Cleaning & Organizing
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A spin off of "cleaning schedule"

Hey I just got done reading a previous post about cleaning schedules...
For those of you who are not SAHMs and work full time away from home...how do you manage a clean, organized home? I work 9-6 M-F and get home at about 6:45. After dinner it's probably close to 8:00pm. Most of my cleaning is devoted to the weekend. And if there is an event, birthday party etc, forget about it.
How do you do detail cleaning, dusting, cleaning cupboards, under furniture, mopping, windows, baseboards, etc. meanwhile washing laundry-folding and putting away, grocery shopping (and searching flyers and coupons and list making) and making dinners. How do you ladies do it?! :(
I don't even have kids yet and I can't keep up with a clean house.
I definitely will not win the housekeeper of the year award.

Re: A spin off of "cleaning schedule"

  • I work M-Th 10am-8:30pm & F 9:30-3:30. My husband works night shift 2am- 8:30. Most cleaning gets done on the weekends as well as laundry. Unless I'm being lazy then I will throw a load in the washer when I get home at night & my husband puts it in the dryer when he gets up for work. He usually does dinner M-Th. I do it on the weekends. Grocery shopping is on the weekends. Usually half way through the week he will clean the kitchen up & when I get home I mop. I do coupons after I get home while watching tv.

    Anniversary

  • Every family is going to be a bit different due to climate, size of house, number of people, pets, etc.  My house is just 2 of us, no pets, and about 1500 sqft.  My strategy?  It's all about finding 'hidden' time and taking advantage of it!

    "hidden" time are seconds and minutes while you're waiting for other things to happen... mail to arrive, pot of water to boil, laundry to finish, etc  The time you spend staring at the pot, checking your phone, watching tv, could be spent emptying/refilling the dishwasher....or throwing in a load of laundry.  It sounds funny, but sometimes I 'race' my microwave.  "Okay, 43 seconds? I can totally run upstairs and grab the windex and paper towels and make it back downstairs before it beeps."  I do the same thing with commercial breaks.

    Another trick is that I do a lot of the paperwork and laundry folding at night during DVR'd shows.  It keeps my hands busy while still letting me feel like i'm relaxing.  I'll keep netflix or pandora on my ipad and carry it around me while I clean or do other not-fun tasks.  It helps keep my mind entertained and me in a good mood!

    meals are typically planned about 2 days in advance, so I have a good idea of the time commitment or any prep that needs to be done....or if i need to stop at the store on my way home from work (SO much better than coming home and then realizing you have to go back out again!). 

    I am a HUGE supporter of the 'tidy when you leave the room' philosophy.  It keeps the house feeling neat and un-cluttered, which does a LOT for my sanity =)  I typically spend 1 evening per week doing a quick dust and vacuum of the house (usually Fridays) which takes about 2 hours total.  Hubby quickly wipes down the bathrooms, garbage duty, and occasionally the dishes.  About 1x per month i'll do a 'deep' clean (usually planned ahead on a sat/sun when nothing else is going on) of baseboards, floors, scrubbing bathrooms, etc.


    A typical weekend 'cleaning/laundry day' to do list looks like this:

    Wake up
    Throw laundry in
    Clean bathrooms (2)
    Switch Laundry
    Dust house
    Switch Laundry
    Vacuum House
    Clean/tidy kitchen, snack on something
    Switch laundry
    Shower, Get dressed
    Put laundry away
    DONE! (do other things with my day)
    --- total time: about 4-5 hours. end result = clean house, laundry done, shower-fresh wife!


    A typical weekday looks like this:
    Wake up
    Shower, dressed
    Quick dinner prep (usually taking meat/fish out of the freezer)
    Grab lunch (packaged from the night before)
    Work
    Errands if needed
    Home
    Dinner
    Mail/paperwork
    Relax/misc tasks
    Clean/tidy kitchen, lunch prep
    tidy house on the way upstairs
    bedtime


    Again, its different for everyone....what I do works for my family.  Good luck!

  • Every family is going to be a bit different due to climate, size of house, number of people, pets, etc.  My house is just 2 of us, no pets, and about 1500 sqft.  My strategy?  It's all about finding 'hidden' time and taking advantage of it!


    Wow thank you gymbug!!!
    You've actually given me a bunch of great ideas/options and inspiration! I want to test them out starting tonight!

  • you're so welcome -- hopefully it helps!

    Expert tip for 'hidden' time while boiling water.  Keep yourself within 'emergency sprinting distance'.  somehow the pot ALWAYS boils over the second i turn my back. gah!  I quit trying to clean outside the kitchen, and have now taken to lunges, counter pushups and leg raises hanging onto the counter instead. =)
  • Ahhh the never ending battle to keep a house clean when both of you work! Not going to Lie, the majority of the spats H and I have are about chores. 

    It seems like we do well for about a week and then things slide.  I spend saturdays cleaning usually goes something like this: 

    take dog out
    feed dog
    Start laundry
    make coffee
    clean kitchen counters/appliances
    have coffee/breakfast
    feed cats
    vacuum kitchen floors
    switch laundry
    dust living room
    vacuum living room/couches
    dust dinning room
    vacuum dinning room
    switch laundry
    clean bedroom
    clean bathrooms (2)

    ...if it have time for it
    clean guest room
    more laundry

    H hates spending the weekends cleaning, he works 3am-10am T-Sa, and I work 8am-5pm M-F and have a second job that occupies me W,Th 6-8, and I'm in school so have homework to do.  I keep telling him that if he doesn't want to spend Saturdays cleaning (and often sundays finishing cleaning or running errands) that he needs to help out during the week. so far he's been OK helping with laundry...by OK I mean that he'll start a load and forget to change it until I remind him, so it often takes 2 days for one load to get washed, dried, and folded...but something is better than nothing, right?


    Me: 28 H: 30
    Married 07/14/2012
    TTC #1 January 2015
    BFP! 3/27/15 Baby Girl!! EDD:12/7/2015
  • If you place a wooden spoon on top of the pot (no lid, of course) it will prevent the water from boiling over.  Or you could stick the spoon inside the pot, but it might take a little longer for the water to boil...
  • I also would win no awards for my housekeeping skills.  Two things I do:

    Sometimes I "time" myself.  I will "straighten things" for 10 minutes.  Or spend exactly (and only) 15 minutes doing kitchen stuff.  I get a lot done and my whole evening isn't shot!

    I will also give myself a goal.  Second floor?  I have to "do" 5 things.  Change bathroom towels.  Striaghten the bed.  Put away my slippers.  Fill the bill I paid yesterday.  Sweep the hall. 

    It really helps in the long run! 

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