SHEs Organized

How much time do y'all really spend on housework?

I'm thinking/wondering -- what is a realistic goal? Our house is approx. 4000 square feet. I know that sounds big, but there is a LOT of space in walk-in closets, and there are two large rooms (guest bedroom & study) and a large bathroom that we almost never even use.

It takes about an hour to vacuum the floors of the "living" area and master bedroom/bath. This does not count dusting, or anything else, just mainly hitting the middles, as Flylady would say.

So -- how much time do I honestly need to allocate to Weekly Home Blessing and Zone cleaning? What should be my goal? Y'all know I'm a bit lazy and dh's schedule greatly affects mine... but what should I be striving for?

Do y'all do all your WHB chores on one day and then focus on the zone the rest of the week?

I know that I need twice the amount of time that flying plan has recommended for a house apx, 2400 sq ft. Half of it is basement.

Thanks, Nancy. I know Kathryn and I have discussed before that the vacuuming time Flylady estimates is just totally unrealistic. I think she says 10 minutes to hit the middles? Good grief. I can't get the vacuum out and do one room in 10 minutes!

But back to my survey --
how much time do you spend w/the basic chores (daily/weekly) of vacuuming/dusting/bathrooms...
and how much time do you spend in the focus zone daily/weekly?

Wondering....JUST doing the chores would be what someone hired to clean your home would do?

It is so very easy for me to get sidetracked into doing additional things along with the chores. I suspect only a house cleaner would do them in a timely manner.

I would be interested in to hear from those who have someone clean their home. How long does it take them?

DSon/DDIL have a crew clean their home weekly. It took a couple hours for 2 people to do it during the times I have been visiting in their home. So 4 hours a week to do the floors, bathrooms (5) & dusting. Although I know that DDIL has a habit of running a dusting mop over the wood floors at least once a day in addition to what the cleaning people do to them. I'm guessing an additional 1.5 hours (15 minutes x 6 days). That makes 5.5 hours a week. Which doesn't include laundry, kitchen,and the gazillion other tasks that is part of home keeping.

My goal is to spend 1 hour each weekday doing routine cards (daily/weekly/monthly) and another hour doing focus area (decluttering/deep cleaning). Life is rarely normal so doing these 10 hours each week is rare.

when dh gets the cleaners it cost 126 for upstairs and downstairs which included washing floors, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting I didn't have the dogs room or the 3 season room or basement done. (they would be here 2 hours for 2 people and that doesn't include those dailies or weeklies and lots of monthlies which I still had to do but at least I knew when they were done the house look liked normal people lived here

I want them back lol!!! it was well worth it!

Dd said one of her friends does 35 to 45 min. 2x a day to keep on top of it they are 35 to 40 yrs. Old too.

I think my cleaning lady does 2.5 hours - dusts, cleans floors (sweeping/damp mopping hardwood and tile, vacuums carpets or rugs) cleans bathrooms, kitchen, changes sheets on beds, No zone work - just basics that I would do every week. She doesn't sidetrack on putting anything away, just works. She does some baseboards occasionally, but most of them need work. In the old house with kids still in HS it was a lot of work as she would clear the floors, etc. in playroom and their rooms, which were always awful!