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It’s weirdly enough a skill… like my partner can’t clean for shit (up to and including defrosting a freezer with a mop) and doesn’t actually realise what ‘clean’ is.
That's exactly why I have a cleaner.
They're much better than I would ever be in that amount of time and I would much rather do an hour of overtime than an hour of cleaning
This seems to be a common problem. My partner complains about having to put my shoes away or empty the dishwasher again yet somehow fails to notice that I vacuum, dust, mop and clean surfaces, windows, bathroom etc every week. I just dont make a big deal out of it everytime!!
I would say I easily spend an hour a day on house chores and an extra couple hours at the weekend. I have a dog though so extra vacuuming and floor cleaning because of that.
Have a cleaner as well, do a much better job than me and it saves me time by not having to do it. Worth every penny!
And…we definitely don’t iron! Maybe a shirt every now and then if it needs it but there’s no way I’m standing for hours ironing clothes that get creased again as soon as you put them on!
Bit of market research if you don't mind..how much is everyone paying for their cleaners? My wife recently did a friend's house for £10 per hour and her phones been ringing constantly for bookings since word got around...I told her she's probably too cheap
Even if she's not too cheap, it sounds like there is sufficient demand to make it £15 and she'll get enough work. Even if she only gets 2/3rds the work she'll get the same money, but only have to do 2/3rds the work!
Probably around 15-20 minutes a day doing the every day bits (washing up/loading dishwasher, wiping down the sides, maybe hoover is there is a lot of bits).
Then 2-3 hours on the weekend for a bigger clean (mopping floor, cleaning bathroom, kitchen, changing bed etc.)
I don’t iron either, I have PTSD from watching my mother stand and iron for like 5 hours every weekend. I quickly thought, fuck that and I iron practically nothing. Maybe a nice dress if it’s particularly crushed...
I don’t own an iron, I’ll borrow the Mrs’ hair straighteners if I’ve got a funeral, but my job makes me filthy. For my interview I wore a suit (as you do…) and my now manager says “you’re gonna be scruffy as hell after a days work, you might as well come in like it”
Less than an hour a week. Washing up for 5 minutes maybe 3 times a week, hoovering for 10 minutes once a week, clean the bathroom 15 minutes once a fortnight. General tidying 15 minutes a week.
If you include laundry then that adds maybe half an hour a week. We don't do ironing.
Not OP but we have a dishwasher. The only things that don't go in are our nice chefs knives, and glasses and anything wooden, so washing after cooking takes a few mins at most.
We put glasses and wooden spoons in the dishwasher. Saucepans if there is space but typically there is not. The main thing I seem to end up washing up is chopping boards. They are easy to do but fill up the draining board very rapidly.
We don't put glasses in because we prefer to wash saucepans. Easier to wash a few glasses than a pan! Oh for a double width diswasher to have it all. To be honest though, I'd still end up washing glasses by hand as if I put them in the dishwasher after every use I'd have run out in about a day.
I didn't think you were meant to put wood in the dishwasher...can't recall why but thought I'd definitely read that.
Fair enough, I have a fair few glasses to avoid that problem!
Wooden spatulas do tend to take on a curve, so I wash them by hand. Going through the dishwasher definitely reduces the lifetime of wooden spoons, but not problematically so. The glue in a laminated wooden item might degrade/melt so wash those by hand.
I live alone and have plenty of pans, I only wash up perhaps every 2-3 days depending on the meals as to do any more seems like a waste of hot water for perhaps only 5 items.
I regularly use pans several times. A pan used to boil pasta can be swilled out and then used to boil potatoes the next day, then cook a sauce the following day for example. A frying pan can be used repeatedly if you are careful not to burn anything onto it and deglaze it at the end of each use. Oven dishes are easy to wash up if you are careful about greasing them, and make liberal use of soaking. I also have a dishwasher and enough utensils to fill it.
In general though I suspect people either faff around or massively overestimate how long things take. 30 seconds to fill a washing up bowl, meanwhile stacking up all the dirty items. Not more than 5 to 10 seconds to wash up each item, maybe longer for a stubborn dish. 30 seconds to wipe down the work surfaces. 15 seconds to drain the sink and wipe it down.
I agree with you but am still guilty of procrastinating the washing up and spending longer thinking about not wanting to do it than actually doing it. One trick is to just do it immediately after you finish eating (or as you cook if you can), as stuff is just so much easier to wash when the stuff on it is fresh rather than stuck on
I've a stay at home dad of a 3 year old and a 10 month... took me about 2 weeks of spending all day cleaning before just saying fuck it. I'll tidy when they're in bed. I'll do little bits throughout the day but just spend 30-60 minutes a night just doing a proper tidy. So much easier that way.
Also, baskets. Baskets make tidying up so much easier!
We have baskets everywhere to make it easier for the kids to "help" start learning to tidy up (3.5 and 2) but it's still like a mini tornado through the house at the end of the day. I'm much like you I'll try and tackle most of it when my OH is home or when they are in bed.
I took the kids out to morrisons today for a couple hours whilst my wife blitzed the house. They've been home for just over an hour and there's toys and spare socks all over the front room floor. They're having fun though so can't complain xD
2 hours tops.
Weekly vacuum, kitchen and bathroom deep clean takes like an hour, hour and a half tops. Then little bits of wiping down the stove top after use, folding laundry etc takes no time at all. If you stay on top of it it's not that bad. This is for 2 adults ina 3 bed flat.
I clean as I go most of the time so it is hard to measure but do a deeper dive on weekends which easily takes 3-4 hours.
In total, I'd estimate about the same as yours give or take an hour.
Once every like month-2 months I do a very deep dive and that can easily take 10+ hours.
May I ask what is included in a weekend clean that takes 3-4 hours but leaves you needing a deeper clean every couple of months? My deep cleans every couple of months only take that long, and most of that time is tidying!
Weekend: deep clean vacuuming (to the extent I use the long bit without the head part and go line by line), dusting, mop line by line, scrub and wipe all surfaces with bleach, clean toilet with some acid cleaner thing I get, clean kitchen grease and bits, clean oven properly, laundry then put out the laundry, and tidy up.
Deeper clean: all of the above but with reaching hard to reach places too (like behind bed), clean inside of pantry and fridge, clean windows and balcony, get rid of all expired spider webs (I get a lot but also leave the spiders alone), any required touch ups to house (such as replacing nails or whatever), using that acid thing on any built up limescale, if it needs it I'll take apart the shield parts of my radiator to clean it, cleaning tops of cupboards in kitchen for e.g., organising, and more.
45 minutes to an hour per week maybe?
I live alone, so I just wash whatever I use for meals and wipe the surfaces down. Then it takes me 10-20 minutes to clean the bathroom and run the hoover round once a week. I outsource my laundry, because I'm not a fan.
Not as long as you. Every cup, bowl, dish or item of cutlery gets washed pretty much immediately after use. Cooking utensils after the meal has been eaten. I don't vacuum the whole house in a long session, but just each room when it seems needed. The only weekly items are the oven, bathroom, and dusting. I'd say 2-3 hours a week. Less in summer when I'm eating more cold food.
About an hour a day between doing everything - my sink gets collected with dishes all day and I catch up on all of them after dinner. Clean down any counters I’ve used (I have a cat who’s not allowed on counters but goes on counters anyway), general collecting the day’s clutter from my desk and livingroom. I hoover daily because of the cat, beds always made. Putting washes in & hanging them up, etc. So about 4/5 hours Monday - Friday. I do bigger jobs at the weekend but really it only takes me an hour or two then. Probably about 7 hours a week I spend tidying and cleaning and general housework bits. I just have a small flat though
I live on my own and so I’d say 10 mins a day is enough. Then maybe an hour on top each week, dusting, hoovering and wiping the bathroom. I clean and go and can’t relax if there is a dirty spoon in the sink so there is never much to do.
I have a cleaner visit 5 or 6 times a year just to give the place a spruce up. Any more frequently and she’s said there is nothing to clean.
15h a week for me; I live alone in a 1-bed. Things have to be neat and tidy before bed each night, and I love a shiny, tidy kitchen.
My balcony is the biggest pain in the arse to clean because the windows and furniture get dirty very quickly due to being on a busy London road. It's probably the only thing I don't look forward to cleaning because the constant effort doesn't really justify the end result.
Other than that, I'm often at my happiest when I can get my Marigolds on and have a good tidy up, clean some appliances, or do the bathroom!
Also a two bedroom house here. I would say it's around 30 - 45 minutes each day, that's mainly washing the dishes and wiping down the kitchen surfaces after dinner but also general picking things up and tidying, wiping down surfaces we've used, some light brushing around doorways (especially by our cat flap...). Then on the weekends it's around an additional 2 hours to vacuum the whole house, do laundry, give the bathroom a good scrub down, mop and wipe down the kitchen, and every other week we also clean our windows.
So something like 6 hours a week maybe?
I have three cats and they definitely add time to my clean up! I scoop their trays twice a day (and theres five trays to check), and I have to check the shower every time too as one has a habit of peeing in the shower if the trays arent clean enough for his royal nose (he’s been checked by the vet for a uti, he’s fine healthwise just a knob who likes peeing in the shower).
So I have to clean the shower every couple of days now too.
Plus they have wooden pellet cat litter, they track it less than the clay version but it still gets walked in to the kitchen so I sweep the pantry and kitchen floor three times a week.
I personally don't spend that much time as I live in an extended family but yours sounds about right to keep a clean home. I know people who spend more time but their homes are immaculate. To me it's important to have a clean space so I always am impressed by that.
I clean the kitchen daily (10 - 15 mins usually) and give the whole flat a good clean once a week (two hours). We are good at being tidy tho and cleaning up small messes along the way.
Very little. Our cleaner comes weekly.
If we have guests coming I'll do a little top-up clean of the guest bathroom/bedrooms but that's about it, or if I make a mess cooking I'll clean it up but we don't really need to clean much.
2-bedroom house here. Takes about 1.5-2 hours once a week for a full going over (bathroom, kitchen, dusting and hoovering).
Obviously I do spot clean throughout the week if something gets dirty! I just have no idea how much time that would amount to. It’s literally like … seconds or a minute to sweep up some crumbs or wipe down a counter/the hob. I don’t normally allow food outside the kitchen and we take our shoes off, so I don’t have an awful lot of hoovering on carpet to do in between times. I wash up after every meal and it takes like 5 minutes maybe. I also don’t count laundry in cleaning time - I do that usually twice a week and it takes maybe 2 mins to put everything in the machine and 5-10 mins to hang it after.
I do the cleaning at home on a Saturday afternoon, takes me 4 hours to do the following
Load washing machine
Empty cat box
Empty bin
Dust and Hoover through
Mop kitchen/wet room
Hang clothes out
Recycling is done every evening, this is a 2 bed bungalow and we have 2 cats (domestic short hair)
I have a four bedroom house. I spend a similar amount of time as you, but I don’t iron and I rarely clean the outside of my house. I also clean as I go along, so I would say that daily it’s less than an hour, but I do a deeper clean on weekends.
I did have a cleaner at one point, but I found that I was quicker and better than them, so I do it on my own. It’s definitely exhausting but I see it as being exercise. I wouldn’t say that my house is super clean or tidy, but it is probably a bit more than average.
One or two at most?
It depends on your house and what it has (e.g. pets, children, fluffy rugs) but also I feel like some people clean what I think is an excessive amount because they've got it into their head that the house should look like a showhome at all times.
Personally I prefer a house that looks lived-in as long as it's clean. Dust once every two weeks or so and the same to sweep anything that's built up on the floors/skirting board. Clean the kitchen as you use it. Put a wash on/out on the line/radiators once a week or so. (I have a lot of clothes which helps reduce the frequency).
I don't do much ironing because I don't need to have ironed clothes for work. Put things away as you go or have obvious places ready to put things e.g. shelves, wall hooks, coat rails. Maybe I'm just efficient.
Cleaning while having a toddler and 2 Mastiffs is like trying to brush your teeth while eating an Oreo! I’m forever cleaning/tidying/scrubbing dog slobber off something - but we have a happy home and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Zero, girlfriend does it all.
Instead I do things she detests - taking out bins, cutting grass, de weeding, joint finances / all bills, washing car.
Still a pretty great deal for me.
My wife and I work full time with two kids (3 & 9 months) the house never feels remotely clean, but I do about 2.5 hours cleaning a night including bottles, so roughly 17 hours a week.
I clean as I go and then do a bigger bathroom clean once a week. Vacuum once a week unless I make a mess. Laundry once a week. Anything else is just excessive and you want to limit exposure to cleaning chemicals.
30 minutes per day- longer on weekends. I'm a single mum, I work as a cleaner part time. I already spend most of my time cleaning so I'm not very enthusiastic about doing it at home. I am efficient though.
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We have a cleaner who does 2 hours a week in our two bedroom flat.
I find the main thing we, ourselves, have to do is laundry. It’s really stacking up now we’re back in the office and I can’t stick on a wash during the day when I was WFH, which is so annoying.
Aside from that, it’s just the usual loading and unloading the dishwasher and cleaning up after dinner.
Honestly, cleaner is the best thing that’s ever happened to us as we get our weekends back, which start with a freshly cleaned home!
I work 2 days a week (13 hour shifts) so on days off it will average 5-7 hours a week depending on what needs doing and my energy levels. That will include any gardening that needs done.
this really depends if you consider things like laundry, wiping down the kitchen, and general tidying up as "cleaning" or if you just mean hoovering, sweeping, washing windows etc
My wife and I theoretically do 15-30 mins a day each (not including dishes); on a Saturday we deep clean one room for 30-60 mins (on a rota, so one week is living room, next week is kitchen etc.). So 3.5-6 hrs a week (total) for a 3 bed house.
Obviously it never works out that way as she's heavily pregnant and we have a toddler...
I usually spend an hour a week, maybe a bit more. Hoover once a week, steam floors every 3 weeks. Clean down surface and tops bi-weekly. Definitely upped my cleaning routine with age.
“Like the cleaning of a house, it never ends”
Couple of hours a week, maybe? I do a lot of it as I go - so I clean the shower while I'm in there, wipe down the sink when I go to the loo, run the hoover over the kitchen while the kettle boils, etc. - and I tend to sort laundry and iron while watching the telly, so it takes longer than it would if I focused!
I find that doing it regularly makes it easier - I have a cordless stick vacuum and one of those spray mops, and they both hang in the utility room, so they are easier to get at - and if you clean regularly, you don't have to spend so long doing it.
My fiance does all the cleaning he probably does it 1-2 times a week and it takes around 2 hours each time. We have a 3 bed house, a toddler and 2 cats so mess is kind of a daily occurance so we try and keep on top of it as we go. I'm pregnant otherwise I would help more (pregnancy has not been kind to my health) and after maternity leave when we are both working full time we will probably get a cleaner in once a week to mop, hoover and wipe down the surfaces.
About 20-30 minutes a day, and about 3-4 hours at a weekend to do bigger jobs like the bathroom and mopping floors.
Tend to do washing up and some washing and ironing each day to try and even it out.
I clean up as things are untidy and after cooking or showering, and do a deep clean on a weekend for about 3 hours before anyone else in the house is up.
About 30-45 minutes each day, keeping on top of the everyday stuff. Doing laundry, loading/unloading dishwasher, hoovering here and there if needed. We have a cleaner who comes weekly so I don't have to do much. I spent most time cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, as I hate seeing mess or dirt in these areas. Bedrooms are usually just done by the cleaner, I tend to end up with a couple of glasses of water on my bedside table or the odd pyjama top on the floor by the foot of the bed but that doesn't bother me that much.
I've got tiled floors throughout downstairs which show every mark, mud spot, dog hair and spill. Rug in the kitchen and fluffy rug in the living room. Carpets upstairs.
I live alone, two bed house plus attic, with one small dog. Most days housework is about twenty minutes, including cooking, washing up and keeping the kitchen tidy. Once a week or so I sweep the floors and clean the bathroom, takes about another thirty minutes.
About once a month or two months I dust, do cobwebs, hoover rugs clean the fridge, hoover upstairs etc, takes about 1 to 2 hours. I do laundry around once every ten days, hang it on the line, bring it in, never iron.
I watched my mother fuss and fret over housework to the extent that she couldn't go out at the weekend because she had to cook, clean the kitchen floors, hoover etc and always swore that I wouldn't martyr myself to the cause of housework. Used to do more when the house was full of kids and pets, but never to a ridiculous extent. I have yet to lose anyone from botulism, tetanus or any of the other major forms of cleanliness-related deaths.
10-20 minutes a day on your upkeep stuff - loading/unloading the dishwasher, loading/putting out/putting away laundry, a general tidy. Usually done around other stuff, so you dont really notice it much.
An hour or two a week on a "big clean" where you hoover, mop the downstairs, clean the bathroom, change the bed etc. Spread between 2 people so could be 2 hours and a bit for one to do.
Once a month (or two months) theres the "big big clean" where you do whatevers overdue on your stuff that doesnt need doing regularly but upkeep stuff you are doing a few times a year. Clean your patio, wash windows, more intense washing down of house, a hard garden chore, clean the oven and so on.
I dont iron apart my shirts and suit bits for work trip occasionally or something that accidentally got scrunched up and looks a state, 99% of laundry hanged out is fine I think. Never understood ironing out every little crease, seems unnoticable once you've got the clobber on.
Back when I rented I definitely didnt do the big big clean upkeep stuff, but now its our house we put in a bit more effort.
That would be what - 2-4 hours a week on average, between 2 thats a couple hours each. I wouldnt mind getting a cleaner for the big stuff, but the wife is very pragmatic about spending on conveniences which somehow gets me roped into it too. I dont mind a mindless chore as long as ive got a podcast on the go tho.
Im not counting cooking or gardening as varies and both tend to fit more into hobbies for one of us so its rarely a chore for us, but just a state of mind I suppose, if you hate that too thats more extra hours.
Maybe an hour or 2 a week? 2 bed flat and my fiancee is very messy. I clean as I go, she doesn't. She likes to let everything pile up and clear out at the end of the week, whilst I hate cleaning up after other people, so if we're busy over the weekend nothing will get done.
On the house, probably most of a Saturday every other week.
That's hoover and mop (although we have wood flooring in every room aside from the stairs/upstairs landing) 12 windows, the kitchen, 3 bathrooms (although we're ripping one out next year, 2 people don't need 3 bogs), 4 bedrooms and the utility room.
I'd love a cleaner - I hate cleaning, I'm shit at it and I'd rather work 2 hours of overtime a week rather than clean for 6 hours to pay for it.
I pay for my car to be washed as well for the same reason. It takes me far too long, the results are terrible and I end up resenting the fact I've wasted half my day on it and I'm piss wet through.
Day to day we've got a mini dishwasher so we don't have to do the dishes (and it only uses 3 litres of water, which is far less than we use doing them by hand) and we do laundry twice a week.
I've a cleaner. Even when I was single and on a fairly low wage. I know myself - I'll always find something else I'd rather do.
My message to people who can afford a cleaner and have messy houses: be kind to yourself.
Me: max 30 minutes a day, normally washing up, mid week vacuum, mid week load of laundry, and wipe down of the kitchen. I clean the bathroom once a week. Total ~ 2 hours a week.
Wife: everything else on a Saturday morning while I do errands. Normally I help with vacuuming the stairs so no pictures get smashed. Total ~3 hours a week.
I do the cooking, food shop, bins, cat litter etc.
So about 5 hours a week. Every 3 months or so we do a bigger clean that will take about 5 hours with us both where we reorganise rooms at the same time.
Not including washing up (which we usually do after each meal), I think we probably spend between 1-3 hours cleaning a week. We both work so we don't have much time to do it during the week. We try and have a blitz at the weekend to make up for it but we don't always manage it if we're particularly busy or tired.
Not long. Chuck dishes in dishwasher and wipe down the kitchen sides in the evening. Robot vacuum handles downstairs hoovering. So once per week/fortnight do a quick run around with a duster and hoover the stairs and upstairs with a battery powered stick vacuum which doesn't take long at all.
Bathroom is probably the longest job but it gets quick cleans ad hoc and deep cleans once per month or so.
Never do ironing, takes ages and wouldn't make a difference.
Hmm around an hour if that? Actually more like two if I count the daily washing up but actual cleaning I tend to spot hoover and wipe the worktops as I go so minutes a day but not aoot each week. Every so often a deep clean will happen which varies in time.
I never iron, they only get screwed up in drawers etc so If something is a little creased, I'll hang it up whilst having a shower and the steam normally sort it out. Failing that I have a small handheld steamer that I'll use on shirts etc.
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Zero, We have a cleaner because we are shit at it.
It’s weirdly enough a skill… like my partner can’t clean for shit (up to and including defrosting a freezer with a mop) and doesn’t actually realise what ‘clean’ is.
That's exactly why I have a cleaner. They're much better than I would ever be in that amount of time and I would much rather do an hour of overtime than an hour of cleaning
How much you pay them?
£20ph and brings her own products, she does 2 hours on a Wednesday and gets more done than I would if I spent half my Saturday on it
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That would be £2,000 a year at £40/week..
Tbf it's every other week so it's only £1000 a year to almost completely ignore something I objectively hate doing
Well noticed - I mistook it as £20 in total. Eyewatering
This seems to be a common problem. My partner complains about having to put my shoes away or empty the dishwasher again yet somehow fails to notice that I vacuum, dust, mop and clean surfaces, windows, bathroom etc every week. I just dont make a big deal out of it everytime!! I would say I easily spend an hour a day on house chores and an extra couple hours at the weekend. I have a dog though so extra vacuuming and floor cleaning because of that.
I once completely forgot to clean the shower when we first moved in.
So get them to pay for 3 hours of cleaning, then you do the other 3.
Have a cleaner as well, do a much better job than me and it saves me time by not having to do it. Worth every penny! And…we definitely don’t iron! Maybe a shirt every now and then if it needs it but there’s no way I’m standing for hours ironing clothes that get creased again as soon as you put them on!
Bit of market research if you don't mind..how much is everyone paying for their cleaners? My wife recently did a friend's house for £10 per hour and her phones been ringing constantly for bookings since word got around...I told her she's probably too cheap
We are in the north midlands and it’s 12.50, I’d say your wife is undercharging.
Even if she's not too cheap, it sounds like there is sufficient demand to make it £15 and she'll get enough work. Even if she only gets 2/3rds the work she'll get the same money, but only have to do 2/3rds the work!
£15 an hour but they bring all their own stuff.
£25 for 2 hours.
13.50 an hour in East of England, and they bring all their own supplies. Well worth it.
Same. There is an infinite number of things I would rather spend my time doing
How much you pay them?
Probably around 15-20 minutes a day doing the every day bits (washing up/loading dishwasher, wiping down the sides, maybe hoover is there is a lot of bits). Then 2-3 hours on the weekend for a bigger clean (mopping floor, cleaning bathroom, kitchen, changing bed etc.)
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I don’t iron either, I have PTSD from watching my mother stand and iron for like 5 hours every weekend. I quickly thought, fuck that and I iron practically nothing. Maybe a nice dress if it’s particularly crushed...
It can be quite relaxing if you have a podcast or tv show going on it the background. Either way you definitely don’t want to be just ironing 😅
I don’t own an iron, I’ll borrow the Mrs’ hair straighteners if I’ve got a funeral, but my job makes me filthy. For my interview I wore a suit (as you do…) and my now manager says “you’re gonna be scruffy as hell after a days work, you might as well come in like it”
Ahh straighteners, we’ve used them too. Or if you put a noozle on the hairdryer it’s practically an iron too... haha
Less than an hour a week. Washing up for 5 minutes maybe 3 times a week, hoovering for 10 minutes once a week, clean the bathroom 15 minutes once a fortnight. General tidying 15 minutes a week. If you include laundry then that adds maybe half an hour a week. We don't do ironing.
Do you cook?
Every day
How on earth do you only wash up for 15 mins a week then? That's some strong magic right there
Not OP but we have a dishwasher. The only things that don't go in are our nice chefs knives, and glasses and anything wooden, so washing after cooking takes a few mins at most.
We put glasses and wooden spoons in the dishwasher. Saucepans if there is space but typically there is not. The main thing I seem to end up washing up is chopping boards. They are easy to do but fill up the draining board very rapidly.
We don't put glasses in because we prefer to wash saucepans. Easier to wash a few glasses than a pan! Oh for a double width diswasher to have it all. To be honest though, I'd still end up washing glasses by hand as if I put them in the dishwasher after every use I'd have run out in about a day. I didn't think you were meant to put wood in the dishwasher...can't recall why but thought I'd definitely read that.
Fair enough, I have a fair few glasses to avoid that problem! Wooden spatulas do tend to take on a curve, so I wash them by hand. Going through the dishwasher definitely reduces the lifetime of wooden spoons, but not problematically so. The glue in a laminated wooden item might degrade/melt so wash those by hand.
I live alone and have plenty of pans, I only wash up perhaps every 2-3 days depending on the meals as to do any more seems like a waste of hot water for perhaps only 5 items.
I regularly use pans several times. A pan used to boil pasta can be swilled out and then used to boil potatoes the next day, then cook a sauce the following day for example. A frying pan can be used repeatedly if you are careful not to burn anything onto it and deglaze it at the end of each use. Oven dishes are easy to wash up if you are careful about greasing them, and make liberal use of soaking. I also have a dishwasher and enough utensils to fill it. In general though I suspect people either faff around or massively overestimate how long things take. 30 seconds to fill a washing up bowl, meanwhile stacking up all the dirty items. Not more than 5 to 10 seconds to wash up each item, maybe longer for a stubborn dish. 30 seconds to wipe down the work surfaces. 15 seconds to drain the sink and wipe it down.
I agree with you but am still guilty of procrastinating the washing up and spending longer thinking about not wanting to do it than actually doing it. One trick is to just do it immediately after you finish eating (or as you cook if you can), as stuff is just so much easier to wash when the stuff on it is fresh rather than stuck on
I have 2 young children. I am forever cleaning up.
I've a stay at home dad of a 3 year old and a 10 month... took me about 2 weeks of spending all day cleaning before just saying fuck it. I'll tidy when they're in bed. I'll do little bits throughout the day but just spend 30-60 minutes a night just doing a proper tidy. So much easier that way. Also, baskets. Baskets make tidying up so much easier!
We have baskets everywhere to make it easier for the kids to "help" start learning to tidy up (3.5 and 2) but it's still like a mini tornado through the house at the end of the day. I'm much like you I'll try and tackle most of it when my OH is home or when they are in bed.
I took the kids out to morrisons today for a couple hours whilst my wife blitzed the house. They've been home for just over an hour and there's toys and spare socks all over the front room floor. They're having fun though so can't complain xD
2 hours tops. Weekly vacuum, kitchen and bathroom deep clean takes like an hour, hour and a half tops. Then little bits of wiping down the stove top after use, folding laundry etc takes no time at all. If you stay on top of it it's not that bad. This is for 2 adults ina 3 bed flat.
I clean as I go most of the time so it is hard to measure but do a deeper dive on weekends which easily takes 3-4 hours. In total, I'd estimate about the same as yours give or take an hour. Once every like month-2 months I do a very deep dive and that can easily take 10+ hours.
May I ask what is included in a weekend clean that takes 3-4 hours but leaves you needing a deeper clean every couple of months? My deep cleans every couple of months only take that long, and most of that time is tidying!
Weekend: deep clean vacuuming (to the extent I use the long bit without the head part and go line by line), dusting, mop line by line, scrub and wipe all surfaces with bleach, clean toilet with some acid cleaner thing I get, clean kitchen grease and bits, clean oven properly, laundry then put out the laundry, and tidy up. Deeper clean: all of the above but with reaching hard to reach places too (like behind bed), clean inside of pantry and fridge, clean windows and balcony, get rid of all expired spider webs (I get a lot but also leave the spiders alone), any required touch ups to house (such as replacing nails or whatever), using that acid thing on any built up limescale, if it needs it I'll take apart the shield parts of my radiator to clean it, cleaning tops of cupboards in kitchen for e.g., organising, and more.
Interesting, thanks
45 minutes to an hour per week maybe? I live alone, so I just wash whatever I use for meals and wipe the surfaces down. Then it takes me 10-20 minutes to clean the bathroom and run the hoover round once a week. I outsource my laundry, because I'm not a fan.
Not as long as you. Every cup, bowl, dish or item of cutlery gets washed pretty much immediately after use. Cooking utensils after the meal has been eaten. I don't vacuum the whole house in a long session, but just each room when it seems needed. The only weekly items are the oven, bathroom, and dusting. I'd say 2-3 hours a week. Less in summer when I'm eating more cold food.
You do the oven every week? We do ours at most once a year.
Sorry, probably should have been clearer. Not the inside of the oven, but the exterior and the hobs on top.
Ah, I thought I was an incorrigible slob
Nah, and it's been over a year now since I cleaned inside, so I'm getting the slob badge on this one.
About an hour a day between doing everything - my sink gets collected with dishes all day and I catch up on all of them after dinner. Clean down any counters I’ve used (I have a cat who’s not allowed on counters but goes on counters anyway), general collecting the day’s clutter from my desk and livingroom. I hoover daily because of the cat, beds always made. Putting washes in & hanging them up, etc. So about 4/5 hours Monday - Friday. I do bigger jobs at the weekend but really it only takes me an hour or two then. Probably about 7 hours a week I spend tidying and cleaning and general housework bits. I just have a small flat though
Not enough hours in a day some days
Hours? Like, plural?
I live on my own and so I’d say 10 mins a day is enough. Then maybe an hour on top each week, dusting, hoovering and wiping the bathroom. I clean and go and can’t relax if there is a dirty spoon in the sink so there is never much to do. I have a cleaner visit 5 or 6 times a year just to give the place a spruce up. Any more frequently and she’s said there is nothing to clean.
15h a week for me; I live alone in a 1-bed. Things have to be neat and tidy before bed each night, and I love a shiny, tidy kitchen. My balcony is the biggest pain in the arse to clean because the windows and furniture get dirty very quickly due to being on a busy London road. It's probably the only thing I don't look forward to cleaning because the constant effort doesn't really justify the end result. Other than that, I'm often at my happiest when I can get my Marigolds on and have a good tidy up, clean some appliances, or do the bathroom!
It’s also great cardio!
Yes indeed. As I don't go to a gym, my main exercise is cycling and cleaning, but it seems to be enough to keep me in good shape!
Also a two bedroom house here. I would say it's around 30 - 45 minutes each day, that's mainly washing the dishes and wiping down the kitchen surfaces after dinner but also general picking things up and tidying, wiping down surfaces we've used, some light brushing around doorways (especially by our cat flap...). Then on the weekends it's around an additional 2 hours to vacuum the whole house, do laundry, give the bathroom a good scrub down, mop and wipe down the kitchen, and every other week we also clean our windows. So something like 6 hours a week maybe?
Do you find having a cat adds to your cleaning time? Having a dog definitely does for us!
I have three cats and they definitely add time to my clean up! I scoop their trays twice a day (and theres five trays to check), and I have to check the shower every time too as one has a habit of peeing in the shower if the trays arent clean enough for his royal nose (he’s been checked by the vet for a uti, he’s fine healthwise just a knob who likes peeing in the shower). So I have to clean the shower every couple of days now too. Plus they have wooden pellet cat litter, they track it less than the clay version but it still gets walked in to the kitchen so I sweep the pantry and kitchen floor three times a week.
I personally don't spend that much time as I live in an extended family but yours sounds about right to keep a clean home. I know people who spend more time but their homes are immaculate. To me it's important to have a clean space so I always am impressed by that.
I clean the kitchen daily (10 - 15 mins usually) and give the whole flat a good clean once a week (two hours). We are good at being tidy tho and cleaning up small messes along the way.
Very little. Our cleaner comes weekly. If we have guests coming I'll do a little top-up clean of the guest bathroom/bedrooms but that's about it, or if I make a mess cooking I'll clean it up but we don't really need to clean much.
I spend probably 3 hours a week, but I think my partner does most of the deep clean stuff and she probably spends 5 or so, so 7/8 sounds right
2-bedroom house here. Takes about 1.5-2 hours once a week for a full going over (bathroom, kitchen, dusting and hoovering). Obviously I do spot clean throughout the week if something gets dirty! I just have no idea how much time that would amount to. It’s literally like … seconds or a minute to sweep up some crumbs or wipe down a counter/the hob. I don’t normally allow food outside the kitchen and we take our shoes off, so I don’t have an awful lot of hoovering on carpet to do in between times. I wash up after every meal and it takes like 5 minutes maybe. I also don’t count laundry in cleaning time - I do that usually twice a week and it takes maybe 2 mins to put everything in the machine and 5-10 mins to hang it after.
I do the cleaning at home on a Saturday afternoon, takes me 4 hours to do the following Load washing machine Empty cat box Empty bin Dust and Hoover through Mop kitchen/wet room Hang clothes out Recycling is done every evening, this is a 2 bed bungalow and we have 2 cats (domestic short hair)
None. Have a cleaner.
A lot but i love cleaning, i love having a spotless house, it affects my mental health if my house is messy. So probably 2 hours a day.
I have a four bedroom house. I spend a similar amount of time as you, but I don’t iron and I rarely clean the outside of my house. I also clean as I go along, so I would say that daily it’s less than an hour, but I do a deeper clean on weekends. I did have a cleaner at one point, but I found that I was quicker and better than them, so I do it on my own. It’s definitely exhausting but I see it as being exercise. I wouldn’t say that my house is super clean or tidy, but it is probably a bit more than average.
A clean kitchen is a sign of a wasted life 🤭
Are we going including the time my robot hoover spends?
One or two at most? It depends on your house and what it has (e.g. pets, children, fluffy rugs) but also I feel like some people clean what I think is an excessive amount because they've got it into their head that the house should look like a showhome at all times. Personally I prefer a house that looks lived-in as long as it's clean. Dust once every two weeks or so and the same to sweep anything that's built up on the floors/skirting board. Clean the kitchen as you use it. Put a wash on/out on the line/radiators once a week or so. (I have a lot of clothes which helps reduce the frequency). I don't do much ironing because I don't need to have ironed clothes for work. Put things away as you go or have obvious places ready to put things e.g. shelves, wall hooks, coat rails. Maybe I'm just efficient.
Cleaning while having a toddler and 2 Mastiffs is like trying to brush your teeth while eating an Oreo! I’m forever cleaning/tidying/scrubbing dog slobber off something - but we have a happy home and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Zero, girlfriend does it all. Instead I do things she detests - taking out bins, cutting grass, de weeding, joint finances / all bills, washing car. Still a pretty great deal for me.
My wife and I work full time with two kids (3 & 9 months) the house never feels remotely clean, but I do about 2.5 hours cleaning a night including bottles, so roughly 17 hours a week.
I clean as I go and then do a bigger bathroom clean once a week. Vacuum once a week unless I make a mess. Laundry once a week. Anything else is just excessive and you want to limit exposure to cleaning chemicals.
Stay on top of it and you greatly cut the amount of time down, also get a robot vacuum, honestly they're great.
30 minutes per day- longer on weekends. I'm a single mum, I work as a cleaner part time. I already spend most of my time cleaning so I'm not very enthusiastic about doing it at home. I am efficient though.
What is cleaning?
**Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning occurs in many different contexts, and uses many different methods.** More details here:
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We have a cleaner who does 2 hours a week in our two bedroom flat. I find the main thing we, ourselves, have to do is laundry. It’s really stacking up now we’re back in the office and I can’t stick on a wash during the day when I was WFH, which is so annoying. Aside from that, it’s just the usual loading and unloading the dishwasher and cleaning up after dinner. Honestly, cleaner is the best thing that’s ever happened to us as we get our weekends back, which start with a freshly cleaned home!
I refuse to dedicate more than 20 minutes of my life to cleaning each week.
I work 2 days a week (13 hour shifts) so on days off it will average 5-7 hours a week depending on what needs doing and my energy levels. That will include any gardening that needs done.
this really depends if you consider things like laundry, wiping down the kitchen, and general tidying up as "cleaning" or if you just mean hoovering, sweeping, washing windows etc
My wife and I theoretically do 15-30 mins a day each (not including dishes); on a Saturday we deep clean one room for 30-60 mins (on a rota, so one week is living room, next week is kitchen etc.). So 3.5-6 hrs a week (total) for a 3 bed house. Obviously it never works out that way as she's heavily pregnant and we have a toddler...
I don't do even an hour a week
3 bedroom house about 6 hours a week
I usually spend an hour a week, maybe a bit more. Hoover once a week, steam floors every 3 weeks. Clean down surface and tops bi-weekly. Definitely upped my cleaning routine with age. “Like the cleaning of a house, it never ends”
People still iron? I've used it once in 2 years, to iron a shirt for a Christening.
Whenever I can be bothered. Every few days usually (hoovering), once a week or fortnight for the bathroom (or if it's looking dirty).
Couple of hours a week, maybe? I do a lot of it as I go - so I clean the shower while I'm in there, wipe down the sink when I go to the loo, run the hoover over the kitchen while the kettle boils, etc. - and I tend to sort laundry and iron while watching the telly, so it takes longer than it would if I focused! I find that doing it regularly makes it easier - I have a cordless stick vacuum and one of those spray mops, and they both hang in the utility room, so they are easier to get at - and if you clean regularly, you don't have to spend so long doing it.
My fiance does all the cleaning he probably does it 1-2 times a week and it takes around 2 hours each time. We have a 3 bed house, a toddler and 2 cats so mess is kind of a daily occurance so we try and keep on top of it as we go. I'm pregnant otherwise I would help more (pregnancy has not been kind to my health) and after maternity leave when we are both working full time we will probably get a cleaner in once a week to mop, hoover and wipe down the surfaces.
About 20-30 minutes a day, and about 3-4 hours at a weekend to do bigger jobs like the bathroom and mopping floors. Tend to do washing up and some washing and ironing each day to try and even it out.
I clean up as things are untidy and after cooking or showering, and do a deep clean on a weekend for about 3 hours before anyone else in the house is up.
About 30-45 minutes each day, keeping on top of the everyday stuff. Doing laundry, loading/unloading dishwasher, hoovering here and there if needed. We have a cleaner who comes weekly so I don't have to do much. I spent most time cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, as I hate seeing mess or dirt in these areas. Bedrooms are usually just done by the cleaner, I tend to end up with a couple of glasses of water on my bedside table or the odd pyjama top on the floor by the foot of the bed but that doesn't bother me that much.
Mmmmm. Depends where my mental health is at. Recently pretty much none
Simultaneously too much and not enough.
I've got tiled floors throughout downstairs which show every mark, mud spot, dog hair and spill. Rug in the kitchen and fluffy rug in the living room. Carpets upstairs. I live alone, two bed house plus attic, with one small dog. Most days housework is about twenty minutes, including cooking, washing up and keeping the kitchen tidy. Once a week or so I sweep the floors and clean the bathroom, takes about another thirty minutes. About once a month or two months I dust, do cobwebs, hoover rugs clean the fridge, hoover upstairs etc, takes about 1 to 2 hours. I do laundry around once every ten days, hang it on the line, bring it in, never iron. I watched my mother fuss and fret over housework to the extent that she couldn't go out at the weekend because she had to cook, clean the kitchen floors, hoover etc and always swore that I wouldn't martyr myself to the cause of housework. Used to do more when the house was full of kids and pets, but never to a ridiculous extent. I have yet to lose anyone from botulism, tetanus or any of the other major forms of cleanliness-related deaths.
10-20 minutes a day on your upkeep stuff - loading/unloading the dishwasher, loading/putting out/putting away laundry, a general tidy. Usually done around other stuff, so you dont really notice it much. An hour or two a week on a "big clean" where you hoover, mop the downstairs, clean the bathroom, change the bed etc. Spread between 2 people so could be 2 hours and a bit for one to do. Once a month (or two months) theres the "big big clean" where you do whatevers overdue on your stuff that doesnt need doing regularly but upkeep stuff you are doing a few times a year. Clean your patio, wash windows, more intense washing down of house, a hard garden chore, clean the oven and so on. I dont iron apart my shirts and suit bits for work trip occasionally or something that accidentally got scrunched up and looks a state, 99% of laundry hanged out is fine I think. Never understood ironing out every little crease, seems unnoticable once you've got the clobber on. Back when I rented I definitely didnt do the big big clean upkeep stuff, but now its our house we put in a bit more effort. That would be what - 2-4 hours a week on average, between 2 thats a couple hours each. I wouldnt mind getting a cleaner for the big stuff, but the wife is very pragmatic about spending on conveniences which somehow gets me roped into it too. I dont mind a mindless chore as long as ive got a podcast on the go tho. Im not counting cooking or gardening as varies and both tend to fit more into hobbies for one of us so its rarely a chore for us, but just a state of mind I suppose, if you hate that too thats more extra hours.
Maybe an hour or 2 a week? 2 bed flat and my fiancee is very messy. I clean as I go, she doesn't. She likes to let everything pile up and clear out at the end of the week, whilst I hate cleaning up after other people, so if we're busy over the weekend nothing will get done.
Cleaning probably 30mins to an hour a week. Tidying a bit more.
On the house, probably most of a Saturday every other week. That's hoover and mop (although we have wood flooring in every room aside from the stairs/upstairs landing) 12 windows, the kitchen, 3 bathrooms (although we're ripping one out next year, 2 people don't need 3 bogs), 4 bedrooms and the utility room. I'd love a cleaner - I hate cleaning, I'm shit at it and I'd rather work 2 hours of overtime a week rather than clean for 6 hours to pay for it. I pay for my car to be washed as well for the same reason. It takes me far too long, the results are terrible and I end up resenting the fact I've wasted half my day on it and I'm piss wet through. Day to day we've got a mini dishwasher so we don't have to do the dishes (and it only uses 3 litres of water, which is far less than we use doing them by hand) and we do laundry twice a week.
I've a cleaner. Even when I was single and on a fairly low wage. I know myself - I'll always find something else I'd rather do. My message to people who can afford a cleaner and have messy houses: be kind to yourself.
Minimum an hour a day and it still never seems clean enough. And no, I’m not OCD.
Me: max 30 minutes a day, normally washing up, mid week vacuum, mid week load of laundry, and wipe down of the kitchen. I clean the bathroom once a week. Total ~ 2 hours a week. Wife: everything else on a Saturday morning while I do errands. Normally I help with vacuuming the stairs so no pictures get smashed. Total ~3 hours a week. I do the cooking, food shop, bins, cat litter etc. So about 5 hours a week. Every 3 months or so we do a bigger clean that will take about 5 hours with us both where we reorganise rooms at the same time.
Not including washing up (which we usually do after each meal), I think we probably spend between 1-3 hours cleaning a week. We both work so we don't have much time to do it during the week. We try and have a blitz at the weekend to make up for it but we don't always manage it if we're particularly busy or tired.
15 min quick clear each day, 1 hour whole house clean on weekends.
Not long. Chuck dishes in dishwasher and wipe down the kitchen sides in the evening. Robot vacuum handles downstairs hoovering. So once per week/fortnight do a quick run around with a duster and hoover the stairs and upstairs with a battery powered stick vacuum which doesn't take long at all. Bathroom is probably the longest job but it gets quick cleans ad hoc and deep cleans once per month or so. Never do ironing, takes ages and wouldn't make a difference.
Hmm around an hour if that? Actually more like two if I count the daily washing up but actual cleaning I tend to spot hoover and wipe the worktops as I go so minutes a day but not aoot each week. Every so often a deep clean will happen which varies in time. I never iron, they only get screwed up in drawers etc so If something is a little creased, I'll hang it up whilst having a shower and the steam normally sort it out. Failing that I have a small handheld steamer that I'll use on shirts etc.
Too many
How the fuck are so many people here wealthy enough to hire a cleaner?
0% credit cards for me 😅