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Honestly I couldn't manage without our cleaners that come once a week. Other than that sharing responsibilities with my DH helps. The one not doing bedtime cleans the kitchen and loads the dishwasher while the other one usually unloads it the next morning etc.

We finally bit the bullet and pay for a cleaning service every 4 weeks (tried out places via groupons first). So at least we are guaranteed clean then! And really, the house is just mostly messy a lot and we live with it. It does drive me crazy but its never ending! We did get a roomba to deal with the fur from our 4 pets which helps the house feel messy rather than dirty. I try to at least clean up the kitchen before I go to bed, but yesterday I was exhausted from being up all night with sick LO the night before and basically went to bed after dinner and left a giant mess!

House cleaner! Our house would be mess without one.

We caved and hired a housekeeper but only once a month, much more affordable, and they do a deep clean and I just maintain between visits.

We have a house cleaner every other week so she does the major stuff. I also don't work out, lol! I'm with you, though, that when I get home with LO (usually around 5), I try to be as present as possible, so usually we just play and I get his dinner ready/feed him. As far as dishes, the only dishes we hand wash are pots/pans, wood cutting boards - everything else (bottles, straw cups, etc) goes in the dishwasher. We end up running the dishwasher basically every day but overall it's definitely a time-saver. It ends up being that our only regular weeknight cleaning chores are: straightening the playroom/toys, washing any hand-wash dinner items, wiping counters/table/highchair, and sweeping floors. I would say that takes about 10 minutes per person, plus then I pack LO's lunch.

The only chore I regularly try to do with LO present (he's 14 months) is laundry. He will "help" me sort and transfer stuff into the machines. Then DH & I will often fold and put away laundry while we watch TV at night. For LO's laundry, the main actions (putting it in the machine and folding/putting away) happen during the bedtime routine - so DH will bathe him while I throw it in the machine, or I'll fold/put away while DH reads stories.

Edited to add: my major rule that helps with clutter is that any time I go up and down the stairs, I have to bring at least one item that belongs on the other floor (shoes, water glasses, things that belong in LO's room are the major offenders). I'm trying to get DH on board with this rule but he's not very consistent with it!

I happily pay someone to outsource that job. When I work all week and raise a toddler and I'm 36 weeks pregnant and I want to spend some time with my husband, I do NOT want to spend my weekends cleaning toilets.

Pay someone to do it and lower my standards in between that time. Working full time, raising two toddlers, pregnant with #3, and having a husband that has a shift schedule is enough work for me. I don't want to spend any free time cleaning. And honestly, my mom lives with me now and she is one of those people who cannot sit still and hates seeing things dirty. So she often spot cleans in between.

We have been using a cleaning service since DS was 3 months old. It is HUGE for saving our sanity. Our weekends had become stressful exhausting days filled with chores and cleaning and we were fed up. We also try to do laundry and grocery shopping during the week whenever possible!

I hear you. I don't work out and we have a cleaning person come every other week. I tidy up every evening, but many times I don't. Something had to give, so it was working out. I hope to incorporate it back into my life next year.

I don't. LOL. Time spent w DD is more important to me. I do a quick "pick up" every night after she goes to bed but as far as cleaning... we "tidy" as we go so nothing gets really crazy and that's about it. Our plan is to get a housecleaner 2 times a month once DH gets his promotion at work (Feb 1.) I can't wait!!!
ETA: we are also a pet less house. We used to have cats and that required much more cleaning.

@Adira: same here!!

I really wish we could hire a house cleaner, but I think our money would be better spent else where.

We dont really clean during the week nights. We clean up the kitchen and do dishes and thats about it. Keeping the house picked up is enough. General laundry and stuff like that but not actually cleaning. Usually once a week I do a sweep of the floors.

I do wish I could find time because when I do stay on top of like even just taking 2 minutes to wipe down the bathroom, its so much easier to do a deep cleaning.

Then on the weekend, we just try to find the time to get it all done.

We have a house cleaner come every other week. For little stuff DH and I divide and conquer after LO goes to bed. We basically put her down then immediately do all the tidying to get it over with so we can relax the rest of the night. I pick up all of her toys, clean off her high chair, put everything back where it goes and DH cleans off the table from dinner and loads the dishwasher.

I SAH and our house doesn't stay clean...it drives me crazy! Paying for a housecleaning service just isn't in the books. But man...SAH/WAHM/WOHM, it's tough to keep the house clean with kids!

Another house cleaner lover here! She comes every other week and is super reasonable. I love coming home to a clean house. We tidy up here and there, but having a good cleaning top to bottom? Amazing.

We don't have it in our budget for any cleaning service so I've made do! I am SOO OCD about a clean house, esp after DD went mobile, so I try to make cleaning work! I'm motivated b/c I want DD to live in a nice clean home haha!

Firstly I love my Roomba. Got it before kids but now I love it more than ever. I run it on some level of our house daily. That way, we rarely bust out the Dyson.

I clean up the kitchen every night after dinner that takes like 10-15 minutes. That way I never have to deep clean the kitchen either, except once a month I clean out the grease trap on the stove, and scrub the sink, etc.

Laundry is the most time consuming but that part is okay. Sometimes we leave stuff in there for a few days.. Oh well!

On the weekends I clean the bathrooms when DD naps.

The most time consuming is mopping the floors and I do it at least 2x a week b/c DD is everywhere... We just take turns with it really.

There really isn't much time left to relax, but for now, to me, a clean house is more important lol! I'm ok with just having like half an hour to 45 min to catch up on my phone or watch 1 show.

I'm a full-time grad student right now and my house is a mess. I don't know how I'd manage to get any work done if it was clean.

@DillonLion: Hahaha, and sadly, as soon as she's down I'm like, woohoo! Bathroom cleaning time!

@DillonLion: I'm the type that can't relax if my house isn't clean. So it's moot if I rather skip cleaning to relax b/c I just can't relax thinking about how dirty my house is, lol