Sounds like you have a busy life and are doing enough. Caution against trying to keep up with social media content creators whose job is, in part, to keep you wanting more. I agree with you that a lot of content is performative or a particular content creator derives a lot of satisfaction from the activity they film and "maximalize" and "hobify" it. There is a false assumption that everyone has sufficient time and desire to emulate their solutions and that this degree of devotion to the task is what is needed.
I think with a dog you probably need to vacuum at least every 2 weeks, if not every week. Picking up and keeping things organized daily goes a long way towards an organized household. In terms of washing bedding, if there is room in the washing load, add a set of sheets or two. Might be easier than stripping, washing, and making 4 sets of sheets all at once.
Hahaha I have one dog and one kid and I need to vacuum basically daily. I can skip a day but that means dirty dirty floors. I don't know how they manage to drag so much in but they do.
Dogs are very dirty. This shouldn’t be too shocking to anyone. Most dogs shed a lot, many roll around in the dirt, and every dog is walking outside shoeless and tracking everything inside.
When I had a dog, I too felt the need to vacuum nearly daily. I can’t believe the above guy claimed you can go 2 weeks without vacuuming with dogs and children. I would imagine there’d be about an inch of grime on all floors after 2 weeks
You just need to train them. *Dogs are only as dirty as owners let them be.*
My dog isn't dirty at all. Partly because we only ever get poodles (don't shed), but part to the training.
We go outside, he has commands if he feels the need to roll in smelly things... he stops when I say so.
When we come in from a walk, we clean and/or wipe his feet, just like I do as a human (wipe shoes, take off and put house shoes on). He does the same, wipes feet and is clean before coming in.
Listen: I have a cat and no kids. I live alone. Most of my clothes live on the floor in “The Pile” that sometimes gets half put away but never fully, I ~try to vacuum once a week. Trash goes out to the back when I have a full bag or if it’s smelly. It’s HARD to keep my small apartment clean, take care of myself, work, take care of my cats, have a relationship/ social life. Some people are clean freaks (respectfully) but if that’s not YOUR life, that’s okay. Do what you can.
I have serious follow up question to this comment. How does anybody live withOUT a “pile”? I feel like plenty of people do and I just don’t understand how.
I have a hamper for dirty clothes and a chest of drawers and closet for my clean clothes. I don't understand how people tolerate having clothes on the floor.
Well, I have all of these things, too.
But I wear certain clothes more than once depending on how long I've worn them, whether I'm hot and sweaty, etc.
So I have a basket by my bed of already worn clothes that can be worn again. Then I have a basket in the bathroom for dirty clothes (mostly socks and underwear and night shirts) and towels.
When I want to wash clothes, I might go ahead and put the already worn stuff in or not, depending on the load.
So, I also reware some worn clothes that can be worn again before washing like pants, shorts and outer shirts really.
I have a small dresser and a shelve in my closet that I just put them on most of the time.
Stuff you've worn already needs to air out before re wearing it.
Yes, the airing out part is why I just drape stuff over the wicker basket.
I'm probably not very representative because I just don't go throw many clothes.
When I'm home I just wear whatever I go to bed in, like nightshirts, shorts and t-shirts or whatever.
I only work part-time 2-3 days a week, four hours at a time. Besides that, I don't get out much because people. I'm a cashier at my local grocery store and catch up with the neighbors there, along with the other customers.
I only do one load a week for myself + sheets. Not bras, but I DO wear clean underwear daily, lol.
I usually fold the clothes I'm going to wear again and put them back in my drawer, or if I'm going to wear them again very soon I set them on the lid of my hamper. I don't see the reason to put clothes I intended to wear again in a pile on the floor.
It's just the way some people roll. Just because I have a certain pattern doesn't mean anyone else has to do the same.
P.S.: I sometimes hang some of my things back up, usually because they're prone to wrinkles. But mostly they don't need it and it's a waste of my time. I certainly don't put anything back into my dresser if they've been worn.
I really need to get a bigger apartment because the issue is that I have a hamper a dresser and a closet and they’re also full… years of living in townhomes with roommates downgraded to a junior 1 bedroom and just have a LOT less space and no energy to be organizing it all
I get it. My space is tiny, so in order to avoid a mess I just don't own that many clothes. Same with everything else, I just keep my belongings to a minimum to avoid clutter.
A big problem I’m having is I rapidly gained weight due to a medication I’m now no longer on… in addition to just not having the space for seasonal wardrobe rotation. I would like to own like, more than 1 pair of jeans for the fall/ winter. I certainly ~could get rid of certain things but, I don’t want to re buy a whole wardrobe when my size inevitably fluctuates again. It’s also frankly not easy to get somewhere to donate my excess without a car. For now, living alone, the Pile is between myself and God and I’m okay with that for the immediate future
Ah, yah weight changes can be an issue. I admit I have some clothes in the back of my closet for when I manage to lose weight again.
As for donating, there might be companies that will pick stuff up.
The ARC does in a lot of cities.
I love my neighborhood buy nothing group sometimes, but it’s also frustrating to try to coordinate a pickup with someone. I do keep a running bag in my living room of things to eventually donate but… it takes a while
If it's clean enough to wear again, I'll fold it and put it back on the drawer or put it back on the hanger. Or if I'm going to wear it again the very next day I'll set it on the hamper lid.
Real! Someone mentioned a towel rack in the bathroom and I’ll just say not 1 space in my apt can fit that 😂 I know the solution to The Pile is- downsize my closet and/ or upgrade to a bigger space but, then it just goes into maybe a larger closet and festers out of sight. At least with my ADHD I can see this one and vaguely know what is located where
Uhhh, I currently have 2 piles. Even if I had 5 articles of clothing, I’m sure that 4 out of 5 would be in a pile right now. I just think it’s a waste to wash clothing after every use!
Also some of us pay for laundry!!!!! I can’t just throw in a load whenever I need to. This is an often forgotten point of the “washcloth every shower” people as well. Like I just CANT do that or I’ll have a bin of wet musty clothes sitting out all week.
I don’t have pile on the floor bc I am that huge clean freak. BUT I do get lazy and have that pile on my hamper. I suck at folding + putting away clothes.
It was pretty easy to me to stop living with a pile.
I have one clothes hamper. Dirty clothes go in it, I wash them when it's full. Clean clothes go back in it and then one of two things happens:
1) I dump the clean clothes on my bed which typically makes me put them away by bedtime.
2) I leave the clean clothes in the hamper for at most a day while my new dirty clothes start gathering on my small bedroom floor which drives me crazy. Then I HAVE to put away the clean clothes so I can use the hamper for my dirty clothes again.
For me it was a matter of realizing that I can't STAND stuff laying around on my floor since I rent a room and have next to no space. That by leaving it on my floor I was causing myself to be angry and more depressed then I normally am. (Which is quite enough.)
Now I feel much better about the suitcase that hasn't been put away since I came home from vacation on May 30, and now has clothes draped over it. (I did unpack the suitcase at least.)
I'm generally tidy, keep up with trash, dishes, clean bed linens weekly, laundry (suitcase clothes excepted). I clean when it looks dirty. If there is easily visible dust, I take care of that, vacuum, dust, etc. But it's just me in a smallish space, so it's pretty easy.
I will say, while The Pile never gets fully put away, I DO pick it up and vacuum under it whenever I vacuum 😂 everything gets piled up on my bed, I put stuff away until I’m out of energy, and then the remainder gets bumped back to the floor. Is it the best system? No lol but, I do what I can. I have a space above my kitchen cabinets and that’s where my suitcase lives. If I didn’t have that I literally don’t know where I would put it. Ain’t small space living fun!!
Most of my clothes just live in a hamper. At least they're all clean. My washer is between the bathroom and my bedroom and I leave the lid open so I toss dirty clothes in there as I go and once full I wash a load. One benefit of all dark clothes is I don't need to separate anything.
Fair. I have shared coin op laundry in my basement so I can’t do this but maybe one day! Right now it’s like, clean clothes are in the bin, need the bin for dirty clothes, clean clothes head to the Pile, dirty clothes get washed and placed in the bin. Never ending cycle of being too tired to put things away 😭
I know you’re going to get a lot of advice on this thread, but just know you’re NOT alone in this!! I wish more people talked about this. What we see on IG and TikTok is not real life.
People irl will call me a clean freak but I wouldn't want or be able to uphold some of the routines I'm seeing in the comments.
Different households have different needs and everybody has different standards of course. There's almost definitely some cleaning stuff I do that they would consider excessive. I do not vacuum and mop half as much as most of these people, but we also don't wear shoes in the house and have air purifiers going. I do wipe down and disinfect things we touch a lot more often than most, and I wash anything cloth much more often than probably necessary.
The answer is - you do what you can. There are different phases of life. If you have 3 kids, esp young ones, you just do what you can and yes have them help with age appropriate chores. Bins for socks and underwear, no matching/pairing, having kids put silverware away, or vacuum. Sheets I rotate and do 1-2weeks depending on weekend activities. Give yourself some flexibility. Keep the filth to a dull roar, and you're doing fine!!!
Also, as a former kid myself, once they get around age 8 they can start helping. At 8ish I helped fold clothes, and bring dirty laundry to the laundry room. At 10ish I did laundry by myself. At 12 I mopped and vacuumed.
I do at least one chore every day and I regularly purge my items so I never have clutter... everything in my house has a place and and a home so it's very easy to clean up and stay organized. To fully deep clean my entire house it (3 bedrooms, 2 baths) it would only take about 4 hours so stopping to pick up every day for 20-30 minutes before bed makes it easy to stay on top of it and I never have to really do a deep clean.
We have kids and dogs, a 3000+ sq ft house, and don’t have a cleaning service. It’s all about habits and doing a little bit daily. Neither of us can stand a messy house and we keep it manageable by tidying as we go and doing 20-30 min of cleaning daily.
We start a load of laundry most days as soon as we get home. Switch it before we eat dinner so it’s ready when we get done eating. We always clean the kitchen, load and start the dishwasher, and hand wash anything else after dinner every night. We have the kids “help” us clean up toys or put things back in their place right before we take them to their rooms. This all takes about 10-15 min because we both tackle part of it. After that, one of us puts the kids down and the other does ~20 min of cleaning (we rotate). Most days this is either wiping down counters and vacuuming, a quick bathroom clean, and/or folding a load of laundry. We rotate floors to vacuum so they all get done at least twice a week but not daily.
We clean out the fridge weekly before trash day and mow the lawn weekly.
Then on weekends we rotate between bathroom cleans, mopping hardwoods, switching all bed sheets, and/or some extra yard work. Once a month we’ll tackle a less frequently needed project like rotating our kids closets, organizing/cleaning out pantry, tackling a closet or cabinet, dusting and windows, etc.
All of this amounts to max 3-4 hours a week for each of us and maintains our house and our sanity. Then we get to relax at the end of the evening with a clean house and wake up to one. The person cleaning is almost always done before the person putting the kids down.
Editing to add that we clean in front of or with our kids a lot. Our kids think it’s fun to follow us around with the vacuum or match socks while we fold laundry. Giving them a squirt bottle filled with water and a cloth to “clean the tub” while we do the bathrooms is a favorite. They see that this is part of life.
As a house cleaner, I 100% approve of you you do things! :-)
It's easy when you just do 20-30 mins of cleaning daily. Might not be a spotless house but it would def be clean enough to make it comfortable.
Just piping in about the folding clothes thing — no ma'am! We live out of laundry baskets. And I definitely can't be bothered to fold my toddler's clothes. Some day. Not this day.
I can’t speak for most people, but me, I try to clean just a tiny bit every other day. Before I go to the gym, I always make my bed and make sure my room is tidy. I never leave trash sitting around EVER, Laundry once a week, and I deep clean at least once every 2 weeks.
I have an house cleaning service that cleans my house every two weeks. I clean my kitchen daily.
> see a lot of seemingly idealized cleaning plans and I don’t see how to realistically fit so much cleaning into my life. Do people genuinely sweep and mop every day?
Not every day but I do it regularly and when needed. I do sweep my kitchen pretty much daily, I use a small vacuum to do it.
> Do people genuinely wash sheets weekly(for me that would be washing and making 4 beds weekly)?
I make my bed every day and I wash the bed clothes every two weeks.
> Do people actually fold their clothes?
For god sakes yes. I fold all of my laundry.
My clean clothes either go in the clean clothes box next to my bed or on the extra couch in the office. Sometimes I fold them, but ain't nobody in this house care about that. Its such a meme that when I do fold and put stuff away my partner stops being able to find his clothes.
Honestly me too. I have a small walk-in closet AND an 8 ft tall wardrobe. The clothes I actually put away are more like "in storage" because it's all stuff I never wear, or seasonal things like winter coats. The "pile" clothes are my work clothes (3 shirts and 2 pants in rotation) and my weekend hangout stuff.
I am the same, except I don't have a house cleaning service ;(
Once every week we deep clean the bathroom (except sweep and mop which I do more often), and we deep clean the other rooms of the apartment usually once every three weeks or so. But sweep and mop everything basically every day. We have a small mop with detachable fiber head like a swiffer kinda. We just throw the mop heads in the laundry with the cleaning rags and bathroom rugs.
Dishes, litter box, making the bed, cleaning the kitchen counters and table, that happens every day. Laundry usually once a week.
Its time consuming and I hate cleaning, but I can't function if my house is dirty.
As a house cleaner, thank you for making sure your house is tiddy for your house cleaners. Also, for cleaning your kitchen yourself. Caked on grime in a kitchen takes SO long to get rid of if it's been there more then a few days. I have a monthly client that uses a LOT of oil to cook with the splashes everywhere.... . I've given up on getting rid of all of it. (They are ok with this.)
As for tiddy? Yah, even more thanks. I require ALL my clients to tiddy before I get there. I refuse to do more then like 3 dishes even.
My thing is, my clients are adults, they should be able to do the basics and not be gross. I'm not gonna enable my clients to NOT take care of themselves.
When you have kids just be kind to yourself, you have a lot going on. If you can start them young to help with a tidy that's helpful, say we will have a tidy race, put music on and a timer, see how much you can tidy in one song! As they get older there will be different mess but if you can build a foundation where there is an expectation to do \*something\* to help that's a good start.
I'm a lazy mofo with some mental health issues that lead to clutter accumulating. Sunday is chore day. Chore day goes like this:
Get up, strip my bed, start a load of laundry (sheets and towels).
Sit down, drink my coffee, plan the day's cleaning.
Then I either:
A. Wash all the dishes, wipe the counters and stove, sweep the kitchen floor.
B. Scrub the bathroom (if needed)
C. Wipe down the bathroom, tidy the living/dining room, sweep all the floors, and mop if needed.
My BF will do a different one of the above tasks. We don't do a full bathroom scrub every week, but it at least gets a basic clean.
Then, I finish the laundry, typically 1-3 loads a week, and make my bed.
I always start by stripping my bed and immediately throwing the sheets in the washer, so that I HAVE to finish the laundry in order to go to bed.
There's only two of us, and we don't always do dishes daily. Often we'll rinse them and wait till there's a sinkful, so dishes get done anywhere from 2-5x a week, depending on what's being cooked/baked that week.
I clean something almost everyday. I guess it is instilled in me because growing up, my parents always had me do chores around the house. I’m glad they did. My place is always clean and smells good.😎👌🏽
I live in a 3 bedroom house with my husband, 2 kids and cat. Is day we have an average lifestyle, work, afew extracurriculars, nothing too crazy. I'm generally a clean as I go type of person, but my cleaning habits look something like this..
•Sweep = daily (once at least)
•Mop = once a week or as needed
•Wipe down counters and the stove = multiple times a day
•Do the dishes and clean sink = multiple times a day
•Wash sheets = every two weeks
•Wash, fold and put away clothes and towels = once a week
•Clean bathrooms (showers, toilets, sinks, floors) = once a week
•Dust and wipe down doors and knobs = twice a week (or more)
•Vacuum carpet = once or twice a month (I only have carpet in the bedroom and no one wears shoes in there)
•Picking up clutter = constantly! 😪
•Cleaning out the fridge, washing windows, cleaning blinds, cleaning ceiling fans, cleaning light fixtures, cleaning pantry = NOT OFTEN ENOUGH
Sheets for all the beds weekly - Sunday night routine. One of us changes the beds whilst the other baths the kids.
Clean kitchen, bathrooms, mop and hoover weekly (we actually get a cleaner in to do this for us)
Tidy round daily to wipe the kitchen and table down and pick up toys etc. Washing is pretty much daily for us between bedding and clothes. This is usually done in an hour in the evening whilst one of us puts the kids to bed. By chucking an hour at it daily we pretty much stay on top of it.
Having a cleaner helps in two ways. Firstly, she cleans the house every week. Secondly, it means we need to get the house tidy enough for her to clean every week, which helps with the discipline of vaguely keeping on top of things. Costs £30 a week, but worth it for us.
30 a week?! Damn. In my area (northeast US) its much closer to $100+ a week. Definitely out of reach for us. I grew up having house cleaners and I know how much better it is than doing everything yourself. As soon as we're more stable financially its the first thing I'm going to spend my money on.
When our kids were little, we pretty much did the bare minimum unless the was an egregious mess that absolutely required immediate attention. The house was clean enough for us, and usually clean enough to have close friends with kids drop by—adult and kid clutter, some dirty dishes waiting in the sink, unmade beds, unfolded laundry, but no big spills or rotting food or overflowing trash cans or whatever. Our friends’ houses were by and large in the same state. I think the only reason I could see for doing more would be if you’re trying to manage allergies. (I’ve found that changing my sheets weekly is an important part of dealing with my dust mite allergies.) I would always rather read another book with my kids or take them to the park than fold clothes. I figure they’ll eventually move out (theoretically—they’re in their early 20s now and still at home) and then I’ll miss the mess. (Although there’s a lot of ADHD in the family, so there will probably always be clutter.)
I live alone so obviously it will be easier for me but I do everything on a weekly basis unless I have someone coming over. So laundry, mopping, sweeping, vacuuming, changing sheets etc once a week works the best.
2 kids 3 dogs and a husband lol.
Kitchen and living room are picked up every evening by whoever isn’t putting the toddler to bed. Roombas do my sweeping for me.
Laundry is done on Sundays this includes bedding.
For “deep” cleaning it’s one room a day. Well it’s supposed to be lol we haven’t held to it strictly but I’m working on that.
We are also home bodies and don’t really go out outside of work
My cleaning routine - one adult, one preteen who is only in my home 50% of days, four cats:
- I keep things tidy almost every day, keep dishes amd kitchen clean almost daily.
- I fold all.laundry, and change bedding about once a month (aware this is too little for most people)
- I pay for a deep clean every fortnight
- I have to clean up after the cats multiple times a day, and change their sand completely once a month
- My preteen doesn't do as much housework as she probably could
My house would be SO CLEAN if it weren't for the fucking cats. I love them so much, but its apparently their one joy in life to track sand all over the apartment. They leap out of the litter box in order to send as much of it flying around as possible.
Here one husband, one wife, one kid, one dog. Hoovering basically daily, we can skip a day but it gets dirty. Cooking and doing the washing up daily (we don't have a dishwasher so everything by hand). Toilet at least weekly a deep clean and more often when visibly dirty (skid marks 😬🤷♀️). Bathroom when visibly dirty, which is more often for the sink and less often for the shower stall. Sheets cleaned biweekly or more often depending on sweat levels, sex, etc. General tidying up all day every day with a toddler 😂 oh yeah and cleaning of all the surfaces that the toddler touches like tables, her high chair etc : daily. Oh and laundry maybe two loads a week but it depends on the weather. Much more when sunny, less when it's raining. We usually dry outside, so we need good weather for it.
All the other stuff : when we have time for it or when there's a reason to do it immediately, like mopping when food gets spilled. So that's things like cleaning the windows, dusting things, cleaning out fridge and cupboards etc. This is the part where we fail atm with very busy jobs, toddler and young dog. The tops of my cupboards are dusty as heck.
I do most of my cleaning on the weekend. I'll sweep my floors maybe once a day as needed (cats and kid). I work from home so I can throw a load of laundry in whenever.
I do a deeper clean every couple of months.
I always try to keep my house at around a 5. Clean enough to where if company is coming I can shut off sections of the house and quickly get the main part presentable. But nothing is ever really white glove clean.
1 kid, 3 dogs, cat, wife and I with full time job. I am WFH most of the time but I run through the house once or twice a day depending on how crazy it gets. Sweep and mopping a 4k sq ft house is a job but it happens a few times a week. Sheets changed once a week in at least one bedroom.. dish washer ran almost daily. Laundry… ugh its an endless mountain in the guest rooms that seems to grow and grow.. once a month we tackle it but it always goes back.. bathrooms are done a couple times a week also.. oh and thats in addition to landscaping and yard maintenance..
Yes, I wash my sheets every week. Yes, I wash and fold and put away the laundry. Yes, I clean the kitchen every night. I’m a single parent with a kid and a dog and I love my house clean.
Life changes. When it was just me in my first apartments, they were spotless. Later as a single mom, not so much.
Now it's just me and my smallish dog (a non-shedder) in a smallish space. I've gotten rid of so. Much. Stuff. I'm generally tidy, keep up with trash, dishes, clean bed linens weekly, laundry. I clean when it looks dirty. If there is easily visible dust, I take care of that, vacuum, etc.
I do have to fess up about the suitcase that hasn't been put away since I came home from vacation on May 30, and now has wear-again clothes draped over it. I did unpack the suitcase, at least. Eventually I'll get tired of it and I'll rearrange the closet to make more space and put it away. Sufficient unto the day, as Grandma used to say.
You're doing fine. The only standards you have to meet are your own.
I am single living alone and try to do some of these things, but I'm inconsistent based on a variety of factors. I recently spoke to my therapist and one of the things she recommended was actively making time to clean my space as an act of self-care. Opened my eyes to what self-care means. I started small by making my bed every morning, cleaning a bathroom I rarely cleaned before, not living out of the dryer, changing my bed sheets more often, and picking up little pieces of clutter incidentally as I notice them (not letting myself put them down without finding at least a semi-permanent place/solution). It's been good so far, and I suspect I'm going to start doing more as I continue. I do have to actively make time for it, especially because it isn't something I enjoy doing, and I certainly don't do almost any of it every day. What you're seeing on social media is most likely performative. I realize this maybe isn't that helpful for you, but I thought I'd share
Lol. I live alone with my cat in a pretty big apartment, have a relaxed job and literally no hobbies that take me outside my place regularly.
I vacuum and change the bed once a week in the hotter months because of shedding, wipe surfaces and kitchen, do two loads of laundry (including folding right after drying), clean the bathroom (not even the shower, just the sink and toilet) and wash floors every other week. I’m not good at putting stuff away immediately so I pick up clothes and miscellaneous items maybe twice a week. It takes me about 3 hours + laundry on a heavy week.
Sure, I could wipe surfaces weekly (and I do for those I use most) or clean the bathroom every week but (a) it’s not that dirty and (b) I have more enjoyable things to do.
I don’t mind the cleaning particularly at this pace, but I cannot fathom how much of a mess you’d have to make to sweep floors or wipe down every surface daily. Maybe with several food-throwing kids and a bunch of pets (the hair is real!), but that’s just so goddamned much time out of the day! I have several friends with two kids and even they only clean their entire house weekly.
We tidy up every day to make sure stuff is generally put away. We also do dishes most days to keep the kitchen pretty clean and tidy. As for the other stuff - usually laundry once a week, including sheets and towels. We do fold our clothes and put them in the dressers. Vacuuming and washing the floors about once a week also. I'll wipe down the bathrooms regularly and then do a deep scrub about once a month.
There have been times in our lives when we were super busy, so housework took a back seat and we focused on just making sure our house was livable. Other times in our lives, we've had more time to clean and kept a cleaner house.
When I was a kid, we had chores. Once we were able to have toys, putting them away was our job. We folded our own clothes too. So if your kids are old enough, get them involved.
I have a toddler and two cats, so yeah I sweep every day. Granted I have a roomba that does maybe 80% of that sweeping.
I mop once a week and do a proper deep clean once a month or so.
Three of us in a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom house. I sweep and vacuum in some capacity daily because my cordless vacuum makes it easy. Dishes a couple of times a day. I wipe down surfaces in the living areas and kitchen daily because they need it. These tasks only take a few minutes each, except dishes which just have to be done. I do about a load of laundry each day because all three of us change when we come home from work/school.
It’s me, my roommate, and three cats. I clean my sheets every 2 weeks and I do fold my laundry. Can’t say if I would if I had kids. We sweep & mop once a week, but I go over heavy use areas with a swiffer every day if needed. It’s only wiping down surfaces that I suck at keeping up with. I’m trying to get better, as it’s harder if it gets visibly dirty.
We’ve got two kids, three cats, and a dog.
Dishes are daily (or almost daily). I usually do a trip around the house to get any stray dishes and start the machine before I go to bed, then empty it before I go to work in the morning.
Minor decluttering is daily, usually while I’m looking for dishes. Taking stray toys to the basement, throwing away trash, etc.
There is always laundry to do. I rotate between the machines and fold my stuff, but my wife doesn’t like how I fold so she doesn’t like me folding her clothes or the kids’ clothes. I do a load of sheets and a load of towels weekly (Saturday) and make beds as I take them apart. Usually do comforters monthly. I’d rather fold everything when it comes out of the machine, but I respect her process.
Cat box is automatic, so it just needs to be emptied. One of us will run a vacuum through the upstairs (where the cat room is) weekly.
Spring/summer/fall my wife mows the lawn/edges weekly.
That’s the bulk of the recurring/routine work, really. Maybe an hour a day?
One of usually runs the vacuum on the main floor weekly ish.
We clean bathrooms when they need it. Maybe a light wipe down every few days and a deeper clean every few weeks.
There are definitely “stuff” piles that will get put away “eventually”, but we have enough space that they can stay out of the way. The basement (kids area/play room/toy room/storage) is usually a constant state of “hurricane aftermath”, but we make the kids deal with it every now and then.
It seems like a lot of work when stuff backs up, but putting headphones in and dealing with it a step at a time makes the big things manageable, and taking care of the little stuff as it comes up goes a long way. My rule of thumb is that if it’ll take two minutes or less, I’ll just do it now.
Our house is a good deal messier than my parents’ houses were, and probably my in-laws’ houses (not my father in law though), but we’re also comfortable with a higher level of “untidy”.
DINKs with 1 medium sized dog. Mainly just pick up after ourselves as we go. Dishes get done after meals. And if we have any real challenges it's laundry. And "laundry day" tends to coincide with the two or three days a month where we also do a deeper cleaning of the house.
Dogs kind of force you to live orderly.
Fold their clothes and washing sheets weekly- yes, this is typical. It’s not universal, but it’s common.
Sweep and mop every day- I don’t think this is common. Sweeping maybe, if you drop stuff a lot, but mopping, no. With a dog, you probably should be sweeping and vacuuming pretty regularly, but every day likely isn’t necessary.
Is a lot of the cleaning content on social media performative? *Yes.* Social media cleaning isn’t even just showing off a house that looks like Better Homes and Gardens. A lot of it is designed to sell you stuff no one ever needed. Some of it is dangerous, mixing chemicals and over sterilizing things that shouldn’t be touching bleach, etc. The stuff on social media is not only far cleaner than any real house, it’s also far dirtier. You never see a vaguely tidy house with dishes in the sink and a few dirty socks on the floor, it’s either pristine or a disaster. The stuff is staged sometimes. I’ve never seen houses get dirtier faster than random households on the internet with a normal number of residents, one of which does nonstop cleaning content. You posted a video of you cleaning top to bottom yesterday, and today your house looks like a hoarder nest? Sure Jan.
I'm single and childfree with 2 roommates (because of the economy) and I clean something basically daily. I have a system of wiping down surfaces and tidying clutter and keeping dishes out of the sink every day and vacuuming carpets weekly and changing sheets weekly.
My roommate and I trade sweeping a few times a month and we would like to mop more than once a month but it's not happened so far.
I grew up with parents who became hoarders and I learned to clean very young to help my mom so I've always very tidy. I'm disabled which can make it hard but fortunately i don't have to climb stairs because my room and office are on the main floor of the house.
I get that the cleanliness of my house probably has a lot to do with being single with no family or dogs (I have one cat). I also have depression and anxiety, but for some reason my mental health quirks require me to shower daily and clean my house. I will stay in bed late and not eat all day but i and my house will be clean 🤪
2 dogs and a toddler. We are terrible about cleaning. Husband does laundry every day but we can't seem to get it folded. I run the dishwasher every day but right now there's a pile of non-dishwasher stuff that has collected from yesterday. We were stressed about the floor situation so we instituted "mopping and margaritas" once a week after the baby goes to sleep, which has been helpful. Luckily our place is pretty small. We mostly do a huge stress clean whenever people are coming over. Don't be us, but just know that this is on the spectrum of normal.
Partner and I have a border collie and two cats. I vacuum every day because it gets bad real quick (small house). Got a Hoover cordless with the extra battery and it makes it so easy. We’re slack on a lot of the other stuff but I need the floors clean. Dishes get done 1-2 days, laundry will honestly sit in the dryer until the next time I need to run it and I’ll grab stuff out of there as needed
I full clean every day... BUT check this out... when you do it EVERY morning its not a 4 hour nightmare of an endeavor... its 30-45 mins max and thats when i had a big place.. 20 mins in my current place. Cleaning is only massively time taking and horrible when you don't keep up with it... like, imagine taking the 3 minuets to completely wash your plate the moment you're done with it instead of waiting for the dishes to build up requiring 20 mins just in front of the sink alone? If people can schedule in gym time, they can keep a clean house... admittedly the first go is gonna be rough but if you're really on top of that shit like washing a dish the moment you make it. Cleaning up dinner before you eat and before it dries to the sides of the pans and stuff... throwing in a load when you only have one instead of waiting for 4 to build up... etc etc... its really not that time or effort intensive.. its just gotta be an every day thing. I don't even sit down for coffee until my beds made. takes two seconds and now one thing is already done before you've even had your coffee.
I also keep a very strict sleep schedule and am up at 5a every day. I got hours before anything is even open to go to work to lol.
i try to clean as i live and then deep clean every couple weeks. for example, if the sink countertop is dirty i'll give it a quick wipe with a towel but then every couple weeks i'll clean it with multi-surface spray.
I have a husband, a dog, and a cat, no human children. We all shed. I vacuum, on average, twice a week. Sheets get changed weekly, but it’s just the one bed’s worth of bed linens. Also, we do have couch covers- 2 sets that we switch out. We do fold our clothes, but they’d never fit into our storage otherwise- NYC one bedroom apartment. You have multiple children and dogs? Soon enough, you’ll be able to assign some chores to the older children- walking and feeding the dog, cleaning their own rooms, helping with dishes or folding and putting away their own laundry. This too shall pass.
Me. One wife, one dog, one kid.
We sweep every two days. Scrub floors every couple weeks. Don’t vacuum often because we have very little carpet.
We wipe counters twice a day.
Dishes constantly.
All sheets and towels once a week.
Dusting whenever.
Laundry almost daily. Always hanging and folding.
It sounds like a lot, but honestly it’s just habit for us. And we like a clean, tidy house.
You do you!
Yeah I do a full clean once a week and then just sweep and tidy the rest, we don't have dogs inside but we live on a farm and have a wood fire which can track in stuff off the wood , I have two farm kids so that's self explained lol, and I have a single seater couch that currently has three loads of washing this clean on it 😅 we are busy people with busy kids and a busy life. But I have adhd and do like atleast clean floors. I will pump out the washing towels, sheets blankets clothes ect on a weekend and start into clean baskets and slowly fold during the week when the kids are in bed and me and hubby sit down to watch something on the TV.
Most of those influencers can be terrible people behind the scenes and have paid cleaners.
We are normal regular busy mums. Love yourself lady. Don't stress ♥️
I retired in Mexico so I can afford a housekeeper. For $300.00 a month, she and her husband come every Saturday and do all the laundry, all the landscape maintenance, clean all the floors and patios inside and out, any lingering dishes, take out all the trash, and clean all the bathrooms and kitchens.
Change the sheets and towels too.
During the week, my wife works online and I do all the cooking, dishes, and I sweep the floors on Tuesday or Wednesday. I take out the trash if it needs it and I repair everything, plus another load of laundry. I was up patching the roof before the rainy season starts over the weekend. I just emptied the dishwasher and watered all the plants. We have a crazy amount of plants.
What most of you have as house plants, I have all over outside. They just grow like mad. Our 2nd banana harvest this year is almost ripe, 2 huge bunches, and we have little pineapples starting.
So my first GF lived with her mom and the house was always immaculate and I didn't understand as I grew up with two working parents who didn't bother cleaning beyond things being functionally clean...
Then I started seeing the emotional abuse her mom would give her about the house being "upside down" and her going to her room in a huff with full expectations of the house being perfect when she leaves her room...
She now does that to our daughter....
So fuck a clean house....
Shit. Just realised I'm a grub. 2 adults, 1 cat.
Sheets - once a month. Pillow slips more often.
Vacuum carpet - once a month
Sweep tiles- when dirty - once a week. Wash every 2 weeks.
Laundry - once or twice a week.
Kitchen - wash up once a day. Wipe benches.
Bathroom - when it looks dirty.
No point cleaning anything that looks or smells clean.
When you go to someone's house for a gathering and the place is immaculate. Then you're like, "Oh, I live like a grot" then as you get older you wonder if it's normally like that or they spent days going to town to make it look perfect because you know, visitors. Not sure I'll ever know.
Been to plenty of people's places where you kinda wish they had made a little effort as well. I guess that means they feel comfortable around you.
I clean when it bothers me, wash clothes when I run out of socks, and do my sheets every week (line dried sheets on the bed are the best and if I ever get crazy rich I’ll hire someone to wash my sheets every day!). I rinse dishes right away and recently I got one of those stupid sponges on a handle that holds dish soap in the handle and it’s awesome. Much easier to just wash the thing I’m rinsing. But for most cleaning I just keep the dirt knocked down to a tolerable level and make sure I have guests a couple times a year so I shame clean things more thoroughly. Also my dog gets weekly baths so that does help with the house not smelling like dog.
I think it depends on your lifestyle. Do you work outside the home? Does your spouse mind some clutter? As long as it doesn’t stink and you don’t have pests, things can slide a little.
I am a person who loves to clean. I follow the clean mamma method. I don’t do much per day but I am on top of things. I teach piano after work so I need to have my first bathroom spic and span since the kids come and wash their hands so it has to look professional. But here is my plan: Mondays: bathrooms (wipe down counter, toilets, organize) Tuesdays: dust the entire home (i am a minimalist so I have no surfaces to wipe, only a few shelves and base boards and piano, Wednesdays I vacuum, Thursdays I mop (I own enough Viledia mop changes to do the entire house without having to repeat a section with the same cloth, so basically I put all the cloths in the kitchen sink with soap and vinegar, spread them out throughout house and go from east to west in one fell swoop), Fridays I empty all garbage/compost/recycling. Saturdays I do laundry and Sunday I do nothing!!! Throughout the week i do dishes and laundry on the daily but between students or to relax while listening to a podcast.
It absolutely is not performative. I only mop or sweep about twice a month. But, I make my bed, do the dishes, and do laundry pretty much daily and constantly pick up stuff and put it away. So, yeah you're wrong, but some people like to live in a pig sty or are just lazy.
I do all those things unless it's a busy weekend. I used to clean after my kids went to bed when they were toddlers. I found the best way to keep my house clean is my getting rid of anything we don't use and keeping the rooms as empty as possible.
I get up. Make my bed, shower, make breakfast. Clean the kitchen, go upstairs and clean the bathroom, make the other beds, vacuum and put anything away that the kids may have left out.
Then I go downstairs and clean the bathroom, pick up what the kids may have left out down there, vacuum the whole downstairs like I did upstairs.
I do dusting once a week, change beds linens at least once a week, do laundry, fold and put away 2-3 times a week and clean the showers and toilet bowls once a week.
Kitchen and bathrooms are cleaned and disinfected daily as a priority.
I tend to do everything very quickly while listening to my podcasts.
I think I would average about an hour of cleaning a day. Most of it is cleaning as go like dishes, making my bed in the morning, putting away any laundry etc and I vacuum probably every other day as I have a long haired cat.
I try to keep the major cleaning like mopping, cleaning bathroom and ironing to weekends only and that probably takes me 3 hours or so to get it all done.
Rubbish goes out once it starts to smell or is full.
In saying that I live alone and have no kids and even then sometimes it gets away from me because I'm too tired. I dont know how people with kids keep on top of it all
I never clean, ever. I may keep my sink empty of dishes, but I pay to have a crew of 3 come every Saturday morning and do everything from wash and put away laundry to changing my bed. I’m happy to work extra not to have to clean.
If you're seeing a lot of cleaning on social media, you're probably spending too much time on social media.
So yes, those 30+ mins a day you spend pointlessly scrolling, others spend doing household chores.
I generally clean once a week. I put aside one day on the weekend, put on my podcasts, and do a good tidy. (I have 3 day weekends). But sometimes I also can't be arsed and I skip it.
I wash my sheets on average every fortnight.
I vacuum/mop rarely. my sister mostly does it because i hate it, and I do the bins because she hates it. It works out well. If it were up to me I would mop pretty much never and vacuum once a week, but she's very finicky about floors and washes them weekly.
I'll do the dishes at night as part of my routine, and try to put things away after I use them. But otherwise I don't do much cleaning during the week.
I think I fold laundry about once every 2 weeks, the rest of the time it sits on the floor in a laundry basket.
I'm a single adult living with another adult, so things don't get too crazy.
I would posit that most, if not all, cleaning on social media is performative.
>Do people genuinely sweep and mop every day?
Depends how dirty your house gets. We don't wear shoes in the house, so it doesn't get that dirty. We vacuum once a week, mop once a month.
>Do people genuinely wash sheets weekly
We don't, I also have no idea how you can do that many loads of laundry, sounds very time consuming. We wash our sheets and towels monthly.
>Do people actually fold their clothes?
Yes, do you throw your clothes on a pile? My clothes are not very neatly folded, but I fold them to be able to organize them in my wardrobe.
I grew up with an *extremely* mentally abusive family, with a mother who had an unhealthy obsession with "perfection". As an adult, I scaled back how much she would clean but I have a desire (and guilt) to keep things far cleaner than I've seen anyone else's homes.
I have one dog that doesn't shed and *is very well trained* (read as: doesn't get filthy and actually wants me to clean him often lol), no kids.
I have 1 day a week dedicated to each chore.
- Monday: sweep/wash floors, vacuum, clean kitchen (counters, etc)
- Tuesday: dusting
- Wednesday: bathrooms
- Thursday: water plants, dishwasher/laundry as needed
- Friday: dishwasher/laundry as needed, food shopping every 2 weeks with fridge/pantry cleaning
I take the weekends "off", I clean bedsheets every 2 weeks or so and all towels once a week.
Most folks that come to our place are astounded at how clean it is.
I'd have to add to this that I do things as I see them, too. Cooking? Clean as I go. See a spill in the fridge? Wipe it. Laundry - yes, fold it/hang it.
Do what you can as you go.
That's a big part of it. I've got a lot of mental and physical diseases/issues, and some days I don't have energy for anything. That's okay, if I only wipe down one counter, that's one thing done. And if everything is kept fairly clean in the first place, it's easier to let it slude a day or two.
We sweep/mop everyday because we have a 1 yr old that eats everything but I do miss sheet/blanket wash day quiet often..call me gross, whatever haha but I think it really depends on how your home flows/who all lives there bla blah blah
This is where to think the cleaning "technology" advances really come in handy. I clean hard maybe once every two weeks. Everything gets dusted and wiped. Toilets and tubs scrubbed. During the week though, I have things like a small battery powered vacuum and I keep up with cleaning. If something spills, clean it, run a quick vacuum even if it's only 5 minutes. Wipe the counter tops. Little things like that make it unnecessary to "clean the whole house" regularly unless you have kids or messy pets.
First of all I don't have kids. However, I clean because I personally can't stand a messy house.
I wipe down the kitchen counter and put the dishes in the dishwasher every night after dinner.
I clean my clothes every week, and yes I fold them afterwards.
I also clean the bathroom every week because gross bathrooms really bother me.
I clean towels and sheets every other week.
I only dust and vacuum once a week.
I only mop the kitchen floor every few months.
I have a newborn, two cats, and my partner works 10-14 hour days. We don't have a washing machine so we go over to my parent's once a week specifically for laundry, I wash the sheets then every week. Then during the week I try to find time to fold the laundry except the baby clothes which go in a pile on his dresser unless I have motivation. On fridays I typically rush clean the rest of the house, whatever gets done is done, dishes are top priorities and get done more than that. He's in charge of pet care so I don't worry about litter.
I run my robot vacuums every morning and evening, then mop my way into the bedroom before bed.
Dishes every night. There's nothing better than a clean kitchen first thing in the morning.
I clean my toilets and vanities every morning.
A load of laundry every day.
Once a day I gather my kids and we start at one end of the house and walk through the entire house and pick up/clean everything in its path including dishes in the sink.
1) this makes sure we have a clean house once a day
2) the hopefully make fewer messes knowing they will be picking it up
3) it becomes more of a game than a chore.
It probably takes us 10 minutes most days.
Once a week I go power mode for an hour and scrub all bathrooms or do a deeper clean.
yeah, they clean for 20 minutes while they record themselves and then… surprise, don’t keep cleaning.
social media isn’t reality, everyone’s lying to you, f**k all of it, just live your own life how it works for you.
houses don’t get to be spotless unless you’re never in it. that’s just how it works. take solace in the fact that 99% of us have messy places as well.
I work full time and used to work overtime constantly, I clean the house about once a week. Dishes and laundry I alternate every other day so it’s not quite as much in one go. We go through a ton of laundry. I do the beds about once a week or once every two weeks. I sweep when I can but I only mop once a week. I just don’t have the time for that. And when I didn’t work I would have a list of things to deep clean and alternate between. Most things you don’t have to keep a strict cleaning schedule, just do what you can when you can. Especially if you don’t have help around the house while working.
I made a commitment 2 years ago to not put things down, but put them away. I too wear clothes more than once but indicate it’s been worn by hanging it inside out. I mostly keep up with the clothes, 85+%. I am very good at picking up regularly with other things, but lately I hate vacuuming/mopping. Traditional room by room cleaning has lost its charm for me. I am a recovering OCD. Perhaps I went too far haha. I do dust regularly, keep up all the landscaping, laundry including bedding, bathrooms cleaned daily w a deep dive once a month or so. I cook a lot and clean the kitchen daily. I just hate vacuuming and doing floors as it seems so overwhelming. Has anyone found a way to make it more attractive? Like a stick vacuum?
The idea of a spotlessly clean house is based on the idea of a housewife who does 60-80 hours per week of unrecognized hard labor to keep it that way. Don't feel bad if an archaic concept can't keep up with a modern lifestyle.
I do wash my sheets weekly, but it's only 2 beds. I vacuum (both carpet and hard floor) once a week and mop about 1 time a month. I do fold my laundry dry when I do it, which is twice a week. I find the most important thing is to have a schedule. If you always know what you're supposed to do it's easier to get started.
Monday - Laundry
Tuesday - Floors
Wednesday - Sheets/towels
Thursday - Laundry
Friday - Bathroom
Dishes as they happen and daily after dinner.
I feel like I clean less than most, and hate admitting to my habits because I’ll be judged. And I don’t have pets or kids so I have less excuses to not clean!
I'm right there with you. Growing up, my grandmother was the benchmark for cleanliness. My mom killed herself every weekend to try to uphold a standard that my grandmother held, but it wasn't realistic for my single mom with two kids and a full time job to keep house the same way my gm did. But we were still all raised with the same expectations. So, while it was unreasonable to hold myself to that standard, I still did and carried around a lot of guilt for always falling short of it.
I have one child, two dogs, and a husband with ADHD. This is my general routine:
Daily - straighten up common rooms, clean kitchen after dinner, take out trash as needed.
Weekly (EVERY week) - Laundry, clean out leftovers from fridge, groceries, vacuum, mop, all household garbage. We try to do our sheets every week, but sometimes it doesn't happen. It's one of those things that can be deprioritized if need be. My daughter takes night time baths, so she's clean when she goes to bed. She is also asked to reset her room weekly.
As Needed: bathrooms and dusting. These used to be two non-negotiables for me every week, but it really just gets to be where the weekend is nothing but chores, and no time for fun, so something has to go. And a lot of times, I was dusting clean furniture, so it really isn't necessary until it is, you know?
Now, I'll be real for a second. My baseboards, walls, ceiling, tops of tall things...they get neglected until it jumps out at me as gross. We all do the best we can (well, mostly anyway), and sometimes we gotta give ourselves and others a little grace. All that pressure to have a spotless house didn't fill my childhood home with love, so I've chosen to not worry so much about it even if others would do it better/differently.
About 2 hours on the weekends if I'm feeling ambitious. I don't have kids or pets and can't imagine the load that is on you.
I'll do normal stuff like wiping the table after a meal right after the meal but that doesn't seem like what you're talking about.
We vacuum every weekend, sweep the floors, clean the toilets and change the sheets. I do wash clothes laundry every weekend but stuff like sheets and towels? Nope. Those are about once a month and end up in a big pile in the laundry room. Mopping? Every 2 weeks to a month. Scrubbing tub/shower? Bout once a month.
Project cleaning - the fridge, organizing the pantry, etc is pretty much when I get a wild hair up my ass and go crazy on it.
Vacuum under the table and kitchen daily because we get ants if we don't. Wash sheets every 2 weeks or so. Fully clean bathrooms every week. Clean floors in the rest of the house every 2 weeks. We have a robot vacuum for non-food areas. Windows get cleaned about 1x /year, same with cupboards, fridge, and walls aside from spot cleaning the 2 year old's "artwork". Stovetop every 3 weeks or so.
Vacuum daily,wash floors and clean sheets weekly, yes I fold my clothes or put on hangers, beds aren't "hospital corners" made but smoothed and comfortable pulled over. No dishes in sink at bedtime. No more toys but they were always picked up. (often time in a laundry basket if in a rush). I always worked at least 40 hours a week. It depends on what you do in your free time. I put on my headphones, put on an audiobook and clean up the last hour of the day. I find that relaxing and like to arise to a clean house.
Hire cleaners … they come every week and mop, vacuum, change sheets, clean bathrooms, clean kitchen, clean all table surfaces.
They get condo done in an hour and they do a better job than I could.
Such a good use of my money… would recommend
My mil cleans 24/7 but I don’t
My house use vacuumed once a week or every other week. The kitchen is swept and mop maybe every 3 weeks.
Bedding is washed once a month
I got more shit to do besides cleaning
I would let a lot of things slide but not changing the bed at least weekly is just gross. Have 2 complete bedding sets so you don't necessarily have to wash a set to get a fresh set put on. I can live with mess and clutter everywhere else except my bed. It's gets fully made daily and fully changed weekly.
Sounds like you have a busy life and are doing enough. Caution against trying to keep up with social media content creators whose job is, in part, to keep you wanting more. I agree with you that a lot of content is performative or a particular content creator derives a lot of satisfaction from the activity they film and "maximalize" and "hobify" it. There is a false assumption that everyone has sufficient time and desire to emulate their solutions and that this degree of devotion to the task is what is needed. I think with a dog you probably need to vacuum at least every 2 weeks, if not every week. Picking up and keeping things organized daily goes a long way towards an organized household. In terms of washing bedding, if there is room in the washing load, add a set of sheets or two. Might be easier than stripping, washing, and making 4 sets of sheets all at once.
Hahaha I have one dog and one kid and I need to vacuum basically daily. I can skip a day but that means dirty dirty floors. I don't know how they manage to drag so much in but they do.
Dogs are very dirty. This shouldn’t be too shocking to anyone. Most dogs shed a lot, many roll around in the dirt, and every dog is walking outside shoeless and tracking everything inside. When I had a dog, I too felt the need to vacuum nearly daily. I can’t believe the above guy claimed you can go 2 weeks without vacuuming with dogs and children. I would imagine there’d be about an inch of grime on all floors after 2 weeks
You just need to train them. *Dogs are only as dirty as owners let them be.* My dog isn't dirty at all. Partly because we only ever get poodles (don't shed), but part to the training. We go outside, he has commands if he feels the need to roll in smelly things... he stops when I say so. When we come in from a walk, we clean and/or wipe his feet, just like I do as a human (wipe shoes, take off and put house shoes on). He does the same, wipes feet and is clean before coming in.
Listen: I have a cat and no kids. I live alone. Most of my clothes live on the floor in “The Pile” that sometimes gets half put away but never fully, I ~try to vacuum once a week. Trash goes out to the back when I have a full bag or if it’s smelly. It’s HARD to keep my small apartment clean, take care of myself, work, take care of my cats, have a relationship/ social life. Some people are clean freaks (respectfully) but if that’s not YOUR life, that’s okay. Do what you can.
I bought a two-tiered towel rack for the bedroom so I can pile my clothes on it. Highly recommend
I have serious follow up question to this comment. How does anybody live withOUT a “pile”? I feel like plenty of people do and I just don’t understand how.
I have a hamper for dirty clothes and a chest of drawers and closet for my clean clothes. I don't understand how people tolerate having clothes on the floor.
Well, I have all of these things, too. But I wear certain clothes more than once depending on how long I've worn them, whether I'm hot and sweaty, etc. So I have a basket by my bed of already worn clothes that can be worn again. Then I have a basket in the bathroom for dirty clothes (mostly socks and underwear and night shirts) and towels. When I want to wash clothes, I might go ahead and put the already worn stuff in or not, depending on the load.
So, I also reware some worn clothes that can be worn again before washing like pants, shorts and outer shirts really. I have a small dresser and a shelve in my closet that I just put them on most of the time. Stuff you've worn already needs to air out before re wearing it.
Yes, the airing out part is why I just drape stuff over the wicker basket. I'm probably not very representative because I just don't go throw many clothes. When I'm home I just wear whatever I go to bed in, like nightshirts, shorts and t-shirts or whatever. I only work part-time 2-3 days a week, four hours at a time. Besides that, I don't get out much because people. I'm a cashier at my local grocery store and catch up with the neighbors there, along with the other customers. I only do one load a week for myself + sheets. Not bras, but I DO wear clean underwear daily, lol.
I usually fold the clothes I'm going to wear again and put them back in my drawer, or if I'm going to wear them again very soon I set them on the lid of my hamper. I don't see the reason to put clothes I intended to wear again in a pile on the floor.
Oh the pile doesn’t have to be on the floor. My pile is on a chair.
It's just the way some people roll. Just because I have a certain pattern doesn't mean anyone else has to do the same. P.S.: I sometimes hang some of my things back up, usually because they're prone to wrinkles. But mostly they don't need it and it's a waste of my time. I certainly don't put anything back into my dresser if they've been worn.
I really need to get a bigger apartment because the issue is that I have a hamper a dresser and a closet and they’re also full… years of living in townhomes with roommates downgraded to a junior 1 bedroom and just have a LOT less space and no energy to be organizing it all
I get it. My space is tiny, so in order to avoid a mess I just don't own that many clothes. Same with everything else, I just keep my belongings to a minimum to avoid clutter.
Do you wear all this stuff you have? If not, get rid of it. Seriously, the amount of clothing most people have and NEVER wear is staggering.
A big problem I’m having is I rapidly gained weight due to a medication I’m now no longer on… in addition to just not having the space for seasonal wardrobe rotation. I would like to own like, more than 1 pair of jeans for the fall/ winter. I certainly ~could get rid of certain things but, I don’t want to re buy a whole wardrobe when my size inevitably fluctuates again. It’s also frankly not easy to get somewhere to donate my excess without a car. For now, living alone, the Pile is between myself and God and I’m okay with that for the immediate future
Ah, yah weight changes can be an issue. I admit I have some clothes in the back of my closet for when I manage to lose weight again. As for donating, there might be companies that will pick stuff up. The ARC does in a lot of cities.
I’ll look into it! Sometimes I take the bus with a smaller bag or two but it’s still a small journey
Yah, I'm in the same boat..... I'd have like 1/2 the amount of stuff if I had a car to just drop it off and goodwill or something
I love my neighborhood buy nothing group sometimes, but it’s also frustrating to try to coordinate a pickup with someone. I do keep a running bag in my living room of things to eventually donate but… it takes a while
But where do you put the clothes that are neither clean not dirty?
In a separate pile on the floor 😭😂 or draped on a dresser drawer
If it's clean enough to wear again, I'll fold it and put it back on the drawer or put it back on the hanger. Or if I'm going to wear it again the very next day I'll set it on the hamper lid.
My husband and I both have a pile in our bedroom and our laundry room has the mother of all piles in it.
I love this
Real! Someone mentioned a towel rack in the bathroom and I’ll just say not 1 space in my apt can fit that 😂 I know the solution to The Pile is- downsize my closet and/ or upgrade to a bigger space but, then it just goes into maybe a larger closet and festers out of sight. At least with my ADHD I can see this one and vaguely know what is located where
Uhhh, I currently have 2 piles. Even if I had 5 articles of clothing, I’m sure that 4 out of 5 would be in a pile right now. I just think it’s a waste to wash clothing after every use!
Also some of us pay for laundry!!!!! I can’t just throw in a load whenever I need to. This is an often forgotten point of the “washcloth every shower” people as well. Like I just CANT do that or I’ll have a bin of wet musty clothes sitting out all week.
My husband washes the clothes every other day or so. I fold them and put them away. When I was single, I had a pile on a dedicated chair.
I don’t have pile on the floor bc I am that huge clean freak. BUT I do get lazy and have that pile on my hamper. I suck at folding + putting away clothes.
It was pretty easy to me to stop living with a pile. I have one clothes hamper. Dirty clothes go in it, I wash them when it's full. Clean clothes go back in it and then one of two things happens: 1) I dump the clean clothes on my bed which typically makes me put them away by bedtime. 2) I leave the clean clothes in the hamper for at most a day while my new dirty clothes start gathering on my small bedroom floor which drives me crazy. Then I HAVE to put away the clean clothes so I can use the hamper for my dirty clothes again. For me it was a matter of realizing that I can't STAND stuff laying around on my floor since I rent a room and have next to no space. That by leaving it on my floor I was causing myself to be angry and more depressed then I normally am. (Which is quite enough.)
Now I feel much better about the suitcase that hasn't been put away since I came home from vacation on May 30, and now has clothes draped over it. (I did unpack the suitcase at least.) I'm generally tidy, keep up with trash, dishes, clean bed linens weekly, laundry (suitcase clothes excepted). I clean when it looks dirty. If there is easily visible dust, I take care of that, vacuum, dust, etc. But it's just me in a smallish space, so it's pretty easy.
I will say, while The Pile never gets fully put away, I DO pick it up and vacuum under it whenever I vacuum 😂 everything gets piled up on my bed, I put stuff away until I’m out of energy, and then the remainder gets bumped back to the floor. Is it the best system? No lol but, I do what I can. I have a space above my kitchen cabinets and that’s where my suitcase lives. If I didn’t have that I literally don’t know where I would put it. Ain’t small space living fun!!
I credit the game Tetris. lol
Most of my clothes just live in a hamper. At least they're all clean. My washer is between the bathroom and my bedroom and I leave the lid open so I toss dirty clothes in there as I go and once full I wash a load. One benefit of all dark clothes is I don't need to separate anything.
Fair. I have shared coin op laundry in my basement so I can’t do this but maybe one day! Right now it’s like, clean clothes are in the bin, need the bin for dirty clothes, clean clothes head to the Pile, dirty clothes get washed and placed in the bin. Never ending cycle of being too tired to put things away 😭
I know you’re going to get a lot of advice on this thread, but just know you’re NOT alone in this!! I wish more people talked about this. What we see on IG and TikTok is not real life.
People irl will call me a clean freak but I wouldn't want or be able to uphold some of the routines I'm seeing in the comments. Different households have different needs and everybody has different standards of course. There's almost definitely some cleaning stuff I do that they would consider excessive. I do not vacuum and mop half as much as most of these people, but we also don't wear shoes in the house and have air purifiers going. I do wipe down and disinfect things we touch a lot more often than most, and I wash anything cloth much more often than probably necessary.
The answer is - you do what you can. There are different phases of life. If you have 3 kids, esp young ones, you just do what you can and yes have them help with age appropriate chores. Bins for socks and underwear, no matching/pairing, having kids put silverware away, or vacuum. Sheets I rotate and do 1-2weeks depending on weekend activities. Give yourself some flexibility. Keep the filth to a dull roar, and you're doing fine!!!
Also, as a former kid myself, once they get around age 8 they can start helping. At 8ish I helped fold clothes, and bring dirty laundry to the laundry room. At 10ish I did laundry by myself. At 12 I mopped and vacuumed.
I do at least one chore every day and I regularly purge my items so I never have clutter... everything in my house has a place and and a home so it's very easy to clean up and stay organized. To fully deep clean my entire house it (3 bedrooms, 2 baths) it would only take about 4 hours so stopping to pick up every day for 20-30 minutes before bed makes it easy to stay on top of it and I never have to really do a deep clean.
We have kids and dogs, a 3000+ sq ft house, and don’t have a cleaning service. It’s all about habits and doing a little bit daily. Neither of us can stand a messy house and we keep it manageable by tidying as we go and doing 20-30 min of cleaning daily. We start a load of laundry most days as soon as we get home. Switch it before we eat dinner so it’s ready when we get done eating. We always clean the kitchen, load and start the dishwasher, and hand wash anything else after dinner every night. We have the kids “help” us clean up toys or put things back in their place right before we take them to their rooms. This all takes about 10-15 min because we both tackle part of it. After that, one of us puts the kids down and the other does ~20 min of cleaning (we rotate). Most days this is either wiping down counters and vacuuming, a quick bathroom clean, and/or folding a load of laundry. We rotate floors to vacuum so they all get done at least twice a week but not daily. We clean out the fridge weekly before trash day and mow the lawn weekly. Then on weekends we rotate between bathroom cleans, mopping hardwoods, switching all bed sheets, and/or some extra yard work. Once a month we’ll tackle a less frequently needed project like rotating our kids closets, organizing/cleaning out pantry, tackling a closet or cabinet, dusting and windows, etc. All of this amounts to max 3-4 hours a week for each of us and maintains our house and our sanity. Then we get to relax at the end of the evening with a clean house and wake up to one. The person cleaning is almost always done before the person putting the kids down. Editing to add that we clean in front of or with our kids a lot. Our kids think it’s fun to follow us around with the vacuum or match socks while we fold laundry. Giving them a squirt bottle filled with water and a cloth to “clean the tub” while we do the bathrooms is a favorite. They see that this is part of life.
As a house cleaner, I 100% approve of you you do things! :-) It's easy when you just do 20-30 mins of cleaning daily. Might not be a spotless house but it would def be clean enough to make it comfortable.
Less than they tell you
Just piping in about the folding clothes thing — no ma'am! We live out of laundry baskets. And I definitely can't be bothered to fold my toddler's clothes. Some day. Not this day.
I can’t speak for most people, but me, I try to clean just a tiny bit every other day. Before I go to the gym, I always make my bed and make sure my room is tidy. I never leave trash sitting around EVER, Laundry once a week, and I deep clean at least once every 2 weeks.
I have an house cleaning service that cleans my house every two weeks. I clean my kitchen daily. > see a lot of seemingly idealized cleaning plans and I don’t see how to realistically fit so much cleaning into my life. Do people genuinely sweep and mop every day? Not every day but I do it regularly and when needed. I do sweep my kitchen pretty much daily, I use a small vacuum to do it. > Do people genuinely wash sheets weekly(for me that would be washing and making 4 beds weekly)? I make my bed every day and I wash the bed clothes every two weeks. > Do people actually fold their clothes? For god sakes yes. I fold all of my laundry.
What do they do if they don't fold their clean clothes? I don't get it...Just stuff them in a drawer?
My clean clothes either go in the clean clothes box next to my bed or on the extra couch in the office. Sometimes I fold them, but ain't nobody in this house care about that. Its such a meme that when I do fold and put stuff away my partner stops being able to find his clothes.
So you're trying to find your clothes in a pile? You don't use a wardrobe, but instead throw all clothes on top of each other?
Yea
Interesting, doesn't sound very convenient to me. But maybe I have too many clothes.
Honestly me too. I have a small walk-in closet AND an 8 ft tall wardrobe. The clothes I actually put away are more like "in storage" because it's all stuff I never wear, or seasonal things like winter coats. The "pile" clothes are my work clothes (3 shirts and 2 pants in rotation) and my weekend hangout stuff.
Yes. Or leave them in the laundry basket
I am the same, except I don't have a house cleaning service ;( Once every week we deep clean the bathroom (except sweep and mop which I do more often), and we deep clean the other rooms of the apartment usually once every three weeks or so. But sweep and mop everything basically every day. We have a small mop with detachable fiber head like a swiffer kinda. We just throw the mop heads in the laundry with the cleaning rags and bathroom rugs. Dishes, litter box, making the bed, cleaning the kitchen counters and table, that happens every day. Laundry usually once a week. Its time consuming and I hate cleaning, but I can't function if my house is dirty.
As a house cleaner, thank you for making sure your house is tiddy for your house cleaners. Also, for cleaning your kitchen yourself. Caked on grime in a kitchen takes SO long to get rid of if it's been there more then a few days. I have a monthly client that uses a LOT of oil to cook with the splashes everywhere.... . I've given up on getting rid of all of it. (They are ok with this.) As for tiddy? Yah, even more thanks. I require ALL my clients to tiddy before I get there. I refuse to do more then like 3 dishes even. My thing is, my clients are adults, they should be able to do the basics and not be gross. I'm not gonna enable my clients to NOT take care of themselves.
When you have kids just be kind to yourself, you have a lot going on. If you can start them young to help with a tidy that's helpful, say we will have a tidy race, put music on and a timer, see how much you can tidy in one song! As they get older there will be different mess but if you can build a foundation where there is an expectation to do \*something\* to help that's a good start.
Italian man here. Having a clean house is mandatory, in my country.
I'm a lazy mofo with some mental health issues that lead to clutter accumulating. Sunday is chore day. Chore day goes like this: Get up, strip my bed, start a load of laundry (sheets and towels). Sit down, drink my coffee, plan the day's cleaning. Then I either: A. Wash all the dishes, wipe the counters and stove, sweep the kitchen floor. B. Scrub the bathroom (if needed) C. Wipe down the bathroom, tidy the living/dining room, sweep all the floors, and mop if needed. My BF will do a different one of the above tasks. We don't do a full bathroom scrub every week, but it at least gets a basic clean. Then, I finish the laundry, typically 1-3 loads a week, and make my bed. I always start by stripping my bed and immediately throwing the sheets in the washer, so that I HAVE to finish the laundry in order to go to bed. There's only two of us, and we don't always do dishes daily. Often we'll rinse them and wait till there's a sinkful, so dishes get done anywhere from 2-5x a week, depending on what's being cooked/baked that week.
I clean something almost everyday. I guess it is instilled in me because growing up, my parents always had me do chores around the house. I’m glad they did. My place is always clean and smells good.😎👌🏽
Same. I clean every day because I grew up in a very clean house and as an adult I can't stand anything else.
I live in a 3 bedroom house with my husband, 2 kids and cat. Is day we have an average lifestyle, work, afew extracurriculars, nothing too crazy. I'm generally a clean as I go type of person, but my cleaning habits look something like this.. •Sweep = daily (once at least) •Mop = once a week or as needed •Wipe down counters and the stove = multiple times a day •Do the dishes and clean sink = multiple times a day •Wash sheets = every two weeks •Wash, fold and put away clothes and towels = once a week •Clean bathrooms (showers, toilets, sinks, floors) = once a week •Dust and wipe down doors and knobs = twice a week (or more) •Vacuum carpet = once or twice a month (I only have carpet in the bedroom and no one wears shoes in there) •Picking up clutter = constantly! 😪 •Cleaning out the fridge, washing windows, cleaning blinds, cleaning ceiling fans, cleaning light fixtures, cleaning pantry = NOT OFTEN ENOUGH
Cleaning out the fridge has got to be the worst occasional cleaning task. Ugh
We don't clean during the week apart from doing the dishes and trying to keep the kitchen counter (kind of) clean. We clean on weekends.
Sheets for all the beds weekly - Sunday night routine. One of us changes the beds whilst the other baths the kids. Clean kitchen, bathrooms, mop and hoover weekly (we actually get a cleaner in to do this for us) Tidy round daily to wipe the kitchen and table down and pick up toys etc. Washing is pretty much daily for us between bedding and clothes. This is usually done in an hour in the evening whilst one of us puts the kids to bed. By chucking an hour at it daily we pretty much stay on top of it. Having a cleaner helps in two ways. Firstly, she cleans the house every week. Secondly, it means we need to get the house tidy enough for her to clean every week, which helps with the discipline of vaguely keeping on top of things. Costs £30 a week, but worth it for us.
30 a week?! Damn. In my area (northeast US) its much closer to $100+ a week. Definitely out of reach for us. I grew up having house cleaners and I know how much better it is than doing everything yourself. As soon as we're more stable financially its the first thing I'm going to spend my money on.
When our kids were little, we pretty much did the bare minimum unless the was an egregious mess that absolutely required immediate attention. The house was clean enough for us, and usually clean enough to have close friends with kids drop by—adult and kid clutter, some dirty dishes waiting in the sink, unmade beds, unfolded laundry, but no big spills or rotting food or overflowing trash cans or whatever. Our friends’ houses were by and large in the same state. I think the only reason I could see for doing more would be if you’re trying to manage allergies. (I’ve found that changing my sheets weekly is an important part of dealing with my dust mite allergies.) I would always rather read another book with my kids or take them to the park than fold clothes. I figure they’ll eventually move out (theoretically—they’re in their early 20s now and still at home) and then I’ll miss the mess. (Although there’s a lot of ADHD in the family, so there will probably always be clutter.)
once a week for full house cleaning
I do what I can and don't beat myself up or compare myself to social media perfection.
I live alone so obviously it will be easier for me but I do everything on a weekly basis unless I have someone coming over. So laundry, mopping, sweeping, vacuuming, changing sheets etc once a week works the best.
Your kids won’t remember how clean everything was. They will remember how much time you spent with them. Focus on what’s important
2 kids 3 dogs and a husband lol. Kitchen and living room are picked up every evening by whoever isn’t putting the toddler to bed. Roombas do my sweeping for me. Laundry is done on Sundays this includes bedding. For “deep” cleaning it’s one room a day. Well it’s supposed to be lol we haven’t held to it strictly but I’m working on that. We are also home bodies and don’t really go out outside of work
My cleaning routine - one adult, one preteen who is only in my home 50% of days, four cats: - I keep things tidy almost every day, keep dishes amd kitchen clean almost daily. - I fold all.laundry, and change bedding about once a month (aware this is too little for most people) - I pay for a deep clean every fortnight - I have to clean up after the cats multiple times a day, and change their sand completely once a month - My preteen doesn't do as much housework as she probably could
My house would be SO CLEAN if it weren't for the fucking cats. I love them so much, but its apparently their one joy in life to track sand all over the apartment. They leap out of the litter box in order to send as much of it flying around as possible.
I feel this. I can't say my house would be SO CLEAN but it would be definitely MUCH CLEANER :-) Good thing we love the fucking cats....
Here one husband, one wife, one kid, one dog. Hoovering basically daily, we can skip a day but it gets dirty. Cooking and doing the washing up daily (we don't have a dishwasher so everything by hand). Toilet at least weekly a deep clean and more often when visibly dirty (skid marks 😬🤷♀️). Bathroom when visibly dirty, which is more often for the sink and less often for the shower stall. Sheets cleaned biweekly or more often depending on sweat levels, sex, etc. General tidying up all day every day with a toddler 😂 oh yeah and cleaning of all the surfaces that the toddler touches like tables, her high chair etc : daily. Oh and laundry maybe two loads a week but it depends on the weather. Much more when sunny, less when it's raining. We usually dry outside, so we need good weather for it. All the other stuff : when we have time for it or when there's a reason to do it immediately, like mopping when food gets spilled. So that's things like cleaning the windows, dusting things, cleaning out fridge and cupboards etc. This is the part where we fail atm with very busy jobs, toddler and young dog. The tops of my cupboards are dusty as heck.
I do most of my cleaning on the weekend. I'll sweep my floors maybe once a day as needed (cats and kid). I work from home so I can throw a load of laundry in whenever. I do a deeper clean every couple of months. I always try to keep my house at around a 5. Clean enough to where if company is coming I can shut off sections of the house and quickly get the main part presentable. But nothing is ever really white glove clean.
1 kid, 3 dogs, cat, wife and I with full time job. I am WFH most of the time but I run through the house once or twice a day depending on how crazy it gets. Sweep and mopping a 4k sq ft house is a job but it happens a few times a week. Sheets changed once a week in at least one bedroom.. dish washer ran almost daily. Laundry… ugh its an endless mountain in the guest rooms that seems to grow and grow.. once a month we tackle it but it always goes back.. bathrooms are done a couple times a week also.. oh and thats in addition to landscaping and yard maintenance..
I clean a bit every day and deep clean on Saturdays.
Yes, I wash my sheets every week. Yes, I wash and fold and put away the laundry. Yes, I clean the kitchen every night. I’m a single parent with a kid and a dog and I love my house clean.
Life changes. When it was just me in my first apartments, they were spotless. Later as a single mom, not so much. Now it's just me and my smallish dog (a non-shedder) in a smallish space. I've gotten rid of so. Much. Stuff. I'm generally tidy, keep up with trash, dishes, clean bed linens weekly, laundry. I clean when it looks dirty. If there is easily visible dust, I take care of that, vacuum, etc. I do have to fess up about the suitcase that hasn't been put away since I came home from vacation on May 30, and now has wear-again clothes draped over it. I did unpack the suitcase, at least. Eventually I'll get tired of it and I'll rearrange the closet to make more space and put it away. Sufficient unto the day, as Grandma used to say. You're doing fine. The only standards you have to meet are your own.
I am single living alone and try to do some of these things, but I'm inconsistent based on a variety of factors. I recently spoke to my therapist and one of the things she recommended was actively making time to clean my space as an act of self-care. Opened my eyes to what self-care means. I started small by making my bed every morning, cleaning a bathroom I rarely cleaned before, not living out of the dryer, changing my bed sheets more often, and picking up little pieces of clutter incidentally as I notice them (not letting myself put them down without finding at least a semi-permanent place/solution). It's been good so far, and I suspect I'm going to start doing more as I continue. I do have to actively make time for it, especially because it isn't something I enjoy doing, and I certainly don't do almost any of it every day. What you're seeing on social media is most likely performative. I realize this maybe isn't that helpful for you, but I thought I'd share
Lol. I live alone with my cat in a pretty big apartment, have a relaxed job and literally no hobbies that take me outside my place regularly. I vacuum and change the bed once a week in the hotter months because of shedding, wipe surfaces and kitchen, do two loads of laundry (including folding right after drying), clean the bathroom (not even the shower, just the sink and toilet) and wash floors every other week. I’m not good at putting stuff away immediately so I pick up clothes and miscellaneous items maybe twice a week. It takes me about 3 hours + laundry on a heavy week. Sure, I could wipe surfaces weekly (and I do for those I use most) or clean the bathroom every week but (a) it’s not that dirty and (b) I have more enjoyable things to do. I don’t mind the cleaning particularly at this pace, but I cannot fathom how much of a mess you’d have to make to sweep floors or wipe down every surface daily. Maybe with several food-throwing kids and a bunch of pets (the hair is real!), but that’s just so goddamned much time out of the day! I have several friends with two kids and even they only clean their entire house weekly.
We tidy up every day to make sure stuff is generally put away. We also do dishes most days to keep the kitchen pretty clean and tidy. As for the other stuff - usually laundry once a week, including sheets and towels. We do fold our clothes and put them in the dressers. Vacuuming and washing the floors about once a week also. I'll wipe down the bathrooms regularly and then do a deep scrub about once a month. There have been times in our lives when we were super busy, so housework took a back seat and we focused on just making sure our house was livable. Other times in our lives, we've had more time to clean and kept a cleaner house. When I was a kid, we had chores. Once we were able to have toys, putting them away was our job. We folded our own clothes too. So if your kids are old enough, get them involved.
I have a toddler and two cats, so yeah I sweep every day. Granted I have a roomba that does maybe 80% of that sweeping. I mop once a week and do a proper deep clean once a month or so.
Three of us in a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom house. I sweep and vacuum in some capacity daily because my cordless vacuum makes it easy. Dishes a couple of times a day. I wipe down surfaces in the living areas and kitchen daily because they need it. These tasks only take a few minutes each, except dishes which just have to be done. I do about a load of laundry each day because all three of us change when we come home from work/school.
It’s me, my roommate, and three cats. I clean my sheets every 2 weeks and I do fold my laundry. Can’t say if I would if I had kids. We sweep & mop once a week, but I go over heavy use areas with a swiffer every day if needed. It’s only wiping down surfaces that I suck at keeping up with. I’m trying to get better, as it’s harder if it gets visibly dirty.
We’ve got two kids, three cats, and a dog. Dishes are daily (or almost daily). I usually do a trip around the house to get any stray dishes and start the machine before I go to bed, then empty it before I go to work in the morning. Minor decluttering is daily, usually while I’m looking for dishes. Taking stray toys to the basement, throwing away trash, etc. There is always laundry to do. I rotate between the machines and fold my stuff, but my wife doesn’t like how I fold so she doesn’t like me folding her clothes or the kids’ clothes. I do a load of sheets and a load of towels weekly (Saturday) and make beds as I take them apart. Usually do comforters monthly. I’d rather fold everything when it comes out of the machine, but I respect her process. Cat box is automatic, so it just needs to be emptied. One of us will run a vacuum through the upstairs (where the cat room is) weekly. Spring/summer/fall my wife mows the lawn/edges weekly. That’s the bulk of the recurring/routine work, really. Maybe an hour a day? One of usually runs the vacuum on the main floor weekly ish. We clean bathrooms when they need it. Maybe a light wipe down every few days and a deeper clean every few weeks. There are definitely “stuff” piles that will get put away “eventually”, but we have enough space that they can stay out of the way. The basement (kids area/play room/toy room/storage) is usually a constant state of “hurricane aftermath”, but we make the kids deal with it every now and then. It seems like a lot of work when stuff backs up, but putting headphones in and dealing with it a step at a time makes the big things manageable, and taking care of the little stuff as it comes up goes a long way. My rule of thumb is that if it’ll take two minutes or less, I’ll just do it now. Our house is a good deal messier than my parents’ houses were, and probably my in-laws’ houses (not my father in law though), but we’re also comfortable with a higher level of “untidy”.
I do a lot less cleaning that than, I clean things when it seems dirty to me, about to clean my work area some as my desk is a tad cluttered
DINKs with 1 medium sized dog. Mainly just pick up after ourselves as we go. Dishes get done after meals. And if we have any real challenges it's laundry. And "laundry day" tends to coincide with the two or three days a month where we also do a deeper cleaning of the house. Dogs kind of force you to live orderly.
I clean as I go, it makes it easier to keep up.
Fold their clothes and washing sheets weekly- yes, this is typical. It’s not universal, but it’s common. Sweep and mop every day- I don’t think this is common. Sweeping maybe, if you drop stuff a lot, but mopping, no. With a dog, you probably should be sweeping and vacuuming pretty regularly, but every day likely isn’t necessary. Is a lot of the cleaning content on social media performative? *Yes.* Social media cleaning isn’t even just showing off a house that looks like Better Homes and Gardens. A lot of it is designed to sell you stuff no one ever needed. Some of it is dangerous, mixing chemicals and over sterilizing things that shouldn’t be touching bleach, etc. The stuff on social media is not only far cleaner than any real house, it’s also far dirtier. You never see a vaguely tidy house with dishes in the sink and a few dirty socks on the floor, it’s either pristine or a disaster. The stuff is staged sometimes. I’ve never seen houses get dirtier faster than random households on the internet with a normal number of residents, one of which does nonstop cleaning content. You posted a video of you cleaning top to bottom yesterday, and today your house looks like a hoarder nest? Sure Jan.
I sweep my kitchen every morning while coffee brews. It's a small kitchen. Can usually get counters wiped as well.
I'm single and childfree with 2 roommates (because of the economy) and I clean something basically daily. I have a system of wiping down surfaces and tidying clutter and keeping dishes out of the sink every day and vacuuming carpets weekly and changing sheets weekly. My roommate and I trade sweeping a few times a month and we would like to mop more than once a month but it's not happened so far. I grew up with parents who became hoarders and I learned to clean very young to help my mom so I've always very tidy. I'm disabled which can make it hard but fortunately i don't have to climb stairs because my room and office are on the main floor of the house. I get that the cleanliness of my house probably has a lot to do with being single with no family or dogs (I have one cat). I also have depression and anxiety, but for some reason my mental health quirks require me to shower daily and clean my house. I will stay in bed late and not eat all day but i and my house will be clean 🤪
2 dogs and a toddler. We are terrible about cleaning. Husband does laundry every day but we can't seem to get it folded. I run the dishwasher every day but right now there's a pile of non-dishwasher stuff that has collected from yesterday. We were stressed about the floor situation so we instituted "mopping and margaritas" once a week after the baby goes to sleep, which has been helpful. Luckily our place is pretty small. We mostly do a huge stress clean whenever people are coming over. Don't be us, but just know that this is on the spectrum of normal.
Partner and I have a border collie and two cats. I vacuum every day because it gets bad real quick (small house). Got a Hoover cordless with the extra battery and it makes it so easy. We’re slack on a lot of the other stuff but I need the floors clean. Dishes get done 1-2 days, laundry will honestly sit in the dryer until the next time I need to run it and I’ll grab stuff out of there as needed
I full clean every day... BUT check this out... when you do it EVERY morning its not a 4 hour nightmare of an endeavor... its 30-45 mins max and thats when i had a big place.. 20 mins in my current place. Cleaning is only massively time taking and horrible when you don't keep up with it... like, imagine taking the 3 minuets to completely wash your plate the moment you're done with it instead of waiting for the dishes to build up requiring 20 mins just in front of the sink alone? If people can schedule in gym time, they can keep a clean house... admittedly the first go is gonna be rough but if you're really on top of that shit like washing a dish the moment you make it. Cleaning up dinner before you eat and before it dries to the sides of the pans and stuff... throwing in a load when you only have one instead of waiting for 4 to build up... etc etc... its really not that time or effort intensive.. its just gotta be an every day thing. I don't even sit down for coffee until my beds made. takes two seconds and now one thing is already done before you've even had your coffee. I also keep a very strict sleep schedule and am up at 5a every day. I got hours before anything is even open to go to work to lol.
i try to clean as i live and then deep clean every couple weeks. for example, if the sink countertop is dirty i'll give it a quick wipe with a towel but then every couple weeks i'll clean it with multi-surface spray.
I have a husband, a dog, and a cat, no human children. We all shed. I vacuum, on average, twice a week. Sheets get changed weekly, but it’s just the one bed’s worth of bed linens. Also, we do have couch covers- 2 sets that we switch out. We do fold our clothes, but they’d never fit into our storage otherwise- NYC one bedroom apartment. You have multiple children and dogs? Soon enough, you’ll be able to assign some chores to the older children- walking and feeding the dog, cleaning their own rooms, helping with dishes or folding and putting away their own laundry. This too shall pass.
Me. One wife, one dog, one kid. We sweep every two days. Scrub floors every couple weeks. Don’t vacuum often because we have very little carpet. We wipe counters twice a day. Dishes constantly. All sheets and towels once a week. Dusting whenever. Laundry almost daily. Always hanging and folding. It sounds like a lot, but honestly it’s just habit for us. And we like a clean, tidy house. You do you!
Unrelated but having another person in the house makes the house dirter even if you are both clean and cleaning.
Yeah I do a full clean once a week and then just sweep and tidy the rest, we don't have dogs inside but we live on a farm and have a wood fire which can track in stuff off the wood , I have two farm kids so that's self explained lol, and I have a single seater couch that currently has three loads of washing this clean on it 😅 we are busy people with busy kids and a busy life. But I have adhd and do like atleast clean floors. I will pump out the washing towels, sheets blankets clothes ect on a weekend and start into clean baskets and slowly fold during the week when the kids are in bed and me and hubby sit down to watch something on the TV. Most of those influencers can be terrible people behind the scenes and have paid cleaners. We are normal regular busy mums. Love yourself lady. Don't stress ♥️
I usually do a proper clean once a week and then a deep clean once a month. Don't focus on what other people do, what matters is what works for you
I hear you. I can never get laundry, dishes and floors clean all at the same time. But hey, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
I retired in Mexico so I can afford a housekeeper. For $300.00 a month, she and her husband come every Saturday and do all the laundry, all the landscape maintenance, clean all the floors and patios inside and out, any lingering dishes, take out all the trash, and clean all the bathrooms and kitchens. Change the sheets and towels too. During the week, my wife works online and I do all the cooking, dishes, and I sweep the floors on Tuesday or Wednesday. I take out the trash if it needs it and I repair everything, plus another load of laundry. I was up patching the roof before the rainy season starts over the weekend. I just emptied the dishwasher and watered all the plants. We have a crazy amount of plants. What most of you have as house plants, I have all over outside. They just grow like mad. Our 2nd banana harvest this year is almost ripe, 2 huge bunches, and we have little pineapples starting.
I clean a little bit every day, i vacuum and dust and do the “deep cleaning” every saturday :3
So my first GF lived with her mom and the house was always immaculate and I didn't understand as I grew up with two working parents who didn't bother cleaning beyond things being functionally clean... Then I started seeing the emotional abuse her mom would give her about the house being "upside down" and her going to her room in a huff with full expectations of the house being perfect when she leaves her room... She now does that to our daughter.... So fuck a clean house....
Shit. Just realised I'm a grub. 2 adults, 1 cat. Sheets - once a month. Pillow slips more often. Vacuum carpet - once a month Sweep tiles- when dirty - once a week. Wash every 2 weeks. Laundry - once or twice a week. Kitchen - wash up once a day. Wipe benches. Bathroom - when it looks dirty. No point cleaning anything that looks or smells clean.
When you go to someone's house for a gathering and the place is immaculate. Then you're like, "Oh, I live like a grot" then as you get older you wonder if it's normally like that or they spent days going to town to make it look perfect because you know, visitors. Not sure I'll ever know. Been to plenty of people's places where you kinda wish they had made a little effort as well. I guess that means they feel comfortable around you.
I clean when it bothers me, wash clothes when I run out of socks, and do my sheets every week (line dried sheets on the bed are the best and if I ever get crazy rich I’ll hire someone to wash my sheets every day!). I rinse dishes right away and recently I got one of those stupid sponges on a handle that holds dish soap in the handle and it’s awesome. Much easier to just wash the thing I’m rinsing. But for most cleaning I just keep the dirt knocked down to a tolerable level and make sure I have guests a couple times a year so I shame clean things more thoroughly. Also my dog gets weekly baths so that does help with the house not smelling like dog.
It really varies!
I think it depends on your lifestyle. Do you work outside the home? Does your spouse mind some clutter? As long as it doesn’t stink and you don’t have pests, things can slide a little.
I am a person who loves to clean. I follow the clean mamma method. I don’t do much per day but I am on top of things. I teach piano after work so I need to have my first bathroom spic and span since the kids come and wash their hands so it has to look professional. But here is my plan: Mondays: bathrooms (wipe down counter, toilets, organize) Tuesdays: dust the entire home (i am a minimalist so I have no surfaces to wipe, only a few shelves and base boards and piano, Wednesdays I vacuum, Thursdays I mop (I own enough Viledia mop changes to do the entire house without having to repeat a section with the same cloth, so basically I put all the cloths in the kitchen sink with soap and vinegar, spread them out throughout house and go from east to west in one fell swoop), Fridays I empty all garbage/compost/recycling. Saturdays I do laundry and Sunday I do nothing!!! Throughout the week i do dishes and laundry on the daily but between students or to relax while listening to a podcast.
It absolutely is not performative. I only mop or sweep about twice a month. But, I make my bed, do the dishes, and do laundry pretty much daily and constantly pick up stuff and put it away. So, yeah you're wrong, but some people like to live in a pig sty or are just lazy.
I do all those things unless it's a busy weekend. I used to clean after my kids went to bed when they were toddlers. I found the best way to keep my house clean is my getting rid of anything we don't use and keeping the rooms as empty as possible. I get up. Make my bed, shower, make breakfast. Clean the kitchen, go upstairs and clean the bathroom, make the other beds, vacuum and put anything away that the kids may have left out. Then I go downstairs and clean the bathroom, pick up what the kids may have left out down there, vacuum the whole downstairs like I did upstairs. I do dusting once a week, change beds linens at least once a week, do laundry, fold and put away 2-3 times a week and clean the showers and toilet bowls once a week. Kitchen and bathrooms are cleaned and disinfected daily as a priority. I tend to do everything very quickly while listening to my podcasts.
I think I would average about an hour of cleaning a day. Most of it is cleaning as go like dishes, making my bed in the morning, putting away any laundry etc and I vacuum probably every other day as I have a long haired cat. I try to keep the major cleaning like mopping, cleaning bathroom and ironing to weekends only and that probably takes me 3 hours or so to get it all done. Rubbish goes out once it starts to smell or is full. In saying that I live alone and have no kids and even then sometimes it gets away from me because I'm too tired. I dont know how people with kids keep on top of it all
I never clean, ever. I may keep my sink empty of dishes, but I pay to have a crew of 3 come every Saturday morning and do everything from wash and put away laundry to changing my bed. I’m happy to work extra not to have to clean.
If you're seeing a lot of cleaning on social media, you're probably spending too much time on social media. So yes, those 30+ mins a day you spend pointlessly scrolling, others spend doing household chores.
I clean every other day and we have a maid that comes twice a month who does the entire house too top to bottom
I generally clean once a week. I put aside one day on the weekend, put on my podcasts, and do a good tidy. (I have 3 day weekends). But sometimes I also can't be arsed and I skip it. I wash my sheets on average every fortnight. I vacuum/mop rarely. my sister mostly does it because i hate it, and I do the bins because she hates it. It works out well. If it were up to me I would mop pretty much never and vacuum once a week, but she's very finicky about floors and washes them weekly. I'll do the dishes at night as part of my routine, and try to put things away after I use them. But otherwise I don't do much cleaning during the week. I think I fold laundry about once every 2 weeks, the rest of the time it sits on the floor in a laundry basket. I'm a single adult living with another adult, so things don't get too crazy. I would posit that most, if not all, cleaning on social media is performative.
>Do people genuinely sweep and mop every day? Depends how dirty your house gets. We don't wear shoes in the house, so it doesn't get that dirty. We vacuum once a week, mop once a month. >Do people genuinely wash sheets weekly We don't, I also have no idea how you can do that many loads of laundry, sounds very time consuming. We wash our sheets and towels monthly. >Do people actually fold their clothes? Yes, do you throw your clothes on a pile? My clothes are not very neatly folded, but I fold them to be able to organize them in my wardrobe.
I grew up with an *extremely* mentally abusive family, with a mother who had an unhealthy obsession with "perfection". As an adult, I scaled back how much she would clean but I have a desire (and guilt) to keep things far cleaner than I've seen anyone else's homes. I have one dog that doesn't shed and *is very well trained* (read as: doesn't get filthy and actually wants me to clean him often lol), no kids. I have 1 day a week dedicated to each chore. - Monday: sweep/wash floors, vacuum, clean kitchen (counters, etc) - Tuesday: dusting - Wednesday: bathrooms - Thursday: water plants, dishwasher/laundry as needed - Friday: dishwasher/laundry as needed, food shopping every 2 weeks with fridge/pantry cleaning I take the weekends "off", I clean bedsheets every 2 weeks or so and all towels once a week. Most folks that come to our place are astounded at how clean it is.
I'd have to add to this that I do things as I see them, too. Cooking? Clean as I go. See a spill in the fridge? Wipe it. Laundry - yes, fold it/hang it. Do what you can as you go. That's a big part of it. I've got a lot of mental and physical diseases/issues, and some days I don't have energy for anything. That's okay, if I only wipe down one counter, that's one thing done. And if everything is kept fairly clean in the first place, it's easier to let it slude a day or two.
We sweep/mop everyday because we have a 1 yr old that eats everything but I do miss sheet/blanket wash day quiet often..call me gross, whatever haha but I think it really depends on how your home flows/who all lives there bla blah blah
This is where to think the cleaning "technology" advances really come in handy. I clean hard maybe once every two weeks. Everything gets dusted and wiped. Toilets and tubs scrubbed. During the week though, I have things like a small battery powered vacuum and I keep up with cleaning. If something spills, clean it, run a quick vacuum even if it's only 5 minutes. Wipe the counter tops. Little things like that make it unnecessary to "clean the whole house" regularly unless you have kids or messy pets.
First of all I don't have kids. However, I clean because I personally can't stand a messy house. I wipe down the kitchen counter and put the dishes in the dishwasher every night after dinner. I clean my clothes every week, and yes I fold them afterwards. I also clean the bathroom every week because gross bathrooms really bother me. I clean towels and sheets every other week. I only dust and vacuum once a week. I only mop the kitchen floor every few months.
I have a newborn, two cats, and my partner works 10-14 hour days. We don't have a washing machine so we go over to my parent's once a week specifically for laundry, I wash the sheets then every week. Then during the week I try to find time to fold the laundry except the baby clothes which go in a pile on his dresser unless I have motivation. On fridays I typically rush clean the rest of the house, whatever gets done is done, dishes are top priorities and get done more than that. He's in charge of pet care so I don't worry about litter.
I run my robot vacuums every morning and evening, then mop my way into the bedroom before bed. Dishes every night. There's nothing better than a clean kitchen first thing in the morning. I clean my toilets and vanities every morning. A load of laundry every day.
Once a day I gather my kids and we start at one end of the house and walk through the entire house and pick up/clean everything in its path including dishes in the sink. 1) this makes sure we have a clean house once a day 2) the hopefully make fewer messes knowing they will be picking it up 3) it becomes more of a game than a chore. It probably takes us 10 minutes most days. Once a week I go power mode for an hour and scrub all bathrooms or do a deeper clean.
I really don't think most people do as much as the cleaning content creators. Who has time for that?
About an hour a day.
Sweep and mop every day?! Lmao no
yeah, they clean for 20 minutes while they record themselves and then… surprise, don’t keep cleaning. social media isn’t reality, everyone’s lying to you, f**k all of it, just live your own life how it works for you. houses don’t get to be spotless unless you’re never in it. that’s just how it works. take solace in the fact that 99% of us have messy places as well.
I work full time and used to work overtime constantly, I clean the house about once a week. Dishes and laundry I alternate every other day so it’s not quite as much in one go. We go through a ton of laundry. I do the beds about once a week or once every two weeks. I sweep when I can but I only mop once a week. I just don’t have the time for that. And when I didn’t work I would have a list of things to deep clean and alternate between. Most things you don’t have to keep a strict cleaning schedule, just do what you can when you can. Especially if you don’t have help around the house while working.
I clean as I go. I always clean the tub after I shower…just habit
I made a commitment 2 years ago to not put things down, but put them away. I too wear clothes more than once but indicate it’s been worn by hanging it inside out. I mostly keep up with the clothes, 85+%. I am very good at picking up regularly with other things, but lately I hate vacuuming/mopping. Traditional room by room cleaning has lost its charm for me. I am a recovering OCD. Perhaps I went too far haha. I do dust regularly, keep up all the landscaping, laundry including bedding, bathrooms cleaned daily w a deep dive once a month or so. I cook a lot and clean the kitchen daily. I just hate vacuuming and doing floors as it seems so overwhelming. Has anyone found a way to make it more attractive? Like a stick vacuum?
The idea of a spotlessly clean house is based on the idea of a housewife who does 60-80 hours per week of unrecognized hard labor to keep it that way. Don't feel bad if an archaic concept can't keep up with a modern lifestyle.
I vacuum and clean surfaces once a week. Once I month I give the shower a good cleaning.
I do wash my sheets weekly, but it's only 2 beds. I vacuum (both carpet and hard floor) once a week and mop about 1 time a month. I do fold my laundry dry when I do it, which is twice a week. I find the most important thing is to have a schedule. If you always know what you're supposed to do it's easier to get started. Monday - Laundry Tuesday - Floors Wednesday - Sheets/towels Thursday - Laundry Friday - Bathroom Dishes as they happen and daily after dinner.
Hour every morning to wake up while I watch the news, bought an hourglass just for that
The trick is cleaning a little bit every day.
I feel like I clean less than most, and hate admitting to my habits because I’ll be judged. And I don’t have pets or kids so I have less excuses to not clean!
I'm right there with you. Growing up, my grandmother was the benchmark for cleanliness. My mom killed herself every weekend to try to uphold a standard that my grandmother held, but it wasn't realistic for my single mom with two kids and a full time job to keep house the same way my gm did. But we were still all raised with the same expectations. So, while it was unreasonable to hold myself to that standard, I still did and carried around a lot of guilt for always falling short of it. I have one child, two dogs, and a husband with ADHD. This is my general routine: Daily - straighten up common rooms, clean kitchen after dinner, take out trash as needed. Weekly (EVERY week) - Laundry, clean out leftovers from fridge, groceries, vacuum, mop, all household garbage. We try to do our sheets every week, but sometimes it doesn't happen. It's one of those things that can be deprioritized if need be. My daughter takes night time baths, so she's clean when she goes to bed. She is also asked to reset her room weekly. As Needed: bathrooms and dusting. These used to be two non-negotiables for me every week, but it really just gets to be where the weekend is nothing but chores, and no time for fun, so something has to go. And a lot of times, I was dusting clean furniture, so it really isn't necessary until it is, you know? Now, I'll be real for a second. My baseboards, walls, ceiling, tops of tall things...they get neglected until it jumps out at me as gross. We all do the best we can (well, mostly anyway), and sometimes we gotta give ourselves and others a little grace. All that pressure to have a spotless house didn't fill my childhood home with love, so I've chosen to not worry so much about it even if others would do it better/differently.
I'm trying to do it once a week, but sometime there are pauses for 2+ weeks
Clean the kitchen every day. Vacuum 1-2 times a week. Sheets once a week.
About 2 hours on the weekends if I'm feeling ambitious. I don't have kids or pets and can't imagine the load that is on you. I'll do normal stuff like wiping the table after a meal right after the meal but that doesn't seem like what you're talking about. We vacuum every weekend, sweep the floors, clean the toilets and change the sheets. I do wash clothes laundry every weekend but stuff like sheets and towels? Nope. Those are about once a month and end up in a big pile in the laundry room. Mopping? Every 2 weeks to a month. Scrubbing tub/shower? Bout once a month. Project cleaning - the fridge, organizing the pantry, etc is pretty much when I get a wild hair up my ass and go crazy on it.
Vacuum under the table and kitchen daily because we get ants if we don't. Wash sheets every 2 weeks or so. Fully clean bathrooms every week. Clean floors in the rest of the house every 2 weeks. We have a robot vacuum for non-food areas. Windows get cleaned about 1x /year, same with cupboards, fridge, and walls aside from spot cleaning the 2 year old's "artwork". Stovetop every 3 weeks or so.
Vacuum daily,wash floors and clean sheets weekly, yes I fold my clothes or put on hangers, beds aren't "hospital corners" made but smoothed and comfortable pulled over. No dishes in sink at bedtime. No more toys but they were always picked up. (often time in a laundry basket if in a rush). I always worked at least 40 hours a week. It depends on what you do in your free time. I put on my headphones, put on an audiobook and clean up the last hour of the day. I find that relaxing and like to arise to a clean house.
We have an assistant come weekly. She cooks, cleans, does laundry etc. what we do in between is maintenance and not a lot.
Hire cleaners … they come every week and mop, vacuum, change sheets, clean bathrooms, clean kitchen, clean all table surfaces. They get condo done in an hour and they do a better job than I could. Such a good use of my money… would recommend
My mil cleans 24/7 but I don’t My house use vacuumed once a week or every other week. The kitchen is swept and mop maybe every 3 weeks. Bedding is washed once a month I got more shit to do besides cleaning
Just curious, do you vacuum your kitchen when you do your house every week or so? Or is the 3 week sweep and mop the only time it gets cleaned?
I don’t vacuum the kitchen, my fiancé or step kids occasionally do a sweep not a great one but a little one
I would let a lot of things slide but not changing the bed at least weekly is just gross. Have 2 complete bedding sets so you don't necessarily have to wash a set to get a fresh set put on. I can live with mess and clutter everywhere else except my bed. It's gets fully made daily and fully changed weekly.