Ordering Disorder
with Chris Jordan
Ordering Disorder is about making every day run more smoothly in small specific ways like quick, easy, and nutritious recipes, tips for prepareing lunches, and organizing tips, which add up to big changes
To learn more about Chris, check out her profile on
Work It, Mom! and read her blog at notesfromthetrenches.com.
Magical Fairies Don’t Do Windows: How do I keep my house clean?
Categories: Decluttering, Organization, Productivity, Uncategorized
Do you have a house cleaning help? I do not, but wish I did. After crunching numbers and facing down orthodontic work for both kids, I think it’ll be a while before we can get someone to help. It’s not that I can’t do it myself, my house isn’t all that large, but there are two issues which keep me unhappily cleaning.
I hate that the entire house is never clean at the same time, with the time I’m willing to devote to house cleaning, I have time to do all the bathrooms or all the main level or all the upper level. I’m rarely able to commit a whole day to cleaning the entire house.
I have a theory that we must pick priorities in our lives, otherwise we feel frazzled and unhappy. Something has to give and everyone has their own personal threshold for the things they choose to juggle. My husband happily juggles 47 tasks at once, my best friend can do about 54 things at once before she says incredulously, “I just can’t keep up!” I can honestly do about 8 things before I start to cross over into overwhelmed and unproductive.
The problem is a clean house is an emotional priority for me, I feel better if the house is clean and I’m not threatened by giant dust balls of cat hair. However it’s not particularly a time priority, something I want to give my time to.
I’m loving this Real Simple tip sheet for quick cleaning if you have 15 minutes, 30 minutes or a half a day. The kitchen tips are things I already do, though I could spend more time on my floors. The bathroom tips aren’t as great, I still have trouble getting to the floors. I appear to have a floor aversion. These cleaning to do lists could also be helpful and manageable.
Flylady’s system is good, if you customize it to your own style. I like having a clean sink but it’s not imperative to my daily life. However, I love the 10 minute timer method. Right before I pick up my kids from school I set the timer for 10 minutes and straighten up the kitchen in preparation for the evening rush and onslaught of school papers I’m about to tear through.
I’m wondering how you (aside from outsourcing the job which is my ideal but not happening) keep your house clean? Do you have time saving tips? Is my fantasy of a house cleaned from top to bottom on the same day (without me devoting a day to the job) an impossible dream?
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I feel the pain of the “emotional priority”. I’m in a MUCH better mood when things are clean & tidy. But, with 3 kids, a dog & a husband, it almost never happens. I wish they would pick up after themselves (including the dog).
Fer | October 4th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Every other Friday night, after we have put the kids down for bed, my husband and I tackle the house together. He does bathrooms and the kitchen floor, I do the rest (it takes the same amount of time). We usually wrap up at about midnight and share a beer or two. This keeps it consistent and manageable—and the whole house is cleaned at once! I even throw in all the sheets before leaving for work that morning.
Abby | October 4th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Well, I outsource the big stuff (floors, dusting, bathrooms, etc). But I still have to tidy before they arrive and running around after work the night before or the morning of to do that? Not a happy camper.
My solution is baskets. The obvious one is the laundry baskets in the bedroom. Dirty laundry in the baskets.
Basket on the bathroom counter (if you have the space): everything except soap gets put in the basket after use. There’s a small basket for my warpaint too. I mean, beauty products.
Baskets in the living room: I tend to study or do work in the living room rather than the office. Baskets live under my coffee table in order to collect daily detrius. :>
And then you can contain the mess and sort it as you need. Theoretically.
Nicole | October 4th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I happily pay $50 every two weeks for a housecleaner. Best money I’ve ever spent! That said, I agree with Nicole — it’s a PITA to have to tidy up before they arrive, but if that’s the pain I have to suffer to get the deep cleaning done, so be it.
PT-LawMom | October 4th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
I agree with baskets. However, my husband kind of misses the point. He insists that each days’ mail should reside in a new spot. Daily. So as to not co-mingle and ‘mess up’ what mail arrived on what day. There is a mail basket that I tend to fill/clean out on a regular basis. The ones that work best are for the boy’s toys. These are two huge (all relative I suppose, large size) canvas ‘baskets’ from one of the 20% coupon stores which are filled with toys. They sit in front of the TV and are picked up each night. Well, each night I remember to have cutie-pie help me pick things up. I also keep telling my darling cute boy that he is a neat freak and likes things tidy. Pick up as you go, etc. he and I clean the downstairs together every Saturday morning (dusting, vacuuming, sweeping the wood floors/kitchen, etc.) and you would be surprised what a 15 mo. old can do with a swifter duster! Not to mention picking things up and putting them in the trash/basket/sink! The bathroom is very tiny and takes about 5 minutes with maybe 2 Clorox/Lysol wipes, including the floor! I try to do this about twice a week before/after my morning shower, depending on my time schedule. By no means is my house as clean as I would like, but with out hiring help that’s about as good as it gets. I have a harder time trying to keep up with laundry – the machines share a wall with my son’s bedroom and the spin cycle wakes him up so most have to get done on the weekend or during the evenings when we are all home. Sometimes my work wardrobe is rather … creative!
Kate | October 4th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I’ve always been somewhat neat but nothing compared to my husband. We jokingly call him Mr. Clean. However, he is never home, so the cleaning is left to me. Honestly, and I’m sure this sounds a little obsessive to some, I have a schedule that I follow pretty strictly. Thursdays are the day that I dust and vaccuum the entire house. It is not a small house but if I’m focused I can get this done in under two hours. Fridays I do laundry. I will ONLY do the laundry on Friday…if your favorite shirt is in the basket and you want to wear it Tuesday, too bad. Otherwise, it’s an insurmountable mountain made of many smallish boulders. And on the Thursday closest to the 1st of every month my wood blinds are dusted…again, if I skip this, the dust starts breeding and I’ll never get them clean again. Also, the Friday closest to the 1st of the month all the bathroom rugs and mattress pads go through the wash. As for all the other stuff, I sort mail the day it comes, clean up as I go when cooking, etc. For me, this is the only way I’ll stay on top of it. I’m too much of a sloth to try to change it - it I did, I’d be living in a landfill by now.
Lora | October 4th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
I’ve never been good at this, mostly because I didn’t try very hard. I work full-time, commute 60 miles a day, and have a husband and 20 month old. See? Lot’s of reasons to not clean. But THEN I got tired and changed my ways. Here’s how: After baby goes down for the night I do a 20 minute night routine, neaten the house, make lunches, pick outfit, coffeepot, run dishwasher. Then I get up 45 minutes earlier in the morning. I’m able to do all my housework during the week and can save the weekends for longer projects (like the coat closet that is starting to bulge at the seams). I “trained” myself to get up early based on this article that I read at another blog:http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/
Pamela | October 4th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
FROM THE REAL SIMPLE ARTICLE:
Spritz an electrostatic or microfiber cloth with dusting spray and make your way around the room in a clockwise circle. “Otherwise you’ll bounce from corner to corner having no idea what you’ve cleaned and what you haven’t,” says San Francisco Chronicle cleaning columnist Tara Aronson.
Really? No idea what we’ve cleaned and what we haven’t?
I LOVE this column, but that quote from the Real Simple bit was a bit amusing, if not offputting. Come on..what grown woman who has a home to maintain can’t remember what she dusted 30 seconds ago.
I am a big fan of Quick Bathroom Overhaul. (First, close shower curtains and ignore that part…) Clear off sink and back of toilet. Spray mirrors/sink/toilet with appropriate sprays. Begin with mirror and work to sink, toilet bowl w. brush and back out while wiping the floor down with a damp/409 papertowel. I find keeping the trashcan levels to a minimum helps with the ‘clean feel’.
Oh, my house is a mess. Quick Bathroom Clean Up when I get home.
angela bee | October 4th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
No cleaning tips from me, just a caveat to not expect much from cleaners when you do eventually hire out.
I outsourced the cleaning trying several different companies, some sent teams over and others sent solo cleaners.
I don’t have the highest standards (just come over and have a look at my bathroom right now) but I do have two kids and three pets so cleaning needs to happen frequently.
The process was such a pain in the ass the only pleasure I derived from the whole affair affair was from firing the cleaners.
Not only did they do such a shitty job that I was compelled to take “after” pictures, but they were always late.
Showing up late turned out to be a major ordeal when you have to leave the house in the middle of your toddler’s very important nap time.
Sadly, I am now doing my own cleaning, and I am going to use the cleaner’s fee to buy myself a reward, either a flat screen tv or a Scoomba - not sure which one I would love more.
peter | October 4th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
I work outside the home, and besides my husband, there are 2 small kids, 2 cats and one BIG long-haired dog. My one cleaning indulgence is every 2 weeks, a service comes and does JUST the floors throughout my house. They can do more if I need it (my MIL is coming), but once every two weeks, the floors are spotless.
Also, the 5 minutes AFTER bath time, while kids are still putting on their PJs is a great quick tub scrub time.
lizneust | October 4th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
“Is my fantasy of a house cleaned from top to bottom on the same day (without me devoting a day to the job) an impossible dream?”
In a word, YES. It’s time to acknowledge that there are (for example) 6 hours of WORK that has to be done to make your house clean. For some reason house upkeep is mentally discounted as not really being work, but it takes a certain minimum amount of time all the same.
You can spend 6 hours and clean the whole house in one day. You can clean the top floor in 3 hours one day and the bottom floor in 3 hours the next. You can clean 1/2 hour every day but Sunday. You can hire a cleaning person to spend the 6 hours, or two people to finish it in 3 hours for you. You can slice and dice it any way you choose, but there are still 6 hours of work in this task, and the whole house is not going to be clean unless they are all done.
I discovered this when I tried Flylady. No matter how I organized it (and I tried a couple different schedules such as a few tasks every day or one big push on the weekend), it totalled up to 6 hours for me. When I hired a cleaning person, I noticed that it took her and a partner 3 hours to do the job together. When the partner didn’t come, it took 6 hours. That’s when the light went on — this was WORK, and there were 6 hours of it!
The elephant in the room is why aren’t more husbands doing half of the cleaning? For me, the choices seemed to be 1) do it all myself, 2) constant nagging to get my husband to do more, or 3) hire a cleaning person.
SoftwareMom | October 4th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Just read the Real Simple tip sheets. The first lists is for people who have waaay too much time available for cleaning. 30 minutes to clean a toilet? Half a day to scrub the tub and shower? You’ve got to be kidding. In my house the toilet, tub, and shower have GOT to be cleaned biweekly, and it probably takes more on the order of 15-20 minutes to do all three (back before I started outsourciing). The second article severly underestimates the same task — 3 minutes to clean a tub? 2 minutes to pick up all the clutter in the living room? I don’t think so. Taken together, the articles subtly promote the absurd notion that you can do a huge amount of housekeeping in no time at all. I noticed the same problem with Flylady’s lists — I have never washed a wall in my life and never intend to. Kitchen cabinets don’t need to be washed weekly. I can’t remember the last time a switchplates, doorknob, or doorjam actually needed wiping, much less weekly attention.
This is a real problem for working women — pressure to achieve an idealistic standard while not acknowledging the true amout of work required to reach that standard.
SoftwareMom | October 4th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
If my house is already clean (a rarity) I try to obey that Real Simple 20 minute speed clean tip sheet. I usually only speed clean on Mondays and Fridays. Other than that I usually do the mass cleaning of the house only once a month.
Kristyn | October 5th, 2007 at 12:31 am
That’s a good point SoftwareMom, that’s why I like this discussion. How do people really get their house ‘clean enough’ to make them feel comfortable in their own home and maybe, just maybe, not ashamed to invite unexpected guests in.
msummers | October 5th, 2007 at 1:07 am
There are two of us that work from home, plus 4 kids, and we switch houses weekly from one state to another and back again. It can get quite hectic. We follow Flylady mostly, started almost 7 years ago. The kids even do their own flylady, they have their sponge in the bathroom, etc. The most important thing is cleaning as we go, and making sure we put things away as we use them. We simply can’t let things pile up. I dust probably 3 times a week (dumb idea decorating with black lacquer, duh!) but I have it down to 5-7 minutes and can do it during commercials or while the kids are reading their homework to me. I do a big cleaning about once a month since we do little stuff each day. I KNOW when I’m depressed that someone has left a mess in my kitchen sink, it’s scary. I do have to give credit to my better half who does ALL the laundry.
Misty | October 5th, 2007 at 1:16 am
You know, we outsource 2x a month (cheating I know, but it’s cheap and makes life better), and split the upkeep stuff. I think having a partner/husband who is on the ball makes all the difference in the world. My husband does the dishes every night. I unload them in the morning. I pick up the kid stuff throughout the day and wrangle obvious messes, and at about 5pm, I go off the clock, and he deals with the toys and high chair and all that after the kid’s in bed and we’ve already eaten. He also does all the laundry. I dust on the weekends and vacuum on the off weeks (when the glorious cleaning ladies are not here). We tried to do it all ourselves, but with 3 heavy shedding pets and his long work hours, it just was not happening in a way that brought me peace. I cannot live in chaos, but I cannot do it all myself, either. I think I would have made a lousy, drunk 1950s housewife.
Jennifer | October 5th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
SoftwareMom - I totally agree with you - cleaning is a real issue for working moms because it’s work to do it, most of us want a clean house and not everyone can afford a cleaning person. And I think about the choices you laid out as well - my husband helps out, and he does clean, but I do have to nag, which I really hate and which I think is a pathetic way to annoy our relationship. We did hire a cleaning person 2x month, which helps a lot, but I am one of those annoying clean house perfectionists and it’s definitely something that - as a task, and a nagging one - weighs on me.
Nataly | October 5th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I’m way too tired after working full-time and going to grad school full-time to clean my house in the evenings, and I need the weekends for studying so I started cleaning in the morning before showering and pampering. I realized that it isn’t too bad to clean when my mind is still foggy from waking, and it gets my blood flowing and clears the cobwebs from my tired mind. Plus, I hate doing chores on the weekend when I could be outside, at the beach, downing bourbon, whatever… so I started getting up 45 minutes earlier each day and I tackle something different each day (bathrooms, kitchen, dusting, vacuuming, floors, miscellaneous or sleep in). My husband’s only duty is to do the laundry because I would rather eat nails than do laundry. I’ve been doing this for a year now and I never have to mutter “Sorry my place is such a holy mess” when someone stops by. I am NOT a morning person, but what better time to clean than when you can’t think about all the other things you could be doing instead? You’re going to be grouchy waking already of you’re not a morning person, so why not work all that out of your system? By the time you get out of the shower you’re clear-minded and happy you can come home and have a beer without the dust bunnies asking for one too.
Ivy | October 6th, 2007 at 12:24 am
I’d like to add this takes discipline and it’s much easier if you go to bed a little earlier to compensate for getting up earlier. Oh, and create a list for each day that you keep on the fridge because you won’t be able to think clearly when you wake. It’s Friday night and I’m so happy knowing I don’t have to clean during the only QT I get to spend with my husband.
Ivy | October 6th, 2007 at 12:29 am
I actually take vacation time twice a year to super clean my house from top to bottom. How sad it that? Oh, and add the fact that I don’t have children as of yet. Even sadder? Yes, I know. However, I have a wonderful husband who actually understands that I work full time and have a commute that is 1 hour each way. He is wonderful - mid week cleaning is all him. Thank God! I do “my” clean in bits and pieces during the week and on the weekend. Hey, it works right now. At some point it probably won’t.
Heather M | October 6th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Mine got too long to post here. We’re fairly successful at the clean house thing, so here’s the link: http://blueeyedmexican.blogspot.com/2007/10/clean-house.html
Azul | October 6th, 2007 at 7:38 am
It’s true that not everyone can afford a full biweekly cleaning — budgets are tight for most people. But I wonder if enough people try to see what help is available for what they CAN afford. I did a quick check on Craig’s list, and found the following partial cleanings offered:
$30 — kitchen & up to 3 bedrooms
$35 — 2 hours of cleaning
$20 — 1 hour
$45 — 1 to 3 rooms
(For comparison, in my area a full cleaning of a 1500 sq ft house runs $80 - $125).
It wouldn’t hurt to post a “cleaner wanted” ad with either the amount you’re willing to spend or your least favorite tasks, and see what happens. Or if a neighbor has a cleaner, ask if they’re interested in picking up a little extra work when they’re in the neighborhood. Or look for a local teenager to vacuum and mop your floors. I’m picturing the blog author hiring someone to clean the downstairs while she cleans the upstairs, and presto, she’s got that “whole house clean” feeling for half the price and half the time.
I do appreciate that for some people even $70/month is more than the budget will allow, and they are stuck between a rock and a hard place — they have to work, and the house has to be cleaned. When I was a teenager, my mom had a chore list waiting for my brother and I every day after school.
One thing that would work for me is that my husband likes to entertain. He would actually help me do a whirlwind cleaning of the public areas of the house without any nagging if we had people coming over. So I briefly considered making it a point to have friends over for dinner every other weekend!
SoftwareMom | October 7th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Shop around. We recently found a place that will do our entire 1500 sq ft house for $55 every other week. Weekly cleaning is $45. They saved my life while I was on bedrest, and we find ourselves doing more entertaining and other things because we know I won’t have to stress about scrubbing the bathrooms… It also forces me and the kids to pick up the clutter and put toys back where they belong on a semi regular basis.
Kristie | October 8th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
I do a fifteen minute timed session every night after the kids are in bed. I always sweep the kitchen floor during this time because otherwise I would never do it. I also do a weekly quick cleaning session. In a hour and a half, I do a very quick dusting, vacuum, and counter wipe down, sometimes I wash the floors, too. I windex the mirrors and the T.V.s. A couple of times a week after my shower, I wipe down the bathroom counter and toilet. I give the kids a quarter to wipe down their own bathroom. That’s it. It’s good enough for me and the people who love me.
My house always looks clean because I don’t have junk piled up everywhere. When my house looks messy, it is usually because there are piles of toys and papers creeping back in. Get rid of the piles, get rid of that messy feeling. I manage the piles during my fifteen minutes.
And, I make my kids help. A lot. My five year old loves to dust and my two year old loves to throw things away for me. They both can put away their own toys and books. I leave it up to them to clean their rooms. Only my two year old gets a little organizing help.
I got some of this from Flylady, and some of it just makes sense for me.
JenK | October 8th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Hello, this is kassyl from nigeria looking for job as a housekeeper,please believe me i am a cool headed boy ready to work, a true nigerian have great intention to leave the country to find job outside the country because there is no any God fearing work in the country, sir/ma, as you have been hearing name of nigerian scamers i must tell you that scame is the only work you can find in the country as the work our youth engage upon, but for me i cannot and i will never do that killing job in the country becuase is a promise between me and my God.
sir/ma, for you to believe me i don’t have any money to send you neither for my flight, but what i want you to do for me is to visit Nigeria embassy online by yourself, you can do this by searching through google invite me and pay for my passport,visa and other necessary document, dno’t give me money, don’t pay money into my account as i don’t even have, however all this expences will be deducted from my salary after i might have been working for you. for fastest contact my mobile number is 2348060144238.
looking foward to hear good news from you.
thanks.
kassyl.
kassyl | October 14th, 2007 at 12:00 am
That is hilarious.
DinerGirl | October 20th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
oh how I can empathize with this post! I also *need* the house to be reasonably clean or I get really grumpy and irritable. I wish it wasn’t so. I have to keep up constantly with picking stuff up; if I let it go for more than 3 hours, my house is trashed. My husband thinks I’m OCD. I’ve been thinking about doing an experiment where I truely relax and go with the flow for an entire day and see what the house looks like at the end of it. Have you tried that? My favorite tip is to set the timer for 15 minutes and do whatever I can. I force myself to tackle the things that will make the biggest difference. And I have to force myself to stop after 15 minutes. My timer goes beep-beep-beeeeeeep until I actually push end. It’s a good reminder to balence cleaning with having fun and playing with the kids.
Great blog. I was laughing uncontrolably at the deceptive food reciepes. I tried the califlower eggs and it was nasty.
Amy Trager | December 1st, 2008 at 7:53 pm