# How much time??



## fellini123 (Feb 2, 2003)

Ok my house isnt "Martha Stewart" clean, nor is it "Hoarders" cluttered. But it is somewhere in the middle!! LOL 
Anyway, what I was wondering is how much time you spend on house cleaning on a daily basis. Not getting things under control, but once they are under control how much time then??
Do you vaccuum every day, every room? How often do you do laundry? If you have wooden floors how often do you clean them? And the kitchen or bathroom? Do you clean the bathroom every day?
thanks for the info
Alice in Virginia


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

This is going to depend on how many people live in the house and their ages. I have laminate floors and sweep twice a day, or once a day, or twice a week, depending on what else I have to do. I also have a little battery operated vacuum that I use. I don't wash the floors often, but today is Thanksgiving and we are having company. I am right now taking a break from sweeping, then I will vacuum and mop the floors.

I spend most of my cleaning time dealing with the kitchen. I like a clean kitchen. After that, I limit my cleaning time to an hour. So, if I wash walls I won't sweep twice a day. What has really helped is having someone come in for one hour once a week. She doesn't even come in every week, but she cleans the bathroom and that saves me some grief as I can no longer clean the tub.


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## lovemy4danes (Oct 4, 2012)

About an hour per day. That is picking up each room, sweeping or vacuuming most rooms. (have to with 4 dogs) kitchen, and swish and swipe both baths and house is usually company ready. Check out flylady, even if your not a "hoarder" she has some great advice and tips that anyone can use. If I get into a funk I read her book or go on her website and it motivates me.


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## fellini123 (Feb 2, 2003)

Thanks guys. As far as people it is only DH and myself. We do have a few dogs, only one in the house all the time a couple here and there. None of which shed so that isnt a problem.
I wish I could have someone come out, but with us so far out traveling cost alone would be prohibitive.
I tried Flylady for awhile, but got REALLY tired of her emails. I did win a "Flylady Duster" though, it is nice with real feathers!! LOL
Alice in Virginia


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## KyMama (Jun 15, 2011)

As little as possible. LOL. I don't even want to think about how much time I spend cleaning. With 2 boys at home all day, a husband and 2 cats in the house I seem to always be cleaning something. 

I can't do flylady either, mainly because of the shoes thing. I know it's silly, but I got tired of being told to put my shoes on. I hate wearing shoes in the house, and I don't allow any of the boys to wear them in the house either. They track way too much dirt in, that I have to clean up. Seems counterproductive to me. I do love to have a shiny sink though. I ended up making my own cleaning schedules that I printed on index cards, laminated and hang on the side of my fridge. They include daily, weekly and something close to flylady's zones. 

My daily is just upkeep: wash dishes, clean stove top and counters, make beds, laundry, wipe out bathroom sink, take out garbage, sweep and mop floors, and 10 minute tidy 3x's a day. I use the 10 minute tidy to get control of problem areas before they get out of control. My weekly is just more concentrated cleaning in certain rooms: Monday-Bathrooms, Tuesdays-Bedrooms, Wednesdays-Kitchen and Thursdays-Living Room. And finally I have the zone cleaning at the bottom of the card. 

I really don't know how much time I spend cleaning, probably about 2 hours a day. I don't have a dishwasher so I spend a lot of time throughout the day in front of the sink, or at least it feels like I do. I usually sweep my floors twice a day and mop once. And my laundry is never caught up so I do a couple loads a day just to stay on top of it. I've been trying to weed through our clothes and get rid of the stuff we don't need. Hopefully it will cut down on the laundry and help me get it under control.

Sorry I kind of got off topic there for a few. Hopefully I answered your question in there somewhere.


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## lovemy4danes (Oct 4, 2012)

Like KyMama I used flylady to get my "start". I now use my binder and cleaning rotation (tweaked to my needs) Every once in a while I will visit her site to get motivated, but I do agree the emails are rediculous.


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## doozie (May 21, 2005)

My regular cleaning habit is clean the bathroom floor every day, somehow all dust from the air flow seems to end up in there on the floor. Dust and some dog hair drive me nuts. It only takes under a minute to get a clean rag, moisten it and wipe the small floor down. Sink is daily too. Tub is after I use shower. 
Dishes after each meal are handwashed, floors daily, we have dogs, and I cant really keep it spotless, but I do know it is clean once a day. Vacuum daily or every other day. All this would probably take30-45 minutes, I have a small house.
We have throw rugs that get washed about once a month by the entrance doors too.

I never let my laundry overwhelm me, I do full loads, but I do them on a Thursday for clothes laundry or Friday to include sheets and towles. I always finish the job (fold and put away) the day I start, or the next morning if I am air drying clothes. Nothing to get in the way of my laundry free weekends!!!
I dont dust daily, but I probably should fit that into my days, I was shocked at the amount under my bed (hardwood floors), and that turned into an hour or so project for the whole room. I have no idea how long I let that go.

I have to add I dont have kids at home, I know I have much less to keep clean/organized than others. In the past with kids it was laundry just about every day!


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## Louisiana Mom (Oct 15, 2004)

About 30 minutes a day.
I have my children do their own bedrooms & shared bath.
I usually keep up with the rest other than they have to put their own things away.


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## Tirzah (May 19, 2006)

Our home consists of my honey, my mom, myself and our dog.

~We vacuum everyday
~I make sure that our bed is made first thing in the morning. If it looks nice I want the rest of the house to look that way too
~Dishes I make sure are done in the evening before bed and unload in the morning. I try really hard to keep up on it
~I launder as needed too. I like to keep up on that also and as soon as things are dry they are folded and put away
~Floors are another story 
~Bathrooms, once a week for good cleaning. I wipe down every other day.

~I pick up around the house before bed also

I have spent the past year purging and organizing and trying to maintain on a daily basis so I don't get overwhelmed and it is paying off. I am much more relaxed now too. Keep in mind we do not have children.


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## RedTartan (May 2, 2006)

I need to clean for an hour a day. I have a big house and 4 kids that are home all day plus a St. Bernard that sheds. I don't count kitchen work or straightening as part of the hour either.


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## Sunflowerhill (Dec 30, 2012)

I do not ever wash walls! I cannot imagine! LOL... I will of course get spider webs or whatever but I have way too many other things that need done. My normal day is picking up each room and putting things away, making sure the kitchen is completely clean and laundry. A couple of times a week we will sweep/mop. And once a week the bathrooms get an overall good scrubbing.


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## Taylor R. (Apr 3, 2013)

With three small children, a shedding hound dog, plus a lot of playing outside in the dirt, I spend about two hours every day keeping things under control. I do a load of laundry every day, sweep a few times a day, mop the hard floors everyday, wipe down the counters and table three times a day, and do a pick up session before honey gets home. I usually try to do the deep cleaning in little chunks every day. I clean the bathroom every few days as necessary. I am an all natural housekeeper by trade, so I'm very motivated to keep my house clean. I hate going to make someone else's house sparkle only to come home to a mess.


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## Elizabeth (Jun 4, 2002)

About three hours a day LESS than it would take to keep my house clean


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## TenBusyBees (Jun 15, 2011)

I spend an hour roughly a day just cleaning... I have one room a day scheduled each week for a thorough clean... to mop/vacuum, dust, clean ceiling fans, declutter, wipe down, scrub, whatever.

However...

We tidy up 3 times a day... after each meal. Each kiddo has a room/area in which they are responsible.... it takes roughly 15 minutes each time.


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## Taylor R. (Apr 3, 2013)

KyMama said:


> I can't do flylady either, mainly because of the shoes thing. I know it's silly, but I got tired of being told to put my shoes on. I hate wearing shoes in the house, and I don't allow any of the boys to wear them in the house either. They track way too much dirt in, that I have to clean up. Seems counterproductive to me. close to flylady's zones.
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> ...


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

*Laundry every day, at least 1 load. Wash, dry, fold. It's up to everyone else in the house to put it away.

THAT is the ONLY consistant thing I have done the last 60 days.

I need to get my ship together, and get back in my routine.


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## froebeli (Feb 14, 2012)

After reading all the other responses, I decline to add how little time I spend cleaning. It's the most thankless, useless and utterly hopeless task I know of. Maybe I spend more time than I think, but not nearly as much as most of you. 

Life is too short to spend so much time cleaning.

My house is not filthy, and it's just me, DH the dog and cat, but hours a day is not in the schedule.


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## Taylor R. (Apr 3, 2013)

When it was only my husband and myself, I cleaned for an hour maybe once a week, plus the usual dishes and laundry as needed, and everything stayed clean. It was....magical.


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

Taylor and KyMama, I'm with you on the shoes thing! I have read some FlyLady tips over the years, but didn't remember that part. (I just went to her website and read about it). We always take our shoes off at the door; there's a rug near the door especially for them.

While I agree that I should not spend the whole day in my pj's, I disagree that I must wear shoes. I have a friend from Korea who always takes her shoes off at the door, and her house is spotless.


To answer the original question, we clean on Saturday mornings--the whole family pitches in to clean bathrooms, vacuum floors, sweep, mop, etc. It takes 1-2 hours, with 5 of us working. The rest of the week averages about an hour a day for dishes, bed making, laundry and general keeping up with clutter.


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## FeralFemale (Apr 10, 2006)

Flylady shoe thing:

My grandmother wore shoes inside all the time, but they were inside shoes only. She would change out of them to go outside and change back into them when she came inside. They were slip on canvas shoes with rubber soles.

This is what I imagined when flylady said she put on shoes. I can't imagine wearing shoes inside that were tracking all the dirt and germs from outside into the house!


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

It "feels" like most of the day, everyday, but then I hate cleaning house! I do however, become somewhat psychotic when its a mess, the 2 & 4 yr old have smeared something gooey in the floor, then walked around in it & are squealing with delight, oh well...so I clean, some MORE! With 6 of us here, I do at least 2 loads of laundry everyday and make the two big kids help fold and put up. We're ALL here, everyday 24/7 and it does make keeping things neat an on-going challenge for sure, even with the 2 teenagers helping out. This morning for example, kids ate, I cleaned up crumbs. It was raining earlier, they go outside and cover themselves in mud and come back in. I stopped them at the porch and washed them off, then the porch. Then 4 yr got a water bottle to drink, spilled it all over the wood floor in the living rm, I mop up. Then, 20 minutes later, the 2 yr old knocks my coke off the table onto the same floor...and that was before 10:00 a.m.  NOW, they are wanting to know what's for lunch??? And NO, this is NOT an unusual day around here.


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## Taylor R. (Apr 3, 2013)

My house sounds EXACTLY like yours, backwoods!! Some days it seems like I clean all day just to keep the house on the level. I only have 3 kids, ages 3, 5, and 7, and they aren't exceptional at their chores, so I spend 2 hours getting them to do their chores, only to re-do them later. I absolutely refuse to give in and not ask them do to chores. I think it'll only spell trouble in the future!


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