How do you keep your house clean?

sunnyday16

It's impossible! DH and I were both off yesterday so we finally got something accomplished. But it seems like anytime we try to clean when Cora is home, we get started and then stop to give her a bottle, play with her, etc and then just stop cleaning. Of course I would love to hire a cleaning lady but that isn't in the budget right now.

kittycarr

I just pray really, really hard that it does it itself....

Then after a glass or two or ten of wine, I see that it has.

shouldbworkin

I have a cleaning lady come e/o week.  In between, I just clean up after my kids when they make a mess.  Lately, I've been waking up early to clean up a bit.  By the time dinner is over and my kids are in bed, I'm too tired to care if there are dishes in my sink.

curlilocks1207

I had a little bit of a nervous breakdown sunday because my house is definitely the messiest it has ever been. Normally I have 1 day off each week and I use that to get caught up on housework, but I didn't have that last week. I try to do a little bit every day so that nothing gets too far behind and then catch everything else up on the weekends. It is no where near as clean as it was before LO arrived, but I am trying not to stress about it too much.

bumpuser511563

LOL! DH and I clean the living room and kitchen on the weekends and its only clean on the weekends. During the weekdays everything is tossed everywhere. Oh well!

MrsT1209

We deep clean one room every night or every other night.  We pick up for a half hour after DD goes to bed.  Kitchen is cleaned every day.

Resa77063

We get by cleaning one room at a time.  I do try to keep the kitchen clean as much as possible.  I really have no choice with the kitchen.  Our counter tops and appliances are all black....and the tile is a cream color.  There is no way to hide spills, splashes, or left over food marks at all.

Our bedroom and master bath....that's a different story. 

sunnyday16

I like a clean house but DH is so anal about having everything spotless. He's so unrealistic about keeping a clean house with a baby around. I told him he should just clean the house and quit complaining.

DDearinger

I'm still trying to figure this out... so far its been an epic FAIL. 

pahokie

Very poorly.

We do daily basics in the kitchen - dishes, wipe down countertops, etc. I try to do some picking up as needed during the week, in between dinner prep or during an evening nap from DD.

DH has every other Friday off, so he mops the floors, vacuums, cleans the bathrooms, and does occasional cleaning like the stovetop.

I usually do laundry on Sunday afternoon. I dust on a weekend or holiday when I can remember (or when our allergies just can't take it anymore!).

AutumnBride929

Two letters: DH.

lol  He keeps the house clean.  I really can't take any credit for it.  He's the best.

mltaylor23

Ugh, I have this issue too. I usually spend my weekend putting everything back together. I love my DH, but he is pretty terrible about cleaning or putting things back in the right spot.

When DD starts crawling we are going to rubberband rags to her knees and hands so she can mop the floor and dust.

gypsywitch

we do a big cleaning every weekend, and throughout the week we pick up clutter.

SoldiersGreenBean

How do we keep our house clean?

We don't.  I lowered my standards a lot.

For clarification, we don't live in a pigsty.  We all have clean dishes and clean underwear.  We sleep in clean sheets.  Our floors and the dust could use more attention. 

blondie75

Cleaning person every other week.  Well worth every penny.

sunnyday16

mltaylor23:

When DD starts crawling we are going to rubberband rags to her knees and hands so she can mop the floor and dust.

Hillarious!  I can't wait to have kids that can clean the house!

The_Jen626

I have a cleaning woman that comes every Thursday.  When money is tight, we have had her come every other week instead.  Having a cleaning lady is a necessity for me and DH, we have had her in our budget for 4 years now.  We both hate cleaning but value a clean house.

It's NOT that expensive.  Could you cut back cable or something?  We pay $50 a visit, and it's worth every penny.  I would literally cut back so many things before I would cancel our cleaning lady, if we ever had to budget crunch, she is staying IN the budget!!

qw23fv09ij87tf23

I try to do the daily pick up of toys, shoes, clothes, etc. But for the actual cleaning work, we have a cleaning lady that comes every other week. She also does a deeping cleaning every six months.

notmommyoftheyear

We try to keep things picked up and decluttered as possible and then have a cleaning lady come in every other week.  Prior to breaking down and getting the help, I had to have my parents come over to watch DD while I cleaned.  And that sucked,  Big time.  The $100 a month for a cleaning lady is completely worth it.  I'd cut something else out of my budget before I cut that. 

carrie4g

I have a very clean house and I'm lucky to have a house cleaner every other week. Like the above PP, it is so easy to cut out $25 from the grocery bill, or $25 on eating out or something to afford it and it is worth my sanity.

I have the kind of home where anyone can stop by at any time and it is spotless.  About 3 months ago I went on flylady and started de-cluttering my house. That makes it a lot easier to keep it clean and makes the house look cleaner. DS toys are in the corner of the family room with bins. Each night after he goes to bed one of us puts away his toys. That takes all of 5 minutes. I clean as I cook, I frequently run the dishwasherand don't let it sit, I do all wash on Fridays when I work from home and then we fold it all on Friday night and put it away on Sat. morning. I use that swifter wet jet and clean the floors once a week. I vaccum first and then swifter and I'm done in like 10 minutes. I'm also a big fan of those lysol wipes. I keep them in the bathroom and quickly swipe the counters or the bathroom floor to clean up my hair. I also scan a room when I leave and pick/put things away. I also have tons of laundry baskets and I load things that are in the bedroom that don't belong in a bin and carry it downstairs and then empty it. That sort of thing.

I advise you and your DH cleaning every other weekend and then working really hard to keep it straight and clean in between. When it becomes out of control is when it feels overwhelming.  It is a true that the first year of DS' life it was very hard to keep a clean house and now I find it easier.

Other women have posted before about using bins for the baby's clothing. Dont' both folding - it is a time waster. I use lots of plastic bins and have more than half his toys in bins in the garage and then swap them out every 2 months. There was an article in Real Simple about cleaning the bathroom in 5 minutes. They made it sound so easy and I know people do that during bath time.  I hope some of my points help!

luvmagoldn

During the week our house is tidy - but only because the nanny is in charge.  On the weekends I am usually clearning the breakfast dishes so I can put down the lunch dishes!  I am pretty sure she cringes when she comes in every Monday.  We try not to leave her a big mess but I'm sure she shakes her head. 

As for real cleaning we have cleaning people that come every two weeks.  Aside from vacuuming the kitchen floor every night to get all the crumbs I really do next to nothing between visits.

arob2009

I don't really have it figured out by any means.  But, I can tell you some things that work.  I have to get my pump cleaned every night, so I put all the parts & bottles in the dishwasher.  Since i have to run it anyway, the dishes get loaded. 

*sometimes I don't unload the old (clean) dishes and just re-run them if I am lazy.

My husband helps a lot by sweeping/mopping on the weekend/every other weekend.

I run laundry as needed--sometimes it doesnt get folded for two days.

 

mclaugaa

Sailor Saturn:

LOL! DH and I clean the living room and kitchen on the weekends and its only clean on the weekends. During the weekdays everything is tossed everywhere. Oh well!

thats my house too

Printergirl

Tidy every evening (as in pick up toys and the kitchen as much as possible), laundry throughout the week/weekend (it may or may not get put away).

Cleaning lady every other week. I almost had a breakdown this summer with work/family travel/baby and the house. It was too much and I started looking for someone.

Pesky

Umm, with a maid service.  Otherwise, we keep lots of cubbies and bins around to throw things into.  I use baskets to stash our stuff to go upstairs - one for DH, one for me and one for each of the kids.  And I focus on areas or tasks.  Last night was a big mail sort and kitchen clean-up.  Tonight is probably laundry and den.  Someone said that she sets a timer for 20 minutes and cleans as much as she can and when the timer dings she's done cleaning and tackles whatever is left over the next night.  That seemed like a good idea.

katesmom73

I don't worry about it as much anymore.  Our weekends are bad enough with all the errands we run.  When I see dirt, I clean it but I probably de-clutter more than anything else and that is what keeps me sane.

epuorro

We clean on the weekends.  But...I got my husband a hand held dirt devil for Christmas and we use it ALL of the time.  We cook a lot and tend to have a lot of crumbs on the floor.  So, we use the dirt devil to clean up after cooking.  It's much faster then getting the vacuum out. 

tidetravel

For those of you that have cleaning services every other week, what exactly do they do? 

caitlet425

sunnyday16:

I like a clean house but DH is so anal about having everything spotless. He's so unrealistic about keeping a clean house with a baby around. I told him he should just clean the house and quit complaining.

 

This is my DH too. I finally just said that if it's THAT important to him, he can deal with it. I can only do what I can do. Regretably, I am not supermom.

BlairWaldorf

I tidy up every evening after Harrison goes down - that keeps the clutter & mess down.  Every night, I wipe down the counters in the kitchen & bathrooms.  & on Sundays, I clean - vacuum, change sheets, mop floors, dust, clean showers, etc.

The good news is, I've found that our house stays cleaner since returning to work since we're only home & awake about 4 hours out of the day.

& I've also let my standards of "clean" slip - it used to be that I never had company without cleaning my baseboards & I washed all area rugs every week.  But now, I don't think my baseboards have been cleaned since Harrison was born.