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Post by compwalla on Jul 5, 2016 20:19:59 GMT
There has rarely been a time when I was working full time that I didn't have someone come to clean. We do the picking up and general tidying but the heavy things - floors, bathrooms, baseboards, vacuuming under the sofa cushions, and all the detail work has always been done by someone I hired. I have limited time off and I do not want to spend it cleaning. The end.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jul 5, 2016 20:20:17 GMT
I commute about 1 hour each way, and my BF's commute is about 30 min each way. We both work 8 hours a day, and he quite often works more hours from home in the evenings or on weekends. We have three long-haired dogs, and three cats. As much as do I like the $$ in our bank account, I look at it like this: is spending our time together worth the $$ it would cost to pay someone else to do the stuff we both hate doing?? Is it worth it to us to have time to spend together, rather than spending time endlessly cleaning the house?? My answer is most definitely yes. He's really private, so the thought of having someone in the house regularly skeevees him out-- but I totally think a housekeeper would be worth it. It's just getting HIM to agree to it, lol!! Last year we had someone come in and DEEP clean one time (windows and everything) and he was AMAZED at what they got done: how clean the place looked, and how (relatively) cheap it was considering the amount of work they did. But after that, we didn't follow through to either 1) keep up with it ourselves, or 2) hire them to come back regularly. ETA: I totally agree with freebird 's response of 'when people are coming over' lol!! We typically only do the minimum unless we're having people over or if the pet sitter will be staying over for a few days.
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styxgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,875
Jun 27, 2014 4:51:44 GMT
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Post by styxgirl on Jul 5, 2016 20:27:08 GMT
Is there anther option for "It just doesn't get done"?
Kids are in sports and other activities. Can't really add the expense of a house keeper so ... The house is usually cluttered.
We do keep on up dishes, bathrooms and laundry. The other chores like, vacuuming, dusting, moping and decluttering just don't happen as often as they should.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Jul 5, 2016 20:32:16 GMT
I work a FT and a PT job. DH also works FT. Until the last few months, he worked many evenings a week and most weekends. My hours vary and I work a few evenings as well. We have four kids, three are in activities so far. We try to do a little every night but it gets tough when we have games right after work. By the time we get home and get everyone bathed, I am ready for bed myself. We have had tournaments most weekends since the first weekend of May. I feel like our house desperately needs a deep clean. Trying to get the kids into a chore schedule so that more is getting done and they are getting out of their bad habits of leaving stuff everywhere, but so far that isn't going very well.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 19, 2024 0:59:58 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2016 20:34:23 GMT
Everyone participates. There are 6 people in our house. We all have tasks.
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Post by kibble on Jul 5, 2016 20:36:49 GMT
the vast majority on the weekends
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Post by KelleeM on Jul 5, 2016 20:40:03 GMT
My husband is retired and does it all. Yes, I know how lucky I am!
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oh yvonne
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,003
Jun 26, 2014 0:45:23 GMT
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 5, 2016 20:40:26 GMT
I lost my cleaning lady some time ago (moved) and I never bothered to get another. I'm lucky in that DH is super clean and doesn't leave messes and makes the bed daily so I'm not cleaning up after him at all and he does his own laundry. DD is now almost 10 and she's responsible for cleaning the bathrooms and picking up after herself. I do laundry on Wed and Thursday nights. Sat mornings I vacuum and mop. Straighten our bedroom. General pick up daily. I never go to bed with the house not picked up, but its just DD and I so we really don't make too much of a mess. We are put it away as we go. That's thing in my house. If you are leaving a room, take your stuff with you and deposit it along the way. I cook all the time so I keep up on the kitchen daily. I clean out the fridge weekly, usually Sunday mornings, and make my grocery list. Mondays I do the Costco run. Tuesday I do other store runs, like Target, regular grocery store. The only room that gets bad for me is my office/craft room. Eeek. I try to get to that like...err..bi monthly? Semi annually?
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Post by Merge on Jul 5, 2016 21:54:08 GMT
I commute about 1 hour each way, and my BF's commute is about 30 min each way. We both work 8 hours a day, and he quite often works more hours from home in the evenings or on weekends. We have three long-haired dogs, and three cats. As much as do I like the $$ in our bank account, I look at it like this: is spending our time together worth the $$ it would cost to pay someone else to do the stuff we both hate doing?? Is it worth it to us to have time to spend together, rather than spending time endlessly cleaning the house?? My answer is most definitely yes. He's really private, so the thought of having someone in the house regularly skeevees him out-- but I totally think a housekeeper would be worth it. It is totally worth it. It would take me all weekend to do what two cleaning ladies do in three hours. I wish I was one of those people who could just close my eyes to the dust, clutter, paw prints and pet hair in my own home, but I can't. (Oddly, I don't notice it in other people's homes - no judging here.) Like you, we have pets, and though I do my best to keep the worst of it swept up, having someone come in and really clean the floors - including mopping up any paw prints - is so helpful. Almost our entire house is hard-surface floors, so mopping is a big job. They strip and remake the beds, wash the sheets and fold them and put them away (we keep two sets of sheets for each bed so they can just be traded out). They run the dishwasher and put away the dishes. They dust everything, scrub the tub and shower, clean the toilets, scrub the entire kitchen and wipe down the appliances. They even clean inside the microwave. If there is some laundry left in the dryer when they get here, they usually fold it and put it on my bed. I LOVE my cleaning ladies. Yes, there are other things we could be doing with that money, but having that weekend time back is worth it to me. We still have plenty to do on the weekends between kid activities, meal planning/grocery shopping/food prep, laundry, yard work, house maintenance, etc. Having the cleaning ladies come means that we usually have a few hours here and there to spend time together, do something fun or just take a nap. That's what I buy with that money - those few hours. During the school year, they are very precious.
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Post by 950nancy on Jul 5, 2016 22:41:48 GMT
Do you work out every day after work? If you don't, maybe make those days your cleaning days. Or better yet, give chores to the other people in the house. My kids and husband all do their fair share.
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ladycamaro
Junior Member
Posts: 59
Aug 27, 2014 20:01:48 GMT
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Post by ladycamaro on Jul 5, 2016 23:03:47 GMT
The husband and I both work 40+ hours during the week and prefer to play on the weekend. We opted to hire someone to clean the house and mow the lawn. And it works for us.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 19, 2024 0:59:58 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2016 23:59:41 GMT
I have a housekeeper that comes every other week and deep cleans the house and changes the sheets on the bed. I pay $80 each time and I have a 3br 2 bath.
Best money I've ever spent.
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The Birdhouse Lady
Drama Llama
Moose. It's what's for dinner.
Posts: 7,175
Location: Alaska -The Last Frontier
Jun 30, 2014 17:15:19 GMT
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Post by The Birdhouse Lady on Jul 6, 2016 0:02:24 GMT
I voted for days off but I would do a little something every work day so that I would have some down time on my days off. This is me exactly.
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Post by quinmm14 on Jul 6, 2016 0:07:23 GMT
When people are coming over?? Yep, that's my tried and true method of cleaning now. I gave up using my days off to clean when dh retired. I want the house to myself when I clean, and that doesn't happen very often.
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SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,350
Location: Dallas Texas
Jun 26, 2014 12:16:22 GMT
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Post by SabrinaP on Jul 6, 2016 0:12:08 GMT
I always say I'm going to get a schedule and clean a bit each day, but that never lasts. The truth is some days I'm doing good to get dinner on the table before running to my boys different sports' events. I make sure we pick up after ourselves and sometimes do a load or two of laundry a week, but most cleaning gets done on the weekends.
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christinec68
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,129
Location: New York, NY
Jun 26, 2014 18:02:19 GMT
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Post by christinec68 on Jul 6, 2016 0:19:45 GMT
I keep up with the basics daily (dishes, trash, wipe counters and bathroom). I dust, vacuum and clean the bathroom once a week (sometime over the weekend) and do laundry every two weeks (usually on a Wednesday or Thursday night).
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Kerri W
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,770
Location: Kentucky
Jun 25, 2014 20:31:44 GMT
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Post by Kerri W on Jul 6, 2016 0:22:22 GMT
I work full time and DH travels most weeks Mon-Fri so during the week I'm flying solo. It makes for a crazy schedule some weeks. We have somebody come in to do the actual cleaning. We're very organized in general and do a good job of putting things away and picking up on a daily basis. I just don't want to spend my weekends scrubbing floors and cleaning bathrooms. I'd really like to get somebody to do the yard work too but DH is too particular about that and prefers to do it himself when he's home.
When all four kids were home we assigned each kid a "common area" room of the house and it was their job to clean it once a week and keep it picked up daily. DD1 had the living room, DD2 the kitchen, DS1 the front entry, up the stairs and the upstairs landing, DS2 the play room (he was little so he had help with the cleaning part but picked up on his own). We shared bathroom duty and everybody did their own laundry except the little guys and I did theirs. For our family the key is to not drop stuff when we come in the door. If we get something out, we use it and put it away. When we come home, we empty backpacks and hang them up. When we get the mail we open it and put bills, etc in the appropriate place.
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Post by Hayjaker on Jul 6, 2016 0:28:23 GMT
you don't have an option for my choice, which is: whenever it gets bad enough that we need to... Seriously, though-- we should just hire house cleaners, but haven't done it yet. Maybe after we move in a couple months, I'll talk my BF into it- that way the new house will be clean right from the start and we can keep it that way. ETA: I'll throw in a load of laundry a couple times a week in the evening, or do it on Sunday afternoon / evening. We vacuum up any dust bunnies as they get really bad, I take care of the litterbox and cats whenever, and my BF will clean the bathrooms whenever they absolutely need it. We don't have a set schedule for any of it: I cannot stand taking up time on the weekend to clean the house. (my Mom did it every Saturday morning, and I honestly think I'm rebelling against that-- cleaning the house is one of the LAST things on my list to do on a weekend, now, as an adult.) This is SO ME. For the exact same reason. I can't stand spending the weekend cleaning because that was the expectation when I was growing up. I love over summer when the kids are home and I leave them chore lists!
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Jul 6, 2016 0:31:51 GMT
I voted a little bit every day, but it really is just a little bit.
I'll throw in & complete a load of laundry.
On some days I'll wipe down the bathroom surfaces and toilet.
On another day I'll clean the shower and tub.
I'll vacuum maybe twice a week. More if the dust/pet hair/ crumbs etc is bad.
I only have so much of me to go around.
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eleezybeth
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,784
Jun 28, 2014 20:42:01 GMT
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Post by eleezybeth on Jul 6, 2016 0:46:13 GMT
On Tuesday nights. I clean like a mad woman for about an hour. Housekeeper comes on Wednesday and I'd hate to be embarrassed by the mess.
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Post by txdancermom on Jul 6, 2016 0:47:58 GMT
When I had 2 small children, a full time job, and a dh that traveled regularly, we made the decision that hiring someone to come in weekly was worth every penny that we spent. We still have her coming, although it is every other week now, she does floors and bathrooms, and the kitchen. best money we spend
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Post by Blind Squirrel on Jul 6, 2016 1:02:07 GMT
Deep cleaning and reclaiming the house in the summer (I'm a teacher); I clean when absolutely necessary during the school year (my day never seems to end when I'm working). DH and kids will sporadically clean stuff.
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Post by hop2 on Jul 6, 2016 1:10:27 GMT
I don't get it ALL done. Frankly my house is much less clean than when I was at home.
Frankly, I'm not too happy with my young adults and the mess they leave behind them and I refuse to pick up after them. The youngest person in this house is 17.5 and I'll be damned if I have to clean up BEFOTE I clean.
Yes DH has a problem with this but too bad. He works from home he can step up to the plate and ask them to pick up.
When things are going smoothly and the young adults pick up after them selves I do one thing each day and a few things on days off. I do dishes and wipe counters daily though, and of course make dinner. ( they all Think there's a dinner fairy who will do it ) then I'll vacuum one day, or fold laundry, or wipe down the bathrooms.
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Post by PNWMom on Jul 6, 2016 1:12:33 GMT
When people are coming over?? Yes. I host my 4 siblings with their 3 spouses and 7 kids and my mom for Thanksgiving week every year, and my house sparkles when they walk in the door. That's about it. My husband and I have a deal: I cook and shop, he cleans. We both kind of clean, but he takes the lead. Works for us, but I will admit that we do have a pretty lenient messiness tolerance at times. I am more of a 'clean a bit every day' person, where he is more of a 'massive deep clean every so often' person. I fully bow down to his superior dishwasher loading prowess, but he leaves the vacuuming to me (has a bad enough dust allergy he cannot be in the house for an hour or so after vacuuming. Such a pain in the butt!). It works for us.
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Post by Rainy_Day_Woman on Jul 6, 2016 1:13:33 GMT
Right now, truthfully, I am just not really doing it. The kitchen gets cleaned everyday, the bathrooms once a week, and laundry done. I can usually get the floors mopped once a week. But sometimes every three.
Other than that- nothing gets cleaned. My baseboards are dusty, stove is embarrassing, things under my fridge are probably alive and organizing a revolt. My walls are often smeared with tiny dirty fingerprints and I just pray that I see them before anyone else notices.
Maybe I am useless, but I just don't know how people keep on top of it and work full time. I am out of the house with work and commute about 60 hours, both days on the weekend. Add in meal plan/cooking, kids and their stuff, grocery shopping, husband, showering, exercise (ahahahaha- that doesn't happen) I just don't know where to find the time. I can't sleep any less and there aren't any waking hours left! If someone knows the secret- I would love to know!
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Post by Eddie-n-Harley on Jul 6, 2016 1:48:26 GMT
When people are coming over?? And not even then sometimes. Seriously, my only house guest is my sister. Last time, I cleaned a little bit before she came to visit me for the holidays, and she was like, "Why? I don't care." Because we were both raised by the same mother who decided she'd rather just clean it herself than teach us how to do it. (That in and of itself was a reaction to how she was raised, being the oldest of 6 and being responsible for the cleaning. I guess she wasn't going to force it on us.) Anyhow, laundry is done daily or every other day. Dishes are done every night. The kitchen counter is wiped down multiple times. I scrub the toilet when the rust ring starts to return. But I don't vacuum. And I don't dust until the cobwebs start to sag from the weight of the dust trapped in them. Because my real issue is clutter. No cleaning person can help with that.
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Post by supersoda on Jul 6, 2016 2:10:53 GMT
I have a housekeeper for deep cleaning, and everyone jumps in for the rest of it. DH definitely does more than me, but his hours usually aren't as crazy as mine, and he works from home one day a week and usually dedicates some of that saved commute time for housework.
Everyone is responsible for their own laundry, and all of the kids pitch in with chores. It varies depending on who has what going on, and sometimes we'll give one kid extra allowance if the other two are busy with activities and can't pull their weight.
When the clutter becomes too much, we call a "15 Minute Pickup" and everyone must stop what they're doing and deal with the house. It's amazing what 5 people can accomplish in 15 minutes.
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Post by meridon on Jul 6, 2016 2:43:13 GMT
I voted for a little every day...but my secret is to invite people over regularly so that I am forced to do the deep cleaning of the bathrooms & kitchen (mopping, cleaning toilets, scrubbing the shower, etc.) that I would otherwise avoid. Also, with 3 kids, I've just finally come to accept that my house won't be as clean as I want it to be until they're gone. We are very good at keeping things tidy, though and I don't allow junk to accumulate, so no mail on the counter or kids' school papers piled up. Keeping things organized is key for me so that I can actually clean when I have time and not have to sort/organize things first.
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Post by bosoxbeth on Jul 6, 2016 3:06:34 GMT
I work very long hours.
I have hired help but also do some myself throughout the week, as does my husband.
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kate
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,517
Location: The city that doesn't sleep
Site Supporter
Jun 26, 2014 3:30:05 GMT
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Post by kate on Jul 6, 2016 3:11:22 GMT
I have a lot in common with Rainy_Day_Woman. During the school year, it's just a nightmare.
The best thing that ever happened to my housekeeping was having one of my kids' music teachers come to the house for lessons. That means that once a week, we have to do a mad-dash quickie "cleaning" of the house. It takes under an hour. Things get picked up, vacuuming gets done, all trashcans get emptied, and the bathroom gets wiped down. If there's time, I'll get out the furniture polish and swipe a few things with that.
My kids are all big enough to pitch in, and we live in a not-huge apartment with one bath, so it's not an enormous job.
I do wish we could hire a cleaning lady for the school year. That would be all kinds of awesome!
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