Saturday, September 13, 2008

i wanna know - are you mr. clean??

I don't know about you, but house work is usually at the bottom of my to-do list. There just isn't enough hours in the day to do all the things I *want* to do, never mind the dusting. Now don't get me wrong, while it does occasionally look like we're raising goats in here it is normally somewhat neat and tidy. Well as neat and tidy as you can get in a house where two adults have three jobs between them, multiple do-gooder type commitments, endless hours of TV to watch important activities... oh and two kids with school, daycare and extracurricular activities. Did I mention them? The ones that can turn a clean room to total squalor quicker than you can blink.

So we tidy, endlessly it seems, but what about the deep cleaning? What about pulling out the cleaning products and really getting down to it? I have tried to work out some sort of a schedule that will work for me with zero success. There used to be a time before we had kids and Mike was working straight nights that I would spend Friday nights cleaning the house. Those days are long gone. Now Mike is a great tidier, but doesn't really go in for "cleaning". I let Abby mop and she thinks that is the best gift I could have ever given her. Of course I have to get to the sweeping and such before I turn her loose and I can't do that unless the rest of the room has been cleaned first. So in the end it doesn't get done as often as I think it probably should. And I probably wouldn't obsess so much if it weren't for the fact that I love the smell of the house after it's been cleaned. Especially since switching to green cleaning products. Such wonderful lemony citrusy smells.

Ideally I would love to find some sort of a system where I get these things like dusting and such done on a regular basis. I have worked a laundry routine that I like and works. I'm getting way better at actually folding and putting it away these days.

So......

what I wanna know is do you have a cleaning routine and does it work for you?

7 comments:

Julie said...

Sorry, you won't get any help from me. I am definitely NOT Mrs. Clean. I actually just told Marty yesterday that I need him to take Max out for a couple of hours so that I can do a deep clean that we haven't done in donkey's years. Let us know if you find something that works!

Betsy Hart said...

what? You are supposed to use cleaning products?? LOL! Sorry. I am working full time, and going to school, and have two kids. I am lucky if the laundry is kept up!

Kristina said...

Dang...I clicked on the comments hoping to find some great schedule that I could adapt as my own. No such luck. On the upside, that makes me feel so much better about the state of my own house. I know there are others out there like me! I just had this discussion with my husband last night.

Me: "This house is getting gross. There's junk everywhere, and we still haven't cleaned the kitchen floor. Why does this happen? WHY can't we just keep the house clean?"

J: "Don't look at me, it's both of us being messy." (I honestly can't believe he got that out with a straight face...he KNOWS that he is the messy one and that I get tired of picking up after him.)

Me: "Oh, so I'm the one who read the newspaper and threw it all over the living room floor?"

J: "I pick up the newspaper EVERY Monday on recycling day."

Me: "Did you just hear yourself? 'I pick up my mess ONCE a week!'"

J: Silence...

Let me know when you figure something out! Right now my plan is just to win the lottery so I can hire a maid...or three. I suppose I should buy a lottery ticket, though, to up my chances?

Kristina said...

P.S. Our "routine" is to wait until two days before we know company is coming over and then clean like crazy people. We pick up in between visits, but the "deep cleaning" does not get done on a regular basis. Don't tell my MIL, though. She thinks my house looks great all the time!

Karen said...

My routine pretty much matches yours, Shan. In other words, I have no words of advice at all.

You'd think that since I'm at home with the girls, that would translate into a cleaner house. I actually think it is messier. More time to mess it up and yet an equally short amount of time to clean. Gross.

Mommy Project said...

I bought "Houseworks"- a house cleaning/organizing book bc it seems to have some good "systems" in it, but I haven't had a chance to implement them, yet.

Monday is usually my big cleaning day bc I work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and, therefore, of course, by Monday it is genereally a HUGE disaster (hubby doesn't seem to like to fit cleaning in to his weekend schedule of just "having fun" with the girls and letting them spread their toys all over the entire house). I'm finding the day both girls are now in school is like a miracele! I'll clean something...and it stays clean...until they get home. It's quite amazing.

I'll try to come up with a schedule for all the rest of the cleaning soon and I'll let you know how it goes.

BTW...Kristina just ~literally~ made me lol! That is so funny, and so true, about men and newspapers!! Mine does it, too. Gawd, i HATE having paper scattered all over the floor!!!!

Angela said...

My plan is to just do ten minutes every day and on my weekend run around crazy

Some times it works