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For those of you whose homes are always spotless, how?
With three daughters and two working parents, when we REALLY clean, it’s an all weekend endeavor more or less.
Do people actually spend every spare moment cleaning or something?
The only way our house would be that clean is if one of us stayed up until midnight every night cleaning. Two of my girls are as messy as any boy. The other is a neat freak but it only applies to her own room.
Takes a couple minutes every day spread out over multiples of 5~20 second efforts, just clean and put things away as you move through the house and see they're not in their place. Then, when it comes time to do the bigger things, like floors and bathrooms, you can just do those without need for "pre-cleaning".
But it's a whole-house effort. Everyone does their part, which is where being a Parent comes into play. Kids hate cleaning up, and that's a tough, but it's your job as a Parent to teach them that it's a part of life. Not teaching your kids this simple part of life is doing them a dis-service.
And yes, girls fall on the extremes of the cleaning bell curve (or at least in my experience). They are either clean-freaks or more disgusting than the average boy.
I raised five kids and for awhile I had four - FOUR - teenagers at the same time!
Our house was always picked up. Beds were made every morning. Dishes always went into the sink, never left on the counter, and then into the dishwasher twice a day, then the dishwasher was run at night. Kitchen always cleaned up before bedtime. Laundry done and put away - laundry was done by all family members over the age of 10, and everyone was responsible for making sure their closets were neat (ish).
Vacuuming was done twice a week. Sweeping and mopping as needed. Once a week, on the weekend, everyone pitched in for about two hours to dust, vacuum, sweep, mop, clean around light switches, scrub down the bathrooms, clean mirrors, fixtures, change bedding, etc. This was always on a Saturday morning before noon. By noon, everyone was cut loose to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Oh, I forgot to say - this included mowing and edging the yard. In the fall, we'd have a few Saturday or Sunday afternoons of raking leaves, but that wasn't very often.
I'm not going to lie and say that everyone always worked diligently, or that the house was always spotless, because that's simply not the case, but we did manage to keep things fairly clean and always neat. I simply did not allow anyone living in my house to scatter their things. You come in from school - there's a place for your backpack, so put it there. Get done with homework, put that stuff up. Don't leave dishes sitting around and no eating or drinking in your room. You mess something up, you clean it up.
My rule of thumb is that every night, everything is picked up and pretty clean. This accomplishes several things. First of all, we all wake up to a clean, pleasant house. Secondly, nothing gets "out of hand." Finally, everyone is doing something to keep things tracking and I think that's important to learn from a responsibility POV.
Now that my kids are grown, I still do this. After every meal, the kitchen is immediately cleaned up. Everything is in it's place at night. Once a week I dust and scrub down the bathrooms, but that doesn't take that long - the rest of the week I just do things as they need to be done.
I raised five kids and for awhile I had four - FOUR - teenagers at the same time!
Our house was always picked up. Beds were made every morning. Dishes always went into the sink, never left on the counter, and then into the dishwasher twice a day, then the dishwasher was run at night. Kitchen always cleaned up before bedtime. Laundry done and put away - laundry was done by all family members over the age of 10, and everyone was responsible for making sure their closets were neat (ish).
Vacuuming was done twice a week. Sweeping and mopping as needed. Once a week, on the weekend, everyone pitched in for about two hours to dust, vacuum, sweep, mop, clean around light switches, scrub down the bathrooms, clean mirrors, fixtures, change bedding, etc. This was always on a Saturday morning before noon. By noon, everyone was cut loose to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Oh, I forgot to say - this included mowing and edging the yard. In the fall, we'd have a few Saturday or Sunday afternoons of raking leaves, but that wasn't very often.
I'm not going to lie and say that everyone always worked diligently, or that the house was always spotless, because that's simply not the case, but we did manage to keep things fairly clean and always neat. I simply did not allow anyone living in my house to scatter their things. You come in from school - there's a place for your backpack, so put it there. Get done with homework, put that stuff up. Don't leave dishes sitting around and no eating or drinking in your room. You mess something up, you clean it up.
My rule of thumb is that every night, everything is picked up and pretty clean. This accomplishes several things. First of all, we all wake up to a clean, pleasant house. Secondly, nothing gets "out of hand." Finally, everyone is doing something to keep things tracking and I think that's important to learn from a responsibility POV.
Now that my kids are grown, I still do this. After every meal, the kitchen is immediately cleaned up. Everything is in it's place at night. Once a week I dust and scrub down the bathrooms, but that doesn't take that long -
the rest of the week I just do things as they need to be done.
Kids *must* do their own cleaning. Toys put up. Laundry in hampers. Shoes and coats put away. School stuff organized before bed so getting out the door in the morning is easy. Dishes in the sink. Trash can emptied before trash day (baths and bedroom trash cans into the main house can). Kids 5 - 10 can fold and put own laundry away (don't make an issue of how well it's done, that can improve with age/dexterity). 11 and older can be in charge of washing laundry. Vacuum, dusting, scrubbing, wiping at age appropriate times. Again, don't be looking for perfection but learning the habit that cleaning is the responsibility of the whole family.
Our mantra was "pick up, put up, shut up" meaning everything is picked up from wherever it lays and either put up (shelves, toy chests) or shut up into closets or drawers (not shut up and be quiet, although it can apply!). That happened every night before the beginning of the bedtime routine.
Kids *must* do their own cleaning. Toys put up. Laundry in hampers. Shoes and coats put away. School stuff organized before bed so getting out the door in the morning is easy. Dishes in the sink. Trash can emptied before trash day (baths and bedroom trash cans into the main house can). Kids 5 - 10 can fold and put own laundry away (don't make an issue of how well it's done, that can improve with age/dexterity). 11 and older can be in charge of washing laundry. Vacuum, dusting, scrubbing, wiping at age appropriate times. Again, don't be looking for perfection but learning the habit that cleaning is the responsibility of the whole family.
Our mantra was "pick up, put up, shut up" meaning everything is picked up from wherever it lays and either put up (shelves, toy chests) or shut up into closets or drawers (not shut up and be quiet, although it can apply!). That happened every night before the beginning of the bedtime routine.
RIGHT ON.
This is so important, and now I have adult sons and daughters who all know how to keep their place clean, and do yardwork too. They don't expect someone else to do these things for them, and why should they?
It blows my mind when I hear someone say "But I don't know how to iron," or "I don't know how to sew on a button," or "I don't know how to fix this hem," or "I don't know how to start the lawnmower." What? I never went so far as to teach a kid how to change the oil in a car, but they do all know how to keep a house and yard neat and clean. It's not rocket science. It takes an average amount of self control and self discipline though. Last time I checked, parents were supposed to model and teach kids those values.
I really like the concept of "Field Day" in the Marine Corps/Navy. Every Thursday evening things were scrubbed and made perfect for Friday morning inspection. If you failed you spent your Friday night re-cleaning. (We never failed) But it started the weekend off right.
I'm not as strict now. But I try to keep on top of things daily and break down once a week to deep clean. (Today's the day. I'm putting it off.)
For those of you whose homes are always spotless, how?
With three daughters and two working parents, when we REALLY clean, it’s an all weekend endeavor more or less.
Do people actually spend every spare moment cleaning or something?
The only way our house would be that clean is if one of us stayed up until midnight every night cleaning. Two of my girls are as messy as any boy. The other is a neat freak but it only applies to her own room.
I think the key is dust control - then everything else becomes more manageable. I've heard of extra-fine filters, some people even put a rubber gasket or sealant around the air filter so NOTHING gets by.
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