LOOKING FOR A HOUSEWORK ROUTINE

Has bold "Ramblingrose" come back or are we talking to ourselves?

flylady.net has lots of ideas on hot to get stuff done with minimum effort.

I used to have a delightful and efficient lady when I worked who came to do the ironing on Monday and the cleaning on Thursday or Friday. Once I retired I determined to do the work myself but not to let it run into my afternoons. I decided to do the ironing daily as I didn't want to do two hours' worth in one go with 14 shirts and all the rest. So I have a routine:-

Monday, Hoover the house. Washing & ironing.
Tuesday, Washing & ironing.
Wednesday, clean the downstairs loo & the en suite shower room. Washing including the towels.Ironing.
Thursday, clean the main bathroom and do the dusting. Do the washing & ironing including son's bedding. Clean the kitchen. Cut the grass and sort the garden out.
Friday, change my bed and launder the bedding with the washing. Clean the sink. ironing.

I only clean the cooker sporadically when I think it needs doing. The washing which looks as if it is a major task is nothing really as I just throw clothes in the washing machine. I would get a robotic Hoover if I didn't actually like the exercise of Hoovering myself.

This routine gets me up and keeps me busy. I listen to Radio Four Catch-up programmes while I work and enjoy what I do. It doesn't seem onerous but I guess it takes a while to keep a largish house and garden maintained. The reward is in seeing everything ordered, fresh, clean and lovely. I am both Lady Crawley and the backstairs maid!

I recently injured my back and have not been able to be as active as usual. My movement is still quite restricted and I have been amazed with just how little work actually needs doing in this house! In fact, I have just engaged a cleaner to keep things up to scratch as we have just put the house on the market, and she said she only need 2-3 hours once a fortnight! There are only the two of us, with occasional visitors staying, but this is a four bed, two bath house. So not small!

I'm on Pinterest and there are several useful tips there for various rotas you can adopt so you could try a few and see which work best for you. I prefer to have the odd job to do on a daily basis rather than have a total purge on a single day.

I used to be able to do several loads of washing, change beds and hoover and dust plus wash floors all on one day. Now it takes me longer and I do less.

Was it another poster who suggested the FlyLady tips for cleaning the house?
Also there is this website:
cleaning.lovetoknow.com/Daily_Cleaning_Schedule

bags, an excellent policy which I also adopted long ago.

Sorry that should have read
"What do you do to get it mucky?"

Apart from everyday hygiene my housework routine is that I do housework when I notice something needs doing, or maybe a few days after that.

Three days a week, obieone???
What on earth do you don't get it mucky?
Or do you still have DC at home?

I even make myself a cuppa and take it with me 'on the hoof' as they say, but if I make a slice of toast it is stealing so I wait until it's all done

I think that I may pin that poem on the wall.
I remember when I was young my mother being horrified that a neighbour had set jobs each day- she thought it was too deadly boring and I agree. If you have managed up to now without a routine I wouldn't bother to find one!
I do things when they need it, or when I am in the mood or when someone is coming!
Luckily my husband does a lot.

I tend to do housework 3 days a week, and wing it the rest of the time. Whatever isnt done, isnt done.

I have found that I underestimated tidiness. Getting rid of things somehow helps housework in general.

Alea brilliant poem!

Hey Nonnie1 - I know what you mean. I sometimes pretend to be a TV cook when preparing a dinner - it actually makes it quite good fun!!I will try the cleaner routine next time I feel the need to do some housework.

Do you then pay yourself the going rate, Nonnie1?

I did hear of a woman who used to pretend she was her own cleaner, even to the extent of walking round the block to arrive at a certain time! Whatever helps, I suppose, if you feel certain 'standards' must be upheld...

When I have been lax in the house and it all looks a bit grubby I play a 'pretend cleaner' game and it really works !

You pretend you are the cleaner, so you start in the kitchen. wash up, wipe the units and wash the floor and then move onto what ever room suits.

You clean everywhere and give yourself a time scale in which to do the jobs. By the time you are finished you wonder where you got your energy
Try it.

DH loves hoovering and mopping the kitchen floor - so that's that taken care of. If you get things out of the tumble drier quickly and fold them, they don'tneed ironing. Dust when it's becoming obvious - and if it wasn't for the dogs that wouldn't be very often. The oven gets cleaned when the smoke alarm goes off every time the door is opened. The only thing I do every day is wipe the kitchen sink and surfaces down. There are SO many more interesting things to do in life ?!!

Fantastic poem!

Yes that's me!

Dust If You Must
by Rose Milligan

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture, or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed;
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb;
Music to hear, and books to read;
Friends to cherish, and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair;
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go (and go you must)
You, yourself, will make more dust.

I rest my case.

We live and learn! hopefully,

I've Googles 5th amendment, thank you.

If I feel like housework I do some, if I don't feel like it I do something I want to do. At 70 I am nearer death and it is all about making the most of what is left.