New SAHM: What chores do you daily and weekly?

[mariomarco]

@rudytoot Daily..pick up through out day, put a load of laundry in and put away any clothes that need putting away, i like to make a pitcher of fresh juice or lemonade (lemons and honey sometimes mint or lavender, put smells into air (various methods lol) rinse dishes as you go put them away in morning if needed

Then night time i put dishes into washer, laundry if needed, pick up the house, wipe down counters and reorganize...just like a little refresh that doesnt take longer than 30m but makes such a big difference, use the tinico (vac mop), make sure toilet papers and paper towels are filled up, take out trash maybe prep food

Weekly..laundry on rotation (clothes one day, sheets one day, bath mats one day and towels the next type of thing) restocking everything, i wipe down the couch and vac carpets if needes but we mostly have wood, meal plan and make grocery lists

Im sure im forgetting things haha i dont think about it anymore its just the flow of the day

 

[merekas]

@rudytoot Daily: cooking/baking/meal prep, dishes, kitchen counters, sweep/spot mopping in kitchen, wipe down high chair, litter box

Weekly: Fri = bathroom, Sat = cleaning bedrooms, Sun and Wed = sweep and vacuum living room and hallways, Mon = deep clean kitchen, Tues = trash/recycling/ cans and full litter box clean, Thurs = wash sheets

As needed: laundry and folding (I use cloth diapers so laundry is usually an every day thing), groceries (usually 2x weekly and I spot clean the fridge as I put them away), less common cleaning like dusting, windows, vacuuming the stairs, cleaning the oven/toaster/microwave etc I just do whenever it needs to get done

ETA: keep in mind that the first 3 months at least with your newborn will likely be survival mode. Don’t expect to be able to follow a chore schedule. Just do the minimum and enjoy your time with your baby. Don’t prioritize chores over rest in the early days!

 

[gladysrivera]

@rudytoot My husband does bedtime while I do a daily reset at the end of the day:

• pick up toys and books on the floor, throw into baskets or return to shelves
• start the robovac
• do dishes
• clean countertops and stove if needed
• Sweep crumbs in kitchen

As needed throughout the week:
- Throw in laundry
- Fold laundry (this one I can do with my daughter playing nearby or “helping”)
- quick scrub of toilet and wiping down bathroom surfaces with a disinfectant wipe

Weekend:
- Change and launder bedding and towels
- Clean bathrooms
- Dust surfaces
- Swiffer & mop kitchen/bathroom floors
- Deeper cleaning as needed

 

[pastork]

@rudytoot Daily: Tidy. Clean kitchen. Laundry (I have three kids and its too overwhelming to NOT do laundry everyday).

Weekly: Declutter. Wash sheets. Clean bathrooms.

Monthly: Deep clean house. Declutter.

Before baby I would focus on decluttering and organizing. Get the kitchen the way you want it; have a station for bottle washing and pumping supplies. Set up your bathroom with supplies for postpartum; pads, liners, disposable underwear, witch hazel. I love to make lists of shows and books. Prepping food really helps too! I highly recommend the book "How to Keep House While Drowning" as the author is fantastic about treating care tasks as ongoing cyclic things that dont determine our self worth.

 

[iamthankful]

@rudytoot I’m still totally winging it, 3 years in, but every day I load the dishwasher, run it overnight, and empty it in the morning. I also try to do one load of laundry “all the way through” each day. I’ve found that works better than cramming all the laundry into a day and then leaving the piles sitting around. Everything else is really “as needed.”

 

[keish62]

@rudytoot Don’t worry about routine for the newborn period. Your routine will be mostly be sleep, feed baby, rock baby, sleep etc. and cleaning baby stuff. Prioritise laundry because it’ll make life easier. Deep clean the whole house before baby arrives and declutter as much as possible. Make a ton of freezer meals and simple food for the newborn period, so you can try to eat healthily.

Daily: laundry (clothes), wiping down kitchen, dishwasher, sweeping floors, general tidying.

Twice weekly: clean bathrooms, towels in laundry, clean kitchen.

Weekly: vacuuming, mopping (at least I try to). Bedding is done every two weeks.

The rest is done as needed really, or when guests come. Every now and then I get a surge of energy and try to deep clean and reorganise the house.

 

[analienhere]

@rudytoot This is my routine with a 2.5 year old and I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant:

Everyday chores for me: make bed, laundry (wash/dry/fold/put away), dishes, clear and wipe all counters, cook breakfast/lunch/dinner, vacuum kitchen, pack away toys, wipe down induction top

Weekly chores for our cleaning lady: clean toilets/shower/bath/sink, mop entire home, vacuum entire home, change bedsheets, clean all mirrors, wipe down shelves, wipe down tables and chairs, vacuum carpet, wipe down trash cans, refill soap dispensers, change bedsheets, wipe down cabinets

Weekly chores for me: write weekly menu and make a shopping list, vacuum entire home, spot clean mirrors/cabinets

Monthly chores for cleaning lady: clean oven, wash balls from ball pit, wash Nugget couch cover, wipe down inside of drawers

Monthly chores for me: organize child’s toys remove broken pieces and rotate toys, declutter pantry and refrigerator, wipe down inside of refrigerator, spot clean walls

Husband: takes out trash, goes with us to the farmers market

 

[thatsallfolks]

@rudytoot As a mom to a 6 month old (and fellow neurodivergent gal), my best advice is to limit your expectations of yourself in those first months. There will be times that you NEED to lay down while baby takes a nap, instead of worrying about cleaning. You being well rested (or as well rested as you can be) is THE most important thing in those first few months. It will help you be a more present mom, it’ll help keep everyone safe, and it’ll help keep your mental health in check. If that means that you (AND your partner) only get the bare minimum housework done, that’s perfectly okay! That’s how it was for us. Now that baby boy is 6 months, mostly sleeping through the night, and taking longer naps, I’m able to get more into a routine of picking up and cleaning.

The next best thing you can do to prepare is declutter and organize. Get rid of everything you don’t regularly use and get a bunch of baskets or bins and a cheap label maker and go to town!

Wishing you a peaceful, uneventful pregnancy and delivery

 

[forreal]

@rudytoot So I am about as pregnant as you are rn with my second and I have a toddler who is almost 2. I also have ADHD. The only system that I have found that works for me is FlyLady. She has an app that has customizable lists and reminders. (She also has email reminders if you don’t want the app too.) What I love about her is she emphasizes routine and baby steps. I highly recommend trying to stick to an am/pm routine that involves some basic chores (i.e. laundry, dishes, etc.) and self care and then moving into the zone cleaning she has scheduled once you’ve got a good handle on your routines. Side note: FlyLady is kinda christianity based (not overly so but it’s still there) but it’s pretty easy to leave it if that’s not your thing. Also, with a new baby, it’ll be hard to stick to routines for a little bit but developing the foundations for them beforehand is nice because it’s a little easier to jump back in once you and kiddo are both settled. Good luck!!

 

[katrina2017]

@rudytoot Get rid of as much stuff as you possibly can now, trust me!

 

[techo]

@rudytoot Like others have said, the clutter! My kids are 2 and 4. The opportunity to go back in time to really declutter before my oldest was born would change my life. We had a rough go for a couple years, followed by two moves in less than two years with the kids. Every day for years was about getting through the day/week so it got bad. My house is an unpacked disaster and we've lived here over a year. It's hard to get projects done with the kids home all the time.

I'd also focus on daily tasks if you're just starting out. Dishes, the kitchen, dining area, laundry including putting it away, quickly wiping anything that needs it in the bathroom, the entry area where stuff gets set down, high traffic floors, are all areas of my house that could use daily attention. I'd personally start there for a few weeks before adding in a weekly routine.

 

[4strings]

@rudytoot Lots of good advice here. I agree with the people saying declutter now, because pretty soon you’re going to have a lot of items that you might not even be thinking about yet.

Daily: wiping down the kitchen, doing the dishes. I combo fed for the first few months so keeping up with bottles/pump parts was important. Making the bed. Putting toys away. As a newborn this won’t be a big thing, but as people gave my son toys I always made sure they were put away at the end of the day. It makes everything feel less chaotic.

Every 1-2 days: laundry. I changed the infant bedding more often than my bed. Take out diaper pail bag to garbage.

Weekly: clean bathrooms (can wipe more frequently if needed), vacuum. Dust rooms, change sheets. On weekends I can do a more in depth cleaning of different areas as needed when my husband is home.

The first few months are survival mode. I really emphasized the “mom” in SAHM and mainly focused on the baby and myself, and the chores are secondary. Make sure to rest as much you’re able and give yourself some slack if you’re not on your routine. You will be sleep deprived and babies need to be fed every every 2- 2.5 hours (as in once the feeding starts the 2 hour countdown begins, so if it takes 30 minutes to feed then you have 1.5 hours until the next feeding). It’s not a lot of time so doing things in little chunks is helpful (like washing a few dishes in the morning, folding a small load of laundry a few hours later, etc). Whatever doesn’t get done at the end of the day your partner/other family can help with when they are around or it can wait until tomorrow. Your rest/recover and the baby’s health are the priorities.

Also, by the time I was in my last few weeks of pregnancy I was too big to do some of these chores comfortably. It was exhausting for me to vacuum the house so my husband did it for a few weeks until I was recovered from birth. I also had trouble reaching the bottom of the my top loader washer with my belly in the way lol, so my husband helped me move the clothes over. Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you need it. To me the “mom” part is more important than the chore part. Yes, chores need to be done but my main job as a “stay at home parent” is to parent. That’s my philosophy anyway .

Now that my child is 3 getting chores done is a little easier because he can help (mostly, or sometimes he makes a bigger mess ).

 

[tehilim]

@rudytoot Download the app Sweepy.

You input each room, the tasks in it, and the frequency you want them done. You can also assign a difficulty level for each task, how much you can do per day (say you have 10 points available on Tuesday then it will give you 5 2-point items or a mix, each task is 1-3), and you can even add household members if you want to delegate or specify that certain tasks can only be done certain days (trash day is Wednesday, etc). It builds a schedule for you for like $10 a year.

It's life changing.

 

[al20000]

@rudytoot The first couple months are crazy, and I didn't do anything, but now at almost four months it's more consistent:

Daily: sweep, make bed, pick up, wipe counters, dishes, trash

Twice a week: mopping, laundry (once household laundry, once clothes)

Once a week: cleaning bathroom (or as needed), random big chore like organizing a closet or pantry or something

Twice a month: cleaning out and organizing the fridge

Once a month: mop the walls, doors, cupboards, and baseboards

 

[sam77]

@rudytoot Daily: clean kitchen, manage dishes, shop/cook for/clean up after meals, wipe down bathroom counters and toilets, bleach toilets, make bed, vacuum, take out trash, keep up with laundry, clean up play area.

Every other day: Mop, empty diaper pail, clean mirrors.
Weekly: clean tubs/showers, clean windows, baseboards, change bedding, clean out fridge, wash and hang dry delicates, rotate toys, charge car.

 

[keohay]

@rudytoot No idea, there isn’t a schedule. I just try to get things done when they’re needed and I have time.

 

[kmar123]

@rudytoot We got a robot vacuum/mop combo and run that every night (which means all toys are picked up, which takes 5mins since we don't have a lot of stuff and everything has a place).

I also wipe down the kitchen counters daily and never leave dirty dishes overnight. Dishwasher run as needed.

Laundry as needed, maybe 3X per week. I start it before our morning outing, switch it when we get back, fold it while she plays after nap, and put it away sometime later.

Bathrooms don't get cleaned as often as they should, maybe 3 times per month when my husband takes our toddler on a weekend outing.

But really, just survive.

And make freezer meals and declutter like everyone is saying. Buy Nothing group is your best friend here

 

[bravefig1990]

@rudytoot A load of laundry a day. Washed and put away. A load of dishes a day. Washed and put away. Sweeping a couple times a week. Vacuuming and mopping once a week. Wash the sheets once a week. Deep bathroom cleaning once a week. It’s good to keep on top of everything so you don’t get overwhelmed with too much at once. Although I will say with a newborn and healing, your spouse or support system should be doing it… you need to rest and heal and focus on baby. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t keep up with things at first!! You need to rest and focus on baby!!

 

[skystematic]

@rudytoot You’re going to be in survival mode for the first year. I wouldn’t worry about having a plan for chores until after that.

 

[rudytoot]

@skystematic Yeah I expect to have to drop the routine at least at first but for someone like me to survive I need to have at least an idea of what a routine should be or I will quickly descend into total chaos and then depression.