I am not a good housewife. I have too many other things I am interested in and I am afraid that housework is way down on my list of 'things to do'. I am quick to add that my house is not a pig sty - it is lived in, cosy and although a little dusty occasionally, not dirty.
My friends houses seem to be divided into 2 camps. They are either amazing show homes with never a spot of dust or a sink that needs cleaning - or they are places with slightly sticky kitchen floors. I have a lovely friend who is brilliant at whipping up cakes and has a busy career too, but I am a little reluctant to have a cup of tea round her house as I'm never too sure what I will find at the bottom of my cup...
It seems to me that you either have to have a cleaner or you have to clean the place yourself everyday to keep it looking lovely. Am I right? My mum had a cleaner and I never took much notice of how often the house got cleaned. I just remember thinking that I would never greet my husband ( as my mum did) with the thrilling phrase " Did you notice, I polished the doors today?"
So my question is, am I doing it right? How often do you clean? Do you have a rota for yourself or do you clean everyday? Or do you clean it if it looks like it needs it? I love my house when it is freshly cleaned and gorgeous, but, to be honest, actually cleaning the place bores me witless. The only time it really looks good is when I am expecting people round, or at Christmas...
If you could tell me a foolproof way to keep my house lovely in about 5 minutes a day I would be thrilled! Whether you are the occupant of a show home or a place that could do with some anti bacterial spray ... why don't you let me know what you do?? Do you like housework? Do you hate it? Do you have a plan?? Share with me your secret!!!
My friends houses seem to be divided into 2 camps. They are either amazing show homes with never a spot of dust or a sink that needs cleaning - or they are places with slightly sticky kitchen floors. I have a lovely friend who is brilliant at whipping up cakes and has a busy career too, but I am a little reluctant to have a cup of tea round her house as I'm never too sure what I will find at the bottom of my cup...
It seems to me that you either have to have a cleaner or you have to clean the place yourself everyday to keep it looking lovely. Am I right? My mum had a cleaner and I never took much notice of how often the house got cleaned. I just remember thinking that I would never greet my husband ( as my mum did) with the thrilling phrase " Did you notice, I polished the doors today?"
So my question is, am I doing it right? How often do you clean? Do you have a rota for yourself or do you clean everyday? Or do you clean it if it looks like it needs it? I love my house when it is freshly cleaned and gorgeous, but, to be honest, actually cleaning the place bores me witless. The only time it really looks good is when I am expecting people round, or at Christmas...
If you could tell me a foolproof way to keep my house lovely in about 5 minutes a day I would be thrilled! Whether you are the occupant of a show home or a place that could do with some anti bacterial spray ... why don't you let me know what you do?? Do you like housework? Do you hate it? Do you have a plan?? Share with me your secret!!!
5 comments:
I actually enjoy a bit of cleaning - not ALL the time but I do love a spot of hoovering. I even get the brush and nozzle attachments out and do under the sofa; the corners of the ceiling, under the sofa cushions and everything! I'm very thorough...
I hoover about 3 times a week and I clean up as I go along. BBF's house was a TIP & I insisted on cleaning it from top to bottom - including the cleaning cupboard & all the cleaning products before I would even entertain the thought of moving my stuff in. Yup, I do love a good vacuum me.
Absolutely hate it. I love the house being clean, but like you dislike actually doing it. I read a tip somewhere once to set a timer and just clean for 15 minutes. I'm not talking your normal daily thing like dishes or taking out garbage but picking up items that may have gotten left out after a day of crafting ;p or dusting, things like that. It's helped me a lot because I get things done quickly and things don't seem to pile up like they used to.
I don't like it, but it must be done, and as my kids are still little (all under 5 til June), I do the bulk of the "hard" stuff. The kids are required to put away toys, and help empty dishes from the dishwasher. They also help put their clean clothes away on laundry days, and do some fetching and carrying for me when possible.
I try to do one "large" thing each day of the week.
One day for laundry, one for washing floors, one for thoroughly cleaning main floor, one for the upstairs, one for errands. that way, I know that each Monday all the laundry will be done. It means a full day spent changing items from washer to dryer and folding and carrying and toting, BUT, it is done, and I don't have to panic in between times.
I do insure that the main living space gets tidied, floors get swept, carpets vacuumed, and all the kids' toys get cleaned up daily. Oh, and beds are made up, no dirty clothes left strewn about, bathroom counters get wiped down after our morning ablutions, and the kitchen counters get wiped down and floors get swept after each meal.
I do know that growing up, my Mom required us to change our bedding, polish/dust our bedroom furniture, and vacuum our bedroom carpets, and the 4 of us kids would take turns cleaning our shared bath, cleaning our yard after our dogs, helping with mowing/raking/gardening or cleaning other areas of the house.
Once we hit age 13, we were taught the proper way to work the laundry, and were given a day of the week in which we were each responsible for our laundry. If we missed it, we were out of luck unless we could sweet-talk someone into sharing. We were also each responsible for helping prepare and/or clean up after the evening meal. My folks took the position that we all lived there, we all ate the food, made the messes, therefore we would all be responsible as our ages allowed us to care for the shared things as well as our own.
If you need assistance getting into a routine, or seeing what others are doing, check out www.flylady.net It used to be free, may still be free, but she's got a whole breakdown of in-depth cleaning for each area of the house, as well as ways to feel a bit more manageable with daily things.
Cleaning is one of those thankless tasks! No matter what, no one notices it has been done. In fact, until something goes missing, or is not clean when needed, most of the men in our lives could care less if it gets done at all!
Believe it or not, I was just mowing the lawn and pondering how goddamn sick of housework I am!! But, like you, I love it when I've just cleaned and like you, I feel it's an every day job and I am just not going to do it every day. I clean once a week - that's floors (upstairs & downstairs), bathrooms (2) and toilets (2). Sadly, I do like it whenever anyone notices I've done the floors (never happens often) and I bet my husband will come home today and not even notice I've mowed the lawn.
I make sure my kitchen is always clean and tidy and the sink sparkling....the floor not so much. And the bathrooms I give a once over every couple of days. But now I don;t have dogs I can wait 2 weeks without vacuuming. I am a very lazy housekeeper......especially since I discovered blogging,,,
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