Thirty-minute-a-day housework? Update in latest post

[Laura Corin]

Blame it on Anne Tyler - she was on my favourite podcast and mentioned that she does thirty minutes of housework a day.  I tend to do a big chunk of housework at weekends, but as I work full time and also have other chores to accomplish on Saturdays, I was wondering if I could get the housework done in thirty minutes each day, Monday to Friday, instead.  I want to be a bit more intentional too because we have just moved into a new-to-us house which was professionally cleaned top-to-bottom before we moved in, so it's a great opportunity to reset.  Am I missing anything from the following plan?  Does it sound doable?  Husband stays on top of most shopping, general kitchen cleaning plus clothes washing, bathroom basins, dishwasher and recycling/bins, etc. I give the toilets a quick clean most days. The garden is a separate task, and we get the outside of our windows cleaned for us.

These are the rest of the tasks, which will be mostly me.  My idea is to have regular tasts for Monday to Thursday, then a rotation for Friday for deep cleaning.

Monday: Dusting

Tuesday: Vacuum upstairs and stairs, and clean both toilets

Wednesday: Vacuum downstairs back of house floors, including mopping kitchen and both bathrooms

Thursday: Vacuum downstairs front of house floors and clean shower

Friday: extra clean for –

Kitchen week one, including oven, fridge, cupboard doors

Kitchen week two, including microwave, toaster, coffee maker, extractor filters, baseboards, choose one cupboard to clean out, windows

Utility room/sun room, including freezer, baseboards, counters, sink, choose one cupboard to clean out, windows; bath dog (extra thirty minutes)

Bathrooms, including grout, corners, baseboards, windows

Sitting room and study, including moving furniture to vacuum mopping floors, baseboards, windows/mirror, wash dog blanket, check whether sofa covers need cleaning

Front hall and stairs, including baseboards, bannister, windows, front door

Master bedroom, including moving furniture to vacuum, baseboards, windows/mirror; bath dog (extra thirty minutes)

Children’s room/spare bedroom, including moving furniture to vacuum, baseboards, windows/mirror

Edited September 4, 2020 by Laura Corin

[Jean in Newcastle]

Looks good 

[PeterPan]

If you put your deep cleaning on a monthly rotation, then the things you don't get to this time will at least get done a month later, which is probably good enough. Yo might also consider rugs/mats to keep out dirt so you aren't vacing somuch. Swiffer duster to cut down the dusting time. That for me is 2 minutes when I sweep the room. Roomba lets me multitask. Miele vac is so powerful, it makes it faster too.

[Laura Corin]

7 hours ago, PeterPan said:

If you put your deep cleaning on a monthly rotation, then the things you don't get to this time will at least get done a month later, which is probably good enough. Yo might also consider rugs/mats to keep out dirt so you aren't vacing somuch. Swiffer duster to cut down the dusting time. That for me is 2 minutes when I sweep the room. Roomba lets me multitask. Miele vac is so powerful, it makes it faster too.

Thank you.  I've gone for bi-monthly rotation for now just to make sure that I keep it within the thirty minutes and don't get overwhelmed.  I'll see how that goes.  If I'm finished before 30 minutes any day, I'll add in tasks from the next list, then readjust the plan over time.

We use mats at every door; where possible we have two - one outside and one inside.  The dog is in and out to the garden all day, however, and we take country walks daily too.  We take off our shoes when we come indoors, which must help a bit.  We have a good new vacuum - it makes a big difference, I agree.  Is a Swiffer duster much better than a standard feather-style duster?  I've thought about Roomba, but it's not in the budget for now.

[PeterPan]

6 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

Is a Swiffer duster much better than a standard feather-style duster?

I think so, definitely, no question.

If you want a laugh, you walk through FIVE rugs or mats on the way to my kitchen. LOL. I don't mind if my mudroom is dirty, but I want it to stay there. 

Is your dog big? I know someone with big dogs who put shoes on them when they went out. I wipe my small dog's feet every time he comes in and I keep a rug at that door. Come o think of it, tht rug is the dirtiest, so maybe the dog is bringing a lot in?

Sounds like you've worked out a plan. I'm with you on the limits.Somehow I also redefine brainstorming as cleaning, hehe, so sometimes I just sit in the room and think about what I could do better. That's my best cleaning, haha.

Fwiw, one tip to reduce "cleaning" is o make the task so easy you can integrate it. So paper towels at the sink so you can spritz. Swiffer dry mop by the toilet to quickly touch up the floor. So more 2 minute tasks and less cleaning. I keep a swiffer duster under the sink in my bath. It takes no time to dust the trim after I swiffer dry mop the floor. Just super fast. So instead of a toilet every day, you can rotate. Then it's only a long production (10 ) when I'm cleaning the shower. Some people spray a daily cleaner to prevent that even. I'llbet if you did vinegar+Dawn in a spray bottle it could work for that everyday spritz to prevent build up.

I also try to host parties or have someone in a few times a year. Keeps me honest, haha. Even then, it's just the normal one zone/room a week of deep clean till it's done. I had a friend who cleaned professionally say she could clean my house in some stupid short time (1-2 hours). It sort of surprised me, given the size. What I realized was I tend to let clutter accummulate, so I'm not cleaning but decluttering. So that's part of why I spend some cleaning time brainstorming, because I'm trying to get that down. Changing desk type, work flow, putting things on wheels, cleaning tools at point of use, etc.

Well have fun!

[Sherry in OH]

33 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

I think so, definitely, no question.

If you want a laugh, you walk through FIVE rugs or mats on the way to my kitchen. LOL. I don't mind if my mudroom is dirty, but I want it to stay there. 

Is your dog big? I know someone with big dogs who put shoes on them when they went out. I wipe my small dog's feet every time he comes in and I keep a rug at that door. Come o think of it, tht rug is the dirtiest, so maybe the dog is bringing a lot in?

Sounds like you've worked out a plan. I'm with you on the limits.Somehow I also redefine brainstorming as cleaning, hehe, so sometimes I just sit in the room and think about what I could do better. That's my best cleaning, haha.

Fwiw, one tip to reduce "cleaning" is o make the task so easy you can integrate it. So paper towels at the sink so you can spritz. Swiffer dry mop by the toilet to quickly touch up the floor. So more 2 minute tasks and less cleaning. I keep a swiffer duster under the sink in my bath. It takes no time to dust the trim after I swiffer dry mop the floor. Just super fast. So instead of a toilet every day, you can rotate. Then it's only a long production (10 ) when I'm cleaning the shower. Some people spray a daily cleaner to prevent that even. I'llbet if you did vinegar+Dawn in a spray bottle it could work for that everyday spritz to prevent build up.

I also try to host parties or have someone in a few times a year. Keeps me honest, haha. Even then, it's just the normal one zone/room a week of deep clean till it's done. I had a friend who cleaned professionally say she could clean my house in some stupid short time (1-2 hours). It sort of surprised me, given the size. What I realized was I tend to let clutter accummulate, so I'm not cleaning but decluttering. So that's part of why I spend some cleaning time brainstorming, because I'm trying to get that down. Changing desk type, work flow, putting things on wheels, cleaning tools at point of use, etc.

Well have fun!

 

Yes!  I find that most of my cleaning time is picking up and putting away (or tossing) random items.  If you can get your family in the habit of putting things away after use instead of piling them on the first available surface, it takes just a few minutes to dust furniture and sweep floors.    

[KungFuPanda]

I can barely get the daily stuff done in thirty minutes. I could only pull off cleaning that quickly if I had an EXTRA thirty minutes for the non-daily tasks. It takes 4-5 minutes to load or unload the dishwasher. If I run it twice that’s already 20 minutes. That leaves 10 minutes to clean counters, wipe down bathrooms, make beds, and toss in a load of laundry. I’d need another 30 to actually hit the stuff on @Laura Corin’s M-F list. 

[kbutton]

1 hour ago, PeterPan said:

Fwiw, one tip to reduce "cleaning" is o make the task so easy you can integrate it. So paper towels at the sink so you can spritz. Swiffer dry mop by the toilet to quickly touch up the floor. So more 2 minute tasks and less cleaning. I keep a swiffer duster under the sink in my bath. It takes no time to dust the trim after I swiffer dry mop the floor. Just super fast. So instead of a toilet every day, you can rotate. Then it's only a long production (10 ) when I'm cleaning the shower. Some people spray a daily cleaner to prevent that even. I'llbet if you did vinegar+Dawn in a spray bottle it could work for that everyday spritz to prevent build up.

If I try to do this, I get a lot more done, though I tend to combine different jobs than either you or PeterPan. But I think the point is a good one. 

I also clean kind of topically vs. room by room. 

Decluttering really is the thing that makes or breaks cleaning for me, and I hate it. We have too many things that need deep sorting and better organization of our storage areas. When we moved a couple of years ago, we had time consuming tasks come up that were unexpected, and we have prioritized big, messy jobs as well as outdoor work. Our old house had storage in tiny bits and pieces, and our new one has a basement, a garage, and an extra room. We've not yet optimized our stuff to the new space, and at the same time, we're at one of those stages when the younger one is moving from tween to teen, and there is just a lot of stuff that he's outgrowing--curriculum, toys, etc. Sometimes it's easier to wait until the big transitions are over and then deal with it all in batch, lol! 

[kbutton]

Oh, my kids have a lot of chores, honestly (cleaning, cooking, laundry, dishes, yardwork). Only one declutters well, lol! When they are gone (visiting grands, etc.), it's so weird--less mess, but also less help cleaning it up. 

[Laura Corin]

2 hours ago, PeterPan said:

I think so, definitely, no question.

If you want a laugh, you walk through FIVE rugs or mats on the way to my kitchen. LOL. I don't mind if my mudroom is dirty, but I want it to stay there. 

Is your dog big? I know someone with big dogs who put shoes on them when they went out. I wipe my small dog's feet every time he comes in and I keep a rug at that door. Come o think of it, tht rug is the dirtiest, so maybe the dog is bringing a lot in?

Thanks - good tips.  She's a small dog and she doesn't dig, so she's not too filthy.

1 hour ago, Sherry in OH said:

 

Yes!  I find that most of my cleaning time is picking up and putting away (or tossing) random items.  If you can get your family in the habit of putting things away after use instead of piling them on the first available surface, it takes just a few minutes to dust furniture and sweep floors.    

Most of the time it's just Husband and me these days.  The chaos is reduced.

56 minutes ago, Bagels McGruffikin said:

That worked until a few kids ago. I used to do my entire house every week or two, consistently, with a thirty minute block set aside for cleaning each day. It isn’t as functional in my current stage of life but I imagine when I’m more of an empty nester it will make sense again.

I just split the house up into five chunks, each about 30 minutes (like Monday downstairs mopping, Tuesday bathroom cleaning, Wednesday vacuuming and dusting, etc), and I made a chart of seasonal tasks and focused on checking one off each Saturday, so by the end of the quarter they were all done. It worked very well.

That sounds good.

31 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I can barely get the daily stuff done in thirty minutes. I could only pull off cleaning that quickly if I had an EXTRA thirty minutes for the non-daily tasks. It takes 4-5 minutes to load or unload the dishwasher. If I run it twice that’s already 20 minutes. That leaves 10 minutes to clean counters, wipe down bathrooms, make beds, and toss in a load of laundry. I’d need another 30 to actually hit the stuff on @Laura Corin’s M-F list. 

Husband does most of the daily stuff, so yes, this is on top of that.

[Lady Florida.]

That looks good, and doable. I used to do something similar when ds was young and I had to balance housework with homeschooling. I fell out of the habit as he got older and was able to more independent work. We're also in a new house, and not just new to us. It's new construction so everything is brand new and shiny. I want to keep it that way (though I know it will start to look lived in) so your post is a reminder to set up something for myself. 

[Laura Corin]

It's been a month, so here's the update.

It's going well, despite falling apart.  I changed things around a bit - I prefer, it seems to do one task through the whole house on one day, so the routine now looks like:

Monday: Dust everywhere

Tuesday: Vacuum upstairs and stairs and front of house downstairs

Wednesday: Clean shower, oven, both toilets

Thursday: Vacuum downstairs back of house floors, including mopping kitchen and both bathrooms

Friday: deep clean, room by room.

Three weeks and it was easy - half an hour and I was done.  Then the Covid/changes of protocols/beginning of semester mayhem started at my place of work (university).  I've been working through the evenings and through the weekends.  For the last week I have done zero cleaning (Husband has done the cooking, washing, cleaned the counters and stove top, and toilets and basins).

But that's okay.  Because I know the house isn't filthy.  I think I should be able to work a more nine-to-five week next week (I'm going to be busy but not overwhelmed, I think).  And I'll just pick up where I left off.  I'm not stressed by the week of no cleaning.  It's fine.

[katilac]

My kids are grown, so 30 minutes a day for just cleaning would be quite doable if we didn't have 8 pets in the house. 

[Laura Corin]

5 hours ago, WendyAndMilo said:

Don't forget to dust your baseboards when you dust 🙂

But of course

[Laura Corin]

4 hours ago, katilac said:

My kids are grown, so 30 minutes a day for just cleaning would be quite doable if we didn't have 8 pets in the house. 

We only have one, and she doesn't  shed  much.