering boards, they're inspiring!

Honestly I have the option to work from home once a week and I use the time I would have spent commuting to do housework. I try to tackle laundry, vacuuming/dusting and bathrooms while no one else is home. The kitchen is cleaned up every evening and I deep clean probably every other week.

@caitcat: Soooo many crumbs! During the week the only meal the kids eat at home is dinner so I sweep every night and swiffer the floor at least 2x a week. It drives me crazy because they are always trying to play on the floor in the kitchen.

Yeah.... I don't stay on top of cleaning. At all. After several weeks of morning sickness while DH was working late hours, our house is a disaster. Every time I think I'm caught up on laundry, my son wets the bed three days in a row. Thanks bud...

I've let go the deep cleaning expectation entirely, I have a counter and sink full of wash by hands to do and there is a clean laundry pile across the hall from the dirty laundry pile.

The only thing that helps is to invite people over and then DH actually pitches in to help move the clutter out of sight. Usually to our room.

I did have a breakthrough with the kids though, I wear a blanket over my head while they do a 'magic trick' of putting their toys away so when I look all the toys are gone. They really got into that last week.

@codeitall: omg you're a genious...I'm totally going to do that w my kids.. They'd fall for it completely