Housekeeping Tips and Tricks

[186momx]

Other than hiring a cleaning service how do you keep your house tidy looking?

I've neglected my house, and I took the blinders off Sunday night am overwhelmed with the clutter/filth.  I wouldn't want a housekeeper to come in at the moment because all flat surfaces are cluttered, I have no idea when the floors were last vacuumed, and the only semi clean spot is the kitchen and bathroom and that is because of DD.  

My plan is to set a timer for 20 minutes and tackle 1 spot at a time for that time. Our house is small 1200sqft so if nothing is on the floor it takes 15 minutes top to vacuum, Help!

[sdlaura]

I need to be better about this too! We just have way too much stuff. I need to throw a lot of it out. Where I get bogged down is when I want to get rid of nicer stuff and don't want to just throw it out or give it to Goodwill - but it is more work to make sure it goes to someone who can use it. I did a big closet cleanout and have a giant pile of nice clothes - some from nice brands and barely worn - that I need to photograph and post on my Buy Nothing group. But that takes time to do.

We do have a housecleaner every two weeks and having her come is really motivating to make me clean some of our surfaces. We spend over an hour picking up the day before she comes, and I make sure all laundry is put away and stuff like that, and I'm so happy when I get home on the day after she has been there. But it's not enough to motivate me to declutter as much as I really need to in our 2100 square foot house with 6 people living there.

I do really need to have our carpets cleaned. We got new carpet over a year ago and haven't had it shampooed since. It's just upstairs, and we don't wear shoes upstairs, so it's not awful, but I need to get on that.

[rere]

I usually try to do one thing a day. Bathrooms, kitchen, vacuum, so it doesn't seem like so much. I've given up on my house being all clean at one time.

It really helps if I can work from home one day a week and really tackle some cleaning during my lunch.

[supertrooper1]

I've been working on the decluttering aspect first, but it's still a work in progress. I thought I did a great job of going through and organizing the toys that Beau's grandson plays with when he comes over, but he still destroyed it and left toys spread throughout the house. I'm good at making Goodwill donation bags, but I never get around to taking them in. I usually can keep up on the day to day, but never have the ambition to deep clean, so that generally happens before people come over. I always think I'm going to hire a house cleaner yet never do.

I was going to take advantage of Beau's dumpster at work, but then his business park neighbors threw a fit over the dumpster use even though it was never full, so I've been waiting until that calms down.

[sandandsea]

We have a house cleaner come every two weeks but haven’t always.

We keep it tidy - you bring something in the house and put it away/take care of it immediately, not put it somewhere and leave it.

Everything has a place or gets a place or gets tossed.

Kids know they have to pick up nightly.

Robot vacuum set to run regularly.

[waverly]

I’m great a decluttering. Fly me out to Oregon!

I’ve done all the methods, Konmari app, read tons of books and blogs. Listened to a few podcasts but I think I’ve moved on from the interest.

I’d probably start with trash bags and recycle bags and just gather all that out of your house including whatever you don’t want on the counters.

Then move to actual decluttering but since flat surfaces are the problem I’d just do all the flat surfaces first.

The bags immediately go in my car to donate. Donation place is right by the library and grocery store so it easily pairs with my other weekly errands.

We just added a housecleaners for deep scrubbing mostly. I don’t love scrubbing so that’s my weak point.

I want to say I’m good at picking up but 10 minutes later the kids have it yuck again so ugh.

[sandandsea]

There was a website I used before we got the cleaner (so before kids circa 13 years ago) called fly lady and she had a great routine for keeping the house clean but not doing more than 20 mins a day. Idk if it’s still around but it was helpful when you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start to how to keep up.

ETA. I think this is it.

www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/routines/

[186momx]

DD and I spent 30 minutes today and did a good clean of the living room including moving the couch to vacuum all the dog hair. I got the dishes done while DD vacuum and I got a loaf of laundry done too. DH got home in the middle of all this and took 15 minutes to unload his lunch from his truck and go pee. He did mow while I was cooking dinner.

I think we just need to get everything cleaned and then do a daily quick clean to stay on top of things. Our spare room is 100% disaster and it was thoroughly cleaned during the ice storm in January. DH helped clean all tax season with the go hide it in the spare room so i don't see it.

[mae0111]

I also find it really difficult to declutter. 3 of the 4 people in the house have ADHD - bad working memory - so we like to leave things out in the open so that we remember it exists. And that makes a mess quickly.

I try to clear off the trouble spots daily - kitchen counters and dining room table. Dishes are rarely left overnight - if they are left, I do them while the kids are getting ready in the morning. If I’m making dinner, I really try to clean as I go if possible. So that way, the after dinner cleanup isn’t overwhelming.

Along the cleaning lines, anyone have any advice about cleaning a disgusting shower floor? Our beach house has a basement apartment with a full bath. I realized over the weekend that the former tenant literally never cleaned ANYTHING and that he smoked a LOT of weed. There is spot and residue everywhere. But the bathroom is the worst. I tried vinegar and baking soda, Scrubbing bubbles, barkeeper’s friend and a scrub brush (x3), then Lysol Hydrogen Peroxide and scrubbing (let everything sit for 15-20 mins each round.) It looks THE SAME. So short of ripping the bathroom out and replacing (which is on the list for next year) anything else I can try?

[dove]

I like the Tody app to help me track cleaning. It has routines that can be set up based to whatever level of comfort/cleanliness. It makes a game out of it, too. You are playing against the dust monster. I find whether we hire cleaners or DIY having a good routine and not letting things get too far is key. The app helps with that

[186momx]

mae0111, did you try magic erasers? A think paste layer of powdered oxi-clean?

[librarychica]

mae0111, is it in the grout or on the tiles? For just built up scum and dirty, a small squirt of dish soap, a heavy layer of baking soda, scrub in circles with abrasive sponge.

If it’s mold, you’ll need to kill the mold. I’d use RMR 86. I e used it on some gnarly rentals. Make sure it’s well-ventilated. If this part of the house is rented, I’d install a good, strong bathroom fan with a humidity sensor. They’re relatively easy to install.

[mae0111]

186momx, I was afraid to try a magic eraser because I didn't want to take off any of the coating on the fiberglass. But at this point I might just try it and see what happens!

librarychica, it's not tile - just a one-piece fiberglass enclosure with a curtain. I don't think it's mold - it doesn't look like mold. It just looks... grimy. Like soap scum and dirty feet (ewww). It definitely needs a new fan - it's not moving any air and it's making a terrible noise. I did try baking soda and vinegar and I forgot that I did add Dawn to the vinegar - no dice. DH wants to cover it in bleach and just let it sit, but I don't think it will work...

We aren't going to rent it out - it's illegal, and in order to get the mortgage we had to remove the oven from the kitchen. It's just nice to have the second bathroom, and DD1's bedroom is in that part of the house (paradise for a teen - basically her own apartment). If I really can't get it clean, I"ll just buy some mats to put in the shower and cut a hole for the drain, and we'll just suffer through until we redo the bathroom.

he whole bathroom is awful, but would be usable for a short while if I could get the shower clean... Thanks!!

[waverly]

mae0111, maybe try soft scrub with bleach. That way you have the bleach part and can leave it but it is thicker, not water. And then you have the scrub part. Wear old clothes so you don't bleach your clothes.

[sdlaura]

You all motivated me to offer a bunch of stuff on Buy Nothing. I organized, photographed, bagged items, responded to interested people, etc. I now have 7 people coming to pick up various items from my front porch over the next couple days.

[livinitup]

I make this recommendation with the full knowledge that it is painful and difficult to do-

Toss 25-50% of your stuff.

You can donate, that helps in the parting. But having less stuff is the key to having tidy areas because you actually have a designated place to put things YOU USE.

It really hit me when I had trouble tossing the free plastic containers I got from restaurants. They are still good! What a great size! They had to go. I did not miss them when they were gone.

[k3am]

mae0111, try a mixture of vinegar, dish soap, and water. It cuts through a lot of stuff that other things don't. Or a power steamer. But honestly if it's that bad, I'd call in someone to clean it vs. spending the time on it.