I think each family has to find what works for them!
When our kids were growing up, we had weekly "assignments" of small housekeeping tasks for each member of the family that were rotated so that you didn't have to do the same task week in and week out. That way the house was "kept up" and didn't get out-of-hand dirty.
Then the kids grew up and left home, and it was just Father Domestique and myself left to do it all. We were both working and commuting to our jobs, with lots of travel in there too. So, housekeeping went by the wayside quite a bit. I had a saying when we'd invite people over. Either I can cook or clean, but not both! Sure, the basics would be done (like clean the toilet) but the house wouldn't necessarily be spotless. We just couldn't do it all, and, we didn't stress about it either.
Now we're both retired, and have gone back to the "assignment of tasks" routine. Each weekday we each have a small thing to do (except when are going to be gone) and then it switches to the other person the next month, and so on. When we've cleaned the whole house, we're done for that month. We can have friends over now without a worry about having to rush around and clean things up because they're already clean!
As I said at the beginning, each family has to find what works best for them. Sure, read the books, view the blogs, see the postings, but try what you think you can handle and if it doesn't work, try something else. There's not just one right way to do something. And then don't stress over it. Life is too short to stress over housekeeping.
I think each family has to find what works for them!
When our kids were growing up, we had weekly "assignments" of small housekeeping tasks for each member of the family that were rotated so that you didn't have to do the same task week in and week out. That way the house was "kept up" and didn't get out-of-hand dirty.
Then the kids grew up and left home, and it was just Father Domestique and myself left to do it all. We were both working and commuting to our jobs, with lots of travel in there too. So, housekeeping went by the wayside quite a bit. I had a saying when we'd invite people over. Either I can cook or clean, but not both! Sure, the basics would be done (like clean the toilet) but the house wouldn't necessarily be spotless. We just couldn't do it all, and, we didn't stress about it either.
Now we're both retired, and have gone back to the "assignment of tasks" routine. Each weekday we each have a small thing to do (except when are going to be gone) and then it switches to the other person the next month, and so on. When we've cleaned the whole house, we're done for that month. We can have friends over now without a worry about having to rush around and clean things up because they're already clean!
As I said at the beginning, each family has to find what works best for them. Sure, read the books, view the blogs, see the postings, but try what you think you can handle and if it doesn't work, try something else. There's not just one right way to do something. And then don't stress over it. Life is too short to stress over housekeeping.