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Mrs. Cheese,
You're funny. 
We are definitely a clean as we see it kinda couple. The FI loves to vaccum. He vaccums at least once every 2-3 days. No joke. It's also largely due to our dog who is allergic to dust mites.
Beyond that every Saturday morning I have a cleaning ritual where I dust every room, vaccum, clean the floors and scrub down the bathroom. I usually (due to the layout of the house) start in the kitchen, then living room to spare room to office then to bedroom. Dust & vaccum, change out sheets, wash blankets, spray down counters with cleaners, etc. Bathrooms are always last because they are yucky! The bathroom typically gets a good spray down with Clorox Cleaner.
Usually once a month one of us will give the stove a good scrubbing. Every couple months (usually before a party or family visits -hehe) the FI & I will tackle a room each night together. We pull everything out of it's place, vaccum, wipe down, scrub down. Pull curtains down throw them in the wash. Borrow his parent's vaccum steam cleaner, clean the carpet, etc.
We use CLorox Cleaner in the bathroom, a green all purpose cleaner for the kitchen, Ajax for the stove and cleaning wipes for day to day wipe downs.
For the last 2 weeks the house has been turned inside out & upside down because we've been replacings windows, replacing/installing ceiling fans, and redoing the shower in our bedroom. It's crazy, dirty madness that's driving us both crazy!!!
I do a deep clean every 3-4 weeks. Which means I vacuum, sweep and mop each room, dust, wipe down surfaces and wash linens. I go room by room, so it's not to overwhelming. I start with the main rooms we use the most (Kitchen, bathroom and livingroom) - just incase I loose momentum the other rooms are never as dirty I can slack a bit on those :)
On a daily basis I just do the basics, like dishes, swiffer sweep the floors and de-clutter.
Our house gets cluttered easily. We have a lot of mail and stuff that finds its way all over the house. Also DVD's never get put back into there cases and other items sometimes don't get put away. I feel like that makes our house feel messy having all this stuff laying around...
Well, I have a cleaning lady that comes once a week, so that makes it a million times easier. It goes by faster if you clean up a mess as soon as you make it or are done with it.
As far as doing floors, I have a vacuum that has a hard floor attachment and so I just go through each room with that! BUT first I always clean off the counter tops and any surface so that if anything falls to the floor I catch it with the vacuum. I like to use a product thats green ... and smells "green" ... forget what it's called. For the floors I looove the swiffer. That's all I use. For the bathroom, I use the wipes ... like clorox cleanup wipes. I than windex all the mirror or glass surfaces last. Oh and I keep all the windows open when I clean.
My cleaning lady does the bathrooms and scrubs the floors. I cannot do bathrooms.
I try to clean the whole house once a week, when company is coming, or as needed.
I start with the kitchen and work my way out. Bathrooms are always pretty much last. I HATE cleaning the shower so I try to put it off for as long as possible.
Kitchen: I clean all the dishes in the sink, and then scrub out the sink with Comet and a scrubbie. Next I clean the counter tops, normally with Lysol kitchen cleaner and a sponge. Floors are last so if some crumbs get on the floor--no biggie. I water all the plants in the kitchen and clean them up and pull off dead leaves, etc. Next I clean the ceramic/glass/whatever it is stove top. I take a razor blade and scrape off any crusty gunk, then use a sponge that is damp with hot/warm water, use some ceramic stove top cleaner, rub that in, and wipe off. Lastly I'll wipe off a few other things with my Lysol like the fridge and fronts of the dishwasher and stove.
Living Room: I pick up any thing off the floor like dog toys, etc. Wipe down the leather couches with a damp sponge. Then I grab a rag and some furniture cleaner and wipe down the fish tank stand, window sills, side table, coffee table, and then move to the dining room and wipe down those window sills, dining room table, and china hutch. Again, I haven't done anything with the floors so I don't worry if some dust bunnies make their way to the carpet/pergo floor.
Floors: Next I vaccuum. I use the shop vac to go down the hallway and get any dog toy remnants, etc, then I use it around the kitchen, dining room, and bedroom pergo flooring and then the bathroom and laundry room tiles. Next I use the regular vaccuum to go over the living room, and guest bedroom carpeting. Mopping is last.
Bathrooms: I hate cleaning these. I start with the guest bath that never gets used. Comet out the sink with a sponge, windex the mirror, and Lysol the counter tops and toilet. I comet the inside toilet bowl and scrub it with a toilet brush. I clean the shower as needed but since it never gets used I normally just rinse out the dust from it.
Master bath: I do the same as above only I start by using Scrubbing Bubbles shower gel cleaner and spray the whole stand up shower and let that sit while I clean the toilet, mirror, counter tops, etc. When I'm done with that I normally undress, and grab my scrubbie sponge and scrub the crap out of the shower. Shower germs kind of freak me out so I need to get fully involved in my scrubbing. My FI works at a shop so the shower walls always get greasy grimey finger prints in various places and I dunno... it gets ugly in there. I finish cleaning it and shower myself.
Lastly: Mopping. I fill the kitchen sink with hot water and some pergo floor cleaner. I sunk my mop in and start with the farthest part of the flooring (master bedroom) and work my way back to the kitchen, going back to the sink several times in between to rinse out my mop.
That's pretty much it!
Uggg our house is small so any little bit of clutter makes it look messy. Everyday, I try to keep up with the clutter. This week, I've been working on our wedding invitations so the house looks like a craft store exploded. So today is a big cleaning day for me too.
I usually do a deep clean every 3 or 4 weeks-dusting, vaccuming, going around the ceilings to remove any dust bunnies, major bathroom cleanup, clean the laundy room (major clutter dumping station), and major kitchen clean including the fridge (my most unfavorite thing to do). Wash the curtains.
Weekly I spot clean the kitchen and bath, do laundry, try to remember to change the sheets weekly (big fail on this), vaccum, sweep the floors. Collect all the cardboard & paper (we have a fireplace inside and a fire pit outside so we burn it), gather up the recycling, etc. I've been trying to make sure I get the dishes done everything evening. On a good week I try to vaccum 2 or 3 times because of cat hair.
We had an ant invasion for about a week in May so we are doing much better about making sure the kitchen counters are clean and no food is left out. It also helps that I'm not working right now.
I use Lysol all purpose cleaner for kitchen. And Lysol bathroom cleaner for the tub and sink. I try to keep the Clorox wipes on hand for easy quick cleanups. And I love the lemon scented Mr. Clean all purpose cleaner for floors, cupboards, and walls (wals I do once or twice a year).
I do agree with the top to bottom, left to right cleaning method. And always, the last thing I do is run the vaccum to pick up all the dust/cat hair that falls to the floor from the other cleaning.
I get this stuff done during the week so our weekends are free to relax.
I actually do the opposite of what your tips say. I start downstairs and work my way up. Our upstairs has our main living areas plus our master bedroom and bath, so it usually takes me longer. I just try to get the downstairs out of the way quickly so I can work on the really important areas. :) I de-clutter, do dishes, spot-clean bathrooms and the kitchen, do laundry, and vacuum mainly on a daily basis. Then I save all the hard-core cleaning for the weekend. Here's my routine:
Downstairs: Dust all the bedrooms and the entrance way furniture/windowsills, and windex all mirrors/glass surfaces. Clean the bathroom a little better with Ajax or Comet in the toilet, sink, bathtub, etc... Vacuum both bedrooms, the bathroom, the laundry closet, and the entrance way. Clean any smudges off the walls in the stairwell and upstairs with bleach water and a rag. Vacuum up the stairs.
Upstairs: Deep clean the kitchen (stove, fridge, dishwasher, sinks, etc...) with Ajax or Comet. Deep clean the bathroom the same way. Dust and Windex all windows/glass surfaces. Vacuum the whole upstairs and the furniture. Mop the kitchen and both bathrooms (I leave the downstairs bathroom until I can do all of them at the same time). I also strip our bed on Sunday and put on clean sheets.
Things I do as needed/not on a set schedule: Clean vents, clean drains, steam clean the floors, clean the pantry, move big furniture (couches and tables get moved every weekend) to vacuum, and clean/wash all fabric (couch blankets, pillows, curtains, etc...).
For me it's easier to do all of one task (e.g. dusting) around the house than to split it up room by room. That way, if I have a busy weekend, I do all the dusting one day, all the bathrooms the next day, etc... and still have a clean house by Friday.
ETA: I don't really have much motivation to clean besides the fact that I like a clean house. But something I do with all crappy chores is just to schedule it into my day and don't give myself a choice about completing it. If I don't let myself say, "Well, maybe we should go to the beach instead of clean" or "I'll just sit down to watch this one show before I start" then things actually get done instead of me procrastinating. :) Plus I force my husband to clean with me!
honestly, we both say getting a housekeeper is one of the best things we have done for our marriage...we both work in tech and have erratic schedules plus grad school on the weekend for me...
She comes about every month and does the mopping and other deep cleaning etc. Other than that we are loosey goosey. Our lady only charges $70 to do 3 bedrooms and iron my work clothes...it is such a nice treat, and we'd definitely give up a couple dinners out to have it.
Maintenance: we do a little every day as we notice it, then make Saturday our main cleaning day...if neither of you are super motivated cleaners, I *highly* recommend cleaning at the same time...it's like jogging...you will stay motivated to go longer if you see someone else is still cleaning...I tend to do the 'organizing work' and he does the dirty work...he's good about cleaning when asked but does not 'see it' otherwise, so he usually gets stuck on dish duty while I reorganize a closet or something that he would hate doing, and I hate doing nasty dishes, so it works out perfectly!
Oh goodness. I just cleaned my own bathroom. And it's not exactly CLEAN. It could use a shower wipe down, steaming of the floors, vacuuming of the rugs, and cleaning of the mirror. Not gonna happen. I'm happy enough to consolodate all the crap in there! Too many drawers and cabinets.
I try to clean certain rooms per day. Instead of looking at it like the whole house. IE, last night I did the kitchen (dishes, etc), living room, and bedroom. I organized my closet, too! Today, it was my bathroom and later, the downstairs. I'll probably run a vacuum upstairs, too.
If i look at it piece by piece it doesn't seem so daunting. Usually i can get the husband to do the mopping or something, too, when he's home. When there's two of us, it's easy enough. But just me, two cats, and 4,000 square feet of home? yeah, impossible unless I make it my full time job. Oh, on top of the yard? Screw it, I hired a gardener.
I'll probably hire a maid occasionally in the future when we have kids so I can have a life. I'm lucky that when my mom comes to town, she finds things not up to her (very) high standards (her MIL used to walk around the house with white gloves and complain about mom keeping a dirty house...yeeeah) so she does a lot of the really grimy cleaning for me. Oh well!
Oh, i also bought a carpet steam cleaner awhile ago. I vacuum maybe 1-2x/weeK (cat hair everywhere i tell ya) and steam clean probably every other month. I hate having wet carpets but it makes it all so clean.
Linens, probably about once a month. I hope that's not gross. Laundry, oh, i dunno, 1-2 loads a week? usually a load of towels/dishcloths and a load of my clothes. It'll double when hubby gets out of the army.
I use orange clean stuff in the kitchen and on the stove, but i wipe the stove down after each use or it gets crusty and impossible to clean.
I'm a slacker cleaner. Honestly, it's just too much house for one person who works a full time job, just got married, and has lots of wedding things to put away downstairs. I love a clean house, but i'm not going to spend 40 hours a week getting it up to par until I have a helping hand!
Hiring a gardener for $75/month was the best decision all year!
I clean my house - reluctantly. With multiple animals, a man and living in the country, it is impossible to keep clean, although I do vaccuum every day.
However, LONG ago, I had a brief 2 week stint as a hotel housekeeper (before I went back to college) and when I have to do massive cleaning, I kinda follow the protocol I was taught. Pull dirty items for laundrying first. Wipe down all dirty surfaces and vacuum last.
I start in the bathroom and go to the bedroom, fiance starts in the kitchen and moves into the dining and living areas. we meet in the middle. I first straighten up (dirty clothes, make bed, straighten sofa and put away anything) then do the deep cleaning.
With three dogs and two cats this place gets dirty pretty quickly, and since I live in Arizona and there is no grass, the dust accumulates like no other.... so, I find myself doing a deep clean at least once a week. I actually don't mind because I like to keep a clean house. If things get too dirty or messy I start to feel like I'm going crazy. I don't have any specific cleaning strategy, I just start wherever I feel like it and then go from there.
If I had your address, I would send you this book as a present: http://www.amazon.com/Home-Comforts-Science-Keeping-House/dp/0743272862
Very helpful!
I have to admit I am great at the pick-up aspect, no so great at cleaning.
I'll put laundry away, put dishes away, sort laundry, make beds and get rid of clutter, but husband actually does the dishes, vacumming, laundy, bathroom, etc..
My method for declutter is that I start at the front of the house and put everything where it belongs, whatever doesn't belong gets tossed into the room it should be in. I get that room all perfect then move onto the next. However, if I find something in room #2 that belongs in room #1, it has to be put in its correct place and not just tossed. So essentially once a room has been picked up it has to stays that way.
Great tips everyone!
My cleaning routine includes:
It took years to learn these rules, but my life is so much less stressful now.
I actually don't have any tips -FI and I hate cleaning, so our house is usually cluttered all the time and we fight over who cleans. But I just wanted to let anyone know who uses a Swiffer wetjet and owns pets - DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT!!! THere is a chemical in the cleaner that is the same ingredient in antifreeze and it will kill your pets. They walk on the floor then lick their paws and injest the chemicals. I know of 4 peoples' pets dying because of this.
Just wanted to let everyone know that. I can't wait to get my steam mop for our house!
Niki - I should learn my techniques from you. FI and I a;ready decided when we get our own place (we currently live with his dad) that we will put it into our budget to have a cleaning lady come every other week to do the stuff we hate doing.
I actually don't like Swiffer for other reasons, but here is what Snopes says (bc this got me worried!):
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/swiffer.asp
I think it's always a good idea to keep the dogs outside while cleaning, though, or we sometimes just baby gate them into the other part of the house.
We've got a pretty small kitchen, so that gets cleaned regularly... everything else however.... we'll just say I'm not a domestic diva. :) In general, I do one aspect at a time. I clean (vacuum / mop) all the floors at one time. Another time I'll dust anything I can get my swiffer on. Laundry gets done in major loads etc.
Not very well? :)
I hate to clean, so I'm going to read this whole thread for some tips! Keep them coming!
haha cheese I can symathyse... I usually clean top-to-bottom while the Mr cleans bottom-to-top at the same time, hoping that we meet on the stairs! This usually happens when we get to 'I can't take the clutter any more' mode... otherwise it's the bare minimum of washing dishes (while wishing we had room for a dish-washer) and vacuuming just regularly enough to avoid the dust-bunnys building up!
(gosh that makes me sound like we live in a pig-sty! I'm sure it's not quite that bad though... organized chaos is how I like to refer to it!)
We live in a 400 SF apartment so you'd think cleaning is a breeze. Wrong! It's always a chore. I always thought of myself as a bit of a clean freak, but definitely not as much as some of the PPs. I typically do a whole cleaning every 2-3 weeks. Really, the cleaning is not so bad. It's the clutter I find hard to keep up with!
I usually start by stripping the bed and getting the laundry started. Then I move on to the bathroom and move from toilet to shower to sink to floor. I don't have a particular reason for the order just that I've been doing it that way since it became my chore when I was about 8 or 10.
Next I move to the kitchen. Clean out the fridge, wipe it down, toss the trash, empty recycling, and wipe down all surfaces. Once a month I take apart the stove and clean the inner trays. Lastly, I do the floors.
Finally, I dust all the surfaces in the living room and bedroom then follow with the vacuum. Once every couple of months I go over the wooden furniture with a natural beeswax polish called Uncle Vans or something.
Anyone have any recommendations for green cleaning products or homemade recipes for some? I'm trying to make the switch.
Well I must admit I am a bit of a clean freak 
My fiance and I have been living together for 2 years now and I make sure we clean on an every other weekend schedule (mop,vaccume,dusting, bathrooms, everything!)
But just keep in mind that if you keep up with things on a weekly basis like vaccuming things whenever you see the need so that when you finally have to do a "deep clean" its not god awful! We generally do things on Thursday/Friday nights if we dont have any plans so we have our weekends completely free!
With us working together most times it only takes a little less than an hour!
I invite people over for dinner. Then I have to clean the house.
I try to keep our house picked up but about once a month I do a really good cleaning. I usually take a week and do a room or 2 per day. If I dont split it up I get tired of cleaning and stop and it never gets done. This is my last free week before classes start so I did the living room yesterday, and today I am working on the kitchen(taking a break). I shampoo the carpets and steam clean the furniture, move all the small appliances and clean the counters, take everything out of cabnits and go through it all. It amazes me at the crap we keep....
my hubby works on Saturday afternoon so I get to a lot of organizing then. He is in charge of the floors, and I pretty much do the rest. I'm the picker upper and he's the cleaner, though. He is off on Mondays and does all of that usually (i have to leave him a note). It's nic eto get it all done at once and not feel like I'm always cleaning a little at a time.
Hahahaha, This post is GREAT!
The Hubby2be and I are quick to throw things in convenient places and forget about it right after. We have areas of the house that have become a "Catch-All" and therefore the places I have to pay the most attention to in order to keep it clean.
My favorite day to clean is Saturday and so I wake up bright and early, start the coffee pot and BLAST the stereo. I have to have all the windows open to get as much light and fresh air as possible.
I start my first load of laundry while the coffee is going, all the while having the dish washer running if need be. Then its to the rooms one by one to dust. Then to vaccuum. (loads of laundry in between). Bathrooms and the sheets always seem to be last for some reason. I normally mop the kitchen early on so that it dries while everything else is getting cleaned. Voila! Sparkly clean by 10am. :)
It really helps to keep it up during the week like wiping off counters and putting little things away that may normally cause clutter.
And just a tip... I'm a Target junky and also madly in love with the Method line of cleaning products! LOVE LOVE LOVE! They have easy to use cleaners that are non-toxic and smell great.
@ Ferris Wheel - that's what we do in dire circumstances... if its in need of a really good clean, I invite my Mum! ;-)
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I'm cleaning my whole house today (playing hooky to do it, no less) and I suck at it. As a person who wants to know how to do something before I try (I'm a nerd), "clean my house" is hard without a plan.
So I did a few Google searches and found a few tips (namely, top to bottom, left to right... dry rooms then wet rooms or vice versa) and remembered a few things from my cleaning lady (start at the farthest corner from the front door, work your way out of the house, one room at a time).
I know they all seem like common sense, but evidently I have none.
My hubby and I are both slobs and we're trying to be better about it, but "trying" and "doing" are two different things.
So I thought I'd ask you: when you clean your whole house, how do you clean? Also, do you have a weekly schedule, or do you clean as you see something that needs it? And what do you do to motivate yourself?