Is my Windowcleaner right? Need advice from the OS ladies and MATH.

Linda32

Thats alot of housework, of course its up to you.

OH's Mother likes to keep her house nice as well and has a routine, a couple of things I know she does is the Kitchen on Wednesday, which starts with cleaning the windows and moves everything and washes it.

She cleans where they live every weekday, Bedroom, bathroom, down the stairs, hall and living room.

What she calls "The Tops" on Thursdays, pictures, light fittings, cutain polls.

The other two bedrooms on Monday and Thursday.

The idea being that by Friday the whole house is clean and the weekend is her own.

HTH

Softstuff

Well, my home is so tidy that neighbours comment on how clean it is.... but my home is set up for it to be that way. Everything has a place, we have absolutely no clutter, all hard floors and a wardrobe so tidy it's almost surreal. My kitchen cupboards even have all my ingredients in plastic containers neatly labelled.

And though it took a small while to pull everything together like this, it means that when I'm working over 40 hours I can clean the house from top to bottom in less than an hour. I can also bake cookies and muffins in a morning before work, without having to get up at a silly hour in the morning.

Though our home is smaller than yours even if you multiplied my housework time by three it wouldn't come close to yours. If I'm off work though I find the same work can take me all day, I kind of make the jobs fit the day.

I agree with the others that maybe you do do a bit too much, but the question is, are you happy doing it? If you are, and get a nice sense of satisfaction from it, then that's great and carry on. If you feel you'd rather be doing something else, then you simply need to cut some of it down.

FRUGAL_4

Many thanks for your replies, especially to PP, who is not feeling great herself today, and goodness me PP I want to give that person an earful for sending you that PM.

I am taking on board all your comments, dannahaz, you are right, I feel quilty if I don't do these things. I am no where near as obessed with the housework as I use to be, but I think it is because I was brought up in a house where mum did everything for us and the house was always clean and tidy even with four children, my mum still spring cleans the house everyday although its just her and dad now.

I have always managed to do this list of chores, even when I worked part-time and the children were younger, the children are 10 and 7 now, and they are expected to help keep the place tidy but thats it, I want my children to enjoy their childhood playing, there is plenty of time for reality later.

I do other things besides cleaning, I am currently studying myself at home, I walk my dog a couple of times a day and I am getting into gardening.

I agree with MATH, it is better to be busy than not, I don't enjoy going out shopping, we simply don't have the money anyway, I am debtfree and I want it to stay that way.

I do think I do too much and I am going to try to cut down slowly on things so I don't get stressed out about the house, I would love to go back to work but as I am only able to work in retail, I wouldn't earn enough to justify paying for childcare, apparently my husband earns too much according to the HM website...I like to see TB live off what we do!

I just wanted to hear/read that you think its ok to have some time off, I suppose I am looking for permission to do that, and not feel quilty about it.

FRUGAL

alocin

If you want to keep busy and still do something productive then how about volunteering? If you have retail experience then charity shops are always looking for people to help out, even for just an hour or two here and there.

Lucie_2

FRUGAL wrote: »

the children are 10 and 7 now, and they are expected to help keep the place tidy but thats it, I want my children to enjoy their childhood playing, there is plenty of time for reality later.

Very true, but you also need to prepare them for that reality. I had friends at University who didn't have a clue how to do any basic household chores, because their mothers had done everything for them.

From your weekly list of chores you seem to be almost as busy on a weekend as you are during the week. Why not restrict nearly all your chores to Mon-Fri, and spend more time with the kids at weekends. How about having a Saturday morning "clean up hour", where everyone has a little job to do - tidy their room, put clothes away, hoover, empty dishwasher etc, then agree that you will spend time together as a family afterwards.

jcr16

u sound just like my mum. she does jobs weekly that i don't even do yearly. but she is so happy i think thats all that matter's.

i could and should do more and i think i am gonna print ur list off and try to do a bit more.

i don't cut lawn twice a week tho as it take over 2 hours to do anyway as it so big.

my kids are 3 and nearly 2. so i sometimes think no point in doing somthing as it only gonna dirty an hour later. but i do it.

i hoover every day at least once. as downstairs we have all hard floors. and with 4 cats and 2 kids u can see the dirt so much.

FRUGAL_4

jcr16 wrote: »

u sound just like my mum. she does jobs weekly that i don't even do yearly. but she is so happy i think thats all that matter's.

i could and should do more and i think i am gonna print ur list off and try to do a bit more.

i don't cut lawn twice a week tho as it take over 2 hours to do anyway as it so big.

my kids are 3 and nearly 2. so i sometimes think no point in doing somthing as it only gonna dirty an hour later. but i do it.

i hoover every day at least once. as downstairs we have all hard floors. and with 4 cats and 2 kids u can see the dirt so much.

I thought hard floors would be great but I find they are too time consuming, you can see the bits on the floor and I think my dog has more of an issue with excess body hair than I do!

kickstart_3

Frugal ..please could you come to my house!!!:think:

speranza

Um, wow. I thought my mum was obsessed for hoovering every day. Our kitchen cupboards get cleaned maybe twice a year. Clutter gets dumped in the junk cupboard - that too gets cleaned a couple of times a year. Everything else (kitchen, bathroom, etc.) gets cleaned when something starts to smell or we realise we're actually inventing new types of antibiotics in the shower. Bedding gets changed when you can't see the colour of the bedding for the cat hair.

We're of the "only dull women have clean houses" school of thought. Sorry, but I just can't imagine how any interesting person could spend this much time cleaning. I mean, do you really want to look back at your life and think "well at least my cupboards were tidy!"

balmaiden

Someone (Claire Rayner I believe ) once said "housework expands and contracts depending on what time you have"

I didnt understand it at the time but having worked full time for many years and brought up a family I now am at home full time and whereas I did my housework in about half an hour a day it now takes a lot longer because I do look for extra things to do i.e doing certain jobs twice a week instead of once.
But if I am honest I dont think anyone would notice the difference.

As My old Gran would say "That house will be still standing when your dead and gone and no one will know how much dusting you did" and boy did she know how to enjoy life!!!!!