Basic cleaning routine for dummies -- please help!!

amother

Wed, May 24 2023, 3:15 pm

Please don't respond if you keep your house in pristine condition. If you have a bunch of little kids, or work full time, or have adhd, or very low standards, please do respond.

I have never learned how to clean. My mother kept everything spotless. Even as a teen, when I'd offer to help out, she would tell me no. She cleaned better than I ever could, so why should I learn?

I also have ADHD, so any new routine is hard to start. And I don't notice mess.

So the first few years after we got married, we lived in a pigsty. My poor husband. He tried to clean, but I was such a mess that I made it hard for him. And he was out of the house for long hours too. Finally, he encouraged me to get a cleaning lady, and I've had one ever since, for years.

My cleaning lady just quit.

Help.

What are the bare necessities that need to be done each week? Which cleaning products do I use? I'm thinking...

Wash the kitchen floor and the bathroom floors. Lysol diluted in a bucket of water?
Vacuum. Sweep. I can do that.
What about the bathrooms, though? Do I need special cleaner for the walls of the shower? Do I do the bathroom walls every week, or just the shower and tub? And then just Lysol for the sink area, right? And the outside of the toilet can also be Lysol? What do I clean the toilet bowl with? (Lysol also? Can you tell what my cleaning product of choice is?)

Are there any other cleaning products that are real essentials? My house will not look perfect, but I need it to be liveable and not disgusting.

And yes, I plan on teaching my kids to clean. But first I have to figure out how to do it myself.

Please don't respond with high standards. I'm looking for the bare minimum to keep it manageable.

cutewife

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:14 pm

Wow ok
Firstly, get a robot, it'll clean crumbs daily.
The ocedar mop is amazing, do that every day and also do the shower walls with it.
Soft scrub becomes ur best friend for bathrooms. You do the tubs toilet and sinks twice a week.
Clorox wipes for door knows and garbage can nightly.
Mr clean freak spray and microfiber cloths for counters stove kitchen surfaces nightly
That should keep the place clean. Organizing is something else.

amother

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:26 pm

cutewife wrote:

Thank you so, so much for responding! I'll only be cleaning once a week. I am able to get myself and the kids together to organize my home once a week, not daily. So there would be no way for the robot to clean up if there's still stuff all over, right? And it needs to be all at once so I don't procrastinate and can focus until it's done, and feel good when it does. (I'm functioning decently, but only when I play to my ADHD strengths.)

Talk to me about soft scrub. How do you use it? I remember using it once, it was pasty. Do you mix it with water? I'm assuming you need to rinse it off? How? And I seem to remember it was more toxic than regular cleaning supplies -- if I had my older kids help out, could they use it too?

Can you talk to me about why Mr. Clean Freak Spray is better than lysol? Can it be used on stoves? I thought you can't use most cleaners on stoves (but I know nothing, so please correct me if I"m wrong?). Why cloths instead of paper towels? Other than the environment...Right now I can't prioritize the environment. Or create more laundry to wash, dry, fold, put away. I"m juggling a lot as it is.

I'm sorry if I seem to be resistant -- I'm really trying to educate myself and figure out the hows and whys of cleaning...

amother

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:27 pm

Oh, and for the record, I'm not looking for organizing help. Right now what I do works for me. It's just the cleaning part that I know nothing about.

amother

Cyan

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:34 pm

I have ADHD and cleaning help once a week. This is what she does. Bathrooms, floors, kitchen.
Floors are vacuumed or mopped.
Surfaces are cleared and wiped down with fantastic.
Sinks and ovens are cleaned with scrub daddy sponge and soft scrub.
Bathrooms she sprays Clorox bleach on the toilet and soft scrub in the shower/bath and scrubs. Floors and inside the toilet she uses Mr clean.
That's the absolute basics.

amother

Crocus

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:38 pm

Ok so for basics there are two cleaning agents- bleach and ammonia. Never let them mix become the fumes can be harmful.
Read the labels on cleaning products to be sure which one you’re using.
I personally like to use bleach for the bathrooms because I think it’s stronger to kill germs.
You start with putting your bleach product in the toilet- I like a clinging bleach gel- then let it sit while you scrub down the shower, tub, counters, sink with a bleach spray and shmattas. Come back to the toilet and scrub it. Spray and wipe the mirror and windows with windex (ammonia). Empty the garbage and wash the towels.
I find that if the bathroom is clean, the rest of the house doesn’t get that musty smell.

amother

Crocus

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:40 pm

Also for a routine - daily clean table, empty garbage, wash dishes. If you want to be fancy, sweep the floor in the main traffic areas (around the table) and wipe down the counters. For extra credit you can make the beds and put up a load of laundry.

amother

Cerulean

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:43 pm

cutewife wrote:

Another ADHD mom here.

I need to learn how to clean more but this seems like a lot!! Is my house gross if I don't wipe down my counters, stove, door knobs, garbage can every night?

Feeling very self conscious

cutewife

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:44 pm

Yes the robot does need cleared floors but it's so worth jt bec the mopping is super easy afterwards.
Soft Scrub, you spray in the tub toilet and sink. For the toilet you get a toilet brush and scrub and then flush. For the tub and sink, u get a scrub brush scrub and then rinse down with hot water.
I personally like the clean freak spray better.
I like the cloths because they don't leave streaks or white pieces on the grates

amother

Pumpkin

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:48 pm

amother Cerulean wrote:

No.

amother

Starflower

Wed, May 24 2023, 5:11 pm

Hello fellow ADHD sister of mine.

I recently got better at decluttering and putting away, that helps the house looks clean.

Declutter before you clean!!

the pro ADHD cleaning tip is to have a spray bottle and cloth ready in the area where you need it with the appropriate liquid. (one in each bathroom) and you spray the area and wipe down.

I only use bleach in the bathrooms, no ammonia. So I put toilet cleaner inside the toilet, and on the seat, lift seat and look for spills underneath and on the toilet bowl. I personally wash it with the toilet brush, though some people would be disgusted by that. Then I leave it while cleaning the room closest to the toilet. I hose down the toilet, add floor cleaner to the floor and mop the water down into the drain. Wipe it clean with a dry cloth, or leave window open to air dry.

In the rest of the house I use floor cleaner for the floor. Go in sections or levels. so high up to low down, circulate from the door around the room until you reach the door.

amother

Burntblack

Wed, May 24 2023, 6:44 pm

Basically I clean once a week. That means the toilet and the floors, and usually the stovetop, on Friday. I use a blech, and if there's stuff on the stovetop, using the blech bakes it on and then it's really a job to remove it. I change all linens on Friday. Dusting, whenever I notice that something needs it. Certainly not twice a week and usually not even weekly.

Water and time are your friends. I use very few cleaning chemicals, mostly soap and water, diluted vinegar, and baking soda for scouring. Letting water or diluted vinegar sit on a surface for a while loosens dirt and makes it easier to wipe it away. For stubborn spots that resist plain water or vinegar I sprinkle on baking soda and scrub with a rag. For linoleum and tile floors--you sweep or vacuum first, then mop--I use a bucket of water to which I add a glug-glug of plain ammonia and a driblet of dishwashing liquid. Literally a driblet, 1/4 teaspoon if that. You don't want to use a lot of soap because it'll be impossible to rinse away, and soap residue not only makes the surface look dull but also attracts and holds dirt.

There's no reason to wash my garbage can nightly or even weekly. It's lined with a big plastic bag, into which I put a smaller plastic bag. The outer bag is for insurance in case the inner bag leaks, and it gets changed maybe a few times a year if it starts to smell. The inner bag goes out as soon as it smells or is full, which is daily. I wash the can with soap and water in the bathtub maybe twice a year. If the outside starts to look grimy, I wipe it down with a damp rag and, if necessary, some dishwashing soap. The inside of the lid is the part that gets dirtiest, but it's detachable and can be washed by itself. Soaking in water removes most of the grunge, and a little encouragement from a soapy nail brush or an old scrubbie takes care of the rest.

Clean by eye. This means if you can see that something's dirty, clean it, and if it ain't dirty, don't clean it. I keep a cloth or sponge in the bathroom for wiping down the sink. I got sick and tired of my skirt getting wet every time I leaned against it, so now I wipe the sink surround every time I use the sink and sometimes in between, because nobody else does and the sink is shallow so everything splashes all over. plus the faucets leak.

I don't think I ever clean my doorknobs unless little people have left calling cards. The little people who leave calling cards are usually either not old enough to stand or not tall enough to reach the doorknobs. Their main victims are the couch, the table where they ate and the chairs on which they sat. The kitchen table gets wiped down with a damp washcloth after each meal (usually) or if I notice that it feels or looks grungy. Once in a yovel I'll scrub it with baking soda and water if the regular damp-wipe isn't working anymore. The trays on which I put the dish drainers get grungy really fast, but they're easy to clean by running water over them in the sink and smooshing the dish scrubby around to dislodge anything that's stuck. I don't even use soap, and it takes about fifteen seconds start to finish. A spray bottle with water mixed with some plain vinegar is my "cleaning spray" for kitchen surfaces. Sometimes I add a bit of mint essential oil for the fragrance. The kitchen sink is also very shallow so water splashes all over, which is why I wipe the sink surround after every use with an old washcloth. If the sink were deeper this wouldn't be necessary. This is not cleaning, just trying to keep the surround dry so that the water doesn't seep into cracks and cause the laminate to peel off, but it has the effect of cleaning.

I don't bother with a toilet brush although we have one. A sponge and a bit of dishwashing soap wipes down the lid, seat and bowl, outside and inside and under the rim, but I do wear utility gloves. Sometimes I just spray with my vinegar bottle and wipe off. I clean the bathroom once a week. In between, if I happen to notice that the bowl looks like it could use some attention, it gets wiped down with a piece of toilet paper. When my boys were little and new at the toilet business, I had to clean more often, always with vinegar to neutralize the ammonia.

One thing I'm makpid on is not to leave dirty dishes lying around, not only because they're depressing to see but because we have enough of a pest problem as it is. They can air-dry overnight but they must be washed before I go to bed at night. Also, I'm a nut about emptying out trash bins. Every room has a wastebasket so no one has any excuse for leaving used tissues, candy wrappers and so on lying around. Doesn't mean they don't do it, just means they have no legitimate excuse. In theory I empty them out every Friday, but I hate the look of a full wastebasket and end up emptying them out into the kitchen garbage can midweek also, even if they're not full. Everyone is entitled to their mishegossen and this is one of mine.

If you haven't the time to organize things lying around like toys and books and clothes, just put them in neatish piles. Gather all the books in a stack, collect all the toys and dump them into a box, assemble all the clothes and throw them into a laundry basket. You can hide the containers under a bed or in a closet, or throw a clean cloth of some sort over them. Great it may not look but it's better than having everything scattered everywhere.

Sorry I didn't mean to write a whole book, I just wanted to point out that what one poster calls "necessary basic cleaning" isn't necessarily necessary. A lot depends on your environment. Carpets and furry pets and long-haired little or big girls (or boys for that matter), will require more frequent vacuuming, for example. When I had a carpet, I loved my Bissell carpet sweeper. It didn't clean-clean the carpet, but it created the illusion of cleanliness by picking up all the shreds and pieces of this and that that made the carpet look like Fifth Avenue after a parade (IYKYK). (IMHO nothing really cleans a carpet.)

Last but not least, and this should have been first, decluttering and downsizing. The fewer things you have, the less there is to get messy, the less you have to clean and the easier it is to clean it because you have less to move out of the way. Nobody likes to hear this but it's true. Often it's not the cleaning that takes so much time as the moving things out of the way and then moving them back. That's why the best time to clean the inside of the fridge is when it's as empty as it's going to get. But I'm not going to even touch the question of the fridge--or closets or drawers or cabinets-- because that's for the advanced class and I'm focusing on what you see when you walk into a room.