Housekeeping???

Pinterest has all sorts of charts and tips for housekeeping

We don't need a chart or split duties. We both know which chores each other don't like to do (I hate yard work, he hates kitchen work, etc). So as a general rule we do the things the other one hates doing. We both work full time and are understanding if the other one is tired or having a bad day, so we don't wait for each other to do things. If we see something that needs done, we do it. We don't nag each other, we both put effort into it. We're very traditional so I usually do the homemaker things like cook and clean. He does the yard work and fixes things. But like I said, if we see something that needs to be done, we take the five minutes and just do it, whether it be sweep, throw a load of laundry in, or throw the dishes in the dishwasher.

Thank you!!! I'm so bad at it that it is humiliating. Our problem is clutter. We let clutter build up and then it gets overwhelming.

I used to be a super neat freak until my fiance came along, such a hoarder and throws everything everywhere.

Key for me is:

1) Don't expect magazine worthy place until you have guests over

2) Host guests so you are forced to clean (haha)

But seriously:

1) Minimal items, less stuff to clean and dust around etc

2) STORAGE: have places you can quickly stash stuff away like drawers and cupboards etc

3) Clean regularly. Put stuff away right away, organize on the fly

4) Purge flyers, newspapers once a week. Recycling and garbage as soon as you can. I prefer to get rid of paper stuff right away but compromise and force fiance to get rid of the flyers once a week.

5) If cleaning for hours at one time sucks, break it up. Clean one room a day, one floor a day, one bathroom a day and rotate so you only spend 15 min a day cleaning instead of 4 hrs once a week.

@Future Mrs.Perk; my life goal is to have a housekeeper so I don't have to deal with it. In the meantime, we must slog through. That is great advice. We're both bad about leaving stuff just sitting. For me, it's clothes. For him, dishes.

You can assign a chore to each day so you aren't having to do it all in one day. I saw an example somewhere, but can't find it now. As pp have said, check Pinterest.

I have specific goals for each day and they're on the fridge. It helps!

Thank you for all the tips! We definitely have work to do!

Housekeeper. It's 100% the key to happiness. We had to give it up for a bit since we lived in a townhouse and she had nowhere to put the dogs, and they wouldn't let her clean. We have a yard now and once the wedding comes we are having her come back. We keep up with chores for the most part but she deep cleans every 2 weeks.

Everything should have a designated place- even if it's a junk drawer. Organization requires you to purchase things- bins, baskets, under bed storage, etc. My DH came from a very cluttered upbringing and he said those were the 2 biggest things he learned after he moved in with me!

I have no excuse really. My mom always kept the house in perfect order and I was expected to keep my room and bathroom in perfect order. I think I'm overwhelmed by all of our stuff. I feel like I know what to do with mine, but his? No clue whatsoever. We will definitely work on de-cluttering and keeping on top of the daily mess.

Just saying I am as well but my FH is great at it.

So i have things that are done every day - dishes, wiping down the counters. And things that are done on a certain day - Tuesdays i run the vacuum. Tomorrow is hard floors.

I have the same issue. I joined FlyBaby. They break it down, give you small steps and simple routines. It probably would have worked great if DH would follow it too lol!

We're not perfect at it and can accumulate clutter, but we're pretty good. I cook dinner and he cleans it up (he hates cooking and I hate the post-cooking cleanup). He takes out the trash. I wipe down the counters and bathrooms. We do a deep cleaning every other week. Whoever is around unloads the dishwasher. These aren't hard and fast rules, so if one of us sees a gap, we fill it. I am, however, strongly considering a housekeeper to come once a month.

I used to have this problem but realized it's not hard, not at all.

Put shit away when you're done with it. Clean things as soon as they get dirty. Rinse a dish as soon as you're done, put it in dishwasher. As soon as dishwasher is full, run it. As soon as it's done, empty it.

That's it. Years of struggles, and it came down to that.

So, here is what we do. We split the pick up responsibilities but, I am the deep cleaner. My DH didn't know how to turn on the vacuum until about 3 months ago.

Every night I take a laundry basket and fill it with everything that is out of place in every room. Then I go through and put all of that away. There are days that the basket gets filled quickly, others it doesn't. I only worry about the one basket a day. It can seem a little redundant if you fill it with your clothes that were on the floor in your bedroom and then go into the living room and grab the books or phone charger, instead of just focusing on a room at a time but, the basket rule makes picking up every room each night manageable for me.

Here is my spreadsheet that I use in my house.

I'm totally in camp housekeeper. I don't work; that is, my job is to help my husband stay organized, run his errands, etc. I'm also crap at housekeeping, though I was raised better. Thus, DH has also deemed my responsibility to include overseeing any staff (housekeeper, landscapers, etc.). It's really, truly not very expensive and completely worth it! We spend about an equal amount of money each month on house cleaning as on landscaping, and it frees up a lot of quality time to spend together.

Thank you everyone!!! @beth, I absolutely love the basket idea. I think I'll try that!

We have kind of split it up and not really on purpose, it just happened! FH mostly works from home so he'll cook dinner, do the dishes, sweep, and does the laundry. Then he takes it easy on the weekends and I'll do the dishes, clean the bedrooms, bathrooms, and mow the lawn. And we pick up as we go. That is definitely key!

As for clutter, I set aside time some weekends where I'll tackle a room, closet, or drawers. Definitely not every weekend though.

It's hard though! Working full time and having a busy child never makes it easy. Good luck!