Old style housekeeping question?

laineyc_2 · 26 January 2009 at 5:36PM

I have storage baskets in the living room to keep clutter out of sight.
I four boys and they tend to try and just dump things in the hall. I now have a 4 drawer storage unit in the hall which they put bookgags, PE kit, homework etc, in. They check their drawer before they leave the house and put thinsg away when they get in.

I keep clothes and stardrops solution in each of the bathrooms and I the surfaces whenever I am in the bathroom.

My down fall is the laundry. Keep on top of the ironing is the bane on my life.

scrooge2008 · 26 January 2009 at 5:45PM

I remember my Grandmother was a formidable cleaner too. When she used to visit our house she would be straight into the kitchen cupboards, looking for any pans that were not pristine so she could get them looking as good as new (those were the days before Mr Muscle!), she despised clutter, everything had to have a place.

She had a thing about the ivy that covered the house too, thought it looked messy, so she'd attack it with the garden sheers and the house would look bald when she left.

Her favourite phrase to my mother was "Margaret, the only thing that does any work around here is your tongue!"

OddjobKIA · 26 January 2009 at 6:17PM

I think the ladies of the 90year old generation..really only had their houses..

It was only their house that they could control..they didn't work, there social life was the other women in there street, their kids palyed with other kids outside, and there husbands worked.

there are far to many demands on mother today...and any women who dosen't make there husband do there share of housework is making a rod for there own back.( and there share is doing what needs doing when it needs doing)..

but as someone has said they do get up early and get it done before most of us have breakfast..

Patchwork_Quilt · 26 January 2009 at 6:45PM

Well, we have a routine here. It's not that tidy, since we've just moved, but when we get our storage sorted out (eg shelves in the pantry and the upstairs cupboard) and have thrown out/sold/given away what we don't need in this house, it'll look much better.

My tips are - no shelves. Have everything stored in somewhere with a door so you don't have to dust it. One of our best buys was one of those old-fashioned polished bookcases with glass doors.

Sort the house out once a year before Christmas. Look through every drawer and cupboard. It's nice to rediscover things and you can check all your tins for dates etc.

When my children were smaller, it was jobs in the morning and something nice in the afternoon.

Then the routine is:

Sunday - quick vac and swish around the bathroom, catch up with the washing
Tuesday - wash towels and anything else that needs laundering
Thursday - bottom the house, change beds, weekly shop
Friday - garden and allotment, cooking for weekend, towels again
Saturday - absolutely nothing, ever

earwig · 26 January 2009 at 6:49PM

beautiful_ravens wrote: »

I do actually have OCD (y'know, the real, diagnosed kind of OCD) I hope it helps you all to know that OCD is NOT a mess/dirt/cleaning phobia/disorder!!:j

my 9 year old daughter has ocd to very tough illness to recover from

champys · 26 January 2009 at 6:56PM

My Mum was very good at delegating. She never got up before 09:00 or so, once we had all left the house for school or work. (She suffered from insomnia, so needed those few hours sleep in the morning).
Dad presided over breakfast, cooked porridge for my younger brother, made sure we all got away on time. We made our own sandwiches to take to school for lunch (so you couldn't claim you didn't like them!).
Once the house was silent, Mum would get up, drink the rest of the coffee, read the headlines in the newspaper and then whizzed round the house cleaning and tidying. The house was always clean, the washing and ironing done, and decluttering was her forte. She made us a cup of tea when we came home from school and peeled potatoes or prepped vegetables while whe all chatted about our day at school. There was a square cooked meal on the table every day at 5:30 pm.
Mind you - she never had to take kids to school or after-school activities, in the '60s we were all supposed to go everywhere by ourselves (from piano lessons to the dentist!). She failed her driving test 3 times, then gave up, so didn't drive. The older children took the younger ones along to school.
A lot of it was discipline and routine, I think: certain things happening at certain hours of the day - every day.
Like rosieben, I have taken on certain of the Flylady routines since last year, and the regularity really helps. Meal planning too!

blueberrypie · 26 January 2009 at 9:28PM

katie_jane wrote: »

My mum always had a verse on a tile in our kitchen when we were little

Here's my favourite anti-housework rhyme (I'm not at all religious, but I do like the so-there attitude LOL)

On Judgement Day, when God will say,
"Did you clean your house today?"
I will say, "I did not.
I played with my children, and I forgot!"

blueberrypie · 26 January 2009 at 9:33PM

laineyc wrote: »

My down fall is the laundry. Keep on top of the ironing is the bane on my life.

I don't iron. Occasionally I'll use the iron for iron-on sticky stuff for Cub badges, but that's pretty much my limit. Almost all our clothes are cotton or other natural fibres and the creases disappear with body-heat soon after you put them on.

When one of my children was about 7, we discovered he didn't even know what an iron was for - had never seen one in use, didn't know it got hot, and looked very sceptical when I told him you could use it to take the creases out of things LOL

buxtonrabbitgreen · 26 January 2009 at 10:23PM

My late mum's house was very tidy when she was elderly, but she didn't do much to make a mess. She had frozen dinners delivered and a team of cleaners once a fortnight. I think what everyone is saying is right. When we were kids 5 of us, we had one cupboard where all our games were kept, and put back when we had finished. I don't remember feeling deprived at all as we all spent most of our childhoods outside, playing games in the street till dark or out on our roller skates, or on the rich kids bikes. We only ever came in to watch Bewitched and Batman.
Mind you, when we were kids my mum had a cleaner and a lady to do the ironing as well. My house is not to bad at the moment as the kids had a move, swap of furniture at the weekend so the bedrooms got a good blitz. And the tip got a good carload. I also do the cleaning the basin whilst cleaning my teeth. Cleaning the shower whilst I am in it. And following the fmaily around putting things away. My ds was looking for his guitar bag just now, and told me I must know where it was as I was the only one who moved anything. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.

Teapartymum · 26 January 2009 at 10:35PM

I love this thread, I work part time and have got 2 kiddies and a OH who works nights and Im at home in the am but still cant get anything done and the house looks a complete tip.

I wish I could have a spotless house iykwim, my mum in laws house is clean and clutter free but not mine.

One day it will happen.

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Old style housekeeping question?

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