Working full time - keeping house clean?

[FrabjousDay]

I'm currently doing full-time hours and have a busy family, so staying on top of things is definitely a challenge. I have a loose schedule of daily tasks that I try to follow, but on days when I'm not home until 8:00 pm that plan goes out the window. Keeping the house picked up, organized and free of clutter helps immensely, so when I go to do the actual cleaning, it goes quickly. I do a tidy every night before going to bed, and before leaving the house in the morning. Putting a load of laundry in before leaving for work, and tossing in the dryer when I get home helps keep laundry mountain from becoming overwhelming. Part of weekend routine includes devoting a few hours together as a family making sure the house in good shape for the upcoming week.

I've never found the Flylady stuff helpful, just looking at the website gives me a headache.

[gottadance]

Lots of good ideas - thanks for the encouragement. Tonight was a good example - rushed home from work, made dinner for me and bf; tidied kitchen; he and I had an online adoption course to do, which we did until 8.

At 8 I really wanted to watch the State of the Union, so I did. Now it's 10 p.m. and I got nothing done. But this morning I did empty the dishwasher and refill - and I did run errands on my lunch hour. Now I'm tired and don't feel like doing anything. Fortunately the house is tidy - I don't have problems with clutter, mostly I just don't clean frequently enough. Well, since the three tasks a day challenge, my house is cleaner than it's been in a long time. I think maybe like one person said - I'm trying to catch up instead of just focusing on where I'm at and what needs to be done now.

I'm going to keep plugging away - hopefully this will become a habit.

[ecgsmama]

I snatch-clean, kind of like snatch-reading.

For instance, this morning we were all ready to walk out the door to catch the bus and go to work, but had 10 minutes to spare. I hung a load of laundry in that 10 minutes and we were out the door.

[oheoh's momma]

Hi I am late to the party but would like to offer some advice:
1. Pick up after yourselves NO one here does this and Ican spend up to 1-2 hours just doing that.
2. simpify not a dozen knick knacks 1 -2
3. keep cleaners close to were u will use them ( a feather duster tucked behind the tv in the LR. Lysol wipe in the bath to wipe it down ect)
4. pretty boxes to put junk in mail, toys, ect close them up.
5. take off shoes at door well keep your house clean....
u got lots of good tips here hope mine helped a little

[Sibrie]

Does bf help with the cooking? Can he do the cooking while you fold laundry/vacuum/etc? I like combining tasks, so usually I'm mending, ironing, or writing birthday cards while watching the telly. I also record a lot of the shows I like to watch, and then watch them when I have the time, fastforwarding the commercial breaks.

Do you use all the bedrooms and bathrooms? If you don't use them, you only have to dust/vacuum/clean them about once a month. A quick inspection the day before guests arrive would be enough.

[banana]

I find it difficult to do also, but I do my best to do a little each day so I don't have to spend the whole day on Saturday to clean. We eat dinner at home, dishes must be done every night, kitchen wiped down, while I am preparing dinner I'll throw a load of laundry in, put it in the dryer before we eat dinner and then fold it while we are watching TV. Our biggest problem is with clutter, my guys love to leave thing out after they use them, it's a never winning battle, so we live with a bit of clutter till Friday night then I put everything away. Saturday I will spend anywhere from 1-3 hours cleaning depending on how much I was able to accomplish during the week.

[Missourimom]

If you think it's crazy now, wait until you add a little one to the mix.

[bent]

I was never taught how to keep house- so I've had to learn what works for me and how I do things would make my granny cringe. I now have a masterlist of 'to do even if you don't want to' list
daily- spritz the bathroom (mildew on shower grout the manager didn't remove the 'old' just slathered on new caulk so I spritz with vinegar after each shower- going to paint the caulk with shock it when my bud gives me what he had left from the season last yr-he slow lol), dishes (who ever leaves a dirty dish in the sink draws dish washing duty for a week) I have a sticky note to remind everyone: to wash it, dry it, put it away.
wipe down the stove top, counter and table after cooking or if somethig boils over clean it up right away- no having to wait while to dried on 'spill' soaks. since I do not make my bed (this is the cringe factor from my granny)that's one thing I didn't agree with Flylady about. wkly- laundry, cleaning bathroom, changing sheets running errands (paying bills, library, groceries) mthly: changing filter in air return, spending one hour in a room that needs 'doing'.

I use to keep a running list taped beside the light switch in each room of my house with a 'need to do' as one task was finished I moved to the next room, usually took me about a hour to do the whole house.
if bf wants to have 'us' time give him a dust mitt and let him have at it, he could sweep while you do dishes or vacuum whenyour doing laundry.

[Charro]

I set goals each day and when I complete those particular things, I stop and incorporate whatever else I plan or don't plan to do. I have four cats, two outdoor dogs to take care of, plus I homeschool, cook everything from scratch and have a yard to take care of. I also exercise for 45 minutes a day. For instance, today the cable people are coming, because the phones haven't been working properly. So, I get my necessary things done first (morning) After they leave , school begins, because I moved it to the afternoon. If I can't get an hour of extra cleaning or decluttering done during the day, I do it in the evening rather than watching T.V. or getting on the computer. I usually clean one to one and a half hours a day on the house. That's about six to eight hours a week. Sometimes I have to break it down into fifteen minute increments. Laundry gets done inbetween, because I can't stand to do one big pile on the week-ends. I write everything down, so I can see where my time is going. I even schedule time with my son (totally uninterrupted) in the evenings and on week-ends. I involve him in the care of our animals and things like laundry and keeping his room clean. It isn't always easy. Sometimes little emergencies come up. I probably don't spend as much time dating or going out as you, but I love my simple little life. Out with friends once a week or occasional coffee with a neighbor is great for me. I am not dating right now. When I was, it didn't seem to be that big a problem. Most guys are willing to help with dishes if you cook. If they help make a mess, they should be willing to pitch in. There are at least twelve hours a day on week-end days for activities. That's 24 hours. A lot can be done in that time. Time management is tricky. You also have to keep your energy up and stress down to be effective. Eat right, meditate first thing in the morning,and keep the drinking to a minimum.( Glass of wine with dinner or none.) Smoking will also totally rob you of your energy. I don't let anyone smoke in my home. Do I ever have a bad day where I want to stay under the covers and be lazy,when I haven't had enough sleep? Oh yeah! I just remember tomorrow is a new day and get started back. What seems like drudgery can be made to be fun. I keep reminding myself that most of us have good lives here in the U.S. ,compared to what goes on in the rest of the world. Could I handle what some of the women do who have four and five children and still maintain this schedule? Probably not. Those are the real wonder women. I would probably be in a mental institution (Lol) if I had to change places with them for even a week. There are some pretty amazing homemakers out there. One last thing. If you hate your job, you have to do one of two things. Learn to love it or find something else. It will rob you of your energy and spirit.

[krbshappy71]

Pretty much just have to buck up and do the things that need to be done. Decluttering and getting rid of unnecessary things helps a lot because you don't have so much clutter to clean up, but things like cleaning, vacuuming, dishes, laundry, etc are daily chores that aren't going to go away.

Heehee, I was thinking the same thing, my phrase is "suck it up, buttercup." Just gotta do what ya' gotta do. Dishes don't care if we have a busy life.

I have a full-time job (35 hrs/week) and a part-time job, (15+ hrs/week) 5 dogs, a turtle, plants, and although my bf is long-distance he still wants attention and time from me as well. I also have an adult teen at home who I probably should ask to do more but I don't other than she has to clean up her own messes. She's not home much anyhow.

YOU CAN DO IT. Set up a list of what your priorities are and stick to them. Your house doesn't have to be immaculate if your priorities are friends and BF then just set up a list of what IS important for you for your house.

I have two hours off between the jobs, 4 nights a week.
During these two hours I:
Do dishes, usually while dinner is cooking
Feed myself, feed dogs, let them out to go potty, clean up the potty
Play with dogs while picking up the house (I throw their ball down the stairs and two of them rough-house in my way) Vacuum about every other day the main living room and sofa. Lots of hair, those dogs.
Clean up bathroom after I freshen up for 2nd job.
Head to 2nd job.

Some days I get LOTS done between jobs and some days I sit on that sofa, have a cup of coffee, and snuggle my dogs. I know that if I sit and snuggle it is good for me and for them, but that the house will be dirtier for the next day. I try to find a balance between cleaning and my mental sanity and my loved ones. If I'm not vacuuming I'm on speakerphone with the BF while picking up around the house.

Bf has a full-time job, part-time job, and three kids. He balances it all, him and his ex have a pretty good friendship-communication going on so she is flexible about his kid time which helps. He gets to see them every morning and take them to school, they love that, as well as different times/days of the weekends.

IT CAN BE DONE, we make time for each other, time for our loved ones. (for him its kids and for me its my dogs, ha!) Time for cleaning.

You could designate a time for yourself such as "for 1-2 hours I need to do housekeeping and THEN have the bf over" that way you are not cleaning while he is there, if that's what you prefer. Most of my other chores are thrown in on the weekend. If I am out with friends or family on the weekends (last Saturday I spent the entire day with my mom) then I just stay up later that evening to finish laundry.

You can totally do this.

[gmarie]

I had to do the laundry last night for the first time in 2 months! There are many benefits of having an unemployed husband, but paid work is good too! ;-)

Our tiny house is filthy by Thurs... I need to do a better job picking up every day. I try, but things still accumulate and every saturday it is the same thing, wondering how it could possibly be SO messy after just one week!

[hotprincesscm]

I use flylady too, and it works if you just do it. And honestly the things she does ask you to do, only take a few minutes each...time yourself, you'll see....dishes 10minutes.....clean off an end table...5 minutes, sweep the middle of a floor...5 minutes.....while it seems like there is alot to do...you can squeeze in 5 minutes here and there. Also once you get your house decluttered and organized.....cleaning is quicker and easier....honey I have been there....I'm a working full time, single mother of two kids. Their father isn't involved so they don't go every other weekend or anything.....so I'm doing it all by myself as well....it's hard....but it's a necessity...and the sense of pride that I have, when visitors come over and say "wow your home is so nice" makes it all worth it! Good luck hun! It will work itself out!

[tervsforme]

Still working on this myself. It's a constant struggle. Some days I am more tired than others when I get home from work. Somedays I do more than others after work. I still haven't found the perfect system, but I figure as long as I keep trying, things get done, eventually!

[madhen]

I feel your pain. I use up a lot of weekends catching up from what I couldn't get done during the week. I have also found that decluttering helps a LOT. I spent most of January slimming down my kitchen, and now it feels nice to go in and tidy up in there, rather than feeling like a chore, because I'm not finding myself stuffing things into drawers just to get them off of counters. I am working on one room per month, slashing and burning until I have eliminated all the junk and just have the stuff I want.

I found that closing off rooms really helps. If you live by yourself, then you probably don't use the 2.5 bathrooms!! I have two bathrooms, and I only use one. So the second bathroom (upstairs) is clean and tidy, and I keep the door closed and only go in about once per month to flush the toilet and run the water a bit. I have a three story house, and the entire upper floor is basically unused, just a place to store all my out-of-season stuff (clothing and cookware) and crafts. The area I do my living in consists of one bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a combined livingroom/diningroom area, all on one floor; with trips downstairs to do laundry. My big dogs have their own room with a door to a big run, so they can mess that up all they want. My bunnies have a big pen (two ferret playpens combined to make a big bunny pen), and come out under supervision only (because they like to chew my walls). I have two puppies (4 months old this Saturday!) who have the run of the uncarpeted areas, but they are both paper-trained, so except for picking up their toys (2 or 3 times a day), they aren't a huge burden.

[Stacia]

Hi all - I am not great at keeping the house clean. I have a large house (3 bedroom, 2.5 baths, large rec room, large kitchen, living room, dining room) and am single, working full time. I have two cats and two bunnies to add to the mess. I recently started the daily to-do challenge, which has really helped, but I started looking at flylady and it just seems geared to people who are stay at home or working part-time - not people gone from 9-6 like me. She makes it sound simple - just do this, just do this and just do this - but all of her just do thises as up to a LOT of time daily. Heaven forbid you have a social life!

I usually walk in the door at 6 (IF I don't run errands after work); by the time I feed the kitties, feed the bunnies, make dinner, change clothes and sit down, it's 6:45 - at least. If the boyfriend is over, he wants us to spend time together, talking, catching up, snuggling. Or, we go out to dinner and are out for a couple of hours. Or we have some activity planned. Or on some nights I have dinner with friends or a night out with the girls. On the weekends, I try to get stuff done, but again, the bf and I have plans - or - heaven forbid - I just need a day to relax, read and unwind from the work week.

How do you other full-time working women keeping up with stuff? I let it go, then I get overwhelmed. Maybe I need to just keep doing the couple of things a day (when I can) and then it won't get so bad?

Im in the same boat as you. I feel exhausted after getting home from work especially after cooking supper, helping the kids with their homework, getting them ready for the next day ect.. This year I have been purging as many items as I can. Trying to get more organized, and coming up with a system/schedule. Having too many items, and clutter can make you feel exhausted just looking at it. I'm sure minimalists and very organized people probably have a lot less stress. I'm working on this approach slowly..lol

I wish I was one of those people with an unlimited amount of energy, but unfortunately I'm not.