No cleaning lady… need shortcuts!!

thegiver ↓

Thu, Aug 22 2024, 2:18 am

Cleaning from 10-6 partially bec kids are home and clutter was getting to me.

Any shortcuts or ways to get kids involved sooo appreciated. Ages 3-10.

Need floors swept 5 dishes washed chatchkas from around the house tidied up table wiped down and clothes put away by the end of the day. How do I get them on board?

Also on a personal note What shortcuts have you learned from your cleaning lady? I learned to bag everything that doesn’t belong in the room and sort it later. To push things into corners to clean main counter and fridge. To sweep up all rubbish in one go instead of room by room (leaving piles around the house until the end)

Can’t stand to look at the dishes. Helppppppp maybe I should use disposable for 1-2 weeks.

yersp ↓

Thu, Aug 22 2024, 4:39 am

I don't have a cleaning lady. The best shortcut I found was Swiffer and Clorox wipes. Swiffer wet wipes for the floor, Clorox wipes for everything else. I have no patience to shlep a bucket of water, put in Mr clean, dip the shmattah, squeeze the shmattah and repeat 20 times and then there's spilling the water, rinsing out the bucket and shmattah and then there's shmattahs all over reeking cuz they need to be washed. Grab a Swiffer wipe, put it on the mop and mop away. Yes you need to change the wipe a few times but it goes straight into the garbage.
Same with Clorox wipes! In fact, this past pesach, I cleaned my entire fridge freezer cabinets, walls with Clorox wipes.
For really bad spills and stuff, yes I did spray Mr clean and used paper towels to wipe up. Otherwise, it's wipes all the time. Even for the bathroom.

MyUsername

Sat, Aug 24 2024, 3:29 pm

We have a point system for the kids. They earn points for every little thing. Like if they wash a sink full of dishes, half a point for each piece of silverware, one point for each plate / bowl, two points for big pots, etc. If they clean their rooms or other areas, 1 point for every square of flooring they clean up, 1-3 points for every surface they clean up depending on size (top of bookshelf, night table, etc.). For laundry, every item they put away is 1 point; if they fold it themselves they get 2 points. The points can then be redeemed for whatever item we agreed on in advance that they want to 'save' up for (e.g., a nice necklace, a game, an electronic device, a fancy art set, lego, playmobil, etc.). Bigger prizes that take time to get to work best for bigger kids, immediate small prizes work best for younger kids (e.g., sheet of stickers, box of shiny markers, chinese fan, interesting key chain, cheap plastic jewelry, stick on earrings, fancy-ish hair accessories, etc.).

Here is how else we save time:
- I keep spray bottles of dish soap diluted well in water in every room, as well as cheap cleaning cloths and/or paper towels. Every time there is a a spill or we finish a meal or I finish cooking/prepping food, or whatever, I spray the floor or table or counter or whatever and wipe, takes only a minute. I don't even bother going over it with water, since it is just dishsoap which is food-safe. I throw out the cloths or paper towels at the end, or I throw the cloths in the laundry if there is room. Plus, kids love using a spray bottle, and it isn't toxic, so they can earn points for that too (see above).
- For floors, I got a vacuum mop. You can get a robot one which cleans while you are out but takes a long time. Or a handheld one (like shark or tineco) that you use, but you can get through your whole house in 10-20 minutes (longer for a bigger house probably)
- Get an electric scrub brush. Helps take the time and effort out of scrubbing. Get one that can spray water if you can find it. It has a spinning brush at the end, can be used for tiled bathroom walls, bathtubs, sinks, counters, refrigerator shelves (get separate ones for bathroom and kitchen), and really anywhere.
- Use disposable toilet cleaning wands which have the cleaner built in. Or an electric toilet brush.
- Use bleach wipes and just wipe down the bathroom, toilet seat, sink, bathtub, laundry room, etc., whenever needed. There are also kitchen safe disinfecting wipes (may not be bleach).
- I use disposables almost all the time. Disposable plates, cups,bowls, silverware. Disposable microwave-safe bowls and plates. Disposable aluminum or paper pans that can go in the oven or microwave.
- We use disposable plastic tablecloths for everything. Meal time at the table, to cover countertop while preparing food or baking, under the baby's highchair. Just fold it up at the end and there is no need to wash things down.
- I got scrubbing sponges which dispense soap to help making dish washing easier, though I'm not sure it really saves me time.
- Got a dishwasher. Biggest help ever.
- I only buy clothes/sheets/blankets/couch pillows/rugs/curtains/tablecloths/etc. that can go in the washing machine AND the dryer, and also that are wrinkle-free or no-iron.
- Pay a teenager to help with some of the household stuff, much cheaper than a cleaning lady.

calvinhobbs

Tue, Aug 27 2024, 7:40 am

I don’t have a lady either and I find it super helpful to keep lists of things that must happen for shabbos and things that could if I have extra time. I do one room at a time and try not to get sidetracked by the other things. I also try not to leave laundry for the day that I’m busy cleaning so I can be laser focused on that.
I internalized that the house will not be perfect, not all the glasses and mirrors and blinds will be done. I try to keep a rotation so I get to everything but if I don’t I’m fine with it knowing that I did what I needed to.
A typical schedule would look like this
Table
Play area
Windows
Glasses
Vacuum
Mop
Toilet
Extra

ddmom

Tue, Aug 27 2024, 8:12 am

Put timer on, let's see who could pick up and put away the most stuff before it rings?
Once floors are clear It's not a big deal to vacuum.
Put in load of laundry as soon as you wake up every morning! Put in the dryer before going on with your day.
Clean bathrooms while kids are in the bath. Put toilet cleaner in each bowl. Spray toilet top. Wash sink. Rinse toilet. The whole process takes about 5 minutes per bathrooms. Once kids are out, mop the floor.
Or do 20 minutes mandatory clean up time every night, ice cream party on Friday for all kids who helped!
2-3 per week let's collect all garbage (cans) from every room.
My kids like to help better if I write down a list and they look at it and pick which jobs they would like do.

Wed, Aug 28 2024, 5:00 pm

One cleaning game that I heard about that work amazing is you gather all your kids in one room and tell them that you are picking 1-2 objects that need to be put away/cleaning up in your head. When you say go, they all start cleaning and you watch to see who is going to get the item that you picked out. When the whole room is cleaned, you tell them what the object was and who put it away. That child gets a prize/treat that was discussed beforehand. These can be physical prizes or it can be a privilege that is meaningful to that child (I.e. staying up 30 minutes later after bedtime, going out for ice cream with mommy, screen time if that’s your thing…).