How clean is your house? - Be encouraged!

Alfietinker

Following on from the "how do you fit it all in" thread, I'm curious.

I guess I am inherently lazy when it comes to chores I don't want to do and as result my house is very rarely completely clean and tidy. I don't see it as a problem providing the kitchen and bathrooms are OK, so I really don't mind if I don't dust for 6 weeks (honest!). We have hard floors which get swept so I don't notice that the stair carpet needs hoovering until we're expecting the in-laws. I quite often don't notice the tumble weeds on the hard floors until it gets really bad.

I used to get embarrassed by my house and if we were expecting guests we'd have a huge clean-up session so the house appeared sparkling. I felt such a failure as other people's houses seemed so tidy.

Then I realised. Hubby and I are both out the house 13 hours a day. I also clean offices at the weekends for extra money which can be anything from 1 to 6 hours. We've spent the last 3 years renovating our house which takes up a lot of time (think 2 years re-pointing each evening in the summer). We grow our own fruit and veg, and love gardening so we tend to be outside. We try to cook from scratch most nights, I make bread (now butter )etc at the weekend to last for the week. I am also trying to start a soft furnishings business which will take up a lot of spare time, and when we get our chickens they'll be a massive commitment.

So, I've suddenly come to realise that I'm not superwoman. I can't do everything I want to do, and be a domestic goddess at the same time! Something has to give and in my case it's the housework.

So the carpet is messy - does it matter? There's dust on the mantlepiece - so? When did I last clean the inside of the windows?! The toilet is clean, the bed is changed and the kitchen is clean. What more do you want!

I guess what I'm trying to say is please don't worry about feeling you don't have time for everything, or don't live up to others standards - as long as you're happy it really doesn't matter!

In comparison, my MILs house is always immaculate. But she doesn't do anything else all day. No hobbies or anything. I know which I'd rather be.

Hopefully airing my laundry in public will help others who feel they are flagging.

Jay-Jay_4

I do naff-all all day and my house is still a tip

Rikki

I tidy up in one room to find everything I tidied away in the other room. :eek:

amazon_spice

I guess what I'm trying to say is please don't worry about feeling you don't have time for everything, or don't live up to others standards - as long as you're happy it really doesn't matter!

Says it all for me.

Thankyou.

AB. :T

thriftlady_2

:j Your house sounds exactly like mine Alfietinker-especially the stair carpet.I do naff all as well. :rotfl:

I concentrate on the thing I like doing,which is cooking.I try to keep on top of the bathroom+downstairs loo,kitchen and laundry(which I hate).I don't dust,polish,clean windows,wash woodwork,I do hoover a lot but 3 kids create a lot of bits on the floor.I tidy rather than clean as I think order is what makes a home feel comfortable.I am trying to get my kids to understand this.My OH thinks our boys need a bigger room(they share) because of all the stuff on their floor,I think they need to learn how to put things away and then they would have more room.

comping_cat

Once or twice a year i have a HUGE clean, all the little places that i normally forget (choose to forget!!!) and the rest of the time i just keep on top of what can be seen. Certain places i like to do everyday (if i can) but if i dont get chance, i dont worry, after all , life is too short to worry about everything!!! I see some peoples houses, and they worry to death about the smallest fleck on their floor, but thats not me, i like to enjoy my days and want people to be comfortable when they come to my house, and not worry about where they sit or if they get a crumb on the floor!!!! Also, i always seem to accumilate 'piles' of things, i just round up everything thats lying around, and then pile it in a corner, and again, every now and again i go through it all, its amazing what turns up sometimes!!!!!

helen21_2

My house is continually like a bomb site, mind my 3 year ols is like a whirlwind but also there is so much work needs doing, ie, redocorating, plastering here and there etc,etc i really do lose complete heart in it as no matter what i do it still looks the same (a bleedin mess)

calleyw

My house is not perfect. But last year there was a major change. We moved from a one bedroom flat with a total of 4 rooms. To a 3 bedroom house. It has a little extension on it and a downstairs loo. So now I have a total of 8 rooms to keep clean. Same amount of people but just a heck of lot more space.

To me there is a huge difference to a bit of mess and untidiness to it being flithy and houses like you see on how clean is your house. My mum has wood burning stoves to heat the house. And the amount of dust is unreal. In just a few days of dusting you can write your name in it. And as my dad is a farmer he comes in trailing straw/hay and wood shavings. She could hoover and dust every day. But who wants to. Not me. Maybe that is why I am slightly more laid back then most about a bit of dust. I have read some people hoover everyday :eek:

Once a week unless it needs it inbetween.

Mind you since the move I have to keep house a little bit more tidy as I am now closer to all my friends and family. So they could pop in at any time. LOL!!!!!!! But my house is never really bad. Just needs things to be put away. Mind you the living room is nice and tidy as we never use it as it too cold in there. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yours

Calley

tootles_2

I keep my kitchen and bathroom clean, the bedroom gets done once a fortnight, and occasionally I clean the windows, the lounge gets done when I see the curls of fluff on the laminate flooring........ I have better things to do than clean....... i.e.cook and sew....but I do like to be tidy, I think if a place is tidy it looks ok......

We have the upstairs windows cleaned once a month and OH does the downstairs....

My sewing room gets cleaned once I have finished a project, its useless me trying to clear up whilst I am cutting etc so once I have finished I have a big clear up before I start the next project. I am tryng to use up all my scraps of fabric this year, thats my NYR, I need to use up my stash...............its huge...............oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!!

wigginsmum

I pay my sister to do a bit around the house once a month, and we wash up and do laundry inbetween - sometimes we even run the Dyson round, but that's it. Suits us - we both work fulltime and life is too interesting to waste energy on housework. My house will never be immaculate because I can trash a room in seconds and not even notice I'm doing it, so I've stopped beating myself up about it. As Quentin Crisp said, after four years you don't notice the dust any more.

Jules

Jay-Jay_4

I like my living room to be tidy as it's where we are for 96.9% of the time (roughly ) so I pick stuff up off the floor and put the cushions straight. My house isn't dirty but it's very small and we have very little storage so we end up with piles of clean washing everywhere waiting to be put away.

When we do a proper tidy (when the outlaws are coming!) it's really nice. I wish I was less lazy and more cleaning orientated because when the house is tidy everyone seems to be in a better mood.

I need a rocket up my @rse!!!!!!