I honestly think I don't spend more than three hours a week cleaning thats with only one teenager home. Laundry probably takes the most time 45 minutes a week. bathroom five minutes a week, living areas ten minutes a week, bedroom ten minutes a week, floors twenty minutes a week, sweeping and moping, I try to wipe up spills as they happen so that I don't have to mop more than once a month. dishes and kitchen one hour a week. when you break it down and time yourself it doesnt take that long. I am also big on keeping things organized. If you start with a clean house all you have to do is maintain it. What I am getting at is a house keeper for an hour and a half a week could keep things in pretty good order.

-- ronda (thejohnsons@localaccess.com), February 03, 2002

Answers

Ronda, you have the right idea! You can check out my post, couple below yours, under Irene's questions about cleaning when you would rather be doing something else.

Since there are 9 in our family, only way I can do it is what you do...clean as you go. Takes so much less time overall and you get the satisfaction of having some sort of order in the house. If I can do it (cause I HATE to clean)-- anyone can!

-- Karen (mountains_mama2@hotmail.com), February 03, 2002.

In my one person household I have found that the more trash can you have scattered around the easier it is.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), February 03, 2002.

All Kidding aside, I have found house work to be totally boreing. There is so much more to a clean house than floors and dusting. [thats what I tell hubby] I have one of those things over kitchen stove, A hood. Now crawling up inside that thing is not easy, and you get a crook in the neck. How about the refrigerator, Then there"s the windows, which I love clean. And the curtains that need washing and ironing, Then of course the china cabinet, and cubboards, etc. etc. Can I swoop through the house in a short time, [ no] I have 55 years of collectables from kids and grand kids, I am going to try that one room aday, I read were if you clean one room a day real good, and forget the rest, that the house will stay clean.

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), February 03, 2002.

Hi Ronda boy would i like to hire you. ive not had very good luck with house keepers. Bob se,ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@kans.com), February 03, 2002.

That's pretty much in line with the time I spend. Me and 2 kids, 7 and 8 yrs old. Like you said, start with a clean house and keep on top of things and it's pretty easy. I mop once a week but only have a kitchen and 2 bathrooms to do so it only takes about 15 minutes total. Every 4 months or so I shampoo the carpets, mostly to just extract the dust that carpet collects (i really dislike carpet). I don't let my kids drink or eat anywhere but the dining room table or outside so it keeps alot of potential messes from happening. Housekeepers are pretty cheap here but I haven't broke down and gotten one yet. I'm thinking I should get some kind of air filtration though. Lots of dust here and I hardly ever run the heater. In the summer when I run the a/c, I have to change the filters once a month.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), February 03, 2002.

This is the single hardest thing for me. I would rather skin a live cat than do house work. It isn't hard or even boring. It is an issue of rebellion for me that I have never out grown. It was a big thing in our house growing up that the males in the house did not have to do anything. Breathing was all that was required and my mom was the low one on the totem pole and did it all and there was no gratitude or respect for her for it. I was naturally expected to be her right hand slave and got many a whipping for not doing it or tolerating any crap. My hubby is a better housekeeped than I am and has no problem helping out and picking up after himself. I am the one with the problem and it has gotten better over the years but I still would rather stack hay in 100 degree weather than wash dishes!!

-- Tana Mc (mcfarm@totelcsi.net), February 03, 2002.

Tana, I love you, you are my type of girl. As I said before the housecleaning stuff just drives me bonkers, and I really would much rather be out doors working in the yard or as you said putting bales of hay in barn, which we still do. Hang in there girl, you are not alone

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), February 03, 2002.

Way too much!!! I guess I could break it down. Actual house cleaning probably 8 hours. Outside barns, yard, porch etc... about 2 hours. Laundry about 4-5 hours total. Cooking and dishes probably at the minimum 12 hours and probably a lot more than that actually.

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), February 03, 2002.

For me, it's a matter of a different perspective learned over time. When I was a new wife, everything was spotless. Than the first child came and he was spotless too. Than the second child came and I learned you didn't have to have designer diapers and dirt didn't kill kids. Then the empynest came. I tried to claim my home again like it had been when I was first married. Not the same, somehow. Time went by, which lead to frustration and guilt, and finally to have a good old fashioned talk with myself. Why drive myself to ulcers over things? Now I look at housekeeping as keeping things healthy. You'd be surprised what you can live with and still live healthy and happy. I don't clean "clean" things anymore. :)

-- Iris in Central Oklahoma (WatchingWideEyed@peaceful.com), February 04, 2002.

I like my house to be spotlessly clean all the time, but don't always get my way! I thoroughly clean one room every day- usually takes about an hour to dust, vacuum, clean windows (inside every week, outside every few weeks), pick up any "stuff" that's left laying around, mop, etc. I definitely agree that it is easier to keep the house clean than to let it get messy and then face a big cleaning job. I have 6 rooms in my house, plus 3 bathrooms and a small office- the bathrooms all get cleaned thoroughly once a week, then spot cleaned as needed throughtout the rest of the week. Kitchen is cleaned as I go, so it never gets too messy. Beds are made evry morning. Laundry is easy because I throw a load in while I am cleaning the house, then hang it to dry, usually, and bring it in when I get around to it. I usually only iron if I am working, and leave the ironing board set up in a spare bedroom unless I have guests. If I am out of town and miss a room I just skip it till it's next scheduled day. Wrap-around porches need more cleaning because I tend to dump stuff there when unloading the truck. If I'm not careful it can get pretty cluttered. Exceptions to the rules are if I am involved in a "science project" I sometimes let things like books and magazines pile up for a few days. The worst chore I face is mail- because I am away a lot my mail builds up and I hate going through it. That job has gotten easier since I started raising worms, though, as all paper and junk mail gets shredded and used as worm bedding/feed- gives me an added incentive to keep up with it!

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), February 09, 2002.