Keeping the house clean on three concentrated hours a week?

[Laura Corin]

ETA: Update in post 16

 

I'm in the process of deep cleaning the house. I'm doing some decluttering as I go along. This is something that I can do at this time of year because the garden/yard doesn't take all my time (and, to be honest, my interest). For the rest of they year:

 

Week days I cook, wipe over the kitchen, wash dishes, wash and dry clothes. I go to the supermarket on Wednesday nights and also run other errands during the week. I work almost full time and lone parent.

 

Weekends the boys tidy the stuff they have strewn around the house, roughly tidy/clean their own rooms, empty bins, sort laundry, change their sheets as necessary and bring in wood/kindling. They also take over the basic kitchen tidying chores at weekends.

 

I don't want the boys to have more to do: they have very full schedules. Husband is away Monday to Friday and I try to give him lots of time with the kids when he is home.

 

I'm thinking that I should set aside Saturday morning to clean the house, so about three hours. If you had a three hour block each week (I think the three hours will keep me more accountable than odd half hours), what would you do to your house? What would you have time for? I have responsibility for:

 

Hard floors: Kitchen, utility/boot room (always cluttered), front hall, sitting room, stairs, one full bathroom, two shower-rooms with basin and toilet.

 

Carpeted: family room with big book shelf, tiny book-lined 'library' off the family room, corridor lined with book shelves, master bedroom, study/spare room (clean clothes also get dumped here before being sorted each weekend, and there is a small clothes drying rack).

 

I'd like the sitting room, front hall and main bathroom to be presentable at all times (apart from a small amount of temporary debris, like the odd newspaper or backpack). The rest of the house needs to be manageable but not guest-ready.

 

Can anyone write me a schedule? I will continue to deep clean once a year - I'm not going to get to that more often whilst the garden beckons.

 

Oh, and I know that this kind of cleaning won't meet everyone's standards: that's fine, but I'm not going to be persuaded to allot more time to housework.

 

Thanks

 

Laura

[regentrude]

If you had a three hour block each week (I think the three hours will keep me more accountable than odd half hours), what would you do to your house? What would you have time for? I have responsibility for:

Hard floors: Kitchen, utility/boot room (always cluttered), front hall, sitting room, stairs, one full bathroom, two shower-rooms with basin and toilet.

Carpeted: family room with big book shelf, tiny book-lined 'library' off the family room, corridor lined with book shelves, master bedroom, study/spare room (clean clothes also get dumped here before being sorted each weekend, and there is a small clothes drying rack).

I'd like the sitting room, front hall and main bathroom to be presentable at all times (apart from a small amount of temporary debris, like the odd newspaper or backpack). The rest of the house needs to be manageable but not guest-ready.

 

 

I have once timed myself cleaning our house, so that I have a rough idea how long it does actually take without continued interruptions and distractions. In 2.5 hours, I managed to:

vacuum carpeted living room/master bedroom

clean 3 full bathrooms and half bath (4 sinks, 4 toilets, 2 tubs, 1 shower)

mop kitchen, dining room, master bathroom

 

I left out basement, laundry room and kids' rooms, but it was quite surprising how fast work can be done if I stay on task.

I suggest that you simply try one morning to clean as much as you can in the three hours you have allocated and see what you can reasonably accomplish.

 

I would estimate that I spend much less than three hours cleaning each week. The main areas of my house are presentable and company ready at all times.

[Joshin]

I keep my house clean in about an hour a week, but it will require some habit changing. Granted, my entire family has cleaning chores and we do them at the exact same time, so only one person doing it may take longer.

 

Daily maintenance is the key to keeping the time short. Everyone must sweep through the house before dinner and put away anything they have out. I don't know about older kids, but with youngers this is a must or within two days everything is wrecked. This takes about 5- 10 minutes depending on how much living we did at home that day, usually when dinner is cooking. As my boys are getting older, I see we may need to switch this chore to right before bed. This way there is no clutter out when we start the next day. Kitchen is cleaned after every use -- dishes put away (washed or in the dishwasher) and counters wiped down. The kids have been trained since they were toddlers to clean up after themselves in the kitchen, so it's second nature and doesn't add any appreciable time to our daily routines. I sweep the kitchen and entryways once or twice weekly so stuff isn't tracked all over the house, maybe takes 10 minutes tops. All papers are filed immediately upon entry into the house.

 

As for my Sunday cleaning routine, if only I was doing it, it would be in this order and take approximately the following times:

Dusting- about 10 minutes. We have few knickknacks and I only hit the trouble spots like the top of bookshelves and window ledges.

Clean bathrooms (2)- 20 minutes, tops. Wipe down counters, sinks and toilets. The showers don't require much because we squeegee them after each use.

Sweeping hard floors (Kitchen, laundry room, office, bar and two bathrooms) - 15 minutes

Vacuuming (Dining room, basement rec room, living room, hallway, 1 bedroom. I also vacuum dusty corners, tops of door frames and ceiling fans)- 30 minutes

Mopping (all hard floors) - 15 minutes

 

Kids are responsible for their own rooms, although I do deep clean them once or twice yearly.

 

I do more in depth cleaning about twice yearly (at the beginning and end of garden season, not much gets down when things are growing outside!) -- major dusting, cleaning windows, washing blinds, cleaning walls, scrubbing cabinets in and out, scrubbing out the fridge and cleaning the oven. I set aside a whole day for the deep cleaning.

 

My house is always tidy and reasonably clean. I'm not too fashed by fingerprints on a light switch or dust on the fireplace mantel. I mainly insist on clean floors, toilets and counters.

[Laura Corin]

 

 

As for my Sunday cleaning routine, if only I was doing it, it would be in this order and take approximately the following times:

Dusting- about 10 minutes. We have few knickknacks and I only hit the trouble spots like the top of bookshelves and window ledges.

Clean bathrooms (2)- 20 minutes, tops. Wipe down counters, sinks and toilets. The showers don't require much because we squeegee them after each use.

Sweeping hard floors (Kitchen, laundry room, office, bar and two bathrooms) - 15 minutes

Vacuuming (Dining room, basement rec room, living room, hallway, 1 bedroom. I also vacuum dusty corners, tops of door frames and ceiling fans)- 30 minutes

Mopping (all hard floors) - 15 minutes

 

 

 

I think I'm going to have to learn to move faster. There's no way that I could do all that in that time.

 

I'm going to pick up your tips about the daily tidiness sweep. I'm also going to reconsider our nicknacks. I just put away a lot because we had a toddler visiting. I'm thinking of just not putting them back out, or putting them up high and dusting them rarely.

 

Laura

[bugs]

Have you ever heard of flylady http://www.flylady.net/? I haven't visited her website in years but she has suggestions for keeping the house neat and tidy using "zones". She takes into account working folk.

[Rebel Yell]

I'm going to add a few suggestions in your post, too... (and snipping out parts of your original)

 

 

 

I don't want the boys to have more to do: they have very full schedules. Husband is away Monday to Friday and I try to give him lots of time with the kids when he is home. Brava- great idea!

 

 

Hard floors: Kitchen, utility/boot room (always cluttered) will some organization or containers help? look at the clutter: coats & bags on the floor need coat hooks. Shoes scatered around need a basket. papers everywhere need a tray/box. Also- does each kid have a separate bag for each activity? SweetChild has a volleyball bag, a church bag, a dance class bag, AND a showchoir bag. There may be duplicates in each- liek every bag has deodorant, LOL! I either buy 5 sticks/year1 stick at a time and never have it in the right bag, or buy 5 at once and have one in each bag plus the bathroom, front hall, sitting room, stairs, one full bathroom, two shower-rooms with basin and toilet. Since presumably these rooms get used everyday- do a super-quick swipe once/day. (one of the few FLylady tricks I actually use) keep a toilet brush in each and give the bowl a wuick swirl- maybe with a drop of soap or shampoo noone likes- keeps it from getting nasty. Also, i use wipes to clean the toilet seat- easier to just grap one wipe and clean the top/bottom of the seat- again, keeps it from being a chore on the big cleaning day.

 

Carpeted: family room with big book shelf, tiny book-lined 'library' off the family room, corridor lined with book shelves, master bedroom, study/spare room (clean clothes also get dumped here before being sorted each weekend, and there is a small clothes drying rack). Can you add color-coded laundry baskets in here- everytime you bring in a clean basket- quickly sort it into each person's basket. Doersn't take long, and saves a TON of time over doing it all at once on the weekend. I have a separate basket for socks- I get tired of remembering whose is whose, so the kids take care of that or go sockless.

 

I'd like the sitting room, front hall and main bathroom to be presentable at all times (apart from a small amount of temporary debris, like the odd newspaper or backpack). The rest of the house needs to be manageable but not guest-ready. For these- look and see what makes them so messy- is it actuall dirt/dust, clutter, items that didn;t get put away? Sometimes bins/baskets/boxes can do wonders. It gives everyone a target to toss things in, and nothing has to be precisely folded/stacked or even "put away".

 

Can anyone write me a schedule? I will continue to deep clean once a year - I'm not going to get to that more often whilst the garden beckons.

 

Oh, and I know that this kind of cleaning won't meet everyone's standards: that's fine, but I'm not going to be persuaded to allot more time to housework.

 

Thanks

 

Laura

 

Sorry- I don't have a schedule like you asked for- just a few tips to make the big cleaning go more smoothly. Maybe check out http://www.flylady.net/ for "zones" and scheduling.

[maize]

Ah Laura, I wish you the best of luck and admit to being slightly jealous. With a bunch of little kids in the house I'm not sure I could keep it clean in 30 hours a week. Not that I would trade the kids for a clean house, but the impossibility of it all is a bit discouraging sometimes.

 

I will be listening in to see what great tips people contribute.

[Laura Corin]

 

Sorry- I don't have a schedule like you asked for- just a few tips to make the big cleaning go more smoothly. Maybe check out http://www.flylady.net/ for "zones" and scheduling.

 

Thanks, RY. I dump the clothes because sorting them is a job I don't do - Calvin does that (hee hee).

 

I did look at Fly Lady before but I found the whole site irritating: very prescriptive and snotty about those who have different priorities (no, I don't want to polish my sink or wear shoes in the house).

 

I do think that I will reduce the ornaments out in the house.

 

The utility room: we have hooks for coats and places for shoes, but there's still not enough space so there is always overflow. We live in the country, so each person has tons of shoes for different clean and dirty activities. The garden sink, the fridge, the washing machine and the boiler are all in there with the brooms. I'll have a stare at it to see if there's hope. Backpacks don't go in there - no space. They go in a corner of the front hall Monday to Friday then get moved to bedrooms at weekends. I've tried other options but this is the only thing that seems to work.

 

Laura

[regentrude]

The utility room: we have hooks for coats and places for shoes, but there's still not enough space so there is always overflow. We live in the country, so each person has tons of shoes for different clean and dirty activities.

 

Can you store a part of the shoes, those for rare clean activities, in the bedrooms? I keep my dress shoes in my bedroom closet, as does DD, and we only store the dirty shoes and the ones used very frequently in the utility room.

Can you move some coats to a coat closet? In our family, everybody has a coat that is worn almost daily, but we own more - those do not need to reside right by the door.

 

The garden sink, the fridge, the washing machine and the boiler are all in there with the brooms. I'll have a stare at it to see if there's hope.

 

You know, you could also resign yourself to the fact that, with small living space (you are in Scotland, right?) this will be the one area that is simply too small and has too many functions to be "neat". Maybe it can not be done. In that case, just let go, tidy up occasionally, and focus on the rest of the house. Our laundry room is rather hopeless: washer, dryer, shoe rack,cat food, hooks for some coats, riding pants, and shopping bags - then there's room for one person to stand. We have cabinets *over* the dryer/washer, and that helps quite a bit.

[The Governess]

I would also be sure to go to sleep Friday night with the house picked up and ready to be cleaned Saturday morning. I find that often on Fridays I don't want to do this, but when I do my Saturdays are much more productive.

 

Good luck!! I think with the time you have you will be able to get a lot done. :)

[Laura Corin]

Can you store a part of the shoes, those for rare clean activities, in the bedrooms? I keep my dress shoes in my bedroom closet, as does DD, and we only store the dirty shoes and the ones used very frequently in the utility room.

Can you move some coats to a coat closet? In our family, everybody has a coat that is worn almost daily, but we own more - those do not need to reside right by the door.

 

You know, you could also resign yourself to the fact that, with small living space (you are in Scotland, right?) this will be the one area that is simply too small and has too many functions to be "neat". Maybe it can not be done. In that case, just let go, tidy up occasionally, and focus on the rest of the house. Our laundry room is rather hopeless: washer, dryer, shoe rack,cat food, hooks for some coats, riding pants, and shopping bags - then there's room for one person to stand. We have cabinets *over* the dryer/washer, and that helps quite a bit.

 

 

Yes, I think I need to be resigned. Mostly I just shut the door. There are some things in cupboards that I can move to the garage, but there still won't be enough storage in the boot room. We all use lots of shoes regularly. We each use every week (often several pairs each day): wellies, good leather shoes, trainers, hiking boots. With the variable weather, we each, in winter, need a thinner coat, a thicker coat and a good coat, again, often two on one day. The bedrooms are not big either..... So yes, I need to do a bit of work and then cope.

 

Laura

[Sherry in OH]

Make a master list of cleaning to be done, organized room by room.

Week 1: set a timer for 2 hours 50 minutes. Start at the beginning of your list and get to work. When the timer goes, finish your current task then put away your cleaning supplies.

Week 2: set a timer for 2 hours 50 minutes. Start with the first uncompleted task on your list. When the timer goes, finish your current task and put away your cleaning supplies.

Continue week after week. Not every room will get cleaned every week, but each room will be done every few weeks.

 

You identified the sitting room, front hall, and main bathroom as priority areas. If you find it necessary to clean those areas weekly, try to spend the first 30 minutes to an hour in those rooms and then move on to your master list.

 

The less clutter you allow to accumulate during the week, the faster you can clean. It takes less time to vacuum than to pick up and relocate debris. An empty tote or laundry basket is useful for tidying. Put anything that does not belong in the room you are cleaning in the basket. Clean the room then deal with the contents of the basket.

[Laura Corin]

 

 

I would also be sure to go to sleep Friday night with the house picked up and ready to be cleaned Saturday morning. I find that often on Fridays I don't want to do this, but when I do my Saturdays are much more productive.

 

 

 

That would be ideal - it works right now, but normally my choir rehearsal is on Friday night, so I just need to keep things straight through the week so that I can dive in on Saturday.

 

Thanks

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

Make a master list of cleaning to be done, organized room by room.

Week 1: set a timer for 2 hours 50 minutes. Start at the beginning of your list and get to work. When the timer goes, finish your current task then put away your cleaning supplies.

Week 2: set a timer for 2 hours 50 minutes. Start with the first uncompleted task on your list. When the timer goes, finish your current task and put away your cleaning supplies.

Continue week after week. Not every room will get cleaned every week, but each room will be done every few weeks.

 

You identified the sitting room, front hall, and main bathroom as priority areas. If you find it necessary to clean those areas weekly, try to spend the first 30 minutes to an hour in those rooms and then move on to your master list.

 

This is starting to work in my head. I clean bathrooms and public areas first (maybe an hour?). Then I work my way through the list until I use up my time and then start again with the key areas the next week, followed by the list from where I left off. That sounds flexible but organised, so if I only have one hour one week, I can get the main areas done and just carry on with my list the following week.

 

Thanks

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

Okay, with your tips I think I have a schedule. I've divided tasks into weekly (to be done first), monthly (to be done second if it's the first Saturday of the month) and periodic (to fill up the rest of the time). The weeklies all get done every week. One of the monthlies (window cleaning room by room) gets done on the first Saturday of each month, so I get round them all about twice a year. The periodics get done in rotation in whatever time is left.

 

I've instituted a nightly 'sweep', where we all go round the house and pick up any stuff that has been left out. I've also taken to using each of the bathrooms in turn and (except when rushed) giving a quick wet wipe over while I'm in there. I hope to arrive at Saturday with my first three tasks (quick cleaning the bathrooms) already done.

 

I tried to upload the file, but I'm told that I can't. So you will have to imagine its loveliness: a spreadsheet with all the tasks down the left and dated tick boxes across the rest of the page.

 

I am haunted, as so often, by Jane Austen. Mr Knightley's description of the beautiful lists that Emma makes of her planned reading, but which she never actually carries out, is a terrible warning.

 

Laura

[Audrey]

Laura, I might have a thought on your shoes. We, too, have a room full of shoes (the entryway, actually) and I understand the need to have shoes out to access. The room itself is quite narrow -- about 2m wide. What I have is a long boot tray for the muddies/snowies and then I have these plastic shelves that stack for shoes that don't get as dirty. The shelves really help with the clutter of shoes.

 

The boot trays are on one wall and the shelves perpendicular to those. Coats hang above the shelves. I have a cupboard above the coats where I keep whatever handbags I'm using, plus extra shopping totes and extra mittens and tuques. There is a small bench on the opposite wall of the boots for sitting on to pull on shoes.

 

It took me a long time to hone the arrangement of that room so that it works for us and doesn't seem as cluttered. I still have to go in there and arrange shoes, but it takes maybe 3-5 minutes. If I could train my guys to be neater, I wouldn't have to do that even.

[Laura Corin]

Thanks, Audrey. What I really need to do is rip out the cupboards that are in there and start again. I keep putting it off because we are planning on renovating that area, but I can't see that on the horizon.

 

We have a wall of coat hooks for Husband, Calvin and me and more coat hooks on the back of the door (lower down where Hobbes can reach them). The coats roughly stay on there, but it's hard to find anything.

 

The muddy boots stand under the coats on the floor. And fall over. And get kicked into the middle of the floor. And catch under the door/get in the way of the fridge door.

 

The rest of the shoes are in a tall cabinet into which I fitted cheap shelves. They actually do okay in there, so it's the boots I really need to concentrate on.

 

I think I could fit a shelf or cupboard above the coats - that might be really good.

 

Thanks, I'll have another think.

 

Laura

[Reya]

Without homeschooling and with general picking up during the week, 3 hours is PLENTY. Now, by your kids' ages, I was responsible for vacuuming and dusting my own room, making sure anything I wanted washed was in the laundry, and cleaning the kids' bathroom. (My brother is younger and autistic, so he didn't start cleaning bathrooms until he was about 18.) I also usually dusted or vacuumed in the living/dining room and put away one load of laundry each week. My brother, by 10, was responsible for vacuuming his own room and for dusting it.

 

With me doing this, my mother spent about 2-2.5 hours per week cleaning and doing laundry on Saturday mornings.

 

Now, we have a slightly larger house AND my kids are younger AND we have more stuff AND we're HOME ALL DAY--at least, me and the kids are, which makes a HUGE difference in the level of mess. So it takes me about 1.5 hours a day for cleaning and laundry and an additional .5 hours per night (but not every night) for dinner. When it's bad, it takes 2 hours a day.

[Reya]

When I cleaned houses for money, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with 2 living areas, kitchen, and dining room generally took me 2 hours to:

 

-Scrub tub, sink, toilet, floor in bathrooms, clean mirrors

-Dust and vacuum dining room, living rooms, and bedrooms

-Scrub counters and sink, sweep and mop floor in kitchen

 

I wasn't paid for pickup then. Periodic deep cleaning might take an extra hour once a season.

[Alexigail]

I love Sidetracked Home Executives for this kind of thing. It's a little overwhelming at first - you put your chores on index cards. But it divides things nicely into daily, weekly, monthly etc and it's the only way I get anything done. I like the feeling when I get through my stack of cards for the day.

 

 

Here's a general outline of how it works:

 

http://www.teachingmom.com/helps/SHEplan.pdf

[JennyD]

Okay, with your tips I think I have a schedule. I've divided tasks into weekly (to be done first), monthly (to be done second if it's the first Saturday of the month) and periodic (to fill up the rest of the time). The weeklies all get done every week. One of the monthlies (window cleaning room by room) gets done on the first Saturday of each month, so I get round them all about twice a year. The periodics get done in rotation in whatever time is left.

 

I've instituted a nightly 'sweep', where we all go round the house and pick up any stuff that has been left out. I've also taken to using each of the bathrooms in turn and (except when rushed) giving a quick wet wipe over while I'm in there. I hope to arrive at Saturday with my first three tasks (quick cleaning the bathrooms) already done.

 

I tried to upload the file, but I'm told that I can't. So you will have to imagine its loveliness: a spreadsheet with all the tasks down the left and dated tick boxes across the rest of the page.

 

I am haunted, as so often, by Jane Austen. Mr Knightley's description of the beautiful lists that Emma makes of her planned reading, but which she never actually carries out, is a terrible warning.

 

Laura

 

This sounds like a very good plan, and I am sure it is a very pretty spreadsheet. As others have mentioned, I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised to see how much you can accomplish in three focused hours. It generally takes DH and/or myself a total of four man-hours to thoroughly clean our 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath house, assuming that the place is already largely picked up beforehand. If we hire cleaning people it takes them about 3 man-hours to do not-quite-as-good a job.

[Desert Rat]

When I cleaned houses for money, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with 2 living areas, kitchen, and dining room generally took me 2 hours to:

 

-Scrub tub, sink, toilet, floor in bathrooms, clean mirrors

-Dust and vacuum dining room, living rooms, and bedrooms

-Scrub counters and sink, sweep and mop floor in kitchen

 

I wasn't paid for pickup then. Periodic deep cleaning might take an extra hour once a season.

 

You work a bit faster than I do. I clean houses and an average 1500 sq. ft. home takes me about 2.5-3 hours. Man, you're fast, Reya!

 

My tip to people wanting to pick up the pace when cleaning is to have all your cleaning supplies with you all the time. I have a square crate that has all my cleaners, a bucket (I use square ice cream buckets), magic eraser, scrapers, toothbrushes, plastic bags, etc. I start cleaning the farthest away from the front door (or kitchen in my home). I clean one room completely before moving to the next. And I don't back track. If you are decluttering while your'e going, keep a laundry basket with you with all things that go to other rooms. When you get to that room, drop the stuff off.

 

I do all the things on Reya's list above, plus changing linens. And I clean for elderly people so I sometimes have a few extras: change lightbulbs, filters, trash, etc. I'm still done under 3 hours. In my own home, I clean one shower each week, alternating.

 

I think it's doable, Laura. I hope you've gotten lots of good suggestions. Let us know how it goes! I always feel so much better in a clean house.

[Laura Corin]

You work a bit faster than I do. I clean houses and an average 1500 sq. ft. home takes me about 2.5-3 hours. Man, you're fast, Reya!

 

My tip to people wanting to pick up the pace when cleaning is to have all your cleaning supplies with you all the time. I have a square crate that has all my cleaners, a bucket (I use square ice cream buckets), magic eraser, scrapers, toothbrushes, plastic bags, etc. I start cleaning the farthest away from the front door (or kitchen in my home). I clean one room completely before moving to the next. And I don't back track. If you are decluttering while your'e going, keep a laundry basket with you with all things that go to other rooms. When you get to that room, drop the stuff off.

 

 

I gulped when I saw Reya's speed, so I'm glad I'm not alone. I do have a cleaning box with all my supplies in it. I think I've got the boys on board for keeping the house tidy by doing a daily 'sweep'. Now to tackle Husband, who tends (understandably) to dump all his stuff when he gets back from London.

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

I love Sidetracked Home Executives for this kind of thing. It's a little overwhelming at first - you put your chores on index cards. But it divides things nicely into daily, weekly, monthly etc and it's the only way I get anything done. I like the feeling when I get through my stack of cards for the day.

 

 

Here's a general outline of how it works:

 

http://www.teachingm...lps/SHEplan.pdf

 

Thanks - if my home-grown plan doesn't work, I'll look into it.

 

Laura

[Reya]

Can you store a part of the shoes, those for rare clean activities, in the bedrooms? I keep my dress shoes in my bedroom closet, as does DD, and we only store the dirty shoes and the ones used very frequently in the utility room.

Can you move some coats to a coat closet? In our family, everybody has a coat that is worn almost daily, but we own more - those do not need to reside right by the door.

 

 

 

A 2-min weekly "sweep" to remove extras like that makes a huge difference.

[Reya]

You work a bit faster than I do. I clean houses and an average 1500 sq. ft. home takes me about 2.5-3 hours. Man, you're fast, Reya!

 

My tip to people wanting to pick up the pace when cleaning is to have all your cleaning supplies with you all the time. I have a square crate that has all my cleaners, a bucket (I use square ice cream buckets), magic eraser, scrapers, toothbrushes, plastic bags, etc. I start cleaning the farthest away from the front door (or kitchen in my home). I clean one room completely before moving to the next. And I don't back track. If you are decluttering while your'e going, keep a laundry basket with you with all things that go to other rooms. When you get to that room, drop the stuff off.

 

I do all the things on Reya's list above, plus changing linens. And I clean for elderly people so I sometimes have a few extras: change lightbulbs, filters, trash, etc. I'm still done under 3 hours. In my own home, I clean one shower each week, alternating.

 

I think it's doable, Laura. I hope you've gotten lots of good suggestions. Let us know how it goes! I always feel so much better in a clean house.

 

I had it down to a science, LOL. I tried multiple ways of cleaning bathrooms until I had the fastest one down, for instance.

 

I was also in high school, so I was sprightly. :p When I'm pregnant plus in pain--boy, howdy, do things take FOREVER!!!!!!

[Reya]

I, too, can't stand flylady. Her routines take too dang long, they're focused on things I don't need, and the level of cleanliness that is maintained is not OK for me. I'm not a dust-the-baseboards-weekly sort of gal, but I CANNOT "vacuum only the centers of the room." I'd spend more time for a dirtier house. I'm just not okay with that!!!!