Mum's mammoth cleaning schedule stuns parents - and she works 40-hour week

25 February 2024 , 09:00

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Mum's mammoth cleaning schedule stuns parents - and she works 40-hour week

If keeping up with the cleaning of your home feels like climbing Everest, one mum has just the trick for you.

Nikole Thompson has an enormous cleaning regime that breaks down all the jobs that need to be done into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks to help her remember everything that needs doing. The mum shared her schedule online, but the post split opinions as some people told her that "no one wants to be remembered for cleaning their house".

The self-proclaimed "avid cleaner" works 40-hour weeks, but still manages to tackle the household chores that many of us would do anything to avoid every morning - like emptying the toaster of breadcrumbs or deep cleaning the coffee machine.

Nikole wants to keep her new house as clean as possible (Nikole Thompson)

She has daily, weekly, monthly and annual cleaning plans (Nikole Thompson)

Every day, Nikole will make the beds, clean the bathroom, do a load of washing, hoover, on top of several other jobs. Then, each month she'll dedicate time to tackle jobs like washing the dog beds, cleaning the oven and dusting light fittings as well as skirting boards - the chores many of us forget to do.

She also has certain tasks she needs to do seasonally. For example, in April she steam-cleans the carpets and in December she polishes the Christmas decorations. She took to the Hinch Army Cleaning Tips group on Facebook back in 2021 to share her lengthy list with fellow mums - but she received a mixed response.

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Since being shared online, the post has received more than 300 likes and 450 comments from users who both praised how organised she was and wondered when she gets any time to sleep. One person said: "I'm far too lazy to be this organised but well done you!!"

Another asked: "Do you have a template at all? I struggle a lot with a lack of motivation and can't get anything done. This would help so much to tick off each day week or month," and someone else wrote: "I think this is brilliant! Well done you for being so organised! I’m going to try and take a leaf out of your book!" A fourth said: "You sound like superwoman to me."

One Facebook member called her "superwoman" (Nikole Thompson)

Not everyone agreed with Nikole's list (Nikole Thompson)

But a few people couldn't believe how much she cleans every day. One person added: "Life is too short. Someone once said to me, live life, no one wants to be remembered for cleaning their house." And another asked: "Blimey do you do anything but clean?"

So, she was forced to lay out just how long it takes on average to complete each task.

Daily tasks include:

• Make beds - 2 minutes, my son makes his own bed and I just straighten it up
• Tidy up all rooms - 2 minutes, putting hair/make-up stuff away and the odd toy
• Pick up washing - 1 minute - the boys in this house have a decent aim.
• Wipe down bathrooms - a minute per bathroom - so maybe 5 minutes in total giving 2 minutes to get between the 3
• Put in a load - again no more than 2 minutes
• Hoover downstairs - 5 minutes
• Empty dishwasher - 5 minutes
• Hoover upstairs - 5 minutes
• Wipe down worktops - 2 minutes
• Wipe down cabinets - 2 minutes
• Load dishwasher - 2 minutes
• Clean toilets - 5 minutes

She continued: "So all in all - 33 minutes? Plus give it five minutes rising and drying the dog food, maybe another five minutes generally cleaning the dining table, extra sweep of the floor after tea etc, wiping down the hob. On a weekend, it's probably more like an hour a day with the extras on the Saturday/Sunday cleaning."

Although most members were supportive of Nikole's rigid cleaning schedule, she did receive some criticism which she later addressed. Responding, she wrote: "Can I just say that I love my children and husband very much. I work 40 hours a week and manage to spend quality time with them. This cleaning I already do but I like a good visual, which also helps with delegation.

"It takes around 90 minutes of my time each day INCLUDING cooking a home-cooked breakfast, preparing packed lunches and home-cooked evening meals for my family. Often a variety of which as my husband is vegan, I do plenty for them and get plenty of time for me too. I relax plenty and have 'me time' and family time. Jeeeezzz some of you are making out that I neglect my family, we are all good thanks."

• If you're brave enough to take on this mum's schedule, you'll need the right tools. It's Dyson Week which means the company has some great deals on their products.

Zahna Eklund