Old style housekeeping question?

longtimelurker_2

All the old ladies I know have cleaners!

rosieben

I follow a few of Flylady's baby steps

• swish and swipe the bathroom every morning when I have my shower which keeps the bathroom under control.
• do laundry as soon as I can make a reasonable load.
• keep the kitchen sink clear (not so successful at that one at the moment :rolleyes:).
• tidy up after myself (if you get it out, put it back!).

A few simple routines are enough to keep my house looking ok. I know if I had kids or pets it would be very different though

and I love my books too. Books are not a muddle, they're one of life's necessities!

mardatha

My mum was very clean too. And now I dont iron, dont dust, dont polish, I sit online and read and knit. And if things get bad enough, the OH dusts & hoovers !

recovering_spendaholic

I agree about the books thing. I have books all over my house in every room. I can't bring myself to give any of them to the Charity shop because when I start sorting through them I want to read them again! My kids also have loads of books as I am not big on going to the library as I have a thing about the books having germs (weird I know but my Dad told me once that you can catch stuff from library books so I won't get them out). I try and keep the place clean and tiday and in general it's okay until DD1 comes in - she is so messy it's untrue - I have never known anyone so slovenly!

All the elderly ladies I know have cleaners too!

luxor4t

Cookie_monster wrote: »

I have compliled a list of the tips so far ....

Don't be distracted, especially by the internet :rolleyes:
Don't have kids in the house:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Have fewer clothes (less laundry) one on, one in the wash, one in the drawer
Get up at 6am so the housework can be done by 9am!
Clean as you go along
Clean while your are waiting for something else....wipe the counter while the kettle is boiling, wipe the bathroom sink while brushing teeth etc
Take out one thing at a time then put it away
Don't have any clutter
Don't have any books
Wash up/dry up straight after a meal

Remember that life is too short to worry about dust

Any more????

Keep DH in the shed
Any room instantly looks untidy with him as part of the decor...good job I'm fond of him

LittleMissAspie

I don't think books have to look messy, just don't have more than you have shelves for.

I've never seen the point in keeping novels though, I never read a story twice just like I never watch a film twice. Once you know what happens there's no point. I have one shelf for novels and the rest are reference books.

elisamoose

As my Mum says ..............no-one ever has 'she had a really clean kitchen floor' on their headstone!

rev229

I have 2 kids 1 husband and a dog and I hate mess. When I go to other people homes that are a tad untidy I get really twitchy. When I return home I will clean even more!! Can't help it probably a bit (well a lot) OCD . The kids have there own playroom but have learnt to tidy stuff away, didn't do much painting when they where little either. I am always hoovering and cleaning the floor as I can't stand dog hair everywhere or doggy smells. I usually do the housework in the morning. Even when we rent property for our family holiday I clean the kitchen befor I unpack!!! Oh yes and look for the hoover!! I really annoy myself for wanting to be tidy all the time but I really can't help it. And as for clutter, well we have none!!

Shelley3774

My Nan does all her housework in the morning so she can relax all afternoon and evening. She tuts at me for not having a strict routine - having two boys aged 5 and 3 and working shifts part time does make it difficult. I also have treble the amount of washing and ironing she has and a huge house to clean!!!!!
I think I follow my Mum she didnt have a strict routine but I am obsessive about keeping the house clean although get very stressed out looking at the mess the boys have created!! I can proudly say my top two floors are now immaculate and will tackle the ironing mountain in the utlility tomorrow with my steam generator (which I couldn't live without).
We definitely have too much these days and having a very smelly dog doesn't help either.
Oh and nearly forgot addiction to the internet doesn't help either x

sunflower76

I think that being organised is the the answer, and doing more than one thing at a time. If you get into the habit of doing things little and often then nothing ever gets so out of control that you need to spend an age doing it.

Meal planning, for example, means that I spend an hour / two hours up front working out what I want to cook, checking what I need to buy and then buying it but saves me a good 30 minutes to an hour every day by having in everything I need and knowing what I'm going to cook. This, in turn, means that I have 30 minutes to an hour of doing little jobs like tidying the kitchen, emptying the bins, wandering around picking up clutter etc.

MrS often moans at me for doing more than one thing at a time as I can often be found in the kitchen / utility cooking tea, making dog food, baking, wahsing up, sorting washing and mending something random all at the same time.

The internet is my biggest distraction and despite only ever planning to ahve half an hour of me time on here I inevitably spend a good few hours browsing when I should be doing chores or getting on with the crafty things that I have planned for gifts!